We are OUTTA here!!

We finished up our "tour of duty" so to speak, at Amazon. It was a long 7 weeks. We are headed to Arizona and then onto San Diego to be with our kids and grandkids for a few weeks.

We continued in the inbound area stowing and Sean waterspidering until the last week. We were then moved to outbound gift wrapping. I am a terrible wrapper and literally paid my daughter, Meghan, to gift wrap for me from about the age of seven. I even had her wrap her own Christmas gifts after I put them into plain boxes and taped them shut. So when I saw the work list and my name under gift wrapping, I panicked! I went to the supervisor and said if you think I am lousy at stowing, wait until you see my gift wrapping! I even explained how I had paid my daughter for years to do it for me. In typical Amazon style, they didn't really care but they did think it was funny. Ha ha. Fortunately, a coworker took me under her wing and said she would wrap and I could put the ribbon on and the gift tag. Sean was still stowing at this point but he found it VERY humorous that I was gift wrapping...until they sent him the next night. After one night of ribbons and tags I felt like I could handle the actual wrapping. And, like most things, after you do it 5000 times you get pretty good at it. Meghan would be proud! I actually ended up really liking gift wrapping for two reasons. One, they had music! You don't realize how wonderful having music is when you do repetitive boring things for 10 hours. When your stowing the only sound you hear is the whirring of the conveyor belts moving customers purchases from the shelves to shipping. And two, it was very well lit. The rest of the warehouse is on the darker side and my old eyes didn't appreciate the dimness. The bad thing about gift wrapping is that you stand in one place for 10 hours at tables that are too short for me and incredibly too short for Sean. Standing is very hard on our backs. Both of us have bad backs though we can walk all day, we cannot stand for long without feeling great pain. But for Sean it went from uncomfortable to painful. I told the supervisor he was a great waterspider but his exceptional reputation hadn't reached shipping yet. At this point Sean did have one of the taller tables but it was only minimally helpful. Half way through his first shift they asked us to move further up the line to some empty stations. Sean just looked at her and said "absolutely not". He explained that this table was a little taller and he couldn't move to a shorter table. She then said how about if you waterspidered? He happily accepted! Within a few hours his prowess as a waterspider was made apparent and he happily remained in that position for most of the rest of the week. At the end of his first shift waterspidering in gift wrap, an older lady said, "look at that water monkey boy go! He never stops moving and keeps up on everything"!  The next night when he was assigned to waterspider, a group of older ladies cheered! Goodness, the guy is hard enough to live with anyway and now I have old women cheering for him! I will never hear the end of this!!  My claim to fame is by the last night I wrapped approximately 125 gifts in my 10 hour shift. I understand there is a utube where a real full time Amazon guy wraps a gift in 17 seconds....obviously I have a long way to go. 

We had the rig mostly ready to go and so we came home, slept a few hours and hit the road. We spent the night for the very first time in a Wal Mart in Elk City, Oklahoma. For you non Rv folk, Wal Mart happily allows overnighting in their parking lots as long as there is room. We have hesitated to try it out but many people do it and we only wanted to sleep and move on, which we did. We were asleep by 9:00 p.m. and woke up at 7:00 a.m. the next morning. We are now happily day people again!

Our stint at Amazon was many things..... Painful, mind numbingly boring, cold, wet and very busy. It was also briefly interesting, monetarily positive and we met some great people! Will we do it again... Maybe if they have some openings in warmer climates. Rv rigs, no matter how expensive, are not meant to be in pro longed freezing temps. It isn't good for them and it is hard on their owners! Personally, I would rather be financially able to just go and do whatever we want whenever we want but that is not possible financially for us until we win the lottery. And, we really get to know people when we have these types of jobs. You get to know them and hear their stories. We have made some great friends that we will hopefully meet up with again as we all head on down the highway!

    Watching the Broncos at the local dive bar, the Zone

    Went to dinner with our new friends Kathy and Bob. This me and Kathy doing a selfie

    My delicious dinner out....shrimp, chicken, and

    pineapple, served in a pineapple

    51st birthday margarita

      Our Amazon id's and tshirt

    What good is a blog update without a photo of Remi? Here he is 

    in the truck glad to be out of Coffeyville and on the road!

    We pulled into our Rv park in Albuquerque right 

    when the hail hit

Amazon Adventures

We have completed four weeks at Amazon and three of those weeks were five days with 10 hour days. Phew....makes me tired just thinking about it!

