Sunday, July 31, 2011

Goodbye Hailie

It's been nearly two weeks since we lost Hailie. I've wanted to write a little something and put up some old pictures of her but, because of her death and many other reasons, it's been a busy and difficult time and I haven't yet had the chance.

Last night we scattered her ashes in the mountains near my mom's house and it seemed like as good an occasion as any to motivate me to finally write up her digital eulogy.




When the dogs were younger I'd let them run and play in clearing just outside my mom's place in Silverthorne. One winter Bowen jumped into an icy lake but that's a story for another time. The three photos above are of the dogs playing in the same area where we scattered Hailie's ashes. They loved playing there so hopefully it's a fitting place for the scattering. We always said Hailie looked like a little deer when she'd run though tall grass because she kind of jumped and bounced. So it was somewhat fitting that we saw a young deer bound though the woods last night shortly after we had our little ceremony.


She was loved
The boys have definitely had a hard time with her loss but it's hard for them to articulate it at their young age. The day after Hailie's passing LT wanted to do an art project for her. It was the sweetest and most heart wrenching thing I've seen in a long time. I guess he gets that sentimental streak from me - when it started to become clear that the end was near, I grabbed my camera and tried to capture a few final photos of our sweet girl. The shot above with Kari and LT is one of the last pictures I have of her (Adler was asleep and probably wouldn't have sat still for a photo anyway).


Bowen came over while I was taking pictures and laid down next to Hailie and, it's probably just a silly coincidence, but they put their paws together like they were holding hands.


Kari wasn't a dog person but becoming a part of my family has changed that. Hannah and Daisy, our family dogs from my childhood, started to change her. Then my dad got Molly when he was living in Texas. Molly was an ugly but unbelievably sweet little Boxer girl and I think she really won Kari over. Trevor, a friend of ours, had a wonderful female Boxer named Baylee and fate was sealed when Kari found out that Baylee's sister was having a litter of pups.

Kari's more impulsive that I am and I never would have gotten a dog at that stage of life. But once I realized she'd made her mind up, I embraced it fully. So while Hailie was really Kari's dog, I treated her like she was my own. I helped Kari chose Hailie from photos of the litter of pups and by 'helped' what I mean is that I absolutely insisted that she get the one little girl. She is #2 in the photo above with her three brothers.



This is Trevor with Hailie as a puppy and above that is a picture of Hailie with his dog, and her aunt, Baylee.



I'm biased, of course, but I think she was a very cute puppy.

The summer we got her, I'd just been laid off so I became the stay at home puppy parent. Despite it being the second time I'd been canned by the same boss, we were still friends, so one day I took Hailie on a playdate to play with her dog Gizmo. Giz was nice enough to let her win some of the wrestling matches.


She was also very good buddies with Cory, my mom's dog at the time. I did eventually find a job so when my stay at home parent days ended, Hailie would sometimes go to 'daycare' at my mom's house during the day and hang out with Cory.


Going to the park one day with Hailie puppy and a little girl that Kari was nannying for, I think, was the first time I realized that I'd probably marry Kari and someday have a family with her. I also think it was the first time I realized that that was okay (a big realization for a guy in his early 20's).

And some years later I would have that family and this picture of LT with Hailie always reminds me of the one above it and that transitional moment in my life.


She and Bowen were with us when we got engaged in Estas Park.


Before we got Bowen I'd let her run off leash in the parks and play with other dogs. Which she loved and people always referred to her as "the happy Boxer."


The addition of Bowen to our family defiantly changed life for Hailie (as would LT and Alder some years later).

But they were good buddies.

Hailie had already 'graduated' from puppy class but got to do it again with her new brother. She was a star student while Bowen wasn't exactly at the top of the class.


She did love to run and play but maybe more than anything she loved to snuggle.

Here she and Molly (who I mentioned earlier) are snugging with my dad.

Cory, like it or not, was one of her favorite snuggle buddies. Shown above after a fun day swimming and playing at a dog park.


But just about anytime was a good time to snuggle with Cory.


She, like most dogs, also liked windows - especially this floor to ceiling window at my old apartment.


And she's aways been kind of a princess. We had a terrible time getting her to use the dog door when we finally moved to a house that had a yard. It was such an accomplishment when she finally started using it that I took a picture as proof or commemoration (can't remember which).

Speaking of being a princess - I took her skiing one day at Mt. Evans. She was very happy on the hike up but didn't want to come down where we skied. I thought she'd eventually follow me but she stood at the top and cried and cried. I skied about half way down but eventually I had to hike straight back up the chute to get her and come back down the long way.


The next summer when we tried it Kari went with us without skis so Hailie could hike the part she liked but not the scary part.


Anyway, if you've made it this far, thanks for letting me indulge with all these old photos of my baby girl. I had a hard time just getting down to this many - I have tons and tons more.

I don't know a better way to memorizer her than to celebrate her life. She was a wonderful dog and I think she had a happy life with us. I know we were happy and lucky to have her in our lives.

I hope that, wherever she is now, she is being met with the same gentle love and kindness that she brought into our lives.

We love and miss you, Hailie.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Brothers in jammies

These pictures are from a few weeks ago. LT, Alder and I walked to the nearby park and apparently we decided it'd be a good idea to wear their matching jammies.



The boys are similar in many ways but also different in some significant ways too. Here Adler shows his unique attributes of being relatively fearless.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Adler naps

We had quite an emotional week with Hailie's passing (Brian will add some incredible pictures of her with stories later). Every one of us reacted to this differently. Adler fell asleep in various places each day. One day he insisted on getting off the bed and fell asleep on the floor next to the bed.


