A Visit From Friends

As is often the case in this crazy military life, we are doing a kind of switcheroo with our friends the Cromwells - just missing each other as we move on to the next place.  They are moving back here to New Bern right about the time we head out and we were lucky enough to get a visit from them when they came to house hunt.  The girls really had fun playing with Gavin.  They are old enough now to play together and Gavin didn't have any trouble hangin with them.

 It was a quick trip, but they are going to come visit us in Utah! 

The dogs were not left out of the fun.  Adam took them out for a trail walk one morning and practiced his photography skills.  I love these pictures he took so much!  This one is definitely going in a frame.

 Blue was worn out for a whole 30 minutes after this walk.

See you soon Cromwells. 

Happy Birthday Blue

Our boy Blue turned one a few weeks ago.  And over the past couple of months, he has gone from a crazy puppy to a good, good boy.  He isn't doing nearly as much biting and chewing and this is how he spends most of his afternoon with me while I work.

I require two things in order to work from home by myself: Radio from Hell and canine company.  First Jackson and now Blue - I am so happy to have the companionship that I just can't get from co-workers on the phone.

The girls love him too.  During our trip to Utah, they talked about how he was with the "other doggies."  He follows them around and is always quietly waiting for them, whatever they are doing.  He is also very helpful "cleaning up" the mess they make at dinner.

I am working on making him a running partner as well.  He can make it 5 miles pretty easily and now only spends about 5 minutes of that time biting on his leash.  All I have to do is get out my watch and he's ready to go. 

He got a nice, new big boy bed for his birthday.  No more kennel for this doggy. 

Happy birthday pal! 

Home from Summer Camp

Blue boy came home from his summer training camp a couple of weeks ago (I'm behind on this blogging thing).  He was there for a total of eight weeks.  We went up there a few times to work with him and see how he was doing.  I was not crazy about leaving him there for so long, but the reality of our lives is that we just didn't have time he deserved to train him properly.  We were very happy to bring him home and he now knows how to walk on a leash, sit, stay, heel and come.  We have been continuing his training with at least one walk per day.

The girls were so excited to have him home.  Josie calls him "buba".  In the mornings when we go in there with their milk, he follows us and they yell "ruh ruh" over and over.  And at night before bed, we all give each other kisses and hugs and they always kneel down to give Blue boy his kisses.

He has been very patient with them.  They aren't exactly gentle.  But he seems to be moving out of the destructive puppy phase and is starting to understand how to act when they maul him.  Good boy, Blue.

Babies vs. Puppy

Blue is starting to settle in as the fifth member of our family.  He's getting better with the potty training and getting more free time outside of his crate as a result.  He is also getting a lot of nice walks outside in our spring weather.  Piper still loves him; Josie still isn't so sure.  We definitely have our hands full.  I wouldn't compare having a puppy to having a baby, but they do require a lot of time and attention at this age.  We aren't complaining though - we love having him and figure we may as well have all the chaos at once.

There have been some funny moments with Blue and the girls.  He is learning his limits with them and figuring out that he can't tackle them to the ground or put his teeth on them (although Piper just laughs when he does do that).  However, one thing I don't think he'll quite figure out for awhile is why he can't play with their toys.  They are spread out all over and look like the perfect chew toy for him!  The other day the girls were playing in the playroom and Blue kept running up to the gate to check in on them.  I heard Piper screaming and then break down crying.  I expected to look in to see her bleeding or something.  It turns out she threw her frog over the gate and Blue snatched it up.  Her beloved frog!  And Blue was happily chewing away. Another time, I spotted Piper walking around snuggling up to an old gross stuffed Turtle that Blue was playing with - an old toy of Jackson's.  Ewww! 

This is how it typically plays out.  Here the girls are luring him over to play.  

 And here are the toys they've thrown over the gate for him to play with...

 And finally, here's Blue who escaped to his spot to chew on a baby toy.

Stay tuned for more babies vs. puppy.

Meet Blue

Meet the newest member of our family - Blue.  He is a Goldendoodle and came home to us last Saturday at 8 weeks old.  So far, he is a very good boy.  He is now used to his kennel (no more crying in there) and starting to 'get' the whole potty training thing.  He's also been on lots of walks already with our nice spring weather and has made it down to the road and back several times (1.3 miles).  We can already tell Blue is going to be a good boy.

