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.