Ankle Sprain, Master Chief Pinning & Gardenia Tip of the Year!!

Good Evening - We must be livin right! We got to the Portsmouth Hospital in 32 minutes and we were out of there in less than an hour!!! That just doesn't happen on a holiday weekend, but we'll take it! Fortunately, Caitlyn only sprained her ankle so she has it wrapped and already had crutches and a boot from her stress fracture in April. Caitlyn wasn't exactly pleased that I brought my phone/camera in, but pictures were taken :)

I was hoping the Dr. wouldn't notice all of the bruises she has and question my parenting :)  We're not sure what happened to her legs, but it appears as though she is beating herself up at night with a quarter size object.  She has little round bruises all over her legs and arms.  Very very strange!

Here are some other photos that I have had to post for a few weeks.

Caitlyn and her friend Donovan at the Styx concert

Picture of Heidi on 7-4-10 ... with her "flippy" hair :)

Dan's pinning ceremony on 7-1-10.  His best friend and mentor Chuck Thompson (far left) and I pinned on his Master Chief anchors at a ceremony in his building in Norfolk, VA.  Caitlyn and our good friend Donna (used to live next door to us) were there to share in the momentous occasion. It was quite emotional and took me forever (I'm not kidding) to pin his anchor on, but I got it on without poking it into his shoulder.  Captain Nagle is the one to Dan's right.  He presented the award which was wonderful!  Dan has a lot of respect for him and it was really fortunate that he took the time to do this. 

I swear that we did not Photo shop this!!  Caitlyn took this of Gunner this weekend and it reminded us of those "Big Dog" cards you can get at the Hallmark store.  He was a little "crazed" because we had just given him a bone to eat from the pork butt that Dan smoked.  Can you tell that he really liked it :)

Another photo of Gunner ... this summer he has decided he doesn't mind the water so much.  He actually just climbs on the rafts with us now.  He's 11yrs old and the vet thought he was the youngest of the 3 of them.  We just spoke with someone who met a couple that had a German Shepherd that was 18yrs old and still really healthy.  They said that when he turned 11yrs old they fed him an Ensure drink for breakfast every morning.  So, I think we might just try that with our pups.  Gunner has joint problems so maybe this will help with that, as well.  We'll see :)

GARDENIA TIP OF THE YEAR!!!

I love gardenia's!!!  My grandparents had a huge gardenia at their front door and I remember walking into their house and smelling the beautiful scent of the gardenias.  Needless to say ... I have killed my fair share of Gardenias since we moved here.  Its been an ongoing bet between Dan and Caitlyn whenever I buy another one on how many months (or weeks) it will last.  On our last "Gardenia Home Depot Trip" where I convinced Dan to buy one more ... a woman was in front of us and she gave us the tip of the year!!  She said to put PICKLE JUICE on them!!  They like acidic ground and she said it will help them live.  She was right!  Our gardenias are flowering and growing like crazy!!  You wouldn't believe it.  I successfully emptied 4 jars of pickles on them leaving Cat with very wimpy pickles after sitting in the jar with no juice :)  Dan finally gave in and bought me the BIG jar of pickles at the commissary and I ground up the pickles and juice in our Vita Mix and put the mix on them.  I think its helping with bugs, too.  Its no wonder our backyard doesn't smell like a garlic farm :)