The Lee Family: A New Puppy!

From the time the girls discovered the puppies at Grandpa and Grandma's neighboring farm in Florida, they have talked constantly about how fun it would be to have one. Of course this talk started while we were at Fernandez Bay Village over Spring Break and the girls spend every minute they could with those cute puppies once we returned to their Grandparents' farm after Spring Break. The puppies were only 3 weeks old at that time, so they were much too young to be taken from their momma and we also weren't sold on getting a puppy, especially CK. However, I was warming to the idea. The girls continued to beg and plead and talk about those puppies until finally we agreed we would get one! They were happier than we've ever seen either of them and Sofia actually teared up because she was so happy! CK texted Sara and Jimmy, who live at the farm with the puppies and they told CK we were welcome to have one, but that there was only one male left! The girls had their little hearts set on Maggie, one of the two females, but they were the first to go and the girls quickly pivoted to being in love with whichever pup was left for them! Sara texted CK that the puppies weaned off their mom at 7 weeks and were ready to go to their new homes, however, due to the Covid-19 quarantine we were uncomfortable flying to Florida, stopping along the way, etc. Not that we were fearful of getting the virus, since we really would come into virtually no contact with anyone, but fearful that Texas might not let us return after we'd been in Florida, even though the rural county where his parents live has barely been affected. So, we waited until Mother's Day weekend to head to the farm and get our puppy. The girls counted down each day and were beyond excited! Before we left Texas Sara texted us photos of our new puppy, who the girls had originally called Tyler but that we wanted to possibly rename. Sara told us that her kids call the puppy Taz, for Tazmanian Devil! So, we might have our hands full! Olivia actually texted her cousin Sam and wrote "Tomorrow we are going to.........GET THE PUPPY! We decided on a name. "Tas" that's what they call him because he's wild. It's short for Tasmanian Devil! He's going to be a handful! Or should I say "pawful"!"

Olivia chose to do her school work before we left on Friday morning, so she woke up at 8am and got busy. She was done by 9am! Sofia actually did her work for Friday on Thursday, so she slept in and didn't even have to worry about her school work. So, we packed up our stuff and headed to the airport to fly to Florida. Thankfully we had a great tailwind, so our flight was pretty quick and easy. We packed sandwiches, Oreo cookies and waters and ate in the plane. The girls sat in the back with Buddy and read or napped. Unfortunately, Olivia's seat got stuck bent forward and Olivia had to sit folded in half. We had about 3 more hours left in our flight, and even though she said she was comfortable and it wasn't a problem, I told Olivia to come sit on my lap. The girl weighs about 80 lbs, so it was going to be a LONG 3 hours! After about an hour, she moved over to CK's lap, which was a huge relief. Just before landing, she moved back over to my lap so CK could actually land us safely. There was a pretty decent cross-wind so it was a little scary (to me, not to CK or the girls) coming in for the landing, but CK is such a great pilot he landed with ease.

As soon as we gave our hello hugs to Grandma and Grandpa, the girls were ready to go see the puppy. We moved all of our things to the house and then the girls were on the Gator heading over to see Tyler (or whatever his name will eventually be). The girls returned to take CK and I over because we just had to see "how cute he is." We arrived at the puppy's "house" which is actually a field next to Jimmy and Sara's caged cattle dogs, which now includes the puppy's mother. Since the puppy is the last of the litter, he has been running wild with two 6 month old puppies who are the same breed. The older puppies are rather rough and full of energy, so the little cutie is full contact and busy! Any time the girls would give the little puppy attention, the older two would tackle either the girls or the little puppy, or both. So, it was pretty chaotic. Along with the borrowed crate, puppies pee pads, dog bowl and food, we'd brought along one gator-shaped toy for the puppy. The girls decided to go get the toy for the puppy, which ended up being a bad idea. The older dogs chased after the puppy until he went under the truck and then attacked him. Poor guy. It was the most awful thing to listen to and be helpless in getting him away from the older puppies. Of course, then the older puppies had the chew toy and destroyed it in about five minutes! The girls were horrified by how poorly the puppy was treated and based on the scratches on his face he was routinely poorly. So, the girls decided right then that they would take him home with us instead of visiting while we are in Florida. Originally we were planning on taking him home on Tuesday morning, but we decided to improvise and figure out how to keep him at CK's parents house, without letting him in the house.

The first night the girls fed him, and he was clearly not used to having puppy food all to his own. He stretched out like he was shy and uncertain, but wolfed down all of his food in about 15 seconds! He clearly liked having food to himself! He got sleepy around 8:30pm, so the girls put him in his crate which was on CK and Connie's back patio. He wined for a few minutes and then he was asleep and comfortable.

The girls and Buddy on our way to Florida