The Great Pumpkin

Eric's great pumpkin!

Riley Patch Robinson

As we close one chapter, we have opened another. With Molly's passing we quickly realized how incredibly quiet the house was without her. We soon decided to embark on the journey of a new puppy. Riley flew in from Missouri on the 28th of October. He is a handful, but brings a new energy to our household. We have already started puppy classes, and I have to say, I believe he is the smartest pup in the class (there are only three puppies in the class). We have already introduced him to the boat and he seems to like it. Don't let the pictures fool you, he is crazier than he appears. Check out Riley, he is sooooo cute!

Mark and Melissa are finally married!!!!

Its hard to believe, but all the waiting is finally over! Mark and Melissa were happily married October 12th in Laguna Beach. It was fantastic spending time with family and taking in the beach. Thanks to Rob and Nancy, Eric and I had a room right on the beach. I had a great night out with the girls on Friday, and Eric did the same with the guys. There were a few incidences (string ray sting!), but Mark and Melissa were able to persevere through it all and make it to the alter. Melissa made a beautiful bride and Mark was a handsome groom. I am so excited to have a new sister!

One more thing to mention - we had a great baby shower for Jill who is expecting a ______ on ______ (fill in the blank). Several of us have money riding on the gender and due date of the baby! Jill looked fantastic, and we are all excitedly waiting for the babies arrival. If you don't already know about the aliens, don't ask....

Seafood Fest

Back when it was warm in Florida, Eric and I met up with some good friends (and babies) at the Destin Seafood Festival. Just in case anyone was wondering, they did serve food other than seafood! We had a great time walking around the booths, listening to music, and eating fair food. The festival was held at the newly completed Emerald Grand Harbor Walk. It was fun hanging out next to the water with great friends.

Molly

Alright, I know it has been a while and a few of you have been on me to update this blog. I have been avoiding posting anything because I didn't want to post the blog about Molly. Anyways, here I go - from Eric's email, many of you already saw: Just after noon today (September 12th), Molly passed away from pancreatitis and renal (kidney) failure. We first noticed something was wrong on Tuesday, when it looked like she peed blood. We took her straight to the vet thinking she probably had a really bad urinary tract infection. They took a urine culture and sent it to the lab, and prescribed an antibiotic for her probable infection. While at home that night after dinner, she threw up and then continued throwing up throughout the night. We took her to the vet first-thing the following morning. After a blood test, they found her values were extremely abnormal and diagnosed that her kidney was only working at about 25%. They put her on an IV and began treating her for renal failure. When they took another blood sample the following day (Thursday), her values had gotten worse, but they also found that she had pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). They began treating her for that as well in hopes that the pancreatitis was actually skewing her blood values. Sadly, the treatments failed to bring little Molly back to health and she passed away with us and her favorite frisbee by her side.
We are really, really going to miss her. She was an amazingly smart, athletic, loving dog and our best friend. It's going to be very difficult to get passed the fact that she will no longer be following us around everywhere we go, helping us in the yard, going out on the boat, saluting for treats, and giving us that goofy howl and wagging tail, followed by tons of kisses every time we come through the door.

Tanya and Dylan's trip (out on the boat with Jon and Jaime)

Tanya (my former co-worker) and Dylan were down in the panhandle to visit last weekend. They both joined Jonathan, Jaim, Eric, and I for some fun out on the water. It was Dylan's first time on a boat and he did great. Although he was pretty quiet, he perked up towards the end of the afternoon and played in the water. We also were able to meet up with some of the other AFAA people she worked with. We had a great time. Dylan is growing up fast.









Jon and Jaime enjoyed some time behind the boat as well. It was Jaimes first time skiiing behind out boat, and our boats first time pulling a skiier! She was fun to watch.

Mexican Dinner

This is a little late, but I wanted to share the fantastic Mexican feast which was hosted by my good friend Jennifer. She made everything, down to frying up the taco shells. She treated a whole crowd of us to a great meal. We all hope there are more of these meals to come. Thanks Jen!

Welcome Samantha and Gabriel!

Welcome to the world Samantha Annsley and Gabriel Michael Williams! They were born on August 19th (the day after Eric's B day - Ashley and Sean scheduled it to help them remember their children's B day). They are healthy and adorable! Eric and I have already speant some time with the proud parents and both babies. Sean and Ash are natural parents! It is as if they have had twins before! Watch out world, Samantha and Gabe are here! We love them!

Lil Willem

Eric and I are proud to announce that we are god parents to Willem Michael Dvorak - born on our wedding anniversary, May 28th (it was meant to be!). We are honored and excited his parents (Gillian and Travis) chose us to lead Will. We plan on attending his baptism later this year and visiting often. We love you will (and of course Gill and Trav too). Check out this cutie!!!!

BANG!

Check out Molly's new trick!

If you can't tell, I am pretending to shoot her, and she is pretending to be shot (she is not the best actress, but she tries!).

Tiff's Birthday

I know this is a little late. I had a fantastic birthday! I was able to spend it with good friends and food. Thanks to everyone (including my husband) who helped make it memorable. Here are some of the highlights.

Monkey??

Sue, this one is for you...

