Art Bark Fest

I drove up to Tahoe with some friends to go to the "Art Bark Fest" being held at Squaw Valley. Of course, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take some pictures around the venue!

Hope and Carlo pose on the "ski chairs" - recycling at its best. Guess there is a use for old skis!

This location had the perfect location for an "Incredible Shrinking Dogs" photo of the dogs, here are Hope and Carlo...

And, a group shot after we hooked up with the rest of our friends. On the chair from L to R: Carlo, Omeeka, Cara, Hope. On the ground from L to R: Hollie, Milano, Inari

After grabbing lunch for the humans, we drove over to the Martis Valley Trail for a short hike and to let the dogs run. From L to R: Inari, Hope, Carlo, Milano, Cara, Hollie, Omeeka

What a fun day for both people and dogs!

Another weekend, another trip to L.A.

Are we crazy to go to L.A. two weekends in a row? Why...yes I guess we (and that includes Mary and Mason...) are!

After going to L.A. for our first HOPE AACR callout last weekend, I thought I would pass on another trip a week later for our regional meeting being held in Costa Mesa. That was until the email came out from our Regional Director asking for teams to attend the public Memorial Service for the two firefighters who died in the line of duty fighting the Station Fire that was scheduled for Saturday at Dodger Stadium. There was no way I was going to pass up another opportunity to go on another callout, especially when we were scheduled to have a meeting anyways. Plus, since I had visited the Base Camp just a week before, it would be nice to go to the service.

It turned into a fun, but very busy and rewarding weekend for us and the dogs. The drive to L.A. still stinks, especially driving through L.A. on a Friday afternoon at commute hour. We were shooting to get Mary and Mason to the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona by 6pm so they could catch the last wave of the evening for a dock diving competition. Luckily, we just made it and after all that driving Mason managed to win his division with a jump of 19+ feet! Our hotel was only about 3-4 miles away and after a quick stop for dinner, it was time for bed!

Here's a picture of Hope at Splashdogs, she says she is a proud member of the non-Splashdog Club!

The next day, Saturday, the Memorial for the Firefighters killed was starting at 10am, but we were meeting the rest of the HOPE teams outside the stadium at 8:30am, so we had to get up early get to our meeting place. Not knowing the traffic patterns, we left early and got there in plenty of time which was good as some of the other teams got stuck in traffic and we had to wait for them. Lesson learned when on a callout, leave early and don't be late, you never know what the traffic will be like.

This a group picture we took at the meeting place before we drove over to the Stadium. From left to right the dogs are: Bonnie, Bailey, Hope, Shadow, Gina, Cinder, Mason, Denali, & Lexie. (Not pictured: Denmark) Bonnie and Bailey were on the callout last weekend when we went to Base Camp. Hope and I went through the certification workshop with Lexie so it was great to see her again.

The memorial at Dodger Stadium was amazing and very emotional, definitely needed lots of kleenex. The stands were filled with thousands of firefighters in their dress uniforms, it was overwhelming how many firefighters came to pay tribute to these two individuals, it is a brotherhood, that's for sure. There were lots of dignitaries in attendance, politicians from the L.A. area, but people like Senator Barbara Boxer as well. Governor Arnold Schwartznegger and Vice President Biden were also there and spoke at the service. I've never thought highly of Joe Biden as he's said some stupid things since he's been in office, but his speech was really nice...he earned back some of my respect that day.

We had 10 HOPE teams in attendance, all labs and goldens plus a couple of other HOPE members who didn't have dogs with them. One of the things that has impressed me was how we work as a team on a callout, even this day was no exception. We all met as a group, went in as a group, and walked in a single-file line to our seats. A lot of heads turned when they saw us with our dogs. The dogs wore a black ribbon with a Firefighter pin on their vests for the service as a tribute to the two firefighters.

When the service ended, we stayed near the entrance as all the uniformed firefighters and responders were the first ones who exited the stadium, part of the protocol. We stood in a single file line on the side as all the responders walked out, many of whom stopped to talk to us, and pet our dogs. Some had remembered the HOPE dogs from their work at the Base Camps, Shelters, and Memorials from the big Esperanza fire last year.

It truly was an honor to witness the service and be a part of the day. It was an experience like no other. I find it a bit ironic that the firefighters were thanking us for being there as they are truly the heroes. When they had all filed out...we exited the stadium in a single-file line again to the outside of the stadium where more people came up and talked to us and we thanked them for their service.

