Santa Cruz for our anniversary!

We were able to get away for our third anniversary!!! Michelle has a family friend that owns a cute little house in Santa Cruz and we were able to rent it out for the weekend. At a rate that is unheard of for a house in Santa Cruz, two blocks from the beach... Josh was working in San Mateo (I think...) last week so I loaded up the truck with all of our schtuff and the dogs and picked him up along the way.

We get to the house, set all of our stuff down, and sacked out for an almost four hour nap. We had to move Legion's big bottom (and huevos!) off of the bed first though. Just as a little aside: every time I see him laying like this, I think to myself that it HAS to be uncomfy with those things getting squished like that! And being all exposed and everything...YIKES!



I guess we were all tired!! After we got up and moving again, Josh went to the store to grab some food for the weekend and dinner for the night. We ate so horribly while we were down there... The next morning, Josh cooked us breakfast. The kids were treated to egg yolks and bacon too. Given to them by their daddy... This is a picture of Josh's breakfast because it looked better than mine.



And check out these grapes!! They were HUGE!! Almost as big as...



On Saturday, we went to the beach. When Michelle was telling me about the house, she always said that it was really close to a beach. Well, we could see like a little lagoon-thing out one of the windows and that's what I thought she was talking about. Turns out, we weren't looking in the right direction... There really is a beach beach a couple blocks away. So we ended up paying $10 to spend a couple hours at New Brighton Beach just a few miles down the road. We trudge on down the beach, pick our spot, start laying things out, and Josh is getting the dogs ready to go on the water. And this is when the madness happened: Legion TOOK OFF!! Like running for his life kind of taking off. And Hayden went after him. Josh and I started running after them. Hayden stopped and came back to Josh but Legion was still enjoying his freedom. I swear that dog was waiting for the perfect moment when he knew we didn't have a good hold on the leash... Josh is closer to Legion than I was so he made the first attempt to grab him as he came tearing back towards us. He missed. Legion came running towards me and I was able grab his leash. It felt like I was trying to stop a train! The leash RIPPED thru my hand but at least he stopped. And then the whining commenced...

The dogs absolutely LOVED the ocean though Well, Legion did. Abbi was done after about 10 minutes in the water. Hayden got cold. But Legion couldn't get enough. My poor, fragile, little Boxer babies.




















Don't let his big, cute, squishy face fool you for a second!! This boy is a monster! But so very sweet...so he's pretty much immediately forgiven for the mischief he gets into.



Like this... My ring finger swelled so much that I couldn't get my wedding ring past the first knuckle.



My little mammas.... She was getting all sorts of bent out of shape, having to sit in the backseat with the boys, not being able to get comfy. So I let her come up in the front with me and she was perfectly content. Spoiled brat dog. It's all Josh's fault! ;)



We had an awesome weekend down there, we just wished we had more time. It was so relaxing - no schedule, nothing planned. It's so cheap to stay down there, we were talking about doing it once a month. We'll see if we can swing it but we'd definitely like to go down there again!

JT and JF

This is a great, enjoyable video!

A couple of vids

Just a couple of videos to document the craziness that I deal with every day. The first is from when I was taking care of my parents' house while they were away on their South American trek. And the other is from last night while I was watching the gubernatorial debate. Legion weighed in with what he thought about what one of the candidates was saying.

Enjoy!!

Real Housedogs of New Jersey

I don't know where or how Josh ended up with a leopard-print blanket but I have to point out that I did not buy this. HA!! I had pulled it out to lay on the floor with the dogs and they've now taken it over. For now. Since, ahem, SOMEone hasn't washed their dog beds yet, they've been using this blanket as a makeshift bed. It looks like something that would be in Teresa Guidice's house...

I cooked fish!!

Josh's "good" dinner this weekend started off with homemade shrimp scampi, then red snapper with a warm Italian salsa, and a side of linguini. The shrimp and snapper were outstanding. The linguini...not so much... I was smiling as I was eating it, not because it tasted so good - which it did - but because I successfully cooked both shrimp AND fish...at the same time.

Apple Hill

From the website, http://www.meetup.com/, we were able to connect with other Cane Corso owners through a group that we're part of. Yes, I joined a social group. And even more amazing, I willingly met and socialized with STRANGERS. Big steps for Gina!!

