First of all, thank you all so much for your kind words and well wishes regarding our dog Bailey. Last week was really rough and I ended up taking a personal day off just to make arrangements for her, but we are now focusing our attention on our Akita mix Jack. He truly is missing his sister! Losing a pet is really like losing a member of your family. I had no idea how tough saying goodbye to her would be. We were very thankful to have an extra year with her after she injured her back last spring, but her health had greatly deteriorated. She was a German Shepherd/Corgi mix and they are prone to hip and back injuries. It’s going to be a long time before we stop looking for her at home. It’s very quiet without her presence.

It’s really hard for me to believe after a drizzly, dreary weekend in Nashville (as they say in the South, a real frog choker) that less than two weeks ago I was enjoying this view poolside with a virgin Pina Colada:

Visit TravelingMom.com for my article about my newbie Disney World experience with the TravelingMom.com team at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. I’ve also got a great convo going on with readers at the Blonde Mom Blog Facebook page about favorite places to stay at Walt Disney World. There are so many great hotels to choose from, it’s difficult to decide where to stay with my family when we, hopefully, make it a vacation destination next year!

And yes, there’s no place like home, but I just wish it would warm up already. I’ve got flip flops in my closet saying my name.