This was the one time where I was glad to actually have a black dog as the firefighters uniforms were mostly dark-colored, less worry about blond hair getting all over their fancy uniforms! None of them seemed to mind though.

Hope did great throughout it all. Except for the fact that she doesn't like wearing her cape, she was perfect, very calm and controlled and slept through the whole ceremony, even the helicopter fly-by which was pretty loud.

This is a little video with some clips from the service:

After the ceremony, we headed back to Pomona to try to get Mason and Mary to the fairgrounds before 2pm for the 1st wave of Splashdogs. Unfortunately, we got there just at about 2pm, so they didn't make it in time, bummer. I didn't want to hang out with Hope all that time, so I took her to a nearby park where we went hiking for a few hours and found four geocaches. It was a really HOT and STEEP hike up a huge hill, but we made it. I had to be careful to keep both Hope and myself hydrated, I went through two bottles of water in that two hours for the both of us. See my geocaching blog for a few pictures...

After hiking for a few hours, Hope and I headed back to the Fairgrounds as I wanted to watch Mason compete in the Super Vertical competition. He did great, not first place, but it was fun to watch. He competed in the last wave of the evening too. What stamina! We stopped for dinner on the way back to the hotel and it was back to bed, another long but fun day.

Yup, he's vertical alright! The "bumper" is placed 8 feet out from the edge of the dock and he got it at a height of 6 foot. Amazing dog!

Mason says, "Hey Hope, you sure you don't wanna try this? It's fun and I know you like to swim."

On Sunday morning, we were able to take it easier as the meeting in Costa Mesa was not starting until 10am, so we at least had time to stop at Starbucks for coffee and pastries. Its always fun meeting up with all the HOPE folks who we hardly see. Hope's buddy, Oz, the huge Newfoundland was there and this time she actually approached him from the front, a first for her! :-) Good girl, Hope.

The meeting actually ended early so Mary and I were able to get a jump start on the drive home and I got home around 9pm. Not too bad as normally we get home so late. There's nothing fun about that drive to L.A., but it was all worth it again!

Another tiring, but very rewarding weekend; I'm having a blast doing all this with Hope!

Hope the Crisis Response dog!

Last October, Hope and I went through an evaluation and completed the certification workshop for HOPE AACR (Animal-Assisted Crisis Response). It's been almost a year since we completed our training and its taken this long, but we finally went on our first callout this past weekend. It was a thrill to finally go and also a little nerve-wracking at the same time...would I remember everything I learned in my training, would Hope like it, would I like it, would it be stressful like some parts of the training we went through to simulate a real callout?

There is a HUGE wildfire called the Station Fire in Southern California, that is currently still burning and is only about 56% contained. Early last week, the HOPE teams were put on "standby" as there was a possibility of a callout at the local base camp. One of the local HOPE teams in S.CA. made contact with an individual who remembered the dogs at Hurricane Katrina, but who didn't have authority to give us permission to go to the base camp. It took a few days, but finally the permission was granted from the base camp IC (Incident Commander - basically the "head honcho") for teams to go out on Thursday night.

According to HOPE's "Animal Welfare Guidelines", we can't deploy teams when the air quality is over a certain level, for the safety of the dogs. The Thursday callout ended up being cancelled as the air quality was too bad. They were going to try again on Friday, but had to get permission from the IC again. Ugh, was this really going to happen or not?

My adrenaline was pumping when I heard the Thursday callout had been cancelled and was being rescheduled for Friday as my friend Mary and her dog Mason were ready to deploy as we both had Friday off anyways. Unfortunately, permission didn't get granted until after 2pm and at that time, there was no way for us to make it to S.CA by 6pm. Bummer! The good news is that the callout went so well on Friday, that they invited teams back for Saturday! So Mary and I packed our bags and headed down on Saturday, knowing we would be taking a chance if the air quality was bad the drive down there could all be for nothing, but we were willing to take a chance.

Luckily the winds shifted in the right direction and the callout was a "go". This was really happening! We enjoyed an easy (but long!) drive down to Santa Clarita where we were to meet the rest of the teams and caravan to the base camp about 3 miles away at a place called Hansen Dam. There were 5 teams in total; it was also what someone dubbed a "lab brigade", all black or yellow labs. One of the teams was our friend Stacy and her sweet 3 year old yellow lab named Angel who Hope and I went through the workshop with last year. The other two teams were Dave and his wife Diane who have 2 black labs. Before we left for base camp, Dave and Diane gave us a great overview of what we were going to be doing, where we would going, what we would be seeing, what to expect, what types of questions we might be asked, how we should answer some of the questions, and how to look out for each other.

