A Sad Goodbye to the BEST Dog in the World

Kyla 

2/27/07 - 5/2/20

Oh my sweet golden girl...I miss you more than I ever could have imagined.  I mean, I knew I would be sad and I knew pets don't live forever...but I just never imagined the emptiness I'd feel when you were left us.  You were more a part of our lives and my being than I even realized.  It has been less than 48 hours since we said goodbye so I know it's still "early" in the grieving process, but I just didn't know my heart would hurt like this.  

my co-pilot

We looked at pictures of you on a big slide show on the tv last night and there were over 700 photos and videos!  We didn't make it through all of them yet but it was so amazing to look back and see how you were there for EVERY. LITTLE. THING.  Every baby we brought home, you were right there in the action, greeting them and sniffing them and soon loving them...followed by putting up with them!  If we went on hikes, you came.  If we went to the beach and it was a dog-friendly spot, you came.  If we camped you came. If we went to a park, you came.  If I went on a run, you came (before you got older and couldn't run as much...and then not at all).  If we went on vacation and you could come, we brought you.  We never ever, not once, put you in a kennel or boarded you.  We never had to and I feel so lucky we didn't...as I would have worried about you the entire time.  You were used to being by our side and you were a true "velcro dog" (someone told us that term when you were a puppy and it is so fitting...you were always stuck right to us.  I wouldn't want it any other way).  

You were so incredibly smart.  You would walk and carry your own leash.  As a puppy we trained you to nudge some jingle bells tied to a string by the door with your nose when you needed to go outside to the bathroom.  You quickly realized you could ring the bell any time you even just wanted to go outside at all...even if you didn't have to go to the bathroom.  When the bell was jingled, the door would open.  You LOVED to have a job and when we got the mail you made sure we let you have a piece to carry in so you could earn that treat.  Oh, you loved your treats!  When my mom would visit it was your special job to bring in the newspaper that she would have delivered.  You loved to be important and to earn those treats.  

You were THE BEST greeter ever.  The best guard dog ever, too.  Maybe not so much in the past year as your hearing seemed to seriously decline and you wouldn't hear the doorbell anymore.  Before that though, you would have thought a vicious Rottweiler was on the other side of our door if you rang our doorbell.  You would bark like crazy!  If people didn't know you they would be a bit hesitant to let you run up to them...I assured them that you were friendly. You always were.  Always greeting people who came.  As soon as you finished alerting us with barking, if the person came in you were quick to grab them a shoe or a sock or whatever you could find to bring to them as a welcome present.  Who doesn't love a good shoe, right?  That's what you must have thought.  Because of you, our shoes were always scattered about the house (can we really blame this on you?  I guess we will now see...).  If we were missing one half of a pair of shoes the first place we'd look is by the cabinet where your treats were stored.  At any given time there was 1-4 shoes without matches laying at the base of that cabinet.  "If I bring a shoe will I get a treat?".  It must have worked enough times that you thought so :). 

As a younger dog you loved to chase sticks. The bigger the stick the better.  We would go on hikes , find a stick, let you smell it and then chuck it FAR off into the bush and you would run and bound in and always would come back with that EXACT stick.  It was uncanny.  I don't know how you did it.  You would search until you found it...and I remember one or two times you where you were unable to find it and you did not want to leave that spot.  You would have continued searching until you found it ...but the hike had to go on.    

Oh, and the beach and swimming.  That was your HAPPY place unlike any other.  As soon as you would get out of the car at the beach you would BOLT for the ocean and no amount of calling or yelling your name would get you to stop.  This was the ONLY time that you didn't listen to us AT ALL.  You had no control when it came to the ocean.  You HAD to be in that water and you had to be there NOW.  You would swim and fetch your water toys for hours on end if we let you.  Then you'd take a break in the sand and dig crazy holes to lay in.  We had so many happy times at the dog beach in Ocean Beach together.  Swimming in the waterway that leads to the ocean together.  Of any place in the world that I would call as yours, it would be the beach & ocean.  

