Saturday, March 13, 2010

EMS Introduces Trained Dogs to Cut Costs

Canines have been used for police work, search & rescue, tracking, service dogs, and a variety of other tasks. Now they’re assisting EMS and doing so at a much lower cost.

See their new employees at work!


Breathe, damn you, breathe!



There's your laugh for the day.


Taken from Just One More Pet.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Quick Trip to Disneyland

Last Wednesday, my mom decided that we needed to take the world's quickest trip to Disneyland. We took my visiting cousins, grandma, and two dogs. While on the trip we celebrated Ava and Sammie's birthdays. They were both excited to wear their "Happy Birthday" buttons and get many comments from cast members throughout the weekend. I guess we could call this trip a "Princess Trip" but with me on it? Not really.

I was excited to find out that these kids were brave ones. They were ready to completely skip the "baby" rides for the big ones like Big Thunder and Space Mountain. The first ride, as always, was Pirate's of The Caribbean. Then we moved over to Big Thunder. The kids were sad to see that the Matterhorn had closed.

See what you did Disneyland? You made a little girl sad! And on her birthday weekend! Her sister is not a good actress and could not stop smiling.


All of us on Space Mountain, Sam hadn't arrived yet. Notice their hands up?


After a few more rides, we rode the top story of the Omni bus around the park.


After a break at the hotel, we went over to Disney's California Adventure.


On the first day, we went on the Hollywood Tower of Terror. The girls still didn't love the ride but went on it without crying or complaint. That's all I ask.


After riding, we went over to California Screamin' and Ava, despite her initial fear, loved it. The photo we had was of her looking over at me, asking if she could "do it again!" We went on a few more rides before heading back to the hotel. We met some online friends too.

We went to Club 33 for lunch and it was very good and had the same great server from last time. The kids (grandma and mom too) were very well behaved.

Ava was so surprised by her birthday cake, to share with Sam. The look on her face was so worth it. They blew out the candles and the poor waiter kept trying to keep them all lit while we sang to the kids. When asked who deserved the biggest of the little slices, Josie raised her hand. LOL.


Belle up on the Club balcony.


Up in Club 33 the girls took a picture in front of Walt's picture of him in the club.


We went on a few rides.


We went on several rides throughout the day before I headed back to the hotel for a short break and it began to downpour. I headed back out and met the family in DCA for 3 rides in a row of California Screamin'.

Another great picture after getting off of the Jellyfish Jumper. The excitement on Josie's face was worth it to endure that mild humiliation. She thought it was a great ride.


We went back over to Disneyland to ride a few more rides but we eventually headed home.

While waiting for the Club to send out cake to City Hall, the girls went over to get a picture with Mickey and Minnie.


On the last day of the trip, we decided to make that day a "shopping day". I stayed on Main Street, with it's light traffic and quiet atmosphere, Weather would get an experience. It was a quiet morning so she went. She was beautifully behaved and had a great time. We went into two stores and she kept her nose to herself and even laid down while I browsed.

This is her first of many entrances into the park.


The most interesting things Weather saw were two ducks and the horse. She was very good at just watching them walk on by. She was curious but sat and watched quietly.


We walked down to the castle to take the picture and then went back to Main Street.


On our way out of the park, we saw Cruella DeVil and I just had to stop to take a picture. Weather, of course, never meets an enemy.