The first week was spent in what Amazon refers to as "hardening". I guess that basically means getting you ready for the long days and even longer weeks. Mostly we spent it training, doing paperwork and being bored out of our minds. This hardening first period was four days at 5 hours per day for a whopping 20 hours. The next week we went right into overtime. Normally you work four days a week, 10 hours per day. But, since the holidays were looming near, we went straight to 50 hour work weeks. 

Amazon is divided into two sections - inbound and outbound. We work inbound as "stowers". That means we take merchandise off of carts, scan the UPC code and put them on shelves and bins. Then we scan the bin which has a tag that is alpha and number coordinated.  All of this goes into a very large data base and then once an order is placed, a "picker" (who is a part of the outbound side of the operation) gets the order and is told on their scanner where each item the "stower" put the item. They go to the bin, pick out the item, scan it and then put it in a tote that goes on a conveyor belt to the folks who put the order in boxes. Then someone addresses the package and off it goes!  There are other jobs of course. There is the guys who take the merchandise off the trucks and the people who take the items out of the boxes that were shipped to Amazon and puts them on the carts that go to the stowers. And there are gift wrap people and then all the other folks who assist us in different ways. One of these assisting jobs is called "water spider". They take the carts that have been loaded with merchandise off of the pallets and push them to the spot where the stowers get them and do our part. Water spiders sometimes have to move very fast unloading the carts and loading up the empty carts for the "pit" driver (not sure what pit stands for) has hoisted up onto the many levels. It also can be physically exhausting because the carts can be quite heavy.

Where we work is a very large warehouse. And I mean very large! Some estimates I heard were a million square feet. Amazon calls them fulfillment centers.  I don't know about all of them, but this one is very old and dirty. There are no windows and dust and grime lies on everything. This facility is closing after the holidays because it is just too far away from a large airport and I assume many other reasons. Tulsa is the closest large city and it is over an hour away. This fulfillment center is located in Coffeyville, Kansas. It is a very small, typical mid western town. The houses are old and some actually very quaint but almost all in need of a paint job. The town looks on the verge of fading into memory and probably will get closer to that reality with the closing of Amazon.  I can't say I like it...it is rather depressing.  Below is photo of Coffeyville that I took on a walk and the others are off of the Internet to show you what a fulfillment center looks like. We are not allowed to bring anything into the warehouse that might be misconstrued as stolen property and my iPhone to use as a camera would certainly fall into that category! You have to go through security and metal detectors every time you come off the warehouse floor. There is plenty of high dollar items that many people would love to steal. Especially now that they are soon to be unemployed.

As it turns out, I am not a very good stower. And to be honest, it is a little embarrassing! Usually once a week a young person comes by with a laptop to show me the error of my ways and "counsel" me. They show me on what day I miscounted what object and then ask me "why" that happened. If I could even remember what item you are talking about would be a miracle but then to ask me why I miscounted it? Really? I have no freaking idea and if I did I would stop doing it! What I want to tell them is that I had a 4.0 in grad school but for some darn reason I can't count correctly! Thank god for college as I would have been an incredible failure as a warehouse factory worker. Of course they always assure me that I am not "in trouble" but they just want to help me get better.  Thank goodness as I really, really want to be a better counter. It has always been my dream..... NOT

Now, those of you reading this and know Sean, are probably already thinking that he is probably very good at this job. And he is. His counter is not broken like mine and I think he has only had one or two errors. One of them he told the "counselor" she was wrong and that it was not his error. She double checked and of course, he was right. Because of his great skills they have moved him up and he is now a "water spider" usually half of our shift. And, of course, he is a very good water spider. He is strong and fast so he moves the carts quickly and efficiently. So now he is the "problem solvers" (the guys who are assigned to your area to fix your problems. I.e., things won't scan, are lost, etc.) pet. They tell him how great he is and he even was given a vending buck the other day. Yep, a fake dollar bill to use in the vending machine. Now that is appreciation! Personally, I don't know why he even bothered with college. He could have done this for a career and I bet he would be the head water spider in no time! I would be unemployed.......