It was great to have this preview as I think I might have gotten stuck on some of the questions we were asked, but it all went very smoothly because we went over everything in so much detail beforehand. As the old Boy Scout motto goes, "Be Prepared"! There is so much to keep in mind of what to say, what not to say, to make sure your dog is not getting stressed, to watch out for the other teams, etc. Talk about multi-tasking....

We had to pass through a couple of check-points to get to the actual base camp, if you don't have permission to be there, you won't be getting in, for obvious reasons. We toileted the dogs and checked in at "Main Street" where we met the Information Officer who Diane first made contact with and was the key person to getting us permission for the deployment. Later, we also met the IC, which was a thrill and he kept thanking us over and over for being there and even shook all our hands. Shouldn't that be the other way around? These guys are the heroes, not us.

We then walked around visiting with anybody at base camp who wanted to pet our dogs. One of the first things I saw were the wreaths and photographs set up in memory of the two firefighters who lost their lives a few days before. Seeing that certainly made this whole experience real, we were here for a reason. There's also something to be said about dogs reaching where a human can't and I really experienced it that night. These big, burly tough firefighters from all over the country who kneeled down with our dogs, many expressing how hard it was to be away from home, how much they missed their own dogs, how long the days were (some were working 16 hours a day), you could just see the relief pour from them as they pet the dogs. It's a feeling I've never experienced before and I was thrilled to be a part of it....

Teams would come and go and stand in the "chow line" waiting for their dinner so we worked the lines with the dogs as they were waiting. It was amazing to see how organized the place was, it was like a little town, everything in order. Teams stayed together and walked in a single file line where ever they went. We met people from all over the country. Even though we weren't allowed to interact with them, there were also prisoners who were helping to fight the fires and they were treated just like everyone else, well, except for the guards who followed them.

All five dogs were great, tails wagging, totally interacting with each person they met. To be honest, I was uncertain how Hope would do as she can be very cautious in new situations. We were in a strange place, some of the guys were still in their uniforms, soot all over their faces, they probably smelled different, but she did great and was thoroughly enjoying the visits with everyone. I can honestly say out of all the therapy visits we've done so far, it was her shining moment. She stepped up to the plate and hit a grand slam....

After spending a couple of hours in the main part of the base camp, we went and visited with people at Main Street. There were trailers for all the different functions that made the place tick from an administrative standpoint - unsung heroes who were working long days too to make sure everything runs smoothly. People came out of their trailers to visit with the dogs and again you could just see some of the stress leave their faces as they interacted with the dogs.

It was an amazing experience. Some of my best memories:

• I am so proud of Hope, she was awesome, as were all the other dogs. (Well, other than having a wear a cape, which she hates, haha. But she soon forgot that she was even wearing it!)
• The one thing that struck me was how nice everyone was - and they were thanking us for being there. Wow, they are ones who deserve all the thanks, not us.
• The value of teamwork - communication was key and we really worked together as a unit not only watching out for ourselves and our own dogs, but the other teams as well. Our Team Leader Diane was great as was Dave as they gave us so much information before we even set foot at the base camp. We even had a de-brief right before we left as to what went well, what we could have done differently, etc.
• I really feel privileged to have witnessed what a base camp is like. Most people will never know how much organization and coordination has to take place during a crisis such as this.
• It's really ironic to wish for a disaster/crisis so that we can go on a callout and do our job as crisis response teams. But when it happens, what a thrill to be part of something so special.

Obviously, I wasn't in a position to take any pictures, although everywhere we went, people were taking pictures of the dogs, they were quite the celebrities! This is the only picture I took of Hope and Mason as we were waiting for the rest of the teams to arrive at the meeting place. As you can see, Hope is NOT happy about having to wear a vest!

