Brooke Conquers The Tricycle

After spending most of the summer riding her tricycle Fred Flintstone style, Brooke figured it out! Click below to watch her in action!

Riddle Gets Her Schutzhund II!

Riddle and I waiting to go on the field for obedience.

After several attempts and a few heart breakers, Riddle and I successfully completed our Schutzhund II October 19, 2008 under German Judge Werner Rapien. It was a great day. Judge Rapien was a pleasure to show with. He is a very kind man. Riddle ended the day with a 93 in tracking (woo hoo!), a 74 in obedience (long story…), and a 91 in protection. Thanks to Dan Oas for the photographs and thanks to all of those who encouraged me when I was ready to pack it in

Riddle and decoy/training director, Gustavo Sanchez.

Gustavo, Judge Rapien, Riddle, and I following our protection routine.

Halloween Excitement… Kind Of

I had big plans for Halloween night but realized in short order that my expectations far exceeded Brooke’s interest While she loved getting dressed up, she decided she preferred playing in her sandbox and coloring to hitting the town. I did manage to shoot one not so great photo of Brooke and Riddle dressed for action. One thing Brooke did enjoy was the chocolate, as you can see below.

Brooke in her kitty cat outfit and poor Riddle dressed as a witch

Fun With Old Friends In The Big City

Okay, it’s not such a big city but we did have fun! A few pals from Gladwin made the trip to Lansing last week for a fundraising event for Kathy, my old friend who is running for State Representative up north. Jen, who hasn’t been to the Capitol, wanted a tour and, of course, we had to take this picture of the beautiful dome.

And the only way to get this picture is to do this:

It was a great day with lots of laughs and it was so good to see Kathy, Jen and Bob from Gladwin. Come back soon guys!

A Dog Day At My Place

Dog photographer extraordinaire Cheryl Ertelt has been taking photographs of my dogs and the dogs of my friends for many years. We’ve been fortunate to work with her and all of our dogs have been featured in catalogs, books and magazines across the country! We scheduled a shoot a few weeks ago and had a great time.

Many friends dropped by, some of whom I haven’t seen in a long time and lots of whom were pregnant! My old friends Marie and Lylenette are both due by the end of the year, as well as my friend Andrea’s sister Leslie. Andrea brought the family and Leslie, Andrea’s mom and Andrea’s new baby, Brody, got to enjoy the big day. My friend Lori made the trip from Midland and brought a bunch of her dogs, including her new red nosed pit bull who is very sweet. Marie brought her friend Meg. We are all looking forward to the prints we’ll get from Cheryl. It was great to see everybody!

My old pals Lylenette, Marie and Lori.

The pregnant girls.

The New Kitchen

I finally finished the kitchen! Here are the pictures.

Our vacation at the shore

Brooke and I spent a week on Long Beach Island with family. Here are a few pictures.

Brooke and Grandpa walk on the beach.

Brooke plays in the ocean!

Brooke’s cousin Tyler enjoys the sand!

Our gang on the beach.

Brooke and I playing in the ocean.

Another great day at the zoo!

Brooke and I were joined by my friend Andrea and her new baby boy Brody for a trip to the zoo last week. It was a great day and we all had many “firsts.” It was Brody’s first trip to the zoo. It was the first time Brooke has seen such a young baby (Brody is just four weeks old). Brooke and I rode a camel. Brooke then went on to ride a pony! Here are a few pictures. I’ll be posting video later.

The Old Kitchen

I’m wallpapering my kitchen today. These are the before pictures. I’m guessing the after picts will be posted some time tomorrow. Hopefully!

Brookie’s New Room

I spent the past few days painting dots… And dots… And dots…

And this is Brooke’s new room. I hope she loves it!