You seemed to sense human emotion and have a sense of sympathy empathy like many humans can't even grasp.  When I was pregnant with Chloe and had gotten some jarring news about her chances of survival (do to possible kidney issues in utero) I was devastated and scared.  You sensed it and you never left my side.  You laid with my while I cried and nuzzled me while I laid in fetal position not knowing what the future would mean for me or my first baby.  Chloe is fine...and in the end it is you that I lost to kidney problems.  

Your loyalty was unmatched.  Especially to me.  You wouldn't go downstairs in the morning until I went down.  I was your human mama.  Always will be.  You were my first dog & fur-baby.  Always will be.  If you happened to get locked out of the front gate you would just lay by it and wait for us to see you were there.  Never would you run away.  Always by our side...or lounging in some sunny spot.  Like your spot by the one-car garage door.  Or your grassy spot in the back.  Soaking up the rays on your golden coat.  You were a ray of sunshine yourself.  You had the best smile ever.  Especially in the mornings. You were loved by so many even outside our family.  People miss you.  Not just us.  I know we miss you the most though.  

That smile. That face. Such love.

Oh, we had the BEST times with you.  You lived an amazing life...but 13 years just wasn't enough for me.  I guess it was for you.  I know you were ready.  You had slowed down in the past year.  You didn't require or ask for walks as much.  You slept a lot.  You also now insisted on getting up on the couch with us (something we used to never allow but in the past months decided we wanted you up there with us...we knew you were more comfortable up there than on the hard floor).  I hope you weren't in too much pain in your final days.  I know you never let us know when you were in pain.  You hid it well.  So I can only hope you weren't suffering too terribly.  My hurt hearts to think that you could have been.   I have to find peace and comfort in the fact that you went peacefully.  That we all had the chance to say goodbye and pet and love on you in your final minutes.  Girl, I love you SO much and had no idea the hurt would be this big.  You were in my life for 13 fabulous years and I know that no other dog will ever replace what we were so lucky to have with you. Love to you my sweet pupsie-dog.  My "Kwals", my "Ky-Ky", "Kwalsie-Bear".  We will love you forever and never forget you.  

Cards & flowers from friends & neighbors

At the vet

True Love. Ella's First Love.

Part of the family. No doubt.

My favorite running partner of all time

Week 5 Quarantine

4/14-
Well, here we are on day #2 of the school week of which we were originally told would be when the kids would be returning to school.  Obviously that didn't happen.  When we found out on Friday THE 13TH (of course! ha) that the kids would be out of school and not returning until April 13th it was SO hard to wrap our heads around.  The reality of it was just something that was hard to imagine.  I chalked it up to being a bit like summer break when I'm home with the kids....though, even with that we have camps and busy schedules and are always out and about.  So, here we are heading into Week 5 of pretty much being-at-home full time.

4/18-
Week 5 completed.  By far the TOUGHEST week of the 5 weeks of quarantine thus far.  Up until this past week I haven't completely minded the stay-at-home part of this entire thing.  We have been caught up in a non-stop tornado of "busy-ness" for so long now that it took forcing us to stop the madness to actually stop the madness.  Finally, a weekend without 4-8 kids' sports games, running around from here to there, birthday parties, playdates, dinners out, never really relaxing or having down-time.  It has been nice. It has been NEEDED.
This week, however..."distance learning" commenced for our school district.  I was originally looking forward to this.  I had enjoyed "home-schooling" the kids the first couple weeks but thought it would be beneficial to have actual assignments from their teachers to hold the kids accountable.  What I didn't predict was how incredibly difficult having 4 kids each having so much to complete at home would be.  I felt like a pinball in a pinball machine all week trying to rush from one child to the next, all who seemed to need help and assistance with almost every assignment.  Chloë is pretty independent, thankfully, but the other 3 seemed to need me with almost everything. To top it off, ALL assignments and papers are to be completed in Spanish as all 4 are in a Spanish immersion program.  I know some Spanish but I'm far from fluent.  This definitely adds a challenge to the situation.  I stress that they are losing so much by not being at school in their full-Spanish curriculum.