That's it, over and out, 10-4, and all that other stuff.... :-)

Dillon Beach & Turn-In

Where does the time go? Seriously! It wasn't until I started puppy raising that I realized how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday that I got a sweet little lab/golden pup named Marisa to raise. I didn't know what I was doing, but she matured into a sweet girl who would eventually graduate with her little boy named Jason, who is not so little anymore. Then came Rolie, who was almost a "no-brainer" to raise and who graduated as a Service Dog after 8 months in Advanced Training. After that came Hope, the huge puppy who I thought would grow into a huge dog, but turned out to be my smallest at only 50 lbs. She of course, is now my "forever" dog, my constant companion, and her new career is that of therapy dog. Then there was Zuleika, the sweet wigglebutt who put me through such heartache and pain, but also joy as she was my favorite pup to train and had the sweetest personality. She too, was released, but has a great life with her family in Grass Valley.

And, finally there's Nick, my first male, who I co-raised with good friends, another first. Like Rolie, he was relatively easy to raise and is everything I want in a dog. Sweet, cuddly, affectionate, the list goes on and on. But like all the others before him, it's the end of the line for us, and the start of something new as he enters the next phase of his life - Advanced Training at CCI's campus in Santa Rosa.

The graduation this time around was a little different, instead of being held on a Saturday, the ceremony was taking place on a Friday. A group of us decided to go camping at one of our favorite places, Dillon Beach, for the weekend. Because we were going to have our pet dogs with us, we couldn't go to the ceremony so we had a nice day at the beach instead.

A friend and I drove up on Thursday afternoon and met some other friends who were already there with their RV. Dillon Beach is the best place for the dogs, huge sand dunes that the dogs love to run on one side and a great beach on the opposite side. The night we arrived was really windy, so it was a bit challenging to get our tents up. After dinner, we played a few rounds of Mexican Train, then headed back to our tents to sleep. Well, I didn't sleep at all - I think my mind was spinning thinking about turn-in and how much I was going to miss Nick. Luckily, Hope was there to keep me company...my therapy dog...this time for me!

The next day, more friends arrived. Nick's best buddy Gerrit, Carlo and Gerrit's puppyraiser arrived. They were going to camp with us after turn-in on Friday night. Gerrit was ready to play, so we headed to the dunes to let the them run. Here's a picture of Carlo, Gerrit, and Hope posing for a picture.

And a video of them playing, what fun!

Right as we were returning from the dunes, Nick arrived with our co-raisers. So it was back to dunes with the two best friends, Nick and Gerrit. Here's a video of the boys playing...

Shortly after that, more friends arrived...Idelle, Mason, and Idelle's puppy raisers. They were going to head to Monterey after turn-in as Mason (their release dog) was competing in a dock diving competition. Here are a few pictures of the turn-in dogs...

From left to right, Nick, Gerrit, and Idelle...

Nick on the left, Idelle on the right, and Gerrit posing in the dunes...

Getting some last minute cuddle time with my black dogs. Nick may be almost 70 lbs, but he is the biggest cuddler in the world.

After a fun day of playing and enjoying each other's company, the dreaded time arrived and we couldn't postpone it any longer, it was time to go to CCI. As I was changing my clothes, Nick came into the tent with me and laid down on the bed where Hope had slept the night before...the first tears started flowing as he laid there and cuddled with me for a few minutes.

Hope and I drove with our co-raisers to CCI, this is Hope and Nick during their last car ride together. I also made a promise to Hope that I wouldn't leave her at CCI since she had already done her time there. :-)

After playing in the play yard at CCI, we borrowed a friend's matriculation cape (we didn't get one since we didn't go to the ceremony) to take a few pictures of Nick in an official matriculation cape. Such a handsome boy! After that, we headed back to the turn-in room for turn-in. We gave Nick a hug, told him to be good, to listen to his trainers, and that it was all up to him now. Like all my dogs before, after we handed his leash to a trainer, he walked off and never turned back. Bye buddy, we love you and miss you! Lots of tears flowed and hugs followed soon after, this is the hard part of puppy raising and it never gets any easier. If it were not for the great group of friends I have, I'd never get through this.

Nick's Village, the best co-raisers and I with Nick holding each other up...

Our handsome boy, he has matured into a wonderful dog...

Then it was back to the beach...at least we all had our pet dogs to love on. Spaghetti for dinner, more mexican train, then sleep, and a few more tears shed in the privacy of my own tent. Sleep came easily that night, I think I was tired from not sleeping the night before and exhausted from the emotions of the day. I'm just glad Hope was there to cuddle with that night.

On Saturday, a few of us went into town for a photo shoot of the neat buildings/scenery in the area in the morning. I still struggle with photography, so I won't waste space with any of my pictures! Some other friends drove up for the day to hang out with us and the dogs. So we took a walk to the beach in the morning, ate lunch, played mexican train in the afternoon, had dinner, then took another trip to the dunes, and called it a night after enjoying some quiet time visiting around the campfire.

