He loved it when we came to visit from Arizona because Neal would always go outside and play with him. Even though Neal could "only" get the ball half way back in my parents yard, he would still go grab it and take it for a run all the way to the back trees before bringing it back to you.
And we did torture him once when we introduced him to our cat, Charley, on one of our trips home from Arizona. 
So even though I didn't necessarily appreciate licking as a sign of affection, we will definitely miss you, Russ. You were a really good dog and always happy to see us when we came. And thanks for tolerating our children. We know you loved them too.
And since I was digging through the archives for pictures, I came across one of my favorites. This picture tells so many things. You can see really how big our kitchen was in our first apartment. You couldn't have the dishwasher and the stove open at the same time. You can see Neal is cooking a turkey- his first and last. And you can see how skinny he really was when we first got married. My how times have changed (for the better I might add).