To make a long story short, there were a lot of tears this past week, a lot of stress, anxiety, a lot of wondering how we are going to make it through 10 more weeks of this...and this was all from me.  I don't want to harp on it. I would like to move past this previous week and just move forward.  I realize the first week was a learning curve for all involved.  I can only HOPE and pray that next week can run a little smoother.


Photos from the past 5 weeks:

We did a puzzle

Visiting my brother from 10-15 feet away 

Grocery Store Trip

(last time we went was 17 days ago-now doing delivery)

Drive way happy hour

Eli letting his hair grow

(though Myke actually cut it last night)

Ella on a Zoom call with her first-grade class 

One Week Down...

Hard to believe it has been a week since Friday the 13th.  The day things got real...and it was announced that the schools were closing.  I mean, we had known it COULD happen, but I don't think anyone could really wrap their heads around the reality of it.  That is what we have all been doing day -by-day, hour-by-hour....trying to wrap our heads around something that is completely foreign and new to the modern world.  So far no success in wrapping here...

That said, we keeping completely occupied and busy with 4 kids at home.  We feel lucky they are still young enough where they don't completely HATE being stuck at home with us and each other.  At least not yet...ask Chloe again next week.  In fact, this is a DREAM for Ella.  She loves nothing more than to be at home all day long.  She is the biggest homebody I've ever met.  She's happier than ever right now in her innocent little 7 year old world.  We are working hard to keep the kids away from too much worry or stress about the situation.  

We started right out with keeping up on a school schedule to the best of our ability.  Myke even brought out the flag for the morning Pledge of Allegiance...and has a school bell sound play on the Home Pod right at 8:30a.m.  It's pretty funny.  By mid-week he had even printed out "tardy" slips for kids who weren't here when the bell rings.  LOL.

We've had a lot of rain lately...which seems to add to the doom & gloom mood of the current pandemic-ridden society we are living in.  The silver lining is that rain in San Diego often means snow in our nearby mountains so Wednesday was a field trip to Mount Laguna!  We left at 8:30am which would usually mean terrible rush hour traffic...but we zipped right down the highway and then headed west.  It was just over an hour's drive and didn't disappoint.  Snow play at it's finest ...though my boys both were more than content to stay in the car (what's wrong with these kids?!) and draw pictures and laugh together.  The girls were the one's out playing in the snow.  Go figure.  

Before the plow came through..a bit slippery!

So, yup, we are just keeping busy with Myke working (luckily, can work from home) and me putting my M.A. in Education (K-12) to work finally. I was just starting to get my paperwork back in order to do occasional subbing in the district and here I am now "working full time" but for no pay!  Oh well, so far I love my new "class" and haven't needed to expel anyone.  We will see what next week holds! 

Hope everyone reading this is doing okay, staying home, staying safe & healthy, and finding ways to keep in positive spirits as we navigate this new (hopefully-very-temporary) lifestyle together.  

xoxo

Sarah 

(No time to proof read or edit...Ella has been waiting over 30 minutes for me to play Candyland so I need to run! Excuse any typos/poor grammar)

A few more from this week: 

Pancake batter for St. Patty's (food dye central!!)

rainbow stacks

brotherly cuddles

(always touching eachother/bothering/wrestling/hugging)

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that my brother is here in San Diego!

Long story...but he's currently self-quarentining in my in-law's condo

in Pacific Beach (they are on the east coast) after traveling to the U.S. from Brazil.  He arrived Monday.  We stopped by to say hello from a distance.  

Welcome to the sh*t-show that is the U.S. right now, Uncle Hale! 

Coronavirus Day 1

Well, we don't (hopefully) HAVE coronavirus but we, like the rest of the country and a lot of the world, are definitely affected.  Every day is new news and big changes.  Yesterday we found out that schools are closed until April 14th, minimum.  I found out around 10am Friday and then spent my last 2 1/2 hours (they get out at 12:45pm on Fridays) running to a few stores for some extra stocking up.  Trying to imagine a minimum of 4 weeks in the house together...needed lunch items, snacks, etc. On top of this, Ella wasn't feeling great so she stayed home on the couch all day (see above photo).  