Here are a few photos of Hope at the beach...I love this shot of Hope that was taken by a friend in black & white. I was actually trying to get a similar shot of Hope, but never got her with all four feet off the ground!

And of course, we had to get a group shot...

And, a video...

Back to the dunes for one more romp. Here, Hollie surveys the area for birds...

Running at the dunes...

And, a little video of course...

The next morning we took the dogs back for one last romp at the dunes before packing up camp and leaving for home...

Other than turn-in, it was a great weekend. We had beautiful weather and I had a great time hanging out with friends, who could ask for anything more? A week later, I still find myself thinking about Nick wondering how he's doing and missing having him around. I know with time, it will get easier. If he makes it through all the temperament and medical stuff, it will be October before we know how he's doing. I think Hope is missing having a dog in the house too, she looks at me like she is bored. The wait begins....

Lasts

The week before turning in a CCI pup is almost just as hard as turn-in itself. It is a week of "lasts", last time going to work, last time shopping, last day at home, etc. Since I'm co-raising Nick with friends, my "last" came a week early as I wanted our co-raisers to have Nick the last week. One, because I thought it would be easier for me (it wasn't!) and two, I thought it would be better for Nick so I wouldn't stress him out due to my stress.

It was still a really hard week and this time around, it just came a week earlier. During our last week together, the weather finally started cooling down a bit, so I was able to take Nick out a little more during our breaks at work. Across the street from my office is the American River Bike Trail that leads to Willow Creek (where we put in our kayaks) and is a quick 10-minute walk. Here's a picture of Nick I took at Willow Creek.

For some strange reason, a force I can't explain pulled me off the trail on the walk back to the office. I took a walk on the side trail where I took Molly during our last few hours together. This trail is a special place for me, so I wanted to show it to Nick. I admit I shed a few tears thinking about Molly again and thinking of Nick - our last time together here for both of them. Here is a picture of Nick at that special place...

It always amazes me how in the course of 15-18 months, how much change these pups go through. They mature from a young 8 week old puppy who knows very little to a confident, mature pup ready to conquer the world. I try to remember to take pictures of my pups at work on my chair to see that transformation. Here's a picture of Nick on his first day at work with me and on his last day.

First day at work...

Last day at work...

And in front of the sign at work...

Another summer pool party

We were invited for yet another summer pool party at a friend's house. It was Nick's last day with us before he left to go back to our co-raiser's for his last week. Boy turn-in sure came out of nowhere this time around. :-(

In the morning, I decided I would make some dog cookies for the party and Hope and Nick were right there to supervise. So I gave them each a spoonful of peanut butter to enjoy as I was baking the cookies! Too cute...

And here is Hope, shocked at herself that Nick's excessive drooling is beginning to rub off on her!

The dogs had a blast at the party. Nick even joined in on the fun a few times and went for a swim now that he found his swimming legs. Here is the group shot of almost all the dogs at the party...

And a little video of the group picture...not so easy to get the picture sometimes...

Big Dog class and Najee visit

At the last minute, we scrambled to have Nick's brother Najee come up to Folsom on their way to Mill Valley. It was great for the boys to see each other again before they turned-in. Because I had to work, everyone arrived here before I got home and Najee's puppyraiser said he ran all over the house looking for Nick (who was at work with me). Too cute.

The black dogs and one lone yellow dog... (Nick, Hope, Najee (in back), Titian, and Emilio)

Nick actually went into the pool by himself to get a toy!

As we were stacking the dogs on the waterfall for a group picture, Hope found herself a nice little cubby hole to rest in and just stayed there for a few minutes even after we released all the dogs...it fit her little body just perfectly!

And finally, the group shot (Emilio, Nick, Titian, Hope, and Najee)

After dinner, we went to puppy class in Orangevale at one of our local puppy raiser's house for an Ice Cream Social and our last class. Here is a group picture of most of the dogs that will be turning in with Nick in a week. We really had a nice class this time around, and many of my best CCI friends would be turning in with us which always makes it a bit easier. It will be interesting to see how the dogs do in Advanced Training. The other interesting piece of information is that in this picture, there was a total of 65 dogs raised by these puppy raisers in our area, amazing.

