Remembering the Kids: Puppy Fisk

Here is the story of how we saw and picked out our future puppy:

I had prearranged to meet the lady the Monday after Christmas on our way home, the lady lived in Kelso. Well around Christmas, the westside was hit with snow. The lady called concerned about the amount of snow, but I reassured her that we were driving home anyways, and we were very excited to meet the puppies. She said OK but, on the way, down she called again to say that they had more snow. Her husband would be willing to drive the puppies down to Shari's parking lot so we could see them. I told her we were on our way so we would just keep going since I wanted to see where she kept the dogs and meet the mom, so we continue on.

The freeways were clear but once we got off that in Longview the roads got progressively worse, with compact snow and ice. The roads also got progressively steeper and steeper the further we went. But we just kept on going, Dan just started driving slower and slower. The final road we were driving up turned into a steep, steep hill with a sheet of ice over it with hairpin turns. With .8 miles left to get to the lady's house Dan slowed to go around a corner too much, the car couldn't get traction. He had to stop to take off the anti-slip feature of the car he could get more grip, but it was too late. The road was too steep and too slippery. His only option was to just back down the road slowly. The kids were very nervous at this point because it was getting dangerous. They all started giving suggestions on what to do. I had to tell them all to be quiet because their Dad was a good driver and we would be fine. Dan was halfway down the hill when we started sliding towards the ditch. We stop, Dan tried to get us going again but then we started sliding down the hill slideways. I was just looking out my window as slide down this hill thinking, here we go! Luckily, we stopped. At this point we were sideways in the road. Dan was able to jock us around so that our front was pointed down the hill. Thank God! We then crept slowly down the hill.

Once we were down the hill we called the lady, so I guess we were going to meet at the Shari's parking lot after all. She didn't pick up, so I left a message. 15 minutes later I called again. Then another 15 minutes later I called, this went on until we had waited about an hour. At this point we were all very frustrated, confused and disappointed. I finally said let's go, we still had to drive home and it was getting late. Of couse, 15 minutes down the road the lady calls! She said her phone had just gone to voicemail, so she hadn't gotten our calls. ugh... She said if we still wanted to meet, we could. I know I did and felt it was important for the kids, so I said yes. Dan did a quick turnaround and we headed back.

We met in the Shari's parking lot, like the lady originally suggested (yes, humble-pie). She brought two puppies to choose from. They of course were adorable and of course the kids' hearts melted. We held them, took pictures of them, put them down in the car to see them move around and most of all, snuggled them. All three kids wanted both of them because they were so cute. We decided on the bigger of the two. He was a cutie that interacted with us and let me hold him like a baby.