The girls have had a mixed reaction to Blue.  Like so many things, they are approaching him pretty differently.  Piper's reaction was priceless.  To her, it was hands down the best day of her life.  Her favorite word is 'doggy' and she says it at least 150 times per day.  I don't even have to describe her excitement because it's all on video:

Josie is characteristically approaching him with a bit more caution.  She has figured out that he has sharp little puppy teeth and isn't interested in getting too close (while Piper repeatedly sticks her hands in his mouth over and over and then laughs hysterically).

Both girls think the kennel is pretty cool:

Welcome to the family Blue!

For Jackson

We knew this was coming, but it doesn't make it any easier.  We said goodbye to our sweet Jackson on January 6th, his tenth birthday.  We decided to let him go after a week during which he developed a bad infection on his foot, continued to deal with pain from his surgery, and after which it became apparent that he was no longer our happy boy.  It was the right time and now we can focus on all the happy times we had together. 

Now that a few weeks have passed, it is easier to focus on being grateful for the years we had together, rather than being sad that he's no longer with us.  What a good boy.  I can't even imagine how many times we said that during his life.  Good boy, Jackson, good boy.  

This post is for Jackson.  Here are some of our favorite memories of him.

Jackson with his stick.  He loved to fetch!  He would fetch until he keeled over if we let him.  This picture was taken at Deception Pass in Anacortes shortly after we moved there.  Once when we were camping in Shenandoah National Park, he fetched a huge tree out of the swimming hole, worked very hard to free it from a bunch of other tangled trees, swam over and plopped it down in front of Josh.  He was definitely a retriever.

These two pictures are Jackson welcoming Josh home from each deployment - Iraq and Qatar.  I decided to put these up because he made the time pass so much more quickly and kept me from getting too lonely.  There were nights when I talked to him and I'm pretty sure he knew what I was saying.  He was always invited to sleep on the bed when Josh was gone, but didn't mind at all when he was relegated to his dog bed when Josh came home.  He was so easy going. 

Jackson was a true military dog and traveled the country.  Here he is home in Utah one Christmas with Marley and Hank.  He crossed the country with us from Utah to Quantico, Meridian to Utah (and back), Meridian to Washington, Washington to North Carolina, and lots of shorter trips.  He was such a good traveler and just laid down in the back of the car, and hopped out to play some fetch at rest stops.  We could always sneak him into hotels if necessary because he never barked, ever. 

Jackson also took lots of vacations with us.  Here he is tired after hiking up Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island.  Over the years, he has been to Moab, the Wind Rivers mountains, Shenandoah National Park, Smoky Mountains National Park, and lots of other fun trips. 

Could there possibly be a cuter puppy?  We brought Jackson home to our first house in Salt Lake, shortly after we bought it.  Truthfully, we bought the house so we could have a dog.  Jim and Rebecca were breeding Madie and we knew we wanted one of the pups and needed to buy a house in time.  Josh was teaching him how to sit here.  As a puppy, he had lots of fun in Salt Lake going to Tanner Park, Dog Lake, hiking in MillCreek canyon and going on runs with me.  He retired from running when he was about 8, but we put in lots of miles together and he was always good company.

This is one of the last pictures we took of him.  His adjustment to being a big brother was a little rough at first.  He lost his appetite for awhile there, but eventually adjusted and loved the girls.  He started taking naps outside their door while they were napping and wanted to be wherever they were. 

We are going to miss that sweet face.  We love you Jackson! 

Weekend Fun

It was a busy weekend around here. Josie and Piper have a new playroom we spent lots of time in. We also had Dwight here visiting for the weekend and a minor disaster after he ate one of Jackson's pain pills. It doesn't bode well when a four-pound dog eats a 110-pound dog's medication! Luckily, the emergency vet did his job and Dwight is a-okay. We also read some books and did more running.



Piper with a girly bow in her hair. Two bottom teeth are almost all in!


Josie with her bow. Now teeth yet, but she says "na na na na"


Reading books before bed


We have more than 600 miles together in the BOB stroller!


Playing in the new playroom!


Our weekend visitor, Dwight