More Lutsen pictures

Taking a rest....

Puzzle Time

Riding in the Jeep!


Dexter loves daddy

Lutsen

This year, we took a trip after Christmas with BB, Susan, and Liv to ski for a few days at Lutsen Mountain! We were able to bring Dexter along and he enjoyed hanging out with Ginger as well. We skied for two days, had fun putting together puzzles at night, and playing board games.

Liv and KT
The question in the game was "What is the most useless household item?"
Colin had just responded "a broom".....Nice - we know who does the cleaning in our house!

Dexter's favorite - duck!

On the slopes....

Presents!

Dexter got a lot of presents this year - a vest for taking walks, a sweater, shoes to keep him warm, and a huge gift set with his favorite - ducks! One of my favorite pictures is posing next to an elephant that Colin and I got for Landry!

Gingerbread Men

Colin and I made huge Gingerbread cookies this year as part of our Christmas present cooking tradition (last year we made Kalhua). Colin decorated them with gumdrops and frosting - yum!

Christmas Card

Christmas Play

KT, Colin, and Olivia

Every year, the King family goes to a Christmas play - this year we went and saw A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie. It was fun night!

Confirmed Diagnosis

After visiting the University of Minnesota and our local vet, it seems clear that Dexter does indeed have cancer. We have been working with our local vet to make him as comfortable as possible during this time and he will be starting steroids immediately to help him feel better. Our vet thinks that he may have another 6-8 weeks depending on how the cancer reacts to the steroid treatments, but eventually the cancer will beat the steroids and "take over". While Colin and I are really struggling, we know that all we can do is make him comfortable and give him all the love we can for the next few weeks. Looking back on the past few months (and his entire life), I feel like I continue to question if I should have noticed something earlier. It wouldn't have necessarily made a difference, but it has become obvious over the past few months that he has lost weight. I guess when you are in the thick of something, it's harder to notice what you aren't looking for. I just keep thinking back to how much fun he had at the King cabin in August - and now he seems to get tired just walking a little ways down the street. As you all know, he is an extremely finicky eater that I have always cooked for, and this was because he never had a strong stomach and had a hard time eating. Now that we know he has lymphoma that has infected his intestines, it makes a lot more sense why he was a picky eater.

Bad weekend

Over the past week, Dexter has suddenly started to act funny - becoming very lethargic and unwilling to eat. After we let him out late last night and he laid down in the snow and wouldn't get up, Colin and I decided it was time to take him to the emergency vet. Going into the vet, we were thinking that maybe he had eaten something funny or chewed up something in the backyard, but the news became much worse. After taking some x-rays and an ultrasound, the vet believes that Dexter has cancer, lymphoma to be exact. They believe he has a large tumor in his abdomen that he has probably been living with his entire life, but finally hit the tipping point within the past week. He has deteriorated very quickly and has been staying in the hospital now since last night. Colin and I were completely shell shocked last night when they dropped the bomb on us. When we started this whole thing on Friday morning, this was definitely the last thing that I thought - especially with a 2 year old puppy.

We have an appointment at the University of Minnesota tomorrow morning to meet with a specialist to discuss our options from here. The prognosis is if left untreated, he may live another couple weeks, or it may be possible to do chemotherapy and extended his life for another year at the most. Bottom line, he is not going to live to see old or even middle age =(. Colin and I are having a really really hard time - you all know he is our child. We want to do what is best for him, and it's really hard because he is so young and he can't tell us how he feels. Hopefully we will get more answers at the U tomorrow. The next few days are going to bring more answers, but also some tough realities.

Colin's Second Solo from the Cockpit

Colin completed his second solo on Sunday, November 2nd by flying from Flying Cloud Airport down into Mankato, MN airspace. Below are some pics from the cockpit!

Taxing out from ASI Jet Center
Starting to roll.....

Looking serious Out the front of the plane

The controls

Turning to the left

Colin's First Solo

Colin's first solo on October 28th, 2008 at Flying Cloud Airport, Eden Prairie, MN. Colin has completed almost the entire private pilot course. He is six flights away from getting his pilot's license! Check out the video if you want to see his first solo takeoff!

Diamond 283DC and the Hawk.

Back on the ground after the first solo in the Diamond DA-20.

Minnesota Zoo with Ford

Last Saturday, we took Ford to the Minnesota Zoo for the day. It was a chilly morning, but warmed up and turned out to be a perfect day for a trip to the zoo. We took a trip on the monorail around the zoo, checked out the aquarium (Ford loves dolphins), and saw the new Russia grizzly coast exhibit (Ford was literally one inch away from a grizzly bear swimming - so cool)! We also got really close to a moose, climbed in a grain elevator, played with the farm animals, and finished off the day with a lunch of burgers, fries, and cokes! Ford was so well behaved and just wanted to hold hands or go high as the sky on Colin's shoulders. He also got to pick out a toy from the gift shop on our way out - a safari jeep, a driver and some underwater adventure equipment!

Ford and Colin in the grain elevator. Once you made it to the top, they had slides that went down!
Ford loves his tractors.

Ford kept saying, "KT - you are in the way, so I can't drive"

Ford and the little cubrito.

Ford was not liking the cows, but we somehow managed to get him to stay in the barn.

What a cutie!

Ford thought these were so funny.

We were all tired on the way home. He tried so hard to stay awake and play with his jeep!

Dexter's 2nd Birthday

Dexter turned two on October 24th! He celebrated his birthday with a special bison meat breakfast and dinner - as well as a night cuddling with mom and dad. He got several new treats as presents (he loves his stuffed ducks), but his big presents were a monster "dinosaur" bone, a new harness which also works as a seat belt for car rides, and a water bowl that doesn't spill for car trips. He has been whipping his dino bone around the house and of course smashing it into walls because it is so big. The harness is awesome because now we can buckle him into the Jeep when we have the doors and/or top off and not worry! He is the best puppy in the world!

Mom and Dexter

Dad, Dexter, the dinosaur bone and Jeep seat belt.

Colin loves pigs.

I almost forgot I had taken these pictures at the State Fair. Colin loves pigs and got to get up close and personal in the barn at the state fair!

Biggest pig in the MN.
Wow, those are some large.......

If only he had a potbelly pig at home!

New Cars

Recently, we both got new cars - an Audi TT roadster and a Jeep Wrangler. It has been really fun driving them around - here are some pics!

SnowKat

Colin has gotten new rims since this picture too!