Thank you Bob and Bonnie!

This may seem hardly blog-worthy to many of you who have been enjoying the following activity for years and years, but last night marked a happy occasion in the Todd household. We finally grilled out on our very own grill! What could be more American than that?

Bob and Bonnie very thoughtfully gave Brad a very (very) early birthday present after seeing us pine for a grill on their recent trip to San Diego. We had our very first grilled dinner out on the patio and it was a whole new world. After living for years in city environments that didn't allow for a good ol' charcoal grill, this was like coming home. Next on the menu? Some good, midwestern venison, also thanks to Bob.

So, a huge thanks to Bob and Bonnie and an open dinner invite to the rest of you!

P.S. Another non-blog-worthy event? Last night Meagan killed a spider as big as her entire palm that was crawling on Brad's shoulder. Seriously, it was that big. Seriously. And you know how it came to be crawling on his shoulder? Covering up the grill late at night...and we've come full circle.

Our First Entry

So, inspired by our old friend, Natalie (Huskins) Razavi, we thought a blog would be a wonderful way to stay in touch with all our friends and family who are spread out from here to Vermont. (Thanks Mom and Dad! Could you get any further away?) This will also save many of you from receiving large emails full of photos of our dogs biting each other's heads. (You're welcome. And there is a picture of Cal biting Gracie's head included at the bottom. You're welcome, again.) Now you can peruse them at your leisure.

For our first entry we thought we would include some photos of:
our place here in San Diego, Cal, Gracie and Meagan getting ready for a night out, some of our favorite pictures from a recent trip to NY for Jim and Sarah Surber's wedding, highlights from our recent trip to England with the Searles, also Bob and Bonnie on the USS Midway during their 4th of July trip here to SD, and, of course, a couple fine photos of the dogs. Just to catch you all up!

Above you'll find some of our favorite links, too. Meagan has her professional websites there, and the Westside German Shepherd rescue is where we got Cal. Look for us under the "Tails of Joy" page 39! Both shepherd rescues also have opportunites to help their "Urgent Need" dogs. We like to check up on them now and then. We were so lucky to find Cal!

We'll post again when we do something else exciting.

We miss you all and hope you'll keep in touch. You have a room here in San Diego! (Except for Louis, of course. We've seen how he acts in San Diego.)




Below: The Zville boys all together.



Below: Jenny won this shirt off the bartender at our favorite Chipping Campden pub. (You can see the bartender wearing it in the background of the picture above.) She pulled her own pints the rest of the night! (And still has the shirt, too.)





Below: Hard to see in this small a picture, but Gracie is wearing a Colts bandana and Cal is wearing a Purdue bandana. (Gifts from Bob and Bonnie - thanks!) We're all ready for football season here. Someone has to represent the Indiana teams out here in crazy SoCal!