Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Playing Hooky

Bruce and I had been planning on having a family day out all winter vacation. To accomplish this, Bruce had to be off work as well as the kids off school. The days surrounding Christmas were spent with family who came in from out of state. (We really enjoyed having you Greg and Mindy, and hope that you come again soon! Maybe we'll have our bathrooms remodeled by next time!) No problem, Bruce had Friday and Monday surrounding New Year's Eve off too, so did the kids (at least that's what I thought.) Friday and Saturday were hunting season for Bruce and Lydia, so those days were out. So we planned to go on Monday. However upon checking the actual schedule (always a good thing to do) I found out that the kids were supposed to go to school on Monday. DRAT!! We have a membership to the science center, but it expires at the end of the month. Anyway, we deliberated long about it, we prayed about it, and in the end, we pulled the kids out of school for a family day at the science center. I told the kids that this kind of thing will never happen again, so don't even ask. It's probably a good thing that we went on Monday, because I came down sick on Tuesday, and if normal family policy stands true, it will take a week or two to get it through the whole family.

Call me a bad parent if you want, but it was one of our best days ever!

There is nothing in this world better than a 2 year old hug. (Bruce says that it looks like my head is coming out of his body backwards.)

Here we are inside a nose at the grossology exhibit.

This is just a whacky picture that I found when I took the pictures off the camera this time. Check out where Clayton is sitting.

On a completely unrelated topic, we've been having problems with Ally (our 6 month old puppy) running wild when ever the front door is opened. I can't tell you how many things this dog has made me late for. No matter how hard we try, she always manages to dart out between the legs of whoever is opening the front door, and then she's off like a shot. There is NO getting her back either. It's a complete game to her. Well I got sick of playing, so I finally gave in and bought a remote controlled shock collar online. It came this morning. Upon opening the package I had a laugh. Look at how big the collar is. It would fit around a grizzly bear's neck! I'd hate to see the dog that it would fit!

Anyway I adjusted the mile long thing to fit her neck, and I couldn't resist testing it out. I set the dial to the lowest setting. I opened the front door and let her out into the yard. Off she ran; I called her and when she ignored me I pushed the button. (Unfortunately I pushed the wrong button. There is one for the stimulation setting that the dial reads, and there is a button that gives the stimulation two notches up from what the dial reads.) I pushed the button for two steps up. Oops! Well she yelped stopped. I called her and again pressed the wrong button. (Only the second time did I realize my mistake). She yelped and ran back to me. We hung out in the yard for a few minutes. Our neighbor came walking down the street. Ally ran out to greet them. I let her go to the end of the yard and told her to stop. When she continued, I gave her a little shock (this time with the right button). Amazingly, she ran right back to me. Yay for miracles! The down side is that I think she thinks she's in danger if she isn't right on my heels. She's been shadowing me ever since. I really don't think we'll need this thing for long. I just hope she isn't smart enough to figure out that it doesn't work if she's not wearing it.

7 comments:

timpani76 said...

That's the husky in her that makes her run like that! They are born and bred to run.

I can't tell you how many times my sister has had to drive around to track down her husky (especially when Paradise was young, he's 12 years old now, so no problem). He would just take off, and run and run and run. They had to pay to get him out of a shelter, at least twice that I can think of. They found him once in a neighbor's yard, who claims he was not going to keep him, but he pretty obviously was trying to keep him. He took off while I was taking care of him one time, and he can run so fast I was terrified. I finally found him in the car after driving around for 10 minutes.

That shock collar sounds like a great idea!

Law Fool said...

I love the hug picture! Too cute.

Eyepoke said...

I wouldn't hesitate at all to yank my kids out of school for something cool like that. It's only the Illinios public school system, it's not like they are going to miss anything earth shattering. SOunds like you all had fun.

Sorry youre sick!

Laurie Von said...

ditching school is always fun and worth it. we did it for a disneyland trip to avoid long lines--brilliance. i love the picture of you all beings boogers, that's awesome.

Renae said...

We're a bunch of bugers. Ha-ha!!

Timpani, I'm loving this shock collar! It's like I have a whole new dog! Where can I get one of these for my four year old? ;)

John, I wasn't worried about the learning that they would miss out on. I was worried that I was telling them that it's okay to play hooky. I'm glad that we did it. It was a great day! I'm also glad that I prayed about it, because my conscience is not bothering me even a little bit.

Here's a question: How come the spell check thing doesn't work in the title? Or did it, and I just ignored it? Now I have to go and change my title. I hate looking like a moron by having a misspelled title!

Janiebelle007 said...

Dogs are super smart. YOu really should go to PetSmart and take her to puppy class. Trust me, it is amazing. And work on come. Get a huge long leash, rope, whatever. A horse lunge line is best. clip to the collar and get some string cheese. Let her go a bit ont he leash and call her. Then make it exciting and make an idiot of yourself by calling "Here puppy , puppy" and when she comes give her a small piece of cheese. She only gets cheese when she comes. If she doesn't come pull her and say come and give her the cheese. You get the idea.OUr pup will come even when he is playing with the neighbor dog.

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