Dog Show Debrief

This weekend Gracie and I went to the Golden Gate Kennel Club dog show in SF. We went with the strategy to look at French Bulldogs in my quest for a new dog. It was so much fun to check out all the breeds. I spoke to the owner of the dog dad of the potential puppy I want. The dog was not there but I saw a picture of him. His name is Felix and he is from Russia. I also talked to the owner of the mom dog of the potential puppy, who is also from Russia. They were bred recently and there will be an ultrasound this weekend to see if it was successful! So potentially I could have a puppy in about 4 to 5 months.

Since the lineage is from Russia (like me), we are considering Russian names like Svetlana, Helga or Olga. If anyone has any name suggestions, please email me.

Alfredo

We were at the SJ Stealth (lacrosse) game over the weekend and Gracie said something that cracked me up. We were looking at a picture of the whole team and she said, "look that guy has an alfredo." And she was pointing at his hair! Yep - she substituted the word "alrfedo" for "afro". The guy had blonde curly hair!

Concerned Lab

This morning our cleaning lady came to clean. When she is here, I put Daisy's food and water bowl in the dishawasher to get it out of the way and clean it. Normally, I put it in the dishwasher late at nite before I go to bed because I turn on the dishwasher to run while we are sleeping. And when I do this, she is usually already asleep so she does not see it happen. This morning, she watched me put her bowls in the dishwasher and she was ALARMED! She was looking at me like...what the heck are you doing, I can't eat or drink out of those when they are sideways in the dishwasher!!! She stood there and looked at them for about 10 minutes until Drew finally distracted her with toys! Now a few hours later, she seems to have forgotten about them....she is now too busy snoring in the window!

A Night at the Museum

We saw the movie" A Night at the Museum" on Friday nite and it is well worth seeing. Very creative and some good historcial information. Love the fights between the diorama cowboys and Romans! Drew was laughing out loud thru the whole thing!

Escaped Hermit Crabs

Santa brought Gracie 2 hermit crabs for xmas. I am not sure how he got them on the sled, but they were under the tree on xmas morning!

On Friday afternoon, I was on a conference call and Gracie came into my office and interrupted me saying it was an emergency. I followed her out to the family room to find that the dog knocked the hermit crabs off the front window seat. Their home was on its side and there was sand every where! Gracie took control of the situation by barricading the crabs behind chairs, baskets, shoes, etc. She was making it so that the dog couldn't get the crabs! Since the situation was secure, I went back to my phone call and told her that I would clean it up when I was done.

With the chaos of family life, we forgot...until after dinner Gracie went to check on them and they were gone! You see... barricades made of chairs keep a dog out but don't keep hermit crabs in!!!! We went on a search and found them about 8 feet away in the entry way! Wheew! A close call!

Family Life Education

Fifth grade is when you start sex ed in our school district. So this week Jim and I went to the Family Life Curriculum Preview for Drew's class. All in all the curriculum looks great and is well planned out starting with basic concepts in 5th grade and increasing the complexity thru 7th grade.

We are a pretty open and liberal family so the nite of the meeting, we were all having dinenr and discussing that we were going and is there anything Drew wanted us to find out at the meeting....I am thinking things like..... who exactly is teaching it, when will it start, are the boys going to be in the same room with the girsl? etc. He says there is nothing he wants to know.

But then Gracie raises her hand and, very matter of factly, wants us to find out what "balls" are! I respond, very matter of factly" that we already know what those are....they are called testicles. She said "oh, ok" and went back to eating her dinner! Jim and Drew just roll their eyes!

She is a crazy little girl!

Girlie Cousins

I think this is the beginning of a long relationship! Gracie loves playing big cousin to Amelia. And Amelia loves her big cousin. I think Amelia knows that Gracie will teach her how to fish, play soccer....and beat up her brothers!

Bones and Dynamite.....

Gracie's nickname is "Bones and Dynamite" because she is so skinny but so powerful and tenacious. Whenever we talk about her being "Bones and Dynamite", she always brings up how short I am compared to the rest of the family. Her, Drew and Jim are all built for speed while I am like a turtle... slow and plodding. I always say I am built for endurance NOT speed. We always discuss that people are just different sizes and it doesn't mean they are any less strong, tenacious, etc. I have always told her I am little but mighty. Today we found a sticker of Piglet and it said...."Small but Brave".

So there you have it:

Gracie is Bones and Dynamite!

Her mom is Small but Brave!

She is one sweet kid with some great thoughts going on in that head!

Doggie Happiness

Daisy and all her xmas toys!

California Hillbilly Story

This here is a hillbilly motor home (with Marty standing in front of it) and this here is the story of the hillbilly motor home.

Over xmas break, we were heading to Yosemite to do some snow shoeing and sledding. On the way, we stopped at the gas station just outside the park. When we drove up to the gas station we were awed at the fine piece of machinery in this pic.... a circa 1972 motor home, also known as a rolling turd. It was such a hillbilly vehicle that we were hysterical. Little did we know that this was just the beginning......