We made plans to meet at Bolster's Hilltop Ranch on Sunday so we loaded the pack into the truck and off we went. By the way, mom and dad, there is a LOT of Apple Hill that we weren't exposed to as kids. I feel like I missed out on something here... The boys rode in the back of the truck both ways and LOVED it. Well, Legion did, at least. They were both going from side to side, sticking their heads in the wind, and Legion was biting at the air. People would pass us just laughing and we'd know that 1) the dogs were being crazy, and 2) that they were still back there... Abbi, of course, was sitting in the backseat of the truck, taking advantage of all the room she had. It didn't last long though because she ended up on my lap. Dang spoiled dog. See what Josh does to her???

In talking with the wife of the couple with the Corsos (Corsi???), I found out that both of her dogs were still intact, which could have presented a problem for us and our intact baby. Once we got there, we quickly discovered that the two males were not going to be able to be close to each other. It made me sad to see my puppy acting like he was but it's just nature and we were able to keep the two boys separated. Bob Barker PSA: Remember to spay and neuter your pets, folks. Unless they're show dogs, of course. ;)

We spent a little while up at Bolster's with the other couple and then we went our separate ways to enjoy some of the other places up there. As we were driving, we found an old barn that had been converted into a rental house. Josh went to inquire about it and we got the keys to check it out. It was old, like built in 1915 old, and as we were looking around, we were getting more and more excited about the idea of fixing up something like that. So we got the crazy idea to ask if the owner would be willing to sell and if so, for how much. Well, turns out the barn/house is on a piece of property on which there is also part of a vineyard and the property line cannot be divided. Sooooo, if the owner were to sell, he asked for $1.2 million. YIKES!! A lil too rich for our blood. So on down the road we went.

Of course, we had to go to High Hill. We unloaded the dogs and got no more than 100 yards from the truck and that's when what probably would have been a 45 minute visit, turned into something like and hour and a half. We got stopped SO MANY TIMES by people asking about Legion. He was so awesome yesterday. So patient with all of the people and little kids coming up and petting him. All of the dogs were! It makes us so happy, and proud, to see that all that we've done for them so far really does pay off. Just call me the Dog Yeller, cuz there's no whispering when we're training these dogs!!! HA!

We couldn't find anything to eat at High Hill. Seriously. We didn't want a burger or hot dog at the Pie House, all of the doughnuts were sold out, and some jackhole came right when they opened and bought 400 fritters. What the heck?!?!?! Selfish.

So we packed up again and headed to Boa Vista. They have better food there anyway. Hint, hint, High Hill... We got there around 4:20, ordered our ornament, and then made our way to the food area to get a yummy tri-tip sammy. Only to find that it closed at 4:30!!! Dangit!! The only thing left to do was to pick up our ornament and head home...with empty bellies and sad babies because they didn't get any tri-tip either. Maybe if they would've seen how frail and emaciated Abbi is, they would've taken pity and make us some food even after they'd closed.

Spoiled Abbi dog in front


Crazy boys in the back


Mom...mom...mom...I get tri-tip today, right???




The other two Corso's: Sebastino and Sicily. Dog snob alert!: can you spot the Corso's with bad conformation??




Sicily is a stick-muncher like Legion!





This is what happens when you're the smallest, most well-behaved dog...


Daddy had to potty and the babies stood guard.


High Hill

No matter where we are, or who is walking Legion, Hayden HAS to walk with him so he was "encouraging" me to catch up to daddy and his brother.



Being loved on makes for thirsty dogs!


Waiting patiently at Boa Vista for daddy to get back with the ornament


The ornament!


We had an awesome family day! The weather was beautiful and the dogs behaved themselves. Since we weren't able to get anything to eat while we were out, we dropped the kids at home and headed to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Nothing spectacular there but when the waiter came to greet us, he promised us a show after dinner. Not really expecting him to actually come through with something, he surprised us with this:

Dirty kids!!

You know it's been a while between bathings when your dogs without the undercoats start smelling a little, well, fragrant.

Josh had the little sausage, er, Abbi, in and out in what seemed like five minutes so I wasn't able to get any pictures of her. But here are some of the boys looking like they're being tortured. Don't let the pitiful faces fool you for a second! They LOVELOVELOVE being clean and run around like maniacs when they're done.




Always has to tell me! :)




Notice the Tresemme bottle in the last picture. It's been empty of human shampoo for a while. We just cleared the shelf of the dog shampoo and loaded it all in there. They go through so much of it!!

Josh has to change his clothes immediately after bathing Legion, he's always last, because he gets just as much water on him as on the dog. And seeing them with their heads right next to each other really kinda puts it into perspective just how freakin huge the baby is... Good thing he loves us!!

Hee hee, you can see Josh's man poof hanging from the shower pull on thing. I have such a manly husband...with nicely exfoliated skin. Love ya, babe!!