He snuggled with Hailie on our bed for naptime the day before we lost her. So sweet.And fell asleep sitting up in the closet while I was petting Hailie. His sleep is becoming more regular again and the intense pain of loss for the rest of us seems to fade a bit more each day.

Canon Ball and swimming

Today, LT swam across the deep end of the pool with his teacher right next to him, but no help! He also did a canon ball into the pool and managed to get across the pool with a little help from Carole!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Lucky Boys

The boys are lucky to have Kari as a mom (at least I think so anyway). She's always coming up with fun and creative things for them to do. The other day was shaving cream in the water table which was a huge hit.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

First round of Telluride

A good family friend of mine got married in Telluride this past weekend. We decided to make a family vacation out of this destination wedding. Brian's mom kindly joined us for the trip and watched the boys a lot for us!

Adler had no idea what he was getting himself in to when we strapped him in last Friday morning. They were both amazing travelers for such a long haul.

Brian and I brought our mountain bikes with the hopes that we could convince someone to watch our boys for a few hours. Between the wedding, the weather and schedules, it was difficult, but we managed to head out one afternoon for a pretty good ride. The views were breathtaking (as they are anywhere in the San Juans), but its particularly gorgeous in Telluride.
I wish I had taken more pictures on our ride, but I was trying to keep up with Brian, beat the stormy weather and keep myself upright.
We looked out of our hotel window one afternoon and a little deer friend was visiting.
LT did some art, as usual.
Probably the highlight of the trip for the boys was the most incredible pool I have ever seen. It was nestled on a hill with views of the mountains. The pool was, in LT's words, "really warm, perfect warm, super warm". The kids jumped off the sides to us, LT practiced swimming (Bri has a great video of LTs progress in swimming). Its amazing, just a month ago, we could hardly get LT in the pool and now he's swimming. The pool was also right under the gondola, which was fun for the boys to watch.
LT has been really into rainbows lately. He draws them, glues paper together to make them and is always looking for them. We've had a pretty rainy summer, but surprisingly have seen few rainbows. On our last night, as we were packing, we looked out the window to see this beautiful rainbow. I couldn't see the whole thing because of the building, but a friend of mine who was up there took a picture and it was indeed a full rainbow!
Our journey home was a little longer than our drive to Telluride. Both ways we took the most beautiful route through from Denver to Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Paonia, Hotchkiss, Delta, Montrose and into Telluride. On our trip there, we drove straight to Glenwood Springs, let the boys swim, then they napped in the car and woke up with just an hour or so left. On our way home, we decided to let them swim one last time in the hotel pool and started our long drive a little later in the morning. We only made it an hour before they were hungry for lunch. After lunch, Adler began saying he needed to pee and poop, so we stopped. He has gone pee and poop in the potty a few times and we really didn't want to stop the trend! We stopped soon after lunch again and I took him to the bathroom in Safeway. Nothing. We thought maybe if we let him walk around a little he might poop in his diaper and be happier in the car. LT wanted to stay in the car and so Brian took Adler on a long walk around the field (above). Still no luck, so we went on our way. Not long after, Adler fell asleep, but only for 40 minutes or so. We still had 4 or more hours and weren't sure how things would go. The ride was OK, we made it to Glenwood again, let them play on the playground while I filled up with gas and then continued on our way. LT fell asleep at this point, while Adler played with various toys. We stopped again in Frisco for some dinner and then finished the drive. All in all, not a bad drive either!
On the final stretch into Denver, we saw another FULL rainbow! Brian took some great pictures and hopefully he can fill in the gaps.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Randoms

Pictures seem to just accumulate on my phone. Here are a few from the last month or so.

Sharing an OJ at Little Man's pancake breakfast.

Riding the rocking dog (is that what you call it?) together at the Botanic Gardens gift shop.

Father's day bike ride. LT rode his own bike about half way around Wash Park with us and Kari's parents. It was the first time he'd ridden with us.

And Father's Day ice cream (at Little Man again).

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Lake to Lake Triathlon!

On June 25th, I did the olympic distance Lake to Lake triathlon up in Loveland. Not only was this the first olympic distance tri I have done since the boys were born, it was Bri's first night with both boys alone! Madeleine and I drove up Friday night and met some friends and stayed overnight. The race was a very early start and neither one of us wanted to get up earlier than need be. Brian and the boys (and dogs) did great and Madeleine and I had a blast on race day. I wish I could have carried a camera on the bike course because it was beautiful. The swim was in a lake in Loveland and then we biked on winding country roads north to Horsetooth Reservoir and back. The run partly ran around the lake we swam in, wound through neighborhoods and back. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of Madeleine and I before or after the race, but I took a few pictures of the transition area before the race.
This race is a qualifier race, which means it attracts some incredible athletes. It was really fun to watch the elite group swim, but after that, I never saw them! The bike course was a circle and by the time I was back to begin the run, they were long done. The other amazing thing about this race is that they include disabled athletes. There were several dads who pulled and pushed their completely paralyzed children through the course. I also saw a blind athlete who completed the entire race with a guide. I was proud of myself for finishing the race, but these people blew me away! On my run, I was running just in front of a father pushing his 8 year old child in a stroller (the boy couldn't walk or talk at all). As his father told him they were almost done, the child began screeching in excitement. How lucky for both of them to have each other and compete together.