We spend 10 hours every day looking at tons of merchandise. It never ceases to amaze me how many things there are in the world to purchase and what a huge consumer of stuff we are! And then I think, and in a few years, this warehouse full of stuff will all be in a landfill.  We are killing our planet with all of these things that we mostly, don't need.  It is really quite shameful when you think of all the people who are just thankful to have food in their bellies let alone 50 different types of pans to cook their dinner in. Here are some of the most incredibly dumb things to buy from Amazon....

There are tons of books on any subject you can imagine. My favorite "Animals with Sharpies". A book of very simplistic animal drawings in black ink and what they might write with a sharpie. I had to flip through this one! My favorite, a mouse writing a note to a cat...."I hate you. You are a shithead. How would you like it if I ate your wife?" Just goes to show you that almost anyone can publish a book!

A cairn. For those of you who don't hike, a cairn is a stack of river rocks stacked up to show you the way on a trail that may not be discernible any other way. So, if you want, you can buy a stack of river rocks with a gift tag explaining what a "cairn" is from Amazon. I guess maybe it has some spiritual aspect? But I am thinking it would be pretty easy to just go to a stream bed and pick up some river rock of various sizes and stack them.....

An electric egg cooker. It is about the size of a toaster. You plug it in and cook your eggs on it. Funny, a frying pan has always worked just fine for me.....

And of course numerous sex toys. Nothing really shocking until I saw a pair of silicone feet. I thought it was a child's toy to paint toenails. You know, like those Barbie heads that you can style the hair over and over again? So I picked it up to check it out and I saw that it is a pair of silicone feet with holes at the ankle. One hole is to replicate an anus and the other a vagina. Talk about having a foot fetish! Yuck!

I could go on and on but these were the top picks for stupid stuff you can buy from Amazon.

As far as the job goes, it is pretty boring spending 10 hours placing items on a shelf. It is not really hard work but you are constantly moving for those 10 hours. Our pedometer estimates we walk around five miles a night. One night of water spidering for Sean was almost 16 miles! Pickers average about 10-12 miles a night. We will probably be moved to pickers in the next few weeks. So, though tiring, it is doable. Working nights is not pleasant but it is also doable. But what we have decided is that combing all of the above with arctic temperatures is just too much. We (mostly Sean) spent every waking hour before work fixing frozen water pipes, leaks and generally preparing for more cold and it's problems when the cold front came through that affected everyone on this side of the country. We survived but it was not fun. And to top it off I had the worst tooth ache of my life. So, unless they have jobs available next holiday season in Arizona, I don't think we will be doing this again. But, never say never!

    And I am complaining?!

   

Moving on to Amazon....

Our time has come to an end in Texas. We are moving onto Kansas and our seasonal job at Amazon in Coffeyville, Kansas. 

We have been busy attending Meghan's volleyball games and working the occasional Dallas Cowboys games selling beer and frozen margaritas.  Meghan, unfortunately suffered a concussion after taking an elbow to her head during a game when she and a fellow team mate went for a ball at the same time.  She was restricted to complete rest with no stimulation. No school, no volleyball, no tv, no reading, no screens of any type (phones, computers, and TV) and large amounts of fish oil.  Since we lead a "non stimulating " life, she chose to hang out with us in the Rv. I wish I could say it was a great relaxing time for us all, but it was not. Poor Meghan not only had to deal with headaches and irritation by any light but also anxiety about missing school and not being there for her team.  She ended up missing three games and almost 2 weeks of school before she was cleared to participate in life again. Unfortunately the lack of exercise also caused her muscles some atrophy and she has not felt she is back up to the level of play she was at before. But, as her father and I kept saying, you only have ONE brain, so better this then some long term damage.  She played a few more games before her Senior Night game. This is the last home game of the season before playoffs. It is also the last game we can attend before we leave for Kansas and Amazon. It was a bitter sweet day... Sean and I spent so many years watching our children play sports, traveling all over the state and often other states to see them play. It made up most of all of our free time for at least the last 15 years. We made many friends through these activities and spent our vacations, money and all of our hearts being a part of this great endeavor called competitive sports. Some people may have thought we were crazy to spend so much time, energy and money in this past time but we wouldn't change a thing. We saw sports help shape our boys into men and our daughter into a strong, powerful woman. It was worth everything and we were so blessed to be such big part of this time in their lives.  I have to admit, this "ending" has me choked up a bit. But as in all things, endings only lead to new beginnings. Thank God for grandchildren!! It will be a few years but I am sure we have a few more games to watch. 

