Quincy’s Top 10 10 If you came into our house your shoes were stolen GUARANTEED. Never chewed because he just wanted to play and get attention
9. LA Beaches are not dog friendly, so I used have to sneak him on to the beach at 6am to go running. While I would run he would follow me and take swims. On 2 occasions we were chased by the LA Animal Control and successfully outran a $500 ticket.
8. He was a much better surfer than me. I could throw a Frisbee out into 6 foot waves and he could navigate the break to avoid being pounded and then amazingly time the waves to ride them perfectly back in.

7. He ate an entire chicken carcass and was sick as a dog but SURVIVED. I don’t mean just a couple bones, we are talking breast, wings, legs and everything. By the way he didn't learn his lesson because he did it again 4 months later.
6. He ate my drivers license and credit cards TWICE within 3 months. The first time I had to fly out the very next day. Try talking your way onto to a flight and into a rental car with half a license.

5. He was a master food thief. Almost every meal he would wait for one of the kids to drop their guard for just a second. He would then come up from under the table like Jaws and attack their hand or plate. All you would see is wild eyes, teeth, food and then hear the cries of our kids
4. Karen spent two days baking and carving a homemade Choo Choo Train birthday cake for Landon’s 1st birthday. I was upstairs and literally heard Karen screaming like somebody just died. I came downstairs and Quincy in a single leap had jumped up onto the counter and taken a massive bite out of the locomotive’s engine. We used extra frosting and cake crumbs to rebuild.
3. While running on the beach we spotted a 6 foot sea lion on the shore. Quincy ran ahead of me to charge it and I thought it was going to be the end of him. At the last second he stopped dead in his tracks about 10 feet away from it. They both looked in each others eyes and Quincy went smartly around.
2. Quincy to his detriment used to love to eat all the junk he found at the beach and it was my job to wrestle it from him. He was eating what looked like a stick, only when I pulled it out of his mouth it wasn’t a stick. It was a petrified rat and the stick was the rat’s tail. I don’t think I have ever washed my hands so many times.
1. 100% TRUE: We were walking him on our friends street and Quincy saw a really nice house with a pool. He ran under the fence and immediately dove in. The owners were right there and this guy angrily reached into the pool and pulled Quincy out by the scruff of his neck and walked him back over to us. It was Christian Bale. Quincy was rescued by Batman.
0. When we lived in Venice, Quincy was like the Mayor. All the homeless people absolutely loved him. He was like Mother Theresa and he would disgustingly wash their feet with his tongue. I would be walking down the street and people would be shouting Quincy from every street corner.<

Quincy: A Eulogy

I have so many memories of Quincy flooding through my head over these past weeks as we realized he would not be with us much longer. I need to write them down now so they do not pass along with him. I will never forget picking Quincy up in July 2003 from Oxnard. I was so nervous, having never owned a dog before. I read about how puppies can get carsick and I worried the whole drive home, down PCH listening to David Grey, that he would puke on me. He didn't.

He was our first baby. We read books about puppies, we did all we could to give him a good start to life. He traveled with us to faraway lands, like Catalina, Palm Springs, Carmel, & Big Bear. He traversed the wild streets of Venice on a daily basis. He made friends with all the homeless people and we joked that he was like the mayor of Venice because all his friends would call out to him, "hey Quincy!" as he walked his usual routes. He was just as likely to kiss a baby's toes as to lick a homeless person's toes. If you think about that enough, you will likely gag. He would start licking and I would be pulling him away, "okay, Quincy it's time to go!", needless to say with panic and repulsion in my voice.
He was known to chew things up, namely Jon's wallet, twice, and my wedding shoes, thankfully after the wedding was over. He would bite me with his razor puppy teeth to the point I might have cried a time or two. 

Quincy loved the beach, especially Marina Del Rey. He loved to swim. He loved to get super sandy and wet and stand right next to you before shaking sandy water all over you. He could swim for hours if you let him. Quincy brought many special families into our lives who we never would have met if not on the beach via our pups.

 

 

He loved both of our babies from the moment we brought them home, even as their arrivals knocked him down the totem pole of our family structure. I was the most guilty of this, leaving Jon to happily continue to tend to Quincy's needs as I focused on the children. Quincy did not have a mean bone in his body and loved to be around Avery and Landon, especially at meal times.

