Saying Goodbye to 2009

I have been stressing out about getting my annual holiday letter done and having enough time to go print it out (and mail the cards, and finish shopping, and wrapping presents)..I wanted to include photos of our year because we have a lot of great ones..so I found a program that creates newsletters...but before I knew it I had a 4 page newsletter to print out to approximately 60 people on my Christmas card list (that's a lot of color photocopies).. Then it hit me...(lightbulb went on!)...I should BLOG my annual Christmas letter...So in the spirit of living GREEN (saving paper, a trip to the photocopy store, ink, etc)..I am going to put my Holiday Letter on my blog from now on. That way, those who are interested in reading about our year can just go online and check it out..and those who can't be bothered don't need to worry about recycling the paper. If you don't have internet access then hopefully you can use a friends or go to the library...

This year has had it’s share of ups and downs. I will try to spare you the downs (like my battle with the Great Depression of 2009) and focus on the ups in this annual update.

January- Grace turned 5 and celebrated with friends at Pump It Up. She had a sleepover with her cousins the night before and they decorated two butterfly cakes. Auntie Jenni was here to celebrate and created crysalis rice krispie treats to go with the Butterfly theme..they were tasty!

In January we welcomed a new family member- Kipper, a 2 yr old pekingese-chihuahua mix- he was run over by a truck and needed surgery his owner’s couldn’t afford. They asked me if any rescue group would save him...Needless to say, one look at those big brown eyes and it was all over. We also saved a Shih Tzu named Amber and her newborn puppy we named Candy. We found them both great homes :)

In April we flew down to California to meet a couple of our friend’s new babies- Lindsey's baby Hunter and Steph's baby Amelia. While we were down there we also went to Disneyland and to a Kimya Dawson concert in West Hollywood. Grace even got to sing “Alphabutt” on stage with Kimya!


We spent many Tuesdays in 2009 driving down to Olympia to sing with the Olympia Free Choir... It is a community choir started by Kimya Dawson that welcomes anyone, any age, race, sexual orientation, with or without singing ability! There are fabulous people in the choir and just singing for a couple hours with them can take all your blues away...In the Summer we sometimes sang in the park by the lake. We also had some performances including the Grand Reopening of the Olympia Library and other community events...Our lives have gotten so busy that we haven't been able to make it to choir practice recently but plan to make it a priority in 2010.. (search YouTube for other videos of our performances).

In June, Grace graduated from Learning Ladder Preschool. The graduation ceremony was held at the Fox Island Park.

In July our pony Checkers moved over here from Idaho. He lives on our neighbors pasture across the street. We love having Checkers nearby! (thank you Dave and Tesa!)

In July I attended the AVMA Veterinary Conference in Seattle with friend and colleague Dr. Rachel Daly from Rhode Island. We hiked to the base of Snoqualmie Falls and captured the amazing rainbow below!

In August we flew to Kauai for a beautiful beach wedding (congratulations Kelly Jo & Brian!). Grace is happy to travel to any warm, beachy destination. We hiked to a waterfall, swam in the ocean and discovered Waimea Canyon..

In August we also adopted an older Chinese Crested from a rescue group. Mitchell has a heart murmur and needed a home who would work up his heart condition and give him his medications. He is a pretty good dog overall...he is a bit hard of hearing and has an ear piercing 'shriek' instead of a bark, but he leaves the cats alone and sometimes wrestles with Kipper.

In August I also lost my last grandparent. Margaret Rose "Grandmom" Thomas, the 93 (almost 94) year old matriarch of the Thomas family passed away after a short illness. We miss her...
In September Grace started Kindergarten at Voyager Elementary School. So far she loves everything about school- especially riding the bus (her cousins also ride the bus) and recess! She is learning how to read and write and is excited about her first loose tooth!

