Welcome to our Blog!

I realize not everyone has experience with blogs so it might help to mention how they work for those of you that don't read them often. When you first get to our site the first post you see will be the most recent. If you have missed any posts or my wonderful storytelling of the crazy events leading up to all this, or if you are bored out of your mind and need something to help put you to sleep; you can go to the right side where it says 'Blog Archive' and click on the date you missed. Older posts are at the top. Also you can click on pictures to enlarge them and then hit the X in the right corner to get back to the blog. Now, on to the more important stuff: Ethan!!

Life in the Big Apple

Do I look like a bag lady? Because I feel like one!
The very yummy Jerry Seinfeld!

It is easy to tell who is a tourist and who is a local. Tourists are always looking up, have cameras, look lost (because they are lost). Apparently the same can be said for dogs! It is easy to tell New York dogs from all others. New York dogs walk straight, focused, not stopping until their owner stops. Our dogs stop to smell every curb, bench, tree, pole, fire hydrant, etc. They want to smell every scent and there are a LOT of scents here. A 10 minute walk will take them 40! New York dogs do not go up to other people for attention because they know no one is paying attention to them. Our dogs try to go up to everyone assuming they will get pet! The poor dogs are not used to this amount of rejection! A walk through the park is not a simple task as they are both trying to go in different directions to different scents or people and I am trying to wrangle them both in before they get trampled by people, bikes, cars, you name it! I quickly learned the best investment so far was the harnesses we bought for the dogs. Unfortunately I learned it the hard way! As we were crossing a fairly busy intersection, Milo’s collar came right over his head! We were in the middle of the street with the light flashing and a million taxi drivers ready to plow us down and my dog has become separated! I forgot and snapped his leash to his collar instead of the harness. Thankfully it was Milo and not Wrigley because I just picked him up and ran across the street! Forget caffeine! I am awake now!

Living in New York is so different from living in the burbs and what used to be simple tasks take more planning. Doing laundry used to be carrying a basket down the hall, now it is carrying it down two flights of stairs and around the block! Grocery shopping is not so easy when you only have two hands, a limited amount of strength, and again 2 flights of stairs, and at least one block! To help with this new dilemma, Blake bought me a cart which will definitely help lugging all that stuff around! Now if I can just convince the landlord to put in an elevator I will be set!!

While we are out we ate lunch at Peanut Butter Company. I had the Jerry Seinfeld which is a toasted bagel with peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon. YUM! Blake had the Elvis which, as you can imagine, is a toasted peanut butter and banana sandwich! Our meals were very simple but you should check out their menu! They have more adventurous items, like the Pregnant Lady! We will definitely make a stop there for those of you that can come visit us! We don’t have many good stories to tell yet as we are still getting settled and buying things for the new place. I’m looking forward to checking out all New York has to offer! There are so many sights to see and as we see them we will share the fun with you guys!!

The Journey to NYC: Day 2

The dangerous job of going downstairs!Our first trip to Central Park!The living room, kitchen, and loftWrigley has already made himself at home in the bedroom!

Within the first 10 minutes of our journey I realized we were going to have a problem before returning the rental van. The inside of the van, after 18 hours with 2 dogs, looks like a wooly mammoth died. During the trip I have Blake buy a couple of lint rollers. So here it is 4 in the morning, after a 15 hour drive, cleaning a minivan with a lint roller in the streets of Manhattan!
Once the van has been defurred, Blake returns it and I decide I am too tired to unpack tonight. Two hours later Blake finally returns and I have everything unpacked! That was some serious sugar! When he gets back we decide to take the dogs to the park in fear they may make the fatal mistake of waking us up when we finally do crash and burn! Still in our sugar and caffeine induced second wind we are excited about the dogs first visit to Central Park! That is until we realize the logistics of it! Wrigley tends to be in front pulling you helplessly behind him while Milo saunters along a few feet behind you. This doesn't work to well when walking down a flight of stairs! You end up becoming Gumbi with your arms stretched out in both directions! Poor Milo has already been stepped on numerous times from the sheer force of Wrigley pulling us forward from his momentum!
Our apartment is whopping 700 square feet, in Manhattan standards that is palatial! The apartment is literally steps away from Central Park. Our landlord told us Jerry Seinfeld lives in the building next door, John McEnroe in the building across the street, and Matt Dillon in the building behind us. We have definitely come a long way from our neighbors on Estacada!
I quickly learn that suburban life has spoiled me! Did you realize there are people in this country that do not have dishwashers! It seems so preposterous!! How in this country do people not have dishwashers! I also do not have a washer or dryer, however, there are laundromats where you can drop all your laundry off and pick them up clean and folded. Now if I can only find a dishomat to drop off all these dishes!