Fourth!

Eric and I had a busy 4th of July weekend. In addition to celebrating America's independence, we spent time with friends and out on the boat. On the 3rd, we participated in the sound of independence. The Williams were kind enough to allow us to hang out at their house and watch fire works. It was Ashley and Sean's babies first time celebrating the 4th (in womb!). On the 4th, we spent the day out on the water wakeboarding, tubing, and messing around. Although it rained on us, we made it through the day. Lastly, we enjoyed some BBQ at the Ffrench's the evening of the 4th. They had plenty of fireworks of their own. The rest of the weekend I spent encouraging Eric to complete his homework - this was probably the least successful thing we did all weekend.

Amid all the chaos, this past weekend gave Eric and I time to reflect on how lucky we are to live in the great USA. Thank you to all who have fought for our freedom, we appreciate you all!

Dudleys Visit

We had a great time visiting with the Dudleys (Rocky, Maddie, Michelle and Brad) this past weekend. After Eric took them for a tour of his plane, we joined them for a big dinner at McGuire's. Although Eric hasn't seen them in years, I could tell they were old friends! We had a fantastic time and hope to see them next year during their yearly escape to the Emerald Coast.

Molly's Booties

Although we didn't have a very exciting weekend, Molly did! She had so much fun catching the frisbee that she hurt her little paws and had to wear booties.

Wakeboarding!!

We spent a great day wakeboarding, wakeskating, and hanging out this past Saturday. Tiff wakeskated for the first time and Eric landed a 3. We were met out on the water by all of our good friends. We were able to fit all of this in before the clounds rolled in and we were rained on. It was a great weekend!

Happy Fathers Day

We wanted to wish all the fantastic fathers and grandfathers in our lives a great big HAPPY FATHERS DAY! Eventhough we can't be with you, we love you!

Eric and Tiffs European Adventure

We spent two great weeks in Europe (from May 3 through May 16). Eric met me in Frankfurt after a long plane ride from Fort Walton Beach. I learned that Europeans don't wait in lines and Eric learned his way around the Frankfurt Airport. We then set out to take our first train ride. After missing our first train, we caught an ICE train to Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber. We spent one night in this cute little medieval town, which was not destroyed during WWII. In fact our hotel was 500 years old. We did some shopping in the local 24/7 Christmas joint and hit up the local crime and punishment museum. All of this excitement was followed by the night watchman's tour of the city and a walk around the original city wall.

After Rothenburg, we hopped on a train to Munich. Munich was our favorite big city. After dragging our luggage through the city to our hotel, we took a great guided bike tour through Munich (at this point, Eric would want me to tell everyone to take a 'Mikes Bike Tour' if in Munich). We saw all the historic sites: beer gardens, English Gardens, beer gardens, Munich University, beer gardens, and a drainage pipe where people surf. That night we headed to the Hofbrauhaus with some new friends we met on the bike tour. We had a couple beers and some giant pretzels and called it a night. On day two in Munich, we took a guided tour to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was a very sobering experience. Eric and I came back a little more educated and very grateful for everything we have. On day three in Munich, we headed to the Neuschwanstein and Linderhof Castles. Although the day was very rushed, we enjoyed seeing both places. They were absolutely beautiful. You may recognize the Neuschwanstein Castle - it was the model for the Disneyland Castle. We ended our last night in Munich eating at another beer hall, where I accidentally ordered .2 liters of beer. No wonder the waitress looked at me like I was crazy when I ordered my drink!

After our time in Munich we headed to our favorite destination Hallstatt, Austria. It was a beautiful little town on a lake, surrounded by the Alps. While there, we hiked up about 1 million stairs to reach the top of the worlds oldest salt mine and have dinner. The rest of our time there we took in the town, relaxed, and enjoyed our apartment deck.

Our next destination was Salzburg, Austria. Mozart lived there. That's all I have to say about Salzburg.








We took the night train (at 1 am!) to Interlaken, Switzerland. I would avoid this at any cost. That's all I have to say about the night train.






We arrived in Interlaken on a Sunday, the one day during the week when almost everything is closed. After checking into our hotel, Eric and I enjoyed a very expensive breakfast and took a funicular ride up into the Alps. We hiked down through the Alps and enjoyed the many goats and cows wearing bells. During our second day in Switzerland we took a train up into the Alps and biked down. Although Eric almost killed us, it was a rewarding experience.



Our next destination was Colmar, France, which is in the Alsace region. Colmar was spared during WWII. On the day of our arrival we took a short guided tour, viewed some Picasso paintings, and biked. The town was covered with hillside vineyards, which we saw as we biked through France. Eric almost killed us during this bike ride as well.



After Colmar, we headed to our final destination, Bacharach, Germany. Our favorite site while on the Rhine was the Berg-Eltz Castle (which is actually on the Mosel river). Not only is this castle 850 years old, it has been in the same family for 850 years! We were also amazed to see all of the many hillside vineyards, which allows for some of the worlds best wine (or so they claim).


Well, that's it! We had a great time in Europe, but were very happy to return home to our bed and dogs. I left out some of the details, but Eric will be more than happy to fill everyone in on the info I left out.