I picked the kids up from school and thus begins our new reality for the next month.  

Day One (Saturday).  Not keeping up a strict structure or schedule since it's the weekend.  I'm still thinking of/planning/trying not to panic with how the week days will run with home-schooling 4 kids.  Luckily, their teachers must have been expecting this and sent a lot of work/books/school iPads home with them so they have assignments to complete.  Today we moved around the girls' rooms.  Chloë, who has had the same twin trundle bed since she moved out of her crib, has decided she wants a bigger bed.  Her room isn't huge so we are "trying" a queen size bed by using our guest room mattress in her room.  It actually fit great and we really liked how it looks.  Ella, as the little sister, got her hand-me-down bed and now has the twin trundle.  I think both girls are pleased with their new set-ups.

Chloë's Tween Room 

Ella's "new" bed

Basketball Hoop

We also splurged today on a basketball hoop.  We had made plans with our neighbors/friends who live in the cul-de-sac by us to go in a hoop together and keep it by their house since there is less traffic.  Our street isn't SUPER busy, but it's not a cul-de-sac so we are wary of putting a hoop in the street (and our driveway is too slanted).  Our friends have much younger kids (toddler age) so they won't get much use out of the hoop just yet, but wanted it anyways as they love having all the neighborhood kids around playing by them.  All of that said, I'm thinking we will leave it by our house for just now--there has been almost zero traffic today and, with the kids home all month, I think it will be perfect to just have it out front for easy access.  We'll see how that goes.  

I'm hoping these school closures and less large group events/activities will help to flatten the curve and help this whole thing to blow over.  I know that it won't be that easy...but I'm definitely hoping that if we all do our part we can eventually get back to some form of normalcy in our lives.  I have a strong feeling that it will get a lot worse before it gets better...but time will tell.  Until then, making the most of this unexpected time with my kids and feeling blessed that Myke already works from home and that, while it may not be convenient, we can helpfully do this home-stay without too much discomfort.  It's a scary time, folks.....

2020 New Year!

Weekend Morning Snuggles

Glad we have king-size bed!

Oh yah, I have a blog.  Once upon a time I had a blog that I wrote in.  Then life got busy, as in SUPER busy and I can barely keep my head from spinning 90% of the time.  Would I change it for the world?  Well, actually, yes, I would change it a bit...I'd like things to slow down just a bit...so maybe I can catch up a little?  I'm pretty sure I'm far from alone in this feeling.

That said, we didn't exactly accidentally stumble onto our chaotic life schedule.  It's busy when kids are little and have so many NEEDS...and it's now a different kind of busy that they all have so many INTERESTS....or, for one in particular, not ENOUGH interests so you have to make him try things (no names mentioned :)).  

All going well here.  We had a busy and super fun holiday season hosting a total of 14 (including ourselves) for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas morning and then again for Christmas Day dinner.  We had houseguests for nearly a month (but that also meant we had full time clothes folder and kitchen & dishes cleaner...THANKS Mom & Dad!) and had a lot of celebrating during that time.  Still trying to fit back into my jeans....

Eli 

Age 8 1/2.  Third grade. Plays basketball. 

Owen

 Age 8 1/2.  Third grade.  Staring a Parkour class at the YMCA this week.

Got braces this past summer.  

Ella.

Age 6 (almost 7).  First Grade. Does gymnastics & soccer.

As tall as her brothers and has a bigger shoe size than them.

Chloë (pictured with Uncle Hale)

Age 10 (almost 11). In 5th grade in a 5/6 combo class.

Plays basketball on two different leagues currently with games both Saturdays & Sundays.

10 going on 16. 

Kyla.

Age 12 (almost 13).  Loves to nap. 

Loves to go on walks to sniff every 2 feet.

Still the best dog ever.

Myke.

Age 40 (almost 41...but don't remind him).

Works for Apple.  Likes black tea.

