2017 was a bit of a roller coaster for us! There were certainly some very happy moments,
but also some decidedly sad and worrisome ones as well. Such is life, I suppose…but if there were
more ups than downs, then I think it's safe to say it was a good year!
In January, we went to WDW for the "After Hours at Magic Kingdom" event. We'd done this once
before and loved it, and we had a great time at this year's event, too!
In February, we went to Philadelphia for a weekend because
we'd never really spent much time there aside from sporting events and it was
so much fun to soak up as much of the history as possible.
March was a relatively quiet one, mainly because Sadie was
having a rough time and we were at the vet for appointments quite
frequently. To be honest, it was kind of
a sad month because we knew Sadie's health was rapidly declining and we were
living on borrowed time with her. We
just tried to love on her as much as possible every day.
April brought spring break, which meant a long-anticipated
trip to Japan to visit Tokyo Disneyland!
What a FABULOUS trip! I loved it so much and would go back in a
heartbeat because Tokyo was such a cool city!
May represents the year perfectly – the lowest low and the
highest high. On May 5th, we helped our Sadie cross the Rainbow Bridge, which was indisputably the saddest
moment of our year. How we miss that
wonderful little dog. At the other end
of the spectrum, on May 26th, my brother and sister-in-law welcomed
our first niece, Emma, to the family, which was the absolute highlight of 2017
for us!
In June, we attended a Lantern Festival, and it was truly
the most magical experience! I
definitely want to do this again! It
also brought the end of the school year, and although I love teaching, it's always
a great feeling to wrap things up after a long year! Once school ended, we went on an amazing
adventure to Copenhagen and Prague. If only we were independently wealthy so
that we could just travel all the time because we love exploring new places…the
whole strangers in a strange land thing!
July was another busy month!
I taught an Elementary Math Methods course for pre-service teachers,
which was awesome. SO awesome. I love working with pre-service teachers
because they are excited and passionate about education and their enthusiasm is
contagious! On a sad note, my mom's dog, Carmen, passed away, and she was very much an honorary member of my herd. Ginny was particularly close to her, and so
it between losing Sadie in May and Carmen in July, it was a tough few months
for her.
We also did some traveling in July! We went to Edinburgh, which had long been on
my bucket list, and in a happy twist of fate, one of our friends happened to be
there at the same time, so we were able to meet up one afternoon, which we
loved! We also spent a weekend up in
Canada with family, and then we went on a Disney Cruise at the end of July with C's parents to celebrate their 50th anniversary!
In August, I went on a super fun trip with my mom! We spent two nights at WDW, followed by a four-night
Disney Cruise! We actually ended up with
an additional night back at WDW because our flight home was cancelled!
The end of August was less fun, as it not only meant
back-to-school time, but Maddy had to have surgery to remove her spleen because
there was a large tumor on it (which thankfully turned out to be benign!). She had a tough time with recovery and it was
due in no small part to my mom's care and devotion that she slowly but surely
returned to her happy self.
For the third summer in a row, I did my #100daysofdoxies / #100daysofhappy photo series. I love capturing the ridiculous and adorable antics of our dogs!
September is always a crazy and exhausting month because of
the everything that comes with the start of a new school year. I know people always say that teachers are
tired at the end of the school year, but I find the beginning of the school
year much worse. Of course the end of
the school year is tiring, but the light at the end of the tunnel grows
brighter each day. Not so at the
beginning of the school year!
Between September and October, I also spent three weekends
up in Canada with family. Frankly, it
was bittersweet as my beloved grandma was moved into a nursing home about eight
hours further away from me. I am
certainly hoping that we will be able to visit her this year.
The other trip we took was to Las Vegas to see a Golden Knights game
in October. We had a great time and it's always fun to see a new NHL
arena. This one was our 34th!
November brought a trip to Disneyland Paris and although it had a rocky start with a missed flight, we had an incredible time!
The end of the year was a bit of a blur because Maddy had to have spinal surgery in late November.
Yep, a second surgery only three months after her splenectomy. 2017 was not the best year for that poor
little dog! Thankfully, she recovered
beautifully this time! Other noteworthy
events include the Remembrance Ceremony in honor of Sadie and Carmen,
Christmas, and finally our 23rd wedding anniversary on New Year's
Eve!
Tomorrow, it's back to school after an all-too-brief winter
break, but we've got some fun things planned for 2018 and we're looking forward
to lots of adventures!
Finally, I wanted to thank YOU for reading my blog!
Today is the five-year anniversary of The Log Dog Blog! When I started, I really didn't have any idea
of the direction this would take; I just knew I wanted to somewhere to share
our stories with far-away family members!
It has turned into a place where I can document both the simple, everyday
parts of our lives, as well as the exciting and amazing things we've been
fortunate to see and do! It has kept me
connected to people I don't see nearly often enough in real life and it has
given me an outlet for sharing big and little moments through words and pictures.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Happy Tails to you!