Day trip to the snow!

I had two weeks off work for the winter break. It was my hope to get some things done and get to the snow as much as possible......Sadly, I only got to go one time. However, it was a good time. My friend Jessica, her two young kids and their dog Dylan joined Timber, Jade and I for the day trip. Jessica was generous to drive and risk her van to my two furry beasts since I woke with a sinus headache and had to take some sinus medicine that causes drowsiness. She offered to reschedule the trip....I said no way! It had been such a struggle to make the trip happen, I was not about to disappoint her kids and another kid: yours truly. Ha Ha!

This trip was Baby Jade's first time in the snow and of course, she loved it. Timber was exposed to the snow very early on, at about 4 months of age in the same area as well as the extreme winter conditions of South Dakota and Montana.
see posts: http://melanialynn.blogspot.com/2009/12/day-trip-to-snow.html, http://melanialynn.blogspot.com/2009/01/more-snow-january-12-2009.html, http://melanialynn.blogspot.com/2009/01/wyoming-south-dakota.html

I can't wait to take them up again. I love the snow and it's fun watching the dogs enjoy themselves. Timber likes to eat the snow and Jade couldn't stop running. I would eventually like to move a little closer to the Placerville area. I love the mountains and it's a great place for the dogs too.

I'm hoping before the snow season ends this year to experiment having the dogs pull a light sled. Jade isn't full-grown, so she can't pull me despite the help of Timber. However, if I can trust the dogs enough to be cautious, I might have them pull around Christian or Patryk. I will start out with just the sled to see how they react. So far Timber is not particularly fond of his harness. I made him wear it all day and through the night and he was restless almost the entire time. Perhaps a more custom harness for sled dogs with padding would be less annoying. We'll see.

Family Christmas

This Christmas was my second Christmas back home in the Bay. I'm still having a tough time getting excited about it despite my family's enthusiasm, decoration and the presence of my two excited young nephews. After 11 years away from home and being with a partner who doesn't celebrate...nay, negates holidays...the passion has drifted from me.

Despite the lack of intense excitement and spirit that once flowed through me in my youth, it was a good Christmas. My brother lives around the corner from my parent's home, so this year (as well as last Christmas) he and his family slept over on Christmas Eve. Since I'm the night owl of the family, I offered to stay up and take care of the kid's stockings. My nephew, Christian is a night owl too, so there's no telling how long he'd be awake.

Christian is going to be 8 years old in April and he is already starting to doubt the existence of Santa Clause according to his mother. She wanted to do a little extra to try to keep it alive in him. Her suggestion was to put some dirty fingerprints on the glass doors of the fireplace.

The kids covered the hearth with decorations, so I decided to make it look like Santa knocked over the decor when he pushed open the glass doors. I put my hands in the ash and placed some hand prints on the doors. I was inspired by a Christmas I had when I was about his age. I remember a line of ash tracked from the fireplace to the Christmas tree. I couldn't very well track ash through two rooms since the tree is in a separate room, however I decided to make a small path from the opening of the fireplace and over the hearth onto the carpet for a couple feet.

Christmas morning, I was woken by the excited shouting of my younger nephew, Patryk. All I could hear as he ran up and down the hall was, "A bike! I can't believe it! I can't believe it! Santa remembered! It's exactly the one I asked for! I can't believe it! I can't believe it...." I dragged myself out of bed and threw on a sweatshirt to everyone in the family room. Christian received his own set of "wheels" a Land Shark 4-wheeled kneeboard which he says that he wants to have the dogs pull him.

My great gift surprises: A Bose iPod docking station and the complete series of "Planet Earth" on DVD from my folks and a Chi flat iron from my brother and his wife...and a handmade turtle my nephew Christian made out of polymer clay and cooked in his tiny oven. Coincidentally, I got the "Planet Earth" dvd trivia game for my nephews as a gift. That series rocks. :)

Visiting with Christy, Dylan and Chico

Two of my best friends, Christy and Dylan came up to visit from Hungtington Beach for a night. They brought Chico, momma Jade's sister and baby Jade's aunt. Baby Jade had never met Chico and the last time Timber and Chico saw each other was a year ago. The dogs got along great and we two-legged friends enjoyed out time too. We enjoyed a late lunch at Qins then relaxed at home for a while and watched a movie. I cooked up a nice dinner and after we ate, we decided to go for a drink in downtown Clayton, my home town. We had a good time and it was great to see my friends. We were too buzzed to really get any photos later that night, so I mostly have shots of the pups playing.