Taking a break from softball due to a knee injury.

Here's us spiffed up for the family photo.

Merry Belated Christmas!

One Week Until Summer Break

One week, well one week and two days, that is.  School days.  We are honing in on the END here.  The end of the first year of having all 4 at the same school, on the same schedule.  I didn't write once, I noticed.  Officially have fallen out of the habit.  I don't know where the year went.  I did spend a healthy chunk of the time the kids were in school taking care of ME.  For the first time in 10 years where I have really OWNED my time on a regular basis with all in school with one pick-up & drop-off.  I don't feel guilty about it at all.  I had my hair done professionally a couple times over the year---something I used to only do with a box at home in my bathroom (which is fine, too, but just ended up really damaging my hair overtime).  I exercised.  I tried to make it a habit of cardio and/or running 3-5x per week, I volunteered in the classrooms.  I attempted to evenly split my time between all 4 kids' classes to keep it fair, but I think I spent the most time in Ella's kinder class, as they are only kinders once...and I just LOVE Maestra Castillo (all 4 of my kids had her for kindergarten and she is amazing & loving & patient & all of those things you want your child's first experience with an elementary school teacher to be about).  I was Room Parent to none of the classes and that was a great decision.  I helped on my own terms.  Some weeks I wasn't in the classrooms at all, others I was in one class or another every single day.  I didn't finish a bunch of books in my free time or watch any tv shows.  Both of those are just things I don't do in the day time, for whatever reason.  I just can't.  Maybe I should have gone to a movie...or gone to lunch with friends more often than I did...but overall no regrets.  My main job is organizing the constantly changing and on-the-go schedule of a family of 6.  The Fall consisted of 4 days of soccer practices (and that was just for Owen & Chloë) and 2 games every Saturday.  That on top of two afternoons of Spanish tutoring per week. So that semester just zipped by.  The Spring was a bit calmer, which was nice.  I am trying to make sure we have more afternoons with NO plans, where the kids can just PLAY and be KIDS and have a chance to get BORED.  That's also my goal for the summer break.  However, I'm my own biggest obstacle for that goal...as I either can't stop planning or can't say no to things...and I already am finding myself filling up so much of the calendar all the way through July...that there are almost no free weekends available for down time.  Myke won't be happy about this ;P

Back To School!

My sweetie-pies are off to school!  Well, we are on week FOUR of school already (started August 20th) and this is the first day I feel like I'm relaxed and taking the time to update the blog.  Don't get me wrong, I've obviously had a lot more time to get things done now that ALL FOUR are in school...but every day has been pretty filled with to-do's and catching up from having the kids home all summer. I've had appointments for me, appointments for my car, need to make appointment for my dog, etc.  I've also been trying to get in more exercise and making my health a priority each morning when I'm able to.  That's what keeps me sane! 

My baby girl, Ella, started kindergarten...it's a full-day schedule and she's at the same school as the older 3...finally!!  So everyone is on the same schedule. One drop-off and one pick-up.  They start at 8am.  I have to head to pick them up at 1:45pm so the days can go pretty fast if I'm not careful...and then we begin our insane afternoons that go from dismissal until 8:30pm when they are getting in bed.  It's all worth it though--having the days to get things in order...and I'm finding time to BREATHE.  I've been around small children constantly for 9.5 years!!  So many needs and constant putting out fires, wiping butts, and laundry....ok, the laundry will never stop (it's INSANE, people!) but I'm not wiping any more butts! CHEERS to that!!  They are much more self-sufficient now, which is great...but, at the same time, their busy sports and after-school activities schedule is a bit nuts.  This coming Thursday I calculated that I have to drive across town back and forth SIX TIMES to get them from school, Chloe to acting class, Owen to soccer, back to Chloe to pick her up from acting class, back to Owen to pick him up from soccer and then to the boys first Cub Scouts meeting...which all 4 kids will have to attend since Myke is out of town this week for work.  So that's a little crazy.  Good thing I'll be driving the electric car and saving on gas $.

cool backpack!