                                                                     Senior night

                                       Hockey game with Meghan and her boyfriend Johnny

Onto more humorous endeavors, like booze selling at the Cowboy games! Sean's last blog update was a great look at our newest careers. Unfortunately he has not gotten a cart again and has had to carry the tubs with approximately 2.5 cases of 16oz beers.  He has a much more physically challenging job then I do since I can only carry 12 margaritas at once and they don't weigh much. He also has to take off every twist bottle cap and pop every tab before he gives the customer their beverage.  This has led to some cuts on his fingers and bleeding. Now remember, this is during the Ebola scare and my poor husband already sweats enough for six people so throw in a little blood to boot and you got a customer who doesn't want his drink! I mean talk about bodily fluids! So poor Sean has to make three trips to first aid to get his cuts covered in bandages and he also carries a rag to keep the sweat wiped up to a minimum. You can imagine that this cuts not only into his time waiting for the bandages but also into lost customers who don't want blood on their beers! Luckily he has become hardened so to speak and his injuries have lessened. He also carries bandages in his pocket too. As for the sweating, most of the guys want to buy him a beer since he is so dehydrated. Maybe he even gets a few extra pity tips too! He always makes almost twice what I do. 

One of the rules as a seller of adult beverages is that you must card everyone! No matter what. And I do mostly. But sometimes their are those individuals you are pretty sure they are old enough but you card them anyway in case the undercover people checking up on you are nearby (they can fire you on the spot if you don't card or if you sell to a minor). So I carded a questionable customer and was I shocked to see he was only a few years younger then me! I gasped and said "you look so young! I wish I had some of that!" The man smiled, arched his eyebrows and said "you can have some of that if you want it"! I suddenly realized my incredible faux pas and I laughed embarrassingly and said "that is NOT what I meant but that was funny as hell"! I moved away quickly and couldn't stop blushing the rest of the night. Geeze! How naive can I be?

The line when you check back in from selling and an example of a tub but much emptier, and the home made strap you use to carry it

Sean and I are also very excited about our next summer job. We applied for and were offered the position of activity directors for a very large Rv resort in North Carolina on the coast. The resort is located in the OBX or the outer banks and is called Camp Hatteras. Unlike other work camping jobs, your site and all your utilities, cable, wifi and laundry is included in your job and all hours you work are paid for. This particular resort is considered one of the best work camping jobs you can get. Many people return summer after summer. We will have ocean views as we plan and facilitate daily activities for the resort participants. This particular resort is a big family place so we will be working with all age groups. Sean and I both worked in and loved recreation in our youth so this job is perfect for us! 

Camp Hatteras click here to see the RV resort

On the other hand, I am a bit worried about Amazon. We were given the night shift which I have never worked before so that alone will take some getting use to. Also, this particular Amazon has announced their permanent closure after the holiday season. I follow a group on facebook and I have heard some negative comments about how the warehouse is currently being ran. But, as Sean keeps reminding me, it is only for six weeks and if they make us too mad, we just fold up our "house" and go. So, I am not sure if I will be doing much blogging during our Amazon tenure, but I will try to fit in at least one post between hour ten hour shifts! Wish us luck!


Random photos

Sean's TURN....

What a difference four weeks makes. As you know, we are back in the DFW area. Back in the land of traffic and heat, but with those we get hair cuts, eyebrow threading, and pedicures. Trying to get Marian to try them, too.

 

We are enjoying watching Meg play ball. They are having a challenging season with glimpses of volleyball on occasion.  Meg has had some success when they can get the ball to her. Fun, but sad, knowing after all these years of watching our kids play sports, that chapter of our life is over. Still have the grandkids though.

 

Upon our return to Arlington, we learned a vendor for ATT Stadium was conducting orientations for new staff. For those who are asking, ATT Stadium is the “house that Jerry built” and home of the Dallas Cowboys; and Jerry is Jerry Jones, Owner of the Dallas Cowboys; a struggling billionaire.

 

As part of our nomadic work experiences I had always thought it would be interesting to work at a large venue to experience the carnival atmosphere, without being one of those being led to the fleecing. Did I mention the ATT stadium is one of the most expensive stadiums to view an NFL game?