There was even a News10 crew doing a little story on our class. They got some of the details wrong, but still a nice story...

Last hike with Nick

I ended up taking a day off from work to take Nick to CCI for his turn-in hip x-rays and was planning to take Hope for a hike while we waited for him to get his x-rays done. But, plans changed as CCI called me the day before and asked me where he was that day...uh, the x-rays are scheduled for tomorrow I said. Well, they informed me that they couldn't do them on the day I had scheduled. Oh well...guess they will have to do them when he gets turned in.

So instead of driving to Santa Rosa...Hope, Nick, and I went for a couple of nice hikes instead! It all worked out for the better as we got to enjoy a nice relaxing day with Nick. In the morning, I took them to the Salmon Falls area for a hike and a swim. And, guess what, Nick finally found his swimming legs...for the first time ever, he actually swam rather than hanging out on the shore waiting for Hope to bring the stick in for him to steal. Figures it has to happen a week before turn-in...oh well.

Here's a video of Nick and Hope on the hike....

And of course, a few pictures...

In the afternoon, I took the dogs to Folsom Lake for another short hike and a swim. The water at the Lake is so low right now, its amazing to see how fast and low the water has dropped since the middle of the summer. Kind of sad actually...but the dogs could care less. Again, Nick has gotten the swimming down and Hope finally gave up trying to get the stick as Nick would get too rough around her to get it. How times have changed :-)

Here's a video and a few pics of them at Lake; I took them there in the afternoon mainly so they could wash off their morning mud....

And more pictures...

It was a fun day and sure beat driving to Santa Rosa!

Nick's photo shoot

Since a bunch of us decided to go camping at Dillon Beach the weekend of Nick's turn-in, we won't be getting "official" matriculation pictures of Nick like we have for all the other puppies I've raised. Luckily, I have friends who are great photographers and one of my friends was nice enough to do a photo shoot of Nick for us.

Even though we won't have "official" pictures, I think these pictures capture Nick's personality and expressions. I realized this after taking a look at my "official" pictures of my other four CCI pups, they all look so serious and sad.

This is my favorite picture of Nick as it totally captures his true personality and expression:

Here are a few more favorites:




We even had a "peanut gallery" during the photo shoot...Gerrit and Carlo kept peeking in the door, it was so sweet. Finally, Gerrit went and got a toy and dropped it by the door, too cute! Here's a picture of Gerrit taunting Nick.

I'm so glad we got this nice shots of Nick...he has turned into such a handsome boy and these pictures prove it! :-)

Playtime with Hika

Hope's sister Hika graduated as a Skilled Companion for a young boy a few years ago and now lives in the Bay Area. When her family goes on vacation, Hika's puppy raiser is lucky to be able to dogsit her, so we got the sisters together for a little playtime at a school.

They were so cute as at first they didn't recognize eachother and then you could see the "light bulb" go off and I think they remembered each other and got wiggly. I don't think they recognize each other for being sisters, but more as playmates as they went to puppy classes together, did agility and played together a bunch.

Here's a little video and a picture of the sisters (Hika on the left, Hope on the right)....

A houseguest

Hope, Nick and I had a houseguest for about a week in July. He is Nick's "brother" from his other house and his name is Ethan. He is a retired service dog who is now living with our co-raisers as they took him back after he retired from service.

Even though he is now retired, he still is very savvy on all his commands. It was funny as he and Hope would have little contests when I asked them to "push" a drawer closed, open the fridge with a "tug" etc. Even though Hope did not graduate she still has such a desire to work and do commands for me, which has been fun. Here's a little video of Hope and Ethan showing Nick how its done...

I also thought it was kind of funny as Ethan and Hope have different methods for picking up their food bowls. Hope picks hers up so the bowl is facing up, Ethan picks it up so the bowl is facing down. Either method works, its all a matter of choice I guess...maybe Hope figures I will drop the food in her bowl faster if the bowl is facing up!

And, we spent some time going to the school to play...



Because it was one of our co-raiser's birthday...we also made her a sign to wish her a Happy Birthday, pretty cute, huh? Nick hasn't learned the advanced stuff there, so he was stuck in the middle just to look cute :-)

A picture of the brothers...Nick and Ethan

Since the weather was still so warm and we couldn't go out much, I took the time to start playing with my camera a little more...so got a couple of shots of Nick in the backyard. Here are a few of those...first a profile shot

And another shot...he's turned into such a handsome dude!