CCDP

Here are some more pictures from yesterday's trip to the Cherry Creek Dog Park.

September 2013.

Spinnish Fitz

Way back in April of 2012, Seth sent me an email that read like this: Finnish Spitz looks exactly like your dog...  Amy found this:  http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Dog-Breed-Center/Non-Sporting-Group/Finnish-Spitz/Personality.aspx .

I clicked on the link, and sure enough, the pictures did look a little bit like Darcy.

Since I wasn't familiar with the Finnish Spitz breed, I went back to the main page and read all the information.  None of it described Darcy exactly, at least not until I got to the Behavioral Traits section.  That read: In Finland, this breed is called the “Barking Bird Dog” and they got this nickname for one reason: they bark, and bark often. The Finnish Spitz can bark up to 160 times per minute. This makes them excellent hunting companions, but can drive an entire neighborhood crazy. 

"Wow," I thought.  "That explains everything."

I shared the information with Seth, and he immediately decided that Darcy was, in fact, a purebred Finnish Spitz.

Yesterday, James and I took Darcy and Emma to the dog park at Cherry Creek State Park.  We followed the trail from the parking lot to the stream and paused for a few minutes to let the dogs get wet.  This is probably the busiest area in the entire dog park, and predictably, Darcy responded to the chaos with a whole lot of barking.

I went to her, in hopes of getting her to settle down.  While I was holding her, a man came up to me and asked if she was a Finnish Spitz.

"My husband thinks she is," I said, "but we got her from the Dumb Friends League so it seems kind of unlikely."

"You never know," he responded.  "She sounds like one, plus she's the right size and color and she's got the Spitz coat."

He seemed to know a lot about a fairly obscure breed of dog, so I asked if he had owned a Finnish Spitz.  He called his dog over and told me that she was half Finnish Spitz and half shepard.  Other than color, I didn't see the resemblance right away.

Oh, there it is! 

I tried to get a good picture of the two of them together, but this is the best I could manage.

I'll never be convinced that Darcy is a purebred anything, but half Finnish Spitz?  That seems like a real possibility.  She's certainly got the barking gene!

Red tailed hawk

A couple weeks ago, a hawk flew right over my car as I was driving to the stable.  I saw him land on a wall next to the road, so I made a u-turn and took his picture through the car window.

He posed for me... 

then flew away! 

August 2013

Track meet

James had his first track meet at Prairie yesterday.

He was signed up to run in the mile race with about a million other kids.

On your marks... 

Get set... 

GO! 

James took off running... 

and looked really strong... 

as he headed down the track... 

and around the corner. 

 As the runners passed by me for the second time...

I could see that James was beginning to have some trouble.

He's been battling a cold for several days, and he's reached the coughing stage.  Poor kid.  It's hard to run a mile when you can't breathe!

He ended up finishing the race at a walk. 

Oh well.  At least he had lots of walking company! 

September 2013

Sea gulls

They're not the most beloved birds in the world, but I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the sea gulls at Venice Beach.  Here are a few of my favorites.

August 2013

Venice Beach

We spent what was supposed to be our last full day in California at Venice Beach.

The kids couldn't wait to get in the ocean. 

Wait for it... 

Jump! 

Seth led them into even deeper waters.  

That made me a little bit nervous, but thankfully, everyone survived unscathed.

Eventually, the kids got cold and decided to sit on the beach.

It wasn't long before James started burying himself. 

He couldn't bury his arms, however, so Ryan had to take over.

They thought this was pretty cool... 

but I thought it was creepy! 

Of course no trip to the beach is complete without a little sandcastle construction. 

It's not a pretty castle,

but the kid's awfully cute! 

August 2013

Glamour shots

Pretty Darcy.

Beautiful Emma. 

September 2013