 

Knowing enough about sports fans, we knew that alcohol was the key to making a few nickels at these events. Bad news is that we had to pay our dues selling snack and sodas for two weeks, prior to be gifted with the opportunity to move to alcohol. We stuck it out and sold sodas, popcorn and cotton candy. Didn’t make much, but got the lay of the land.

 

This past weekend I got called up to “the show”. Yes that’s right, beer vendor! Well actually there is an asterisk. There were two games this weekend. Saturday was a college game featuring Texas A&M vs Arkansas, with Sunday’s game being New Orleans Saints against the Cowboys. So I got a warm up game with the college crowd. Although it sounds like a moneymaking opportunity, most college students are not old enough to drink – legally. The alumni were mostly too old to drink, or smart enough not to do it at $8.50 per beer.  So while there was money made, it was not what I expected. 

 

So did I quit? NO, I did not. I know what deviants are out there and my faith was not misplaced come Sunday! Marian joined me this time; she was working at Costco the previous day. To demonstrate our strong family bond and values, our daughter Meghan, and her friend Abby joined us. In fact they have been vending longer than us and have been successful. Never would have thought people would by $16 margaritas from pretty girls. 

 

To set the stage fully, I need to explain some of the ground rules. There is a dress code and a uniform. A sporty collared black golf type shirt with “VENDOR” stenciled on the back. As such I was unable to utilize cleavage to sell the suds. Raising three kids and working in prisons has enabled me to project my voice, i.e., yell; which is a good trait to possess when trying to get my point across to thousands of folks seeking rehydration. BEER HERE. GOT YOUR COLD BEER. You get the picture. I have also found that my gift for perspiring at any time has been somewhat an advantage. When traipsing up and down the isles with a “sweat ball” (acknowledgement to SNL’sRosanne Rosannadanna) not just on the end of my nose, but everywhere; think that’s also referred to as glowing, people don’t wait for their change. Think they want me to go have my heart attack in another section.

 

The girls were all assigned to the same room while I was assigned to another. Rooms are the bases where you get resupplied to nourish the parched sports fans. Upon arrival,all the beer vendors draw to see who is assigned to a beer cart. A cart is much larger and can accommodate cases and cases of tasty beer, and water if your taste runs that way. Did I mention the cart has wheels? Yes that’s right. Although it is delightful to tote cases of beer in a tub with a strap around your neck, it is a little bit of a workout. How do I know so much about carts? Because I was luck enough to get one. First day in the “bigs” and I’m the starting lineup. 

 

Like everything else, nothing is as easy as it looks. Although I had plenty of supply, you always need more. Now the strategy comes in. After your initial stock, you have to buy all new supplies with the money you make, so you have to have enough. You also have to make sure you have lots of small bills. You will see plenty of big bills, and unbelievably some people want change after an $8.50 beer, including the two quarters. It’s all management that comes with time.

 

Some legalities to be considered when hawking suds. Age, sobriety, and how many hands they have? Can sell two drinks at one time, one per hand. There are state alcohol agents on site, so correspondingly ATT has their own team watching us. I was praised by a 20 something year old for carding a group of beer buyers. Of course she doesn’t know if they really were of age, just knows I looked….

 

We are paid a commission per unit. More pay with a tub than a cart, but more volume with a cart. My limited experience is that we make as much with tips as we will on commission. Liquor sales must end at the end of the third quarter. The trick then becomes selling to every poor schmuck who can’t possibly make it through the last 15 minutes without a Miller Lite, while making sure you aren’t last to your room, where you return unused product and settle up. Be last and you’re there an extra hour. An extra hour puts you still at the stadium at the end of the game and 100,000 people all driving where you want to go. Not good.

 

Again, you don’t know what you don’t know. So won’t make that mistake again. The girls all did well although I never saw them once. Marian was the top earner among the three of them, validating my previous theory. I certainly made enough to make me want to come back next week. Figure almost $600 for the two days. We enjoyed the financial boost, but the dynamics of 100,000 attendees, all with varying motivation for being there make for good story telling, too. As a matter of fact, we are already registered for this Sunday’s games. So if you’re in the area next week, stop by and have a beer, just buy it from me, the sweaty, loud guy.

    Ready to go serve some thirsy fans!

    A thirsty fan.....

A few other funny photos from our time here in Arlington......

    A neighboring pooch who has an ac unit attached to his dog house. Nice!

   In front a house where we walk. Everything is bigger in Texas!

    Go Meghan!