The Journey to NYC: First Night & Day Two


The boys in the big country before the big city
Mini- triage in the mini-van
Milo and his makeshift cast

We finally make it to Nashville after a fun but uneventful trip. That is until we stop by Blake's Uncle's house to visit before heading to his Dad's house. Milo decided this would be a good time for his paw to open up and gush blood. All over their nice, clean rug! Apparently he had a cyst on his back paw and it burst getting blood everywhere. After an hour of cleaning the rug and bandaging up his paw we get back on the road. Just when we think we made it without losing any dogs out the window Wrigley spots an opossum. Luckily I spotted it also and immediately grabbed his tail just as he had half his body out the window! We have dinner, Corky's we brought from home (our last good barbecue for a while :( - Thanks Nick!), visit, and get to bed late. We wake up late. Yay! Woke up and already 2 hours behind schedule! By the time we get on the road we are now 3 hours behind schedule! Again, the trip is uneventful until again Milo decides his foot just hasn't bled enough. When Blake goes into a gas station that dying animal that is Wrigley that I mentioned earlier comes out! In all his anxiousness, he stepped on Milo's bum foot causing it to start bleeding all over again! After buying a few supplies in the gas station, we hit the road. I set up a mini- triage in the mini-van and get Milo's foot all wrapped up. The rest of the drive goes smoothly and 15 hours and 7 states later we arrive!!
It is now 2 a.m and after a stop for coffee and sugar we have our second wind, which is good because we now have to unload everything! Because of Wrigley's anxiety we have to leave both dogs in the car and one person has to stay with them (that and we have to park in front of a fire hydrant). We take turns staying with the car while the other carries the stuff up 2 flights of stairs. By now it is 4 a.m and Blake still has to return the car to the airport!

The Journey to NYC: Day One


If I close my eyes and try real hard I might fly!
Milo comfy in his bedThe boys enjoying the ride!



Hello! Thanks for checking out our blog! I should have named it Wrigley and Milo's Adventures as this trip has been all about them so far! The cast of characters include myself, Blake, Wrigley, and Milo. The plan is moving all 4 of us to NYC with all of our things that we can't live without for 4 months. In the midst of all this we are supposed to close on a house in Orlando in the middle of the summer! As always, our lives are anything but routine! But hey, its fun and I wouldn't have it any other way!
So, we have to rent a large vehicle to move in because Wrigley has a tad bit of separation anxiety. O.K. so he has a lot of separation anxiety! A plane would have resulted in a lot of stress for a lot of people and one dog. Sounds of a dying animal would emit from the cargo hold and surely freak a lot of people out. Blake and I would be the ones crouching down in our seats with sheepish looks on our face. Anyone who has dogsat (or even just been around Wrigley when Blake leaves) knows Wrigley can sound like a wounded animal. So we decide to rent an SUV from Memphis and drop it off in NYC. Sounds like a good plan, right? Wrong! Only 2 rental companies in Memphis even had one way rentals and neither had anything large enough to fit all four of us. Did I mention Wrigley weighs over 70lbs? O.k! New plan, Blake is going to have to fly to Atlanta at 6 a.m. Sunday and rent a car there and drive it back to Memphis. Oh vey! We can still make our 3 p.m. deadline, right?
Thank Goodness for small miracles! Blake decides to check one last time for a rental car in Memphis. It is midnight on Saturday and like a mirage on the computer we see a minivan! Watch out soccermoms here we come! The thought of us in a minivan makes me laugh as we are so not the soccermom type, but hey if it means he doesn't have to fly to the ATL, I'll take it!! We pick up our new minivan and start to pack it. Blake discovers the floorboards fold up and can be used for storage. This mom-mobile is kinda cool after all! We pack all of our stuff in the back and on the back seat. The middle seat is reserved for Wrigley and we put Milo's bed on the floorboard in front of the middleseat. We are all set and ready to go!! Only 2 hours behind schedule! Fortunately, we are only driving to Nashville Sunday and spending the night with Blake's Dad!