Introducing Arnold Pomeranian

As I am sure many of you guessed, that little guy at the end of my last post is my new/old dog! Arnold Pomeranian is one month younger than Lola and has been living in Pennsylvania for the past two years but he has now found his home in California. AP, Arnie, Snooch, Arnold was originally brought home as a companion for Lola-the-crazy. She had terrible separation anxiety and in my reading I learned she needed a friend or to take something daily to calm her down. Option number 2 sounded horrible so along came Arnold. The two of them became fast friends and it was pretty heartbreaking to separate them. At the time it seemed to be the best (or only) choice for all involved. Lola eventually adapted to being an "only dog" and enjoyed the spoils of her new life regularly.

Recently some circumstances presented themselves for me to be able to have Arnold once again. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. Arnold came back into our lives much fluffier and bounding towards his long lost friend. I wish I could say Lola felt the same enthusiasm but she took awhile to warm up. I have caught a few snuggles in bed and on the couch though which leads me to believe she is pretty happy to have her friend back.

A few pictures of the life and times of Arnold Pomeranian...

Poor guy took a tumble down the stairs on day 1 and broke his leg :-(

The kids.

Snow poms.

Upside down Snooch!

Snuggle bugs

This...quickly turned into...

This. And now...

Fluffier than ever and back together

In a slightly heartbreaking moment, Scott and I packed up every possible summer item we could find and headed to Calistoga for the holiday weekend. Don't get me wrong, a weekend of fun in the sun with a pool in the backyard is not heartbreak, but I knew AP was confused and it was pretty rough on me to leave him. Luckily he was in good hands with Michelle! Hopefully she will babysit again as I was a bit of a pest this weekend with my new mommy syndrome.

A stop at Gloria on the way up (who can pass up free bubbles?)

The weekend turned out exactly as planned. Hot, sunny, great company, and tons of fun! We spent most of the weekend in the pool floating around and working on our tans. Or in my case what turned out to be a less than attractive sun burn. Slowly but surely it is turning into a tan though. I did manage to get in two runs in the hot weather which was both nice and hard. I am spoiled by the mild running weather here in the city and it took a bit to adjust to conditions.

I failed miserably at the picture taking this weekend but Hanna managed to stroll around the house and take the following pictures...

Where much time was spent!

A look back at the outdoor seating area as she took off on her photo journey

My favorite...a self portrait!

We didn't go without good food and drink as each of the families took a night to prepare dinner for the group.

Our night was Mexican...complete with homemade guac, chicken and steak tacos, and Tommy's excellent margaritas.

The 4th was a great day filled with bellinis and, you guessed it, more floating! We had a good ole American BBQ for dinner and then, lucky for us, the fireworks from the fair were perfectly viewed from the backyard! Couldn't have asked for better "seats".

Miss K and I floating in the pool

Don't you just want to give her a big hug?!

Hanna, Kayla and Paisley hanging out in their tubes. I swear Tanner was around this weekend too, he just moves too fast to capture!

Scott was there too!

Monday we made it home for a quick refresh and snuggle with the dogs before heading an hour south (yes, LOTS of driving this weekend) for a goodbye party for one of Scott's co-workers. More food and fun.

Today, I am beat. I am looking forward to more snuggle time on the couch with my two furry friends...we'll see if we can squeeze Scott in too ;-).