Whirlwind Weekend

Good friends Alison and Denys stopped by around lunch time on Saturday on their way to the lake for their vacation week.  We took them out to Peaches Cafe.  We hadn't been seated for 5 minutes when Denys and I took a few diet sodas to the shorts and shirts.  We were soaked and STICKY.  We laugh it off, crack jokes with our server for the rest of our stay and enjoyed a great lunch.

Other friends,  Lori and Howie invited us out for the weekend to help celebrate their oldest son's 2nd birthday.  So, we packed up the new swagger wagon (we bought the Town and Country, not the Sienna, but the video is still worth watching) and headed to Elmira on Saturday afternoon.  When we arrived, we each ordered a great dinner from Gino's Restaurant (if they had a website, I'd link to it).  The veal marsala was excellent.

As we were winding down, I took this photo of Zac at 1 year 364 days old.  It may be the weirdest creepiest photo you've ever seen...somehow it looks like his eyes are closed and the camera can see through his eye lids

SEE WHAT I MEAN?

Anyways, it was time to turn in so Emiley and I started the motor on our queen sized air mattress in the middle of their living room.  Unpacked and inflated in less than 3 minutes.  I couldn't even get into bed for a good hour and a half after Emiley did.  Sleep just wasn't happening at that point.  I was wide awake.  Sitting on the couch made me think of KM's recent insomnia post.  All in all, I got just over 2 hours sleep Saturday night.

Sunday started with a great breakfast as Howie broke out the waffle iron instead of just plain breaking the waffle iron like the last time we were there.  Other family and friends started arriving for the big birthday party.  In the 8 hours from Zac at 1 year 364 days to Zac at 2 years, the little guy went from demon looking to happy as could be.

The party was going well and everyone was enjoying themselves.  It was now time for Zac to open his presents.  Keep in mind, he could care less about the presents as long as he had one of the 986 balloons that were scattered throughout the house.
After the first gifts were opened, you could hear the two dogs getting into a little bit of a tiff outside.  This was a big turning point in the day.  People that were out on the back deck noticed that the 11 year old pug (that Howie had since he was a puppy), Max, was bleeding.  Others, including Howie, went outside to find Max with a SERIOUS eye injury (Max had lost his left eye in the fall during another tiff with Maggie, their golden)  and a cut on his ear.  This resulted in me driving Howie and Max to the Elmira emergency vet.
The vet was very nice but was VERY confident that the eye would be lost.  She tried to assure Howie that dogs can do very well blind.  At this time Lori and another friend Lloyd showed up.  After several minutes of emotional discussion and deliberation,  it was decided that Max would be put down in the morning....they couldn't bear to do it on Zac's b-day.  Max is being kept 'comfortable' at the emergency clinic until morning.  He was 11, would not have any quality of life, often wore a diaper when inside, and had been a little testy with the 2 boys in the past.....but, it's NEVER an easy decision and I wholeheartedly feel for them tonight.

Needless to say, this had slowed down the celebrating.  I was messaging with Emiley while at the vets and she indicated most of the other guests had left.  When we all got back to the house, the guests (other than immediate family) had left, the kids had been put down for a nap, and the toys and food had been cleaned up and put away.  Zac didn't know the difference...as long as a balloon was in reach.
At 3pm, Emiley and I packed the rest of our stuff into our new van and headed back to Albany....anxious to see Shadow after the day's events. 

Remember, I'm on two hours sleep (even writing this) and drove the 3 hours home.  Emiley, who is in the 29th week of pregnancy would ask me random questions throughout the trip to make sure I was staying awake.  I spoke in jibberish and could barely put a working sentence together but we made it.  Shadow got all sorts of extra pets and ear scratches....just because.  Getting Shadow back into the van to come home turned into an ordeal, but it all worked out and at this moment he is sleeping  snoring on his bed

In memory of Max, a great companion and friend, remember to give that 4 legged family member(s) a few extra belly rubs and scratches behind the ear.
RIP Max