Clam Chowder Festival

We went to Santa Cruz to the Clam Chowder Festival.  Everyone, except me and K, tested a bunch of chowders and voted on their favorite...which happened to be Big Dan's team....even though Big Dan wasn't there.

After taste testing, we walked out on the wharf and checked out the seals.  It was fun day!

Locals or Tourists?

We went to SF this weekend to play tourist.  Grace has been wanting to go for awhile so we packed up in the mini and headed up.  We walked across the Golden Gate bridge and to Forth Point, which is below the bridge.

Then we did the total tourist trip to Pier 39 and the Fisherman's Wharf.  We had some yummy crepes for lunch and loved watching the seal lions!  We have plans to head back and go to Chinatown and Golden Gate Park.

Pheasant Hunting

Getting ready the nite before

Not sure where I went wrong but my sweet daughter is now a hunter.  She went with Jim, Joey and Jim to Rio Vista to pheasant hunt.

It was a little cool because she used her great grandfather's gun.  But it would have been just as cool if she used it for clay pigeons.

In the end she said she liked it but thought it would be better to go out in the real wild and hunt (this was a hunting club where they basically put the birds out in the morning for the hunters to shoot!).

Porter

5 weeks old

Telluride pics

Telluride looked like a cool hipster type of town.  Grace loved taking pics of the artwork and signs around town.

My babies

Here are my two sets of babies right next to each other!  What fun that was having two litters of puppies.  There were certainly parts of it that could have gone much better -- but overall, it was a great experience.

Cabin trip with the pups

Puppy art - same pic inside and outside the pool

On the last weekend that we had the pups, I took them to the cabin with me. Luckily Heather joined me because I needed the extra hands.  We loaded up the swimming pool and headed out at 6 am on Friday morning.  The ride there was a smooth as butter!  Hops laid in the pool with the babies for the whole trip.  And of course they were delighted because they could eat whenever they wanted!

This is where they stayed at the cabin - it was wall to wall dogs!

Carter - 4 weeks old

The puppies were getting big and were quite active so we took them out on the driveway to let them run around a little.  At first they were scared and stuck close to us.  But after a couple days, they wandered around a little more.  It was funny to watch them wandering around in between Hops, Daisy and Ahi, like they were part of the pack!  At one point, Porter walked right under Ahi and she FROZE!  There was a little lip action to show her disapproval so I quickly moved her!

At the end of the weekend, we dropped them all off at the breeders house where they charmed everyone!

The report from the breeder is Hops continues to be a good mama by nursing them whenever they want, so the pups are not very interested in kibble yet.  That means the weaning period will be a little long. 

Telluride Nightlife

I love this pic of the kids at a bar in Telluride. 

Telluride

Jim and the kids headed out on a Boondoggle to Telluride!  Jim and G flew to Phoenix and Drew picked them up in his truck.  They drove 4 hours and stayed the nite in a hotel and then drove 4 hours the next morning to Telluride.

Looks like a cool little town.  Grace is shooting all these pics and sending them to me!

They are staying in a cute little condo 30 feet from the Gondola and skiing for 3 days.  After that, they will drive 8 hours back to Phoenix and Drew will drop them back off at the Phoenix airport.  They all love Telluride and can't wait to go back with me and the dogs! (Apparently it is a very dog friendly town!)

View from their condo

Dad and son - love this pic!

The first day there was a blue bird day and the second day, the clouds started rolling in.

Hunter

Grace got her hunters license last weekend.  She went to a half day safety class and is now good to hunt for the rest of her life.  How does the daughter of a vegetarian want to hunt stuff???

Puppy Pics and Videos

Billy Bob puppy feeding

I have been remiss in posting puppy pics.  But I have a good excuse - black puppies are so hard to photograph so we don't get a lot of good shots.   But her are some pics and videos to share the cuteness!

3 weeks old

Ahi is very interested in these pups.  If they are making noise she gets in to check on them!

Book ends

Roasting the puppies

Carter

Carter

Little puppy Carter, who is 22 days old today, and had signs of a urinary tract infection, so I took her to the vet.

Buckled in for the ride to the vet

6.4 pound love nugget

The vet checked her out and she looked good other than the UTI symptoms so we are going to give her antibiotics for 5 days.

Puppies

12 days old

9 days old - synchronized puppy sleeping

The pups are 12 days old today and the little girls eyes are open today!  We are thoroughly enjoying our time with them.  Yesterday morning Jim and I got up early and held the for an hour before I had to go work.  It's an amazing way to start the day.

Oatmeal

Jim and the kids are planning a trip to Telluride to ski.   I am staying home with the dogs and pups. This a text that went back and forth on our family group text:

Drew:  Dad and Grace - I am going to the store on Weds to get drinks, snacks and breakfast stuff.  Any requests?

Jim:  Some oatmeal for breakfast stuff.  And whatever else.

Me:  You don't eat oatmeal at home....why are you going to eat it there????

Drew:  Shhh, mama you are not going!

BAM!  Put me in my place!

Superfood Salad

This is a salad that we ate when we were in Hawaii for our backpacking trip and when I brought it home and made if for the kids, they loved it.

Dressing

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 Tablespoons of whole grain dijon mustard
• 2 Tablespoons of honey
• 3 Tablespoons of white wine vinegar
• 1 cup olive oil (can add a little more if it seems too thick)
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything in a food processor for 30 seconds or until mixed

Salad

• 2 packages of spinach (or about 6 cups) - can use all kale or mixture of kale and spinach
• 1/2 to 1 cup of cooked quinoa (I like to use a multicolored quinoa)
• 1 avocado
• 1 cup of pomegranate arils
• Pine nuts sprinkled to your liking
• Feta cheese sprinkled to your liking

For non-vegetarians, add a salmon fillet to top of salad