Dogs are a big part of this vacation.  As you know, my wife and I brought our two wiener dogs with us in the car from Rochester.  They have been shuttling back and forth between the in-laws place and their three dogs, and my sister in laws place with her dachshund Misty May, two cats and Tucker, their year and a half old chocolate brown lab.

In case you didn't read my vacation blog from last year, let me fill you in about Tucker.  He is still very young and exuberant.   He is also still very orally fixated.  Tucker loves nothing more than to put your hands, glasses, ears, face and head in his mouth as often as caninely possible and slobber all over you.  He is also still a total spazz. 

When Tucker comes bounding through the doggy door after a pleasantly satisfying poop, you better batten down the hatches and try to stay out of his way.  Sleep has been hit and miss.  It is pretty much a losing proposition when Tucker comes barreling through the doggy door in the morning, sounding like a herd of clydesdales above us.  Tucker is also the reason for my first injury of the trip.

My wife had been returning to Connie's late one night with our wiener dogs.  I heard her at the door and, while on my knees, tried to corral Tucker by the collar and contain him while she attempted to come in the house and take the wieners downstairs to our basement room.

I bounced on my knees, trying to get him away from the door and into the living room, turned a corner, thinking there was nothing but carpeting in my way.  There was not.  BAM!  My left knee slammed down onto the hard concrete edge of sissy's fireplace hearth.  OWWWW!  I went down like I had just been felled by a musket blast, writhing in pain and not being able to move for at least five minutes.  Four days later, and it still hurts like hell.

Also hurting like hell is the sunburn on my back from that first excursion out on the boat on the Chatfield reservoir.  I had put sunscreen on my arms, face, head and shoulders, but my arms were not long enough to reach the middle of my back, which now looks like a ready to eat lobster and is sure soon to start peeling like an onion.

That all pales in comparison to the pain we are all feeling about the upcoming nuptuals this Sunday.  Everyone is a bit on edge and overwhelmed by all the wedding preparations.  Little things are being magnified.  Everyone will be very relieved when it is all over, but for now the pressure is mounthing.

There has been some downtime though.  Got a chance to spend a day hanging out with my soon to be bro, Bryant.   We watched some TV, took a nap (not together of course), and then went out to get his car's emissions test.  See, in Colorado, they don't have car inspections like they do in NY.  They want to make sure your car is not sending out too much poison gases into the environment.  Apparently, they don't care if your car is about to fall apart, as long as you are not polluting.

After that, we went to the DMV to get his registration tags renewed.  We were in and out in about twenty minutes.  They seem much more efficient here than they do in NY.

That night we all went out as a family to everyone's favorite place, Red Robin.  Red Robin had a sweet deal that we didn't even know about until the waiter told us.  Because the Broncos won and had at least three sacks in the game, on Tuesdays, they had tavern double burgers buy one, get one free.  My wife and I and her folks took advantage of that.  It was also very busy, and took almost an hour to get our food.  Bryant couldn't take it anymore and went to find the manager.  He told him about our plight and the manager comp'ed us very nicely.  The final bill was just over twenty one dollars for the six of us.  I gotta ask Bryant what his secret is before I leave!

Yesterday was an interesting day.  The plan was for my wife Michelle and I to go over to the folks house, color and perm mom's hair and take her out to lunch.  When my wife talked to mom though, she told her that she didn't want to take her anxiety meds because they made her pee.  Instead, she took an Ambien (or two)....IN THE MORNING, and then went out to shop.

Thankfully, she made it home safe, but needless to say, was quite a bit loopy.  We all went to Chipotle for lunch (which was spectacular), and mom was as giddy as a schoolgirl, which made the lunchtime conversation fun.  My wife was asking her something....I believe it was about Connie's wedding, when mom blurted out, "Not a douchebag!".  I'm hoping it is a phrase that catches on.

After her hair was done, and a much needed nap, the folks and I went over to Michelle's salon to watch her practice her first attempt at Connie's wedding day hairdo.  For me, nothing says excitement like that!  After it was complete, Connie said she loved it.  Later than night, we found out that she apparently had changed her mind.  My wife is thrilled about going back ot the drawing board I'm sure.

After that, there was still some life left in the night so Michelle and I headed over to her friend Deena's place to pick her up for a trip to the sex store.  OK, that needs some background.....

You see, there is a second wedding this vacation.  My wife's best friend (and a friend of Deena's) Jessica is getting married the following weekend, so they are looking for bridal shower gifts.  Not just any bridal shower gift though.  They are looking for something so raunchy and filled with debauchery, it would make Jenna Jameson blush.

See, that is because when Deena was married around 14 years ago, Jessica hired a stripper for Deena's bachelorette party.  Being very conservative, this was apparently a source of embarrassment for Deena, so now it is payback time!

We went to this place called "Fascinations", which is Denver's largest store of this kind.  I gotta admit, it lived up to its name.  It was fascinating to see two floors of a store this large devoted to....well, sex and sex aids.  They also found that it was not easy to find something suitably embarrassing, so settled for a few funny items that might give everyone a slight gasp at the shower.

Today, everyone loaded into the car and headed off to a family friends place to make pies and cupcakes for sisters wedding.  Everyone but me that is.  I chose to stay behind at the folks house to write this and watch some TV, maybe take a nap.  Sleep is going to be hard to come by for the next few days. 

See, we got displaced at sisters house.  My wife and I had to re-pack and move all our stuff to the folks house until Monday because Bryants sister and her husband and kids are taking our place there.  I slept on an air mattress that deflated during the night, and dad gets up around six every morning and is sure to wake the wife and I up most of them. 

Ahhh, nothing like a vacation.  Seriously though, it will all get much better come Monday...It has to, right?