It's a Wrap

So you know what I didn't do all summer? Write a blog post, that's what. Or use my camera much. How about a summer summary by phone pictures?

Here we go in no particular order (because who wants a summary in order, right?)

Met Piper, world's cutest puppy (rescued from Oregon)

Made some freakin' amazing pizza from scratch

Took Loic on a boat ride (complete with the claw of safety)

Went surfing in Tofino and the wasp that gave me the gift of miracle thigh that wouldn't stop swelling completed our trip trifecta of concussion and SLR dropped in ocean (each of these wonderful things happened to different people)

It was actually a really fun trip - a bunch of us stayed in a cabin with a hot tub...(this doesn't have to do with either of those things, it's just a cool picture of the sky that I liked)

and Ryan came too! He had 8 willing ball throwers and slept for days when we got home.

Before Tofino we took a family trip to Kaui...but there are no phone pictures of that so it doesn't get an entry in here.

Oh and I turned old this summer and my coworker gave me a shake weight. If you don't know what that is, don't bother looking it up. There is a picture of that on my phone but it's too embarrassing to put on here.

Speaking of turning old, Jess and I learned that we are too old for Whistler bars that cater to Contiki tours and cover you with glow paint. Important summer lesson.

Oh and who could forget the unfortunate "blonde" highlight incident?
Stay away from beauty groupons if you want to learn from my mistake.

Loic and I went on some hikes.

Ryan and Kepler were forced into cuddling.

Abby flirted shamelessly with every intact male she met and they all fell for her (who could resist, really?)

And of course the summer wouldn't have been complete without some beach trips.

You never know

what you're going to get with Spring here.

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day and we spent most of it (after an hour long awesome run/hike and then a walk to get a smoothie) lying in the yard doing absolutely nothing. It seemed like a good sign for summer weather to come...

I even got slightly sunburnt - and was excited about it!

This morning, though, it was like the sun had never even made an appearance. Back to grey skies and all day rain.

That's ok, though, we made the most of it. We went skijoring!

I borrowed the equipment from a friend, hooked both dogs up and hoped for the best. Not really how you'd go about it if you wanted to actually make a hobby of it but I just wanted to try it out for fun. Unfortunately there aren't any trails around here where you can take dogs and ski so I had to wait until the local mountain had closed for the season.

So you know how Ryan the wonderdog is good at everything I try with him? Well, not so much with skijoring. He was a total washout! 30lb powerhouse Abby was working her butt off pulling as hard as she could while Ryan gaily trotted along behind her with his line completely loose. Turns out that when you train a dog not to pull on leash for his entire life it's a little bit difficult to get him to pull when you want him to. At least he was moving while wearing a harness...usually he freezes and goes bug-eyed and acts like he's in a straight jacket. Next time I go I'm hooking Tyler up with Abby - those two would make an amazing team!

Spring has Sprung

...and so has Ryan.

Only half of Abby has sprung - the half without the brakes.

Fur seals are feeling frisky too in the long lost sun.

Summer's just around the corner - I can't wait!

When Ryan was growing up...

...He ate my gear shift and e brake, pulled my new shirts into his crate and destroyed them, wrecked Abby's brand new bed, pulled up the carpet in a rental suite from inside an xpen that was on tile, screamed like nothing I'd ever heard before if I tried to restrain him or give him a bath, refused to cuddle, ate his way through a bag of kibble until he literally couldn't stand up, among many other things that I've probably blocked from my memory.

I remember saying so many times that even though he was driving me crazy I could tell he would be such a *good dog* when he matured. I'm not sure why I knew that... but I was right.

Happy 4th Birthday Ryan. I couldn't have asked for a happier, more enthusiastic, smarter, sweeter, cuddlier - and of course more handsome - dog.

If you're happy and you know it

and you really want to show it...

bark and bark and bark and bark some more!

Abby video

Ryan video


I've been working a lot on Abby's start line stay but it's still pretty bad at a trial. In class I've been consistent with getting a quiet sit or else I send her away from the start line (simply going back and rewarding her didn't work nearly as well as taking away her access to the equipment all together). I'm glad I only released her at the trial when she was sitting quietly but it still took what seemed like forever to get that! Ohhh crazy little Abby.

That was Ryan running FEO in Masters Standard because we'd just finished his Advanced Standard run in which he blew past 2/3 contacts. Well...I guess he didn't really blow his contacts. He didn't realize it was the teeter and then pushed the end down after he flew off it to get back into 2o2o position. Then he cleared the entire peak and downside of the Aframe and landed, confused, just past it..so he backed up into 2o2o. I couldn't do anything but laugh - he tries *so* hard! I didn't want those to be our only contacts for the weekend though (since he only had jumpers afterwards) so I ran him in the Masters ring where he proved that he does, in fact, understand the contact criteria.

I have to say that I love running my crazy dogs. They are so much fun!

Oh and a short video in which precious wittle princess Abby (ha!) appears to hurt her paw while telling Kepler the teenager off. She was completely fine a few minutes later...(ignore my baby talk to her at the end)