Scooby Strikes Again

I know you all are anxiously awaiting to hear about yet another "Brown Family" episode, so here it is.........(drum roll)....

Last Saturday morning as we prepared to leave for Christmas in Iowa, we loaded up the van to capacity. Five people...five suitcases...four pillows....four blankets...one bag of snacks...five water bottles....two bags full of gifts...one travel DVD player (a necessity for traveling with 3 kids...although ours broke on the way home)....five winter coats...five pairs of boots...AND two dogs.

Yes...picture me and my husband in the front of the van...then my 2 girls in the middle seat with Sammy (our beagle) sitting on top of them....then my son holding the psychopathic dog Scooby in the back. Actually, he wasn't really holding him as much as he was restraining him from flinging his entire body over the seats to try to come to the front of the van.

The trip to Linton to drop off the dogs at the vet for boarding went smooth. Each dog was obedient and stayed in their assigned seat. Then we arrived at the vet clinic. Yes, this is always a fun time as both dogs anxiously try to propel their bodies out of the van at the same exact time. So you have Sammy carefully hopping out at the same time Scooby thrusts his body through the doorway while dragging my poor son behind.

After the dogs smelled the grass around the clinic, we went inside and then it hit Scooby. You could read his mind as he cowered in the corner refusing to go any farther than the entrance. "THIS IS THE PLACE I DETEST WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING!!!!"

So what does Scooby decide to do? At that very moment he decided to cleverly slide his neck OUT of his collar and turn towards the front door....the front door that was NOT shut completely. Out of the corner of my eye, all I saw was a flash of black and then saw the door slam shut behind Scooby as he ran free...with my son scrambling behind him in an effort to catch the lightening-fast dog.

Now picture this....my husband was waiting in the van which was parked facing the front door of the vet's office. He sees us go in. He sees the door open again. He sees Scooby run by. Then he sees my son run by with the dog collar in his hand. Uh-oh.

The next moments are pretty much a blur in my mind. I remember running circles around the vet clinic with my entire family and the vet workers, yelling Scooby's name as he paraded around playing a game of chase. He was probably having the time of his life as he escaped being caught by so many people.

But then he discovered this is new territory. He went next door to CVS to check out the people leaving the store. Then he ran into the busy traffic at the intersection on Hwy. 54 and dodged cars for awhile. Then to our disappointment, he ran across the street into the parking lot by Angel's Grocery Store and Arby's. At this point, my husband and kids followed on foot while I got back into the van to try to catch up with the escapee.

For the next half hour, we ran and drove through Linton...by the movie theater, by the surrounding neighborhood, in a field, in traffic...chasing the psycho dog. As much as we would love to get rid of him some days, this was not the way to do it. I couldn't imagine my kids witnessing him getting run over and then having to leave to go on vacation. Or what if we couldn't catch him? How long would we chase him before we would give up? How could we leave Linton knowing he was on the loose somewhere? He didn't even have his dog tags on since he got out of his collar.

After about 1/2 hour, Scooby slowed down a bit, but still evaded being caught. I would drive to the neighborhood and he would run back to Arby's. I would drive to Arby's and he would run back to the neighborhood. It was just a big game. My poor kids even tried riding with me and jumping out to get him as we drove by him. They tried everything. They were cold little popsicles at this point.

Finally, I opened the van door in a last effort and summonded Scooby to come. "Please, Scooby, let's go home...come here"....I pleaded as I squated down next to the van and called him over. As he started to run, he slid on a patch of ice, which scared him...causing him to run to me.

PANIC....how do I keep him there? There's no collar to hold!!!! So I grabbed his chest fur in one hand and his leg in the other hand, holding on for dear life as I screamed for backup. One of my daughters caught up and proceeded to grab his tail. So there we were, holding his tail, leg, and chest as the rest of my family came around the corner panting for breath. The collar got reattached....and tightened. Then poor Scooby went right back to the vet.

As we drove away, now 1/2 hour off our schedule for our trip, we all started to giggle. Can you imagine what we looked like to the passing traffic? There we were, all five of us, chasing a silly black dog through the streets and parking lots of Linton. Picture three kids and my husband running after him. Picture me driving to get to him, and quickly jumping out of the vehicle trying to entice him in. Picture us all surrounding houses of people we never met before, trying to get our frustrating dog out of their yard. Picture me and my girls running through a muddy field. As we checked our shoes and clothes, we all discovered we were COVERED with mud!!!

If anyone decided to videotape us, I know we would win America's Funniest Home Videos. If anyone happened to see us running through Linton this past Saturday, I hope you had a treat watching us run like crazy.

And where is Scooby now? He is home, safe and sound...sleeping here beside me. I don't know whether to love this dog or hate him. He is just so cute. But he is just such a problem child. But all in all, this was a memorable moment. A Brown family moment we will NEVER forget.

A Life Remembered

This year Christmas was a little different for our family. We had the loss of my grandpa just days before the holidays. I remember so much about him...all the times I spent at his house when he and my grandma watched me while my parents were at work. I remember him laying on the floor playing barbies with me. I remember taking rides in his red pick-up truck. But mostly, I remember what he said everytime he saw me.

"I remember the time you asked me for a roll of life savers. You saw I had a big box of them and said, 'Grandpa, you have so many...could I just have one roll of life savers?'" He chuckled everytime he said that.

He was a great man...a great life remembered...and he will be missed.

I was very amazed by the story I heard from my uncle when I was at my grandpa's funeral. During World War II, he had to have emergency surgery and the rest of his unit was sent to a battle (or something of that sorts). No one returned from this mission. He was the only one of his unit to survive.

It's amazing how God works. Imagine if he was with his unit. Things would be so very different. I would not be here. God's plan is such an amazing weaving of PERFECTION!!!

Where did time go?

I am simply amazed at how fast time flies! It seems like just yesterday we were sending off three kids to elementary school...and suddenly now we have two junior high kids! Where does time go?

I was looking at the pictues on my wall of my son in his first year of football. In 2006 he was just 10 years old at the start of the football season. That year my daughters were ages 6 and 8.

Fast forward a few years to the present day...and now my YOUNGEST is 10 years old! My youngest is in fourth grade and she is wearing the same clothes my other daughter wore just last year in sixth grade!

I know time flies for everyone, but I do feel somewhat lacking in my time with them as youngsters. Since we adopted our kids at ages 6, 8, and 10, I didn't get to experience them as small children. I missed all the wonderful years seeing them grow up from little babies. When we first welcomed them into our home they were young and and yes, we still did experience great bonding times...as we still are.

But wow...my son is going to tower over me soon. My daughter and I can just about share clothes. This is all too weird for me. Where did all the years go where my kids were suppose to be young and...well....um...kids? They are turning into teens sooooo... fast!

I know parenting can be rough and trying at times. But really, please do appreciate those times and never take them for granted!!!