Meet my Fur child

This is my fur child, Stewart Pappas. Isn't he handsome? Stewie has been living with us for the last 6.5 years and he's a great pet. He's litter box trained, so he doesn't have to be confined to his cage (though he actually spends a lot of time in there anyway because it's his home and he feels comfortable in there). That green thing in the background is one if his toys -- a liquid detergent bottle cap. He sometimes likes to toss it about. I'm glad it's in the picture because it gives you an idea of Stewie's size. When we got him we were told that he's a mini lop. Well, let me tell you, there's nothing mini about this bun!

I took Stewie to the vet this morning for a check up and he weighed in at a healthy 7 Lbs. He's also about 2 feet long when he's fully stretched out. So all in all about the size of a newborn, except that Stewie does not like to be held, so today was not one of his favorite days. Fortunately, except for a little conjunctivitis which needs to be treated with special medicine, Stewie passed his check up with flying colors. He got his nails clipped today too. Boy, was he ever happy to come home! So much so that he forgot to wish his human mom and dad happy anniversary! Yup, Bill and I have been married for 10 years, and dated for 5 years before that (we got married 2 days after the anniversary of our first date). Time sure flies when you're having fun!

And speaking of flying, because it's been such a busy week we elected to stay home tonight and tried to plan our next European vacation over going out to dinner. Our Colorado trip was sort of our celebratory vacation, and we figured we could go our to diner to celebrate some time next week. Unfortunately, our plans were foiled, probably because we had only a very sketchy idea of where it was we wanted to go and when at the start. But even though we didn't book anything, we do have an idea of where we're going. And the winner is? Benelux! Huh? I know, there's no such country in Europe. But Benelux is actually a bona fide destination -- a trip through Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. We'll probably fly into Amsterdam and then get a Eurail pass and travel all over the region. We already spent a day in Brussels a couple of years ago, so now we'll concentrate on seeing the rest of the region. MMMMM - I can't wait. I can taste the Belgian Waffles already!