Our 4th (warning - sad story within)

The fourth of July dawned bright and early. Raquel usually wakes up with the 1st call to prayer (4:30am) although usually she doesn't come and wake us up until at least 5:30 or 6 (still painfully early:). We were able to go to the pool in the morning and had a fun time swimming. At suppertime we walked down the street to a coffeehouse/restaurant nearby called the Bizztro. They were having a special celebration for the 4th of July so Raquel got her face painted and we got hamburgers, french fries and watermelon.:)

However, our lovely day came to a sad ending. For the past three weeks my allergies have been getting really bad. The sneezing and runny nose wasn't so bad, but in the last week my eyes started itching so bad I couldn't wear my contacts. Unfortunately this was due to Bru, our sweet little puppy. Now some of you who know me well, (or even not so well:) probably know that I am not what you would call an animal lover, but Bru has really grown on me. I had gotten used to his cute little face and his constantly following me around was almost endearing. Well, Dylan and I had reluctantly started discussing the possibility of finding someone who would want him. Soooo Saturday night a man, who we see every once in a while came by selling cookies that his wife makes. Dylan noticed that he seemed to like Bru and ended up offering him to the man. It all happened really fast so we had to explain it to Raquel while I was collecting all Bru's things. She started crying, shrieking and screaming, didn't want to let go until he was gone. It was heartbreaking to watch. After a while she finally finished crying and said "I don't like that man". I almost agreed with her at that point, but tried to explain that we don't say that about people (especially because it wasn't his fault, but actually her mean mommy's)

Thankfully she doesn't seem to be permanently damaged from the traumatic incident although next time we will try to prep her a bit before taking such drastic measures.