Day 198, Sunday, July 17

I made two thank you cards today.  One is for our Vet, Dr. Jess and his staff.  The other one is for the staff at Aboard the Ark.  They all took excellent care of Gizzy for us...ALWAYS!  Dr. Jess was so kind and caring when we got the diagnosis of bladder cancer.  He worked very hard to give us all the options for our little guy.  The staff at Aboard the Ark always took great care of Gizmo when we left him for vacation or even a weekend.  We can't thank them enough!

Day 197, Saturday, July 16

Happy Birthday, Aly!  Today is Aly's 19th birthday.  She is in Myrtle Beach with her family on vacation.  (wish I was at the beach!)  Anyway, hope you have a great day, niece!

Day 196, Friday, July 15

We went to the Hot Air Balloon Glow at 3 Sisters Park in Chillicothe, tonight.  I just love to watch the balloons fill up with air and float off into the sky!  We saw a few lift off, but most were already gone by the time we got to the park.  They chase them down, load them up and bring them back to the field and fill them with hot air again.  When most are ready, they hit the propane all at once and make the balloons "glow" in the night sky!  It was a nice evening to watch the balloons!

Day 195, Thursday, July 14

We got a phone call at 6:30 a.m., this morning. Our little furbaby, Gizmo, passed away during the night.  He was at the kennel and they had called us yesterday.  Dr. Jess examined him and put him on some antibotic and antiacid, thinking he would eat better.  Little Giz, had bladder cancer and we knew it wasn't going to be long before we had to put him down.  This picture is from last June, before he was sick.  He always wanted his harness on, to the point of which, he would bring it to me after his bath!  If you look real close...you can see the tip of his tongue.  He always licked his chops and drove us crazy with licking!  He would sit and stare at us for hours, but when I got the camera out, he always looked away. 

Rest in peace, our sweet little boy!

Day 194, Wednesday, July 13

We stopped at the Sculpture Park today!  This is such an inspiring park.  There are many little paths and groves throughout this park and there are lots of different art pieces in each one.  This is the largest in the center of the park.  It is a fountain, too!  The top of the cherry has a "shower head" on it and it sprays water over the cherry and bowl of the spoon.  It was a beautiful day for a walk in the park!

Day 193, Tuesday, July 12

Welcome to the Mall of America Lego display!  This transformer is standing on top of the Lego store.  If you look real close, you can see Jim standing on the back side of the figure on level 3 of the mall.  This and all the other figures on top of the store, are made out of Lego bricks...normal size bricks.  We walked all over the mall.  It is .57 miles around one level.  There is an amuzement park in the center with several roller coasters.  Today, we ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express.  Yesterday, we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp!

Day 192, Monday, July 11

Today we visited Elmwood, Wisconsin.  Jim's dad grew up here and his Grandma Smith lived here for many years.  We stopped and took pictures of several of the relatives houses.  This is Sailer's Meat shop.  They have all kinds of processed meats.  They moved to this new location from the old one on main street.  The last weekend in July is "UFO Days" in Elmwood.  Many years ago, there were UFO's sighted over the quarry. I am standing between two little green men!