October took me to Cancun Mexico for a week long volunteer spay neuter campaign with Vet Ventures- 300 dogs and cats were fixed.. And one stray dog flew back home to America. Pedro is currently taking applications on Craigslit for the perfect family :)

I flew to Philadelphia from Mexico (picking up Grace in Houston) and traveled to Atlantic City to visit my cousin Bob (in the hospital with severe head trauma after an accidental fall) on his birthday October 24th. We also got to visit with my oldest and dearest friend Sheila (who shares Bob’s birthday and is the love of Bob's life...) Thanks to the power of prayer and a bit of luck and will and determination, Bob is continuing to make a miraculous recovery...I can't wait to see him again! I hope he will be able to come to Seattle for Bumbershoot in 2010.. (Bumbershoot is his favorite thing about Seattle)

In November Grace and I flew to Paris to celebrate my 40th birthday (see prior blog entries for details)... We had a fabulous trip! Before we left my friends threw me a surprise birthday party and I got cherry red highlights in my hair!

This month we went to see the Pacific NW Ballet perform the Nutcracker -I took Grace, Savannah and Madisyn up early and we went ice skating at the Seattle Center. Everyone had fun!

We also went to Leavenworth for the Christmas Lighting Festivities...we brought Raven with us since this is going to be her last Christmas.
Raven (11 1/2) was recently diagnosed with an aggressive lymphoma. I gave her three rounds of chemotherapy and she is currently in remission..but sadly it's only a matter of time before the cancer is back. She is acting and feeling like her old self right now so we are spoiling her as much as we can! And Rocky (13 1/2), who is Raven's 'big sister' was just diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis.. right now she is doing a little better but I know her time with us is coming to an end. Patrick a.k.a. Patty-Catty is almost 15 and was just diagnosed with chronic renal failure. He has been one of the best cats I've ever had (some of you may remember years ago when he used up a couple of his nine lives after being hit by a car and suffering head trauma and skull fractures) and I will be so sad when he is gone.. Needless to say, we are cherishing the time we have left with all our geriatric pets.

In March I accepted a Part Time position as Lead Veterinarian at Coalition Humane Spay Neuter Clinic in Tacoma- I am working there now two days/week. And in September I cut back to part time at The Animal Emergency Clinic (also two days/week) to have more time to spend with Grace (and more nights asleep in bed instead of awake at work). I took a significant pay cut and lost my benefits..but in the end, quality family time is more important than career. Grace is growing up so fast, soon she will be a teenager and won't want to hang out with me!

I am also starting my own housecall euthanasia business this year as an additional source of income and because there is a need in our community. We probably won't be taking any big vacations this year to exotic lands...but we hopefully we will continue to grow closer as a family...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
Love, Suzanne & Grace