Holiday Work Party

My work organized a dinner at Celia's Mexican Restaurant in Antioch. The food was pretty good. We had a "white elephant" type ornament exchange....people got pretty crazy over stealing ornaments from other people. The coveted ornaments were those that had a Starbucks card included and the glowing snowman ornaments. I got one with a Starbucks card, and that was immediately stolen from me, then stolen from the person who stole it from me. The glowing snowman exchanged hands at least 3 times as well! The people I work with are great.

Meet Patryk's new friend Steve

My nephews are off school this week so they are spending their days at my house with my dad and me. Christian is pretty much in his own world most days watching cartoons or playing video games. Patryk on the other hand......

This is how Pat spends his time......creating new friends out of my back roller for physical therapy. Too funny...I'm telling you, you must spend a day with this kid, he will brighten even the darkest days!

Meet Steve and his favorite hats for all occasions.....

His Knight-time hat

Hat for when it rains...
and his hat to keep the sun out of his eyes...

**Steve did have different attire, but he didn't want me taking pictures of him in his boxer briefs!

Celebration with my cousin Mike

My cousin Mike graduated from college and to celebrate he had a party at his house with the family. I'm proud of my cuz...Mikey is like a brother to me. He worked hard to get there and deserves a post to remember his achievement.

Baby Jade is 6 months

Jade is 6 months old today. She is approximately 55 pounds and nearly as tall as Timber! I can't believe how quickly she is growing. She is very feisty and full of energy at home. In public and at the dog park, she is very shy and a real push-over. She is just like her mom when Mama Jade was her age. If she continues to be like her mom, it'll be a long time before she calms down, but she 's a good girl.

Mama Jade had her first heat cycle at about 7 months and I have a feeling Jade is about to get her first...she is showing some of the physical signs. I'm at quite a crossroads with this issue. As much as I'd like Timber and Jade to breed one day, it's not easy to find quality homes, raising puppies is a lot of work and keeping the two apart during these times of heat for the next couple years will not be easy. I have a way to separate them physically with the outdoor kennel, but curbing the behavior that will result will not be easy. My quandary continues...

Halloween in San Francisco...one to remember

After a late afternoon at the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park, Yuliana and I decided on a whim to check out what was happening on Haight and Ashbury. She's never been there and it's been ages since I cruised the streets. There were a lot of people out, some with friends, some with dogs, some with kids, some just too damn old to be out asking for candy from the store fronts!

After checking out a few local shops, grabbing a bite at McDonalds and people watching as we wandered Haight for about 5 blocks...we stopped off at a small local pub. It was quiet, the only bartender was dressed as a serving wench and she had her beautiful Samoyed dog there hanging out at the bar with her.

Sometime after 9 pm, the bar started filling up and Yuliana and my glasses were empty! We met a group of people there and chatted and drank for a while. They invited us to a private Halloween party several blocks away so after a stop at the liquor store, we were headed over to the party where we hung out and met tons of characters.

Here is a glimpse of our fun evening in San Francisco and some of the nice people we met, including a guy I graduated from Chico State with in the same major! Small world, even in a big city.

A pretty cool store front we stumbled across

I had to do it!

Yuliana and I being silly at the pub

Halloween party

I love fog machines! The smell brings be back to all the Haunted Houses I went through as a kid...

And we are headed down the steep, foggy staircase to go home....No worries, I was sober and taking good care of both of us!

Japenese Tea Garden...Golden Gate Park

Yuliana and I drove out to San Francisco the afternoon of Halloween. We drove the long way over the San Mateo bridge and the Golden Gate due to a closure of the Bay bridge for repairs. We had decided earlier in the week to go check out the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate park since we both love Japanese architecture, tea and design.

As usual, I had to get a picture of nearly every opportunity I saw...I'm addicted to taking landscape photos. I also have a difficult time sorting through the photos and chosing just a few...so here are twenty-two images from the afternoon out of...oh, over 125 images!

When we saw this sign, we just had to laugh at our good luck! We arrived at the gate at 4:45 pm, Saturday, October 31st! Had we put off the trip to the next day, and arrived at the same time, we wouldn't have made it in time! (in case you can't read the sign, begining in November, the garden closes at 4:45 pm)

I would love to have this as my backyard...although knowing Jade and Timber, they'd destroy it!

The branches of these trees are incredible!

I love bamboo!

Mochi (a Japanese sweet...very gooey, sticky and squishy)

Yuliana and Me enjoying our Jasmine Tea (I absolutely love the smell of Jasmine and now I can comsume it!)