Later that day he went into Wellesley’s cage and hung out there for a while. Bob thought it would be proper punishment for the juice box scenario if he were to get locked in. Paco didn’t care and sat in the food bowl for about an hour.

Dear Kansas highway department,

Please put a curve in the highway so Bob doesn’t have to hold the steering wheel straight for 8 whole hours.

Thanks, Jen

The trip was long, as we expected. We packed up all 3 pets and headed to Rochester for Christmas. The dogs were actually amazing and slept all cute and cuddled up the entire time.

Our only issues came with Paco.

Senor Paco does not enjoy car rides and tends to go to the bathroom in his cat carrier. We knew this already and I packed a “diaper bag” with towels, rubber gloves and wet wipes. Paco had 4 baths on the way to Rochester. The most eventful was when he pooped and we took an hour to find a family bathroom to give him a bath in. The sink was not made to bathe small animals and Bob was not happy about it.

Paco had a few more baths on the way back to Colorado. One time he pooped in the corner of his crate and didn’t smear it all over like he had before. I know it is gross, but Bob was very excited that it was a “clean” poop! He praised Paco for getting it all neatly in the corner of his crate to make clean-up easier. Then Paco got wiped down with cat wipes… for cats that bathe with dignity. I’m not kidding.

Paco begs to differ about the “dignity” part. He was still very embarassed.

This year we threw costumes & Wellesley into the mix and it was incredibly complicated. We knew there was no way to get all 3 kids in the picture to sit still, so Bob & I got in the photo to hold the pets still.

Coda was too bored and kept laying down to sleep. Paco kept swatting at Coda’s antlers and complaining to get out of his elf costume. Wellesley kept trying to eat his own antlers and managed to hold still for a maximum of 19 seconds since the timer on the camera was set for 20 seconds. He always moved right before the photo was snapped. One time he even hacked up a lung when the picture was taken and his mouth is wide open mid-hack.

After what felt like hours of torture for all of us, we finally got a decent picture of all of us. Merry Christmas ya’ll!

Bob found a picture of a handsome golden retriever online. He was up for adoption at Freedom Service Dogs. He was supposed to be trained to help war veterans, but was too obsessed with tennis balls to focus on his job and was put up for adoption. I said the picture was cute when Bob showed it to me online, and the next thing I knew we had an appointment to meet the pup! I have no idea how that happened.

We took Coda with us and they met at the rescue center play yard and got along well. An hour later, we had our newest son in the car with us and we were going home. Wait a minute…24 hours ago I had no thoughts of getting a dog and suddenly I had a new one in my car?! I must have been drugged.

He is about 10 months old now and fairly mild-mannered for a dog his age. He does enjoy Bob’s shoes, but he doesn’t chew the outside. He likes to rip out the insoles and chomp on that part and leaves the rest of the shoe fully in tact. More incentive to put shoes away so we don’t have a pile at the front door. Looks like the dog is training my husband to put his own stuff away. Hey, I kinda like this new dog!

Wellesley and Coda enjoy chasing each other aroud the yard and trying to figure out what the heck happens to a snowball when I throw it and they catch it. Paco was timid at first, but has no problem swatting at Wellesley now. Wellesley’s tail is much longer than Coda’s and more fun for Paco to play with.

Meet Wellesley from Bob Spryn on Vimeo.

We frequently call Wellesley “Grunter” because he makes a Tim Allen grunting sound to let us know he enjoys being pet all the time. He is also the gassiest dog I have ever met! He burps in our faces daily (mostly because he eats his meals in 2 seconds flat) and has audible farts all the time. At least when we blame the dog we know it really was the dog that did it! Even Wellesley knows how bad the smell is and leaves the room.

We sure knowhow to pick pets with funny, distinct personalities. I can only imagine the shennanigans the three of them can plan…

We continued on our scenic drive along the Colorado River for about an hour. Purdy yellow Aspen trees and fishermen dotted the riverbanks. It was a lovely, uneventful drive until our gas light came on and we didn’t see a gas station for what felt like hours. I may have over-reacted about the gas light because we survived. (Editor’s [Bob's] Note: We still had almost 3 gallons of gas when we got to the gas station. I wasn’t even breaking a sweat.)

The forecast was calling for rain and thunderstorms and for once the weatherman was correct. It would rain for a couple hours, then clear up long enough so we could start a fire to cook a meal. We made sure we got our fix of s’mores before the rain came back and smothered our fire. We also put peanut butter on our s’mores and it was a delicious twist.

We went to the dunes Saturday morning. The dunes are the tallest in North America and were more like a mountain range than plain ol’ dunes. In order to get to the dunes we had to cross a freezing cold stream. We took off our sneakers and socks and waded across to the dunes.

Climbing was incredibly difficult. We put in a lot of effort and received minimum progress because the sand absorbed most of our steps. Bob and I didn’t quite make it to the top (I blame Coda), but the views were still fantastic!

That evening was very cold. The temperatue dipped down to around 40 degrees and when you combine that with the rain, it was downright bone chilling. After a few rounds of cards with our friends, I was ready for bed. I put on as many layers as there are in seven layer bean dip. Then I hibernated in my sleeping bag with Bob and Coda. Yes, Coda snuggled into the sleeping bag with Bob and I.

