It's been two years since we lost our sweet Hanna Bear. We still miss her everyday but it was becoming clear that we needed to get a new family dog. We have been working on spending more family time, we decided not to renew our Disneyland passes and most of all, Charlie's little face explodes every time he sees a dog. That kid needed a dog more than any of us! Like a lot of people, I always had the dream that Santa would bring me a dog (or cat, or any animal!) on Christmas morning. We knew we wanted to rescue a dog so things would be tricky timing wise, and weren't going to let that detour us from getting the right dog if it came before or after Christmas. Cut to my incredibly amazing cousin Heather. Heather works at a spectacular shelter in San Luis Obispo (Woods) and knew what we were looking for. She also knows that I've always wanted a Great Dane and even though it wasn't what we were shooting for this time around, when an eleven month old sweetheart dane/lab mix appeared she contacted us right away. Not only contacted - drove him up so we could meet him! THEN she actually agreed to foster him for us until Christmas. We had a few overnights between when she came across him and Christmas and couldn't see leaving him so soon after bringing him home. So she was the best foster momma ever and we are beyond grateful!
Christmas Eve Mike and I drove separately so Heather could bring him over and get him settled in. We had decided instead of attempting to hide him over night, Santa would bring a gift to my Aunt's house saying he was too excited to wait and he dropped off an early gift at our house. We were SO excited but Kendall had spiked her fever and said "Can I go to bed and open it in the morning?" after opening the note. Doh! Mike left before us to get him out in the living room, and the camera set up, for the big revel. As soon as we walked in Kendall perked up and just kept repeating "It's a dog! We got a dog! It's a dog!" Pretty adorable. And Charlie was beside himself excited as well. Side note - Kendall actually asked Santa for a dog all on her own this year. Can't beat that!
Rocky has settled in nicely with our family. He for sure missed Heather (probably still does) but I think he's grown attached to us. Since he is a mix he won't be as huge as a traditional Great Dane, but is still a big boy at about 90 pounds. He is SO calm, and sweet, and gentle. He loves to snuggle - definitely got the giant lap dog trait of the dane. He was pretty well trained to begin with but he is a very quick learner. He has already learned to go lay in the living room when we eat dinner, to sit at corners on walks and to drop toys on command. We got really lucky with such a great dog!
Mike had the camera set up on the tri-pod. I videoed with my phone as well but dropped it on the way in and it swapped to slo-mo. Oh well. The good thing about the kids being so pooped (and K sick) was they were excited but still went right to sleep!
Christmas morning snuggles
Our big and little boys
First family walk Christmas morning
Instantly best buds
First bath
Aunt Mandy and Uncle John got the kids "I love Rocky" shirts. TOO cute!
He curls up SO teeny when he wants to
And then there are those legs!
First day Mike left us for work
Kendall of course had to comfort him
I love this sweet face
New Year with our expanded family
