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Lisa's pixI am an artist, I am here to live out loud December 13 the MEIER year in pictures... 2008 MEIER FAMILY YEAR IN PICTURES.
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~You can CLICK on any picture for a larger view!~
In April Bruce, Lisa, Kaitlin and Megan (Kaitlin's friend) flew to Miami (above),boarded the Carmival ship Valor & headed for
Central America and the western Caribbean.
Bruce and Kaitlin on deck of the ship Valor Kaitlin on top deck of the Valor
Bruce and I decided long ago that our kids would see a different country and culture outside the US before they left home. Kaitlin
Kaitlin and her new friend Lisa with the biggest stingray we've ever seen
In the GRAND CAYMANS we swam in the sky-blue ocean with the stingrays...the girls were a bit squeamish at first but look at
Kaitlin's face...sheer joy! The stingrays feel like giant mushrooms and because of fishermen feeding them for years, as soon
as the boat comes to this sandbar in the ocean, literally hundreds of them swarm around.
HONDURAS was pristine & mainly untouched by tourism..for now. The ocean is so clear in the port you can see to the
bottom
BELIZE was beautiful & blue. We took a tour of the capital city to learn a bit of its people and history.
We were docked at Cozumel when this other ship came and docked along side of us...about 10' away! It was amazing to watch
from the deck.
On the dock at COZUMEL On a carriage ride through Cozumel
Seeing the city 5 years ago, it was quite different...it is now a thriving tourist city..no longer the quaint,
ocean-side town with indiginous people, it was now very fast paced and commercial. We had to travel the back streets to see
any of its "real" people.
One of the best things in Cozumel is Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville and Carlos & Charlies. We visited Jimmy Buffets, preferring to
ease the girls into the wild life of Cozumel...HA. We ended up at staying until the ship left and having the time of our lives. Ok, so
Kaitlin wasn't learning of a different culture or lifestyle...but WAS IT FUN. "Wasted away in Margaritaville..."
Formal night on board the ship
..................and I'm thinking THIS was Kailtin's favorite part of the whole cruise.....................................
After the cruise, we toured Miami and spent the day at the Miami Seaquarium. They had a manatee rescue there and had some
manatees in their program for 20 years.
In June, Kaitlin graduated high school.
She also attended a dental assistant program and graduated in spring. Now
she's attending UW Milwaukee majoring in pre-dentristry.
In July, Bruce and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. The time has gone by so quickly. Good, bad, ups & downs, births,
deaths, weddings and leavings...we've been through it all...and I can't wait for the next 25!!!
This year will also mark our son Jason's and his new wife,Angie's, 1st anniversary.
In late July, we traveled to my hometown of McGregor Iowa for a family reunion. Jason, Angie, Jesse and Kaat
came along and we spent 3 days at a bed and breakfast overlooking the Mississippi River. My sister Beth, her husband Paul and their kids Erin and Brian also joined us and stayed next to us in Sadie's log cabin. It was nice being able to see my Dad & Ellen, aunt, cousin and other far-away family members in my childhood town again. We picniced up at Pikes Peak outside of McGregor. The Mississippi overlook there is gorgeous.
Bruce taking it easy in CANCUN MEXICO
Peace, Love and Joy to you in the coming 2009
September 02 Its only been 11 months...I've decided to start working again on this blog after much debate. I was going to shut it down completely but started looking at all the entries of the past couple of years and I just couldn't do it. So, I'm going to start my 1st entry in over a year with my a few of my son's wedding pictures. You'll find all my pictures below in the albums section.
July 29 has it really been that long?Its been 2 months since I've updated this site. I've been busy, as I'm sure everyone is.
We've been through sad times such as Kaat making her return to her home in Belgium, happy times like when we had Kris and Ariel from Spain stay with us for 3 weeks, worked alot and played even more.
Our little puppy is now a strapping 75 pound "teenager" and is just as naughty as his age would suggest. Our gardens are starving for rain but Bruce has the tomatoes watered so well they are over my head in height.
Family affairs are starting to get themselves back in order. I've reconsiled with my Mother and we are back on track to having a good Mother/daughter relationship.
Last but not least, August 3rd, Kaat will be returning to us for a month and a half visit before she starts college. We are excited beyond words and plan on savoring every moment with her. Unfortunately, she will have to leave before Jason's wedding to start school. May 24 Our new Great PyreneesIt took us 8 hours of driving to get him, but here he is...our new Pyrenees puppy. He's 4 months old and 40 pounds of floppy, sweet fluff. We are trying to see if he's best suited as a house dog or an outside dog. So far he's made himself at home in our livingroom. I hope he sleeps through the night. UPDATE: He did NOT sleep through the night. We had to get up early to move my son into his new apartment so the added pressure of my sad little guy whining and barking made sleep impossible. I have a 4:00 am wake up call to go to a horse show so I'm really hoping he is happier tonight.
May 21 Dartagnan Beauford UneekoThats the name of my Great Pyrenees dog, better known as Neeko.
Neeko was a big, slobbery, hulk of a dog with a heart of gold.
This past Saturday we discovered to our dismay that Neeko
was having trouble using his back legs. He crawled out of his
usual hiding spot under the deck only to lay down by the pond
and not move. We tried enticing him with words, tugs and his
favorite treat, hot dogs with cheese. After none of these worked
we know something was seriously wrong...especially when the
weiners didn't do the trick. After awhile he stopped responding
to our voices so it was time to call the vet. I prepared the family
that it didn't look good and to take some time and say goodbye.
After about a half an hour of the vet checking him over and talking
to us about every option, we made the hard decision to end his pain.
So, with everyone standing and petting and talking softly to our
beautiful white dog, the vet sent him off to a permanent sleep.
Everyone, even the 21 year old guys who had come over to play
volleyball, fought back tears. The vet, who knew Neeko from many past
visits to doctor my horses, was also shaken. It all happened so quickly and we didn't have much time to prepare for his death. He was 9
years old, which is old for a large breed dog but up until last week he
was bounding around like a puppy greeting us with his curled-lip smile
and making sure we were all safe from the evils that lurk around our
house.
The vet thought that he had a tumor on his spine that
affected his hind quarters. We had the option to try steroids but with only a very small chance of it working we made the decision to put him out of his pain. The hole he's left in our hearts is as big as he was. We’ve had Great Pyrenees for 15 years so the thought of not having a huge white puff ball of a dog running around our farm was unbearable. Sunday I was looking online at our state's farm paper and on the 1st line of classified ads what do you think I found? Great Pyrenees puppies! At that moment I knew we HAD to get another Pyr and with the families blessing, I made an appointment to go see a litter of 8 pups on Wednesday. I’m sure Neeko would approve. GOOD BYE MY DEAR FRIEND. REST IN PEACE.
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