We packed up a day early since there was a lot more rain to come. Luckily, the rain held off long enough that morning to let us pack our tent up. We stopped at Bishop castle on the way back home. This castle was built by a crazy guy that decided he wanted to build a castle with his own 2 hands. He spent 40 years collecting rocks from his property and building this castle. The steps were steep, the iron rails shook and I’m not entirely sure how stable it really was.

The castle’s owner is very anti-government. In fact, no “drunk taxpayers” were allowed on his property. He also decided that people don’t have to be 16 years old to drive. He thinks anybody of any age can drive because the constitution doesn’t say otherwise. At least his insanity comes out in the form of a creative castle!

Mommy and daddy went off to work and I spent my day as I usually do: sleeping and hoping to see my new friend. I met a beautiful furry gal a few weeks ago and she sits on our front porch a couple times a week. We gaze into each other’s eyes and talk through the window. She hasn’t told me her name yet, but I call her the most beautiful name I can think of: Maria Bonita Burrito.

When mommy got home she brought in the mail and I got a Birthday card from my furry birth mother, Dorothy. She’s a sweet lady and it makes me happy to know she still thinks about me. I have seen pictures of her and I’m told I look a lot like her!

As a special birthday treat I was given a few pieces of steak. It smelled good, but I wasn’t in a carnivore mood, so my big brother Coda gobbled up the steak for me. I was ready to get to the presents! Oh boy oh boy! First I was given a shiny crinkle ball. It was ok, but I was pretty much not interested because I knew something better was in mommy’s bag of tricks. Then she pulled out this glorious green ball with a bell inside. My favourite color is green and I love anything that can make noise to annoy my daddy when he’s asleep. This was perfect! I kept shoving it under the couch where I couldn’t reach it, so my parents had to help me get it out each time. I did it on purpose. I love making them dote on me just because it is my birthday. Hehe.

The last gift was wrapped with a nice bow on top. I didn’t know how to open it, but once again, big brother Coda came to the rescue and opened it for me. It was a fish-mobile! I swatted it around for a bit and when Coda came around, I started swatting at him too. Hey, it is my birthday and I’ll swat if I want to!

Paco’s 1st Birthday from Bob Spryn on Vimeo.

After all of that excitement and playing I’m all tuckered out. I’ll take a catnap when mommy and daddy watch TV tonight just so I have enough energy to get up at 5 am again and play with my noisy green ball…right next to daddy. I might even take the green ball behind the dresser where daddy can’t get me.

Saturday had warmed up but still called for contant rain all day. We decided to go on a tour of Hammond’s Candy factory. They make lots of hard candy and candy canes. Anyone in my family would appreciate a candy factory tour. We put on fancy-pants hats and watched the workers roll out candy canes while indulging in free samples. Good thing we had a few freebies because their chocolates were over $22 per pound!

We drove around downtown Denver in the rain so mom could see Investco Stadium where the Broncos play and Coors Field where the Rockies play. Then we mosied up to Boulder for the late evening. The rain let up and we had a chilly walk down Pearl Street where mom purchased some more candy (beacause free samples aren’t enough!). We took a little drive to Nederland so she could see a small mountain town, but we couldn’t see much of the town since it was covered in 3 feet of snow.

Sunday suddenly became sunny so we headed to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. I believe mom said “It is just so beautiful” about a trillion times, give or take one or two. She also took the same picture a trillion times because she just couldn’t get enough of the views. Her highlight was seeing the elk that we had told her about. Oh, and the prarie dogs. She loved those, too.

Monday afternoon we took her to Red Rocks amphitheater to see a cool, natural phenomenom. She was quite impressed with the views, but less impressed with the many steps she had to walk up to use the restroom there. I think that was the first time she realized the altitude can do a number on ya!

From there we went to Roxborough state park where Bob pelted me with snowballs. Mom decided we should ban together and shove Bob in the snow, and I stupidly agreed. When Bob was near me, I shoved him, and somehow I ended up getting more snow in my face. Mom tried to clobber Bob with some snowballs, but Bob grabbed me and used me as a human shield. Mom, your brilliant plan backfired and I had to pay the price. Thanks.

The trails were labeled for beginners, moderate hikers, and extreme difficulty for experienced hikers. I have been told to take a hike before, so I wasn’t a beginner. But we certainly weren’t ready to scale mountains and rocks, so we opted for a moderate trail called Horseshoe, which is about a 4 mile loop.

As soon as we started on the trail there was a sign warning us about bears and mountain lions. If we came across one, we were supposed to speak to the animal softly, avoid eye contact, and slowly back away. I started planning what I would do; “Hi pretty kitty! Nice kitty. Here, eat Coda!” then I’d run away and hope Coda was able to escape. [Editor (Bob) note: Coda and I knew the plan was to outrun Jen, so he wasn't worried.]

The hike was actually pretty easy except for the whole altitude thing. Coda had fun pulling Bob uphill and drinking from the crystal clear streams. He also met a Jack Russel Terrier, Cocker Spaniel, and two Golden Retrievers along the way and said hello to them.

By the end of our hike he was a muddy mess and very happy about it. He even shook some mud off onto Bob. I think he was mostly happy that we didn’t have to sacrifice him to a bear or mountain lion.