Au Revoir Paris

Well it's just after midnight, our plane is leaving in 12 hours, the shuttle will be here to pick us up in 7.5 hours...everything is all packed up, Grace is sleeping, and I am going to write my last blog entry for our time in Paris.. I am tired but am having travel/flying anxiety and know that if I try to sleep that sleep won't really come..
Grace woke me up just before 10 and we headed out sometime after 11...Today we were going to a Metro station in the opposite direction of the one we usually go to.. There were a lot of people out and about, then I remembered it was Saturday! The photography shop we walk by every night was actually open. I thought it was only a photography studio but I was wrong. He also sells antique/vintage old photos- he has hundreds of them.. Probably picked up at flea markets.. I started looking through them because in his window I saw one of a Boston Terrier that he had done some hand coloring on and it was fabulous (but a bit pricey).. I became mesmerized by these old photos.. Old memories of people long gone.. babies, kids, candid shots, portraits, travel photos, landscapes.. They were mostly tiny (wallet size to 3x5) but some were bigger. I then decided I wanted to buy one but which one should I buy? Of course then I decided I wanted to find a cool one with a dog or cat...this was a more challenging feat. Because then my OCD self felt like I needed to look at all of them (which was impossible) while my impatient child was bored out of her gourd. The shop is tiny.. The man set up a chair so that Grace could sit in it and he even brought her an old fashion Mickey Mouse viewfinder to look at.. (because she was busy taking self portraits of herself with her camera) Then he offered to take her picture "As a gift".. He used an old fashioned camera that takes 4 pictures and they print out on one sheet (like the photo booths of today but the pictures are in a square rather than a strip).. They turned out cute! I finally found a photo of a woman (who looks very French) on a balcony hugging a cat, and a photo of a retriever type dog with a child against a brick wall.. Not sure how I will display them yet but they were fun to find. After leaving the photography shop we headed to the Metro and ended up at the Trocodero station. We bought lunch from a stand- a hot dog served in a baguette that has been warmed up in a panini press.. And a crepe avec sucre (sugar)..and ate it on a bench overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Then we went to the (overpriced) Paris Aquarium. It was an interesting aquarium. They have the fish. They had some cool eels. Pretty tropical fish too.. But then they also show different films in multiple open theaters. The chairs to sit in and view the fish are red chairs in the shape of a hand. Then we came across a wall that children could paint on. The kids were having fun painting fish. That was pretty cool. The touching pool was a koi pond (and Grace loved it). Santa even made an appearance while we were there!
After leaving the aquarium I wanted to check out the Christmas Market on Champs Elysee (to make sure I wasn't missing out on an opportunity to buy any cool art or handmade stuff before I leave).. We got off at the Franklin D Roosevelt stop and it put us right in front of the Disney Store! It was packed in there and after the EuroDisney meltdown I refused to go in.. So we were walking down the street and came upon a huge crowd in front of Quiksilver/Roxy. Turns out the professional skateboarders/Tony Hawk Show was in town and they were out in front signing autographs! The crowd was mostly young French skaters and they were so excited to get their boards and posters signed...Grace was able to wriggle her way towards the front and ask to be in a picture with a couple of them (Sandro Dias and Kevin Staab)..We couldn't get close to Tony. Actually I am not even 100% sure he was there it was so crowded. But anyhow that was kinda cool and exciting. Wish we could have seen them perform- they were having the show tonight in the Grand Palais- the first time a skateboarding event has been held there...And it was probably amazing.. (I've always had a thing for skater boys ;)
So the Christmas market was kind of a disappointment for me (but not my pocketbook)..but not for Grace. She got to ride a carrousel, slide down a huge slide (twice) and play in a bounce-house park..She had a blast. We did buy a Belgian waffle with whip cream that was tasty...After the market we made our way to the Concorde station and took it to Grand Avenues..I wanted to eat dinner at the Chartier Restaurant (recommended by a friend)..We found it easily (just around the corner from the station) and got a table right away. We ordered tomato and cucumber salad and crudettes (shrimp) for appetizers, Grace ordered spaghetti bolognese.. and I had the boeuf bourguignon (beef stew).. And I am not really a fan of beef stew so I am not sure why I ordered it other than they were featuring it and I decided I should have something "French". (and I wasn't sure what most of the other stuff on the menu was but I knew I didn't want anything "tartare").. By the time we left the restaurant was literally PACKED... a group of at least 60 people came in (maybe from a tour bus?)..So I am glad we got there when we did. We briefly walked down a covered shopping passage next to the Wax Museum and found a toy shop that sold anything and everything you need for making a custom dollhouse...We took our last Metro ride home and worked on writing our 44 postcards together. Grace decorated some with custom drawings... (we had 45 stamps but Grace over licked one and it won't stick anymore).. Then we went down to the mail box a few blocks away and mailed them.. Hopefully we put them in the correct box! Since then I have been packing and organizing and cleaning (there is a hefty security deposit on the line).. I can't find one of Grace's VANS..but it definitely isn't here. So if it's not at home then I lost it in the hotel in Seatac or our hotel the first night in Paris..C'est la vie...she would have outgrown them soon anyhow (although they are the coolest shoes ever! Rainbow unicorns and all)
It definitely has been a great week in Paris.. The weather was good, the people were nice, the city is beautiful, there is so much to see and do....We should have kept a dog tally but by far the most popular breed here is the Jack Russell Terrier, followed by the Yellow (then Black) Lab.. We saw one or two Cavaliers, one Papillon, a few French Bulldogs, a Boxer, a Brittany, a Golden, some Shih Tzus and Yorkies, and a black Cocker Spaniel (for those of you who may be interested!). We can't wait to get home to our menagerie... :) Bon Nuit!