 

 

 

 

 
He learned very early on as Avery began to eat solids that the best place to be was directly under a young child's place at the table. We eventually had to lock him in the laundry room during meals so he wouldn't find opportune times to steal a peanut butter sandwich, destroy a birthday cake, or eat 2 whole chicken carcasses in the course of 1 week. He could eat and eat and eat. 
As his paw started dragging and his head started tilting, we did not realize how quickly things would progress to where he couldn't walk without assistance. Never have we been faced with such a difficult decision in our family as to when to take him to the vet to receive medicine to end his suffering. Today was that day. We are heartbroken. Beyond heartbroken. There will be no scuffle of his paws downstairs, no more barking when someone come to the door, no more tail wagging when the kids come home from school, no more belly rubs, no more swimming in the sea.
You were the best dog, Quincy, Quinny-bin, Quinny-bear, Quinny-boo, Quiny Binny Boo, Booboo bear, Pupa Pa Nub, Pupa Dupa, Pupa Lupa. Thank you for teaching me how to love a dog and for forgiving me those times when I didn't love you the way you deserved (like when I would curse your name as I vacuumed your white fur off our black floors, endlessly).

Long Time No Blog

It's been over a year since I posted anything here. I have major feelings of guilt about not documenting my children's lives, especially Landon's. I mean really, how long will he be 3? How long was he 2? 365 days. Why can't I find/make the time in those 365 days to write a little something? At least Avery got some good coverage for the first few years of her life. I am not a scrap booker, not even a Shutterfly scrap booker, so this is it. And so I try again, working backward from today.
This kid is a piece of work. He is delightful at times and challenging at others. The other day I walked into the bathroom to find this. 

He always asks, "who gave me this?". Sadly (or interestingly) most of the things he asks this about are things that were given to Avery when she was little. For example, Rocky the rocking horse that our dear friends the Hollands gave Avery when she was two. I tell him the horse's name is Rocky and he says, "No, I don't like that name, his name is do la ja wo gee jo." Okay kid, whatever you say.

Self-portrait

The week before Open House, Avery's homework was to add hair to the self portrait she drew at school. I went to Target, who knew Target doesn't sell yarn? But as I drove to Michaels I talked to my sweet sister about my yarn dilemma. She said they would have yarn that matched her hair exactly. Turns out they did have every color under the sun and even some curly yarn. Avery insisted that the yarn be "golden".We got to view this on display at Open House. We were so proud of all the work we saw that Avery had done throughout the year. On her desk was a folder of her writing from the year, in chronological order. It was amazing to see the progress she has made with writing. I had to run off to night shift after open house so I was distracted and did not bring my phone to take the quintessential "kid with the teacher" picture. But I do have this picture from when Avery won an award for Achievement in writing in February. She loves loves loves her teacher Ms. Hodges.

Jon did take one picture from the art show in the cafeteria, entitled "Starry Beach Night", inspired by my fave, Vincent van Gogh. I LOVE the lifeguard stand and palm tree.

Frozen at the beach

We are having a drought and unseasonably hot weather this spring. One day after school the 4 of us headed to the beach. Jon and I noticed something bobbing south along the waves. We could not tell if is was a raft, with or without someone holding on, or what it ended up to be: a bundle of balloons. The waves brought the balloons to shore and Jon ran over to grab them before they were taken back out to sea. Imagine the kids' great delight to see that they were Frozen balloons. Elsa on one side, Anna on the other. My kids have been Obsessed with Frozen since they saw it in the theater. They love to listen to and sing all the songs. When we go to Whole Foods these days, Landon makes me get him a large single carrot so he can pretend to be Olaf. So they were overjoyed to play with this find for the rest of our time at the beach.

Curious Troublemaker

Landon is not really a kid who can be left alone for extended periods of time. This morning in particular he was experimenting with band aids. Not only did he cover both his nose and mouth (not a good idea) but he also stuck a big band aid on his eye and beautiful long eyelashes. He did not like when I had to peel that one off. Now he knows what happens when one sticks band aids all over their face.