We went into the gas station and while we were standing around waiting to pay for some stuff, a real live hillbilly walked up to us and asked us, "Wher'd ya'all get them A-dult snow bibs?". Our response, "Walmart" - since we were pretty sure he had never heard of Cabela's. His response...."thems all out of thems now". Our response...."we got them a couple years ago." His response.... "yea, I guess you just wear 'em til theeeer all ripped up."

We walked out of the gas station giggling.

As we were leaving, the hillbilly from the gas station approached the motor home and discovered that his kids had locked him out. He screams into the motor home...."if you kids want to go to the snow, you better unlock that door and let your daddy in." In he goes and they drive away. But not before leaving puddles of fluid and oil where the motor home was parked.

We thought that was the last of our encounter with Califonia Hillbillies....but that was just the beginning.

Off we go to Yosemite. And as soon as we pull into the park....there is the rolling turd parked in the first parking lot we come to. This time there are 2 adults (or as he called then A-dults) and three kids milling about and no one is wearing anything that matches or fits. Gloves don't match, hats and jackets too small or too big, etc. Plus they are playing in the dirty snow plowed to the the side of the road. We giggle again and are amused at finding such a rare breed of people in California. And at this time we decide it is time to call Chris' Uncle Dave in Kentucky to report this hillbilly sighting! But....no cell service available....DARN!

So off we go again thinking this is the last of the hillbillies. We spend the better part of the day snowshoeing and sledding. At about 4 pm we head back to the trucks to have some lunch. As we are standing around and eating our sandwiches, up drives the rolling turd! And there is a person looking out of every window - it looked like something out of a Chevy Chase Vacation movie. They pulled into an iced over parking lot, sliding all over the place because they did not have chains or snow tires. They finally came to a stop - pretty much right in the middle of the parking lot - because they couldn't get the turd to roll anymore. They all jumped out of the motor home - 2 men, 5 kids and a woman - and started stuffing branches under the wheels to prevent it from sliding out of the parking lot or into another vehicle.

At this point, there are uncontrollable giggles from us and the kids. And Drew is screaming...."there are the hillbillies!!!!"

They proceed to take off two sleds that are bungee corded to the back of the rolling turd. These sleds look like they are from the Depression Era. If my mom were there, she would have stole them and sold them on eBay!

They drag their sleds by us on their way to a hill and talk to Jim a little. (We are certain they did not recognize us from the gas station). One of the men asked Jim if the ski resort up the road was closed. Well.... there was no ski resport up the road....it is a one hour drive all the way across the park AND it was open. We think he saw the sign in the parking lot that said "nordic ski area" and he thought it meant downhill skiing. When Jim informed him about the location and status of the REAL ski area, he said it was too bad because he wanted to bring the sleds to the ski slopes.... HELLO - what if every YAHOO with sleds brought them to the ski area..... a little dangerous!!!! He seemed really disappointed when Jim told him that ski resorts do not allow sleds to go down the slopes with the skiiers!!

Once they were sledding, it allowed us the opportunity to check out the rolling turd. We discovered:

* the back tail light was duct taped on -- in true hillbilly fashion
* the left side had been "egged"
* there was a sleeping bag hanging out of the window in the sleeping area above the cab of the truck
* there was a straw hat on the dashboard embroidered with "Cabo San Lucas"

We left the happy hillbilly family sledding down a hill and across a road..... We have wondered since how they got out of the iced over parking lot!

Talk about two clowns!

This is Drew and his best friend Marty, who happens to be a 10 year old in a 40 year old body. YES - you see that right, they are both wearing shirts that say, "Protect Your Nuts"! Marty got himself a shirt and then realized that his buddy Drew needed one too. He had to go to Target Stores in 3 different counties to try to find one for Drew.....that is true friendship and devotion!

Lots of good stuff

The kids and the dog loaded up with good stuff from Santa and the family. This shows Daisy Mae getting a massage with her new hand held doggie massager (from Grandma Kathy). She LOVES it. And at the same time she is holding the new toy that Santa gave her and wearing the new holiday collar Grandma Anna gave her. In the other pic, Gracie is holding the Hannah Montana CD that Drew gave her. There is no pic but Grace gave Drew a Clue game - which we ALL love!

Xmas Eve

On Xmas Eve we were sitting around playing a game of rummikub when we looked outside and saw this amazing sunset. The whole sky looked like this.

3 Generations

This is a great pic from xmas day of Jim, his Dad and Drew - 3 generations of handsome men.

I want a new dog...

And this is what I want her to look like. This is a French Bulldog. They are from 19 to 28 pounds and are considered the clowns of the dog world. I am looking to get one for myself as a gift for my fortieth birthday (which is in June). I have very specific requirements so it may be a little while before I find one that is perfect.