    Cute photo April sent me of Cory, the pet whisperer!

Colorado is a wrap!

We finished our last work week, Labor Day weekend. We said good bye to all of our work camping friends and hit the road! We drove two very long days to get to Arlington, Texas but we made it safe and sound.  We are settled into Treetops rv park which is where we have stayed before. It is almost like coming home! But I have jumped ahead. We had many days of just hanging out at the park, but we also hit the road twice more. Once to Aspen again and then Cripple creek another day.

Our trip to Aspen was specifically to hike the Maroon Bell area. The Maroon Bells are located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, (near Aspen), and are considered to be the most photographed peaks in Colorado. You have to take a shuttle bus to reach the trail head unless you go before 8:00 a.m. Or after 5:00 p.m. We took the shuttle bus up with Remi on our lap. It was the first time he has been on a bus and he did very well. Everyone wanted to pet him and he was very nice about even though somewhat nervous. The hike up was beautiful and we even found a little trail off the beaten path that led to a beautiful waterfall!  I can se why it is so photographed here. My iPhone does not do it justice.

Our other trip was to Cripple Creek.  Cripple Creek is a small ghost town in the mountains that now allows low stake gambling. It was once a very large mining town that eventually all but died because of the bust in gold mining.  It has a new take on life with the gambling. We use to go up there from time to time when we lived in Canon City. We didn't gamble but looked around a bit and shared a delicious ice cream!

On the way home we stopped at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. I'll be honest, that stuff doesn't really thrill me that much but it was close so we stopped in. We didn't stay long as they wouldn't allow dogs on the trails and we couldn't leave Remi long in the truck.  So we did a fast walk through and got on our way.

I also met up with an old friend of mine from when we lived in Canon City. We use to work together when I was running a non profit program called Baseline Training. We hadn't seen each other for about 15 years. We had been very close so it was great to see each other and catch up. We did a little hike together in Buena Vista and had a BBQ back at the rig.  She sells a health/weight loss supplement called Plexus and is doing very well with it and of course she works full time as a counselor too. I am considering joining her in this endeavor but I just haven't decided yet! It would be an easy fit with our travels and a way to possibly supplement our travels. We shall see!

   Two old friends together again!

Here are a few photos we took around the park.

Our time so far in Texas has been hectic. I quickly hooked back up with the marketing group I worked with here before, Interactions Marketing and got a day at Costco marketing some products. Aka, hand out samples and tell folks about the product. Easy money and really fun. We also hooked up with a company called County Fair Foods and signed up to be vendors at the AT&T sports arena. Meg does it and we thought it would be fun way to make a few bucks. We sold soda, water and Gatorade at the Dallas/San Francisco game. Poor Cowboy fans! It was sort of sad seeing their sad faces as Dallas got spanked once again! We didn't make much, but you have to suffer through two games of selling snacks before you can move to alcohol. As you can imagine, that is where you make the money. Meg sells margaritas at $16 a pop! She made $165, we made around $50 each. Who wants soda for $5 when a beer is $8?? So, hopefully after this Saturdays UCLA/Texas game we can move over to alcohol. If not, my vending career will end.  I also have 5 more Costco days scheduled so that will bring in a bit at $17 an hour. I wish I could get that work everywhere. It beats the heck out of scrubbing toilets at Rv parks!  I am also going to be a Mystery Shopper for Doctor offices. I just got that gig today and I need to do some online training before I start. It sounds kinda fun snooping on Doctor offices and reporting on their customer service.  I'll update you in the next blog. We are certainly finding many ways to make a buck. And there seems to be plenty of work if you hustle a bit. The recession is over in Texas, no doubt.

It is great seeing Meg! We have been to one game and we had her and her two best buddies over for dinner tonight. I love feeding hungry kids! Ha, young adults I should say. We also have both gotten to the chiropractor which includes a massage which we both needed desperately! Our time here will go quickly and they are even saying a cold front is moving in!! I hope so!

    Hahahaha! Me selling at Costco. You have to take a photo and email it to the company when your   there. 

    Meg and her team mates on the beach in Florida for a tournament.

Remi's before and after we got his haircut. Much cooler hair do in Texas.

    Remi was very cold in Colorado after his haircut. Bet he is wishing he was back there now!

    I had to get him a sweater!!!

    Aislynn sent us some artwork. She may be the next Picasso!!