A Quiz...

As you can tell from the posts we have been thoroughly enjoying our puppy Rosie. The breeder sent out a birth announcement for a new litter they had and I actually considered another...not for long though. I got thinking of how "helpful" our little Rosie is around the house. I wrote a short quiz for anyone who is interested...and yes it is almost back to school time!

Question 1. Why is there a laundry basket hanging from the bike rack?

Question 2. Why are my flowers not doing as well now as the beginning of the summer?

Question 3. Where are all the ripe tomatoes going?

Question 4. Why is the lawn only half mowed?

Question 5. Why do our stairs resemble an obstacle course?

Question 6. What is that brown blob that is climbing on everything?
(although she really really loves it!)

Question 7. Why is there a dog in my dishwasher?

The answer to most of these thought provoking questions is............

.........ROSIE!!!!!

Renaissance Rosie

Rosie is turning into a very talented and well rounded puppy already and she has been very busy the last few days experienceing life. She is quickly developing an acute fondness for anything athletic. She has been wading/swimming several time (we got a membership to Fanshawe Park for her) and really seems to enjoy it...she is a Lab afterall. Her vocabulary is growing everyday and she is LOVING anything agility and obedience related. Here she is ripping through the tunnel...I don't know if that is a look of joy or insanity on her face...but she is going F-A-S-T!
She has been working on the chute too and last night she did it all by herself. For those of you who don't know the chute is like the tunnel except is made of soft fabric that they need to push their way through. The boldest puppy ever did it by herself and loved it...our instructor was a little surprised. She was also introduced to the walk-way last night and as with everything else I had to pry her away from it.

Even when she is sleeping she is thinking athletics. Here she is settling in for a nap on the treadmill. No running for her for a while but it makes a great bed.

When her mind is in a more creative mood she has turned into a real art critic. She was my muse of what I call pup-art and here she is giving me her impression. After her nose smudged the eye she thought it looked better. I fixed it...don't tell her!

Along with playing with friends and watching bike races Rosie has had a busy week. Maybe this weekend will be a little quieter...probably not!

That's my puppy brag for the day...bye.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

What can I say...we have one cute puppy!

This is what happens if you leave your seat for one second around here.

Rosie has alread proven she can find many unique "comfortable" places to sleep. This is another of her favourites.

Finally, it's a hot day here so the air conditioning is on. Unfortunately, we have a very efficient filter that tries to suck all the cold air from the duct before it even gets into the room..luckily it's pretty small still.

Besides Rosie, Mike has aquired a new member to his car family. Here he is looking very content.

The final Rosie news is that she went for her first swim. She forgot to keep moving her legs and dunked herself once but after she got over the embarassment she was right back in the water. No pictures of her swimming yet...we forgot the camera.

Potted Roses...ies

Rosie has been given several gifts of toys and she inherited many from Casey but her new favourite toy is a flower pot she found in the backyard. She snuck it into the house this morning when I wasn't looking and I heard slight ruckus. I caught the tail end of her "crazy". I may be biased but boy is she cute!

The positive (besides a giggle) is the aftermath. Ahhhh, the sound of silence.

That Can't Be Comfortable...

It appears that Rosie has an uncanny knack for finding very "comfortable" spots to sleep. She has enjoyed the air conditioning vents in this heat but this is her current favourite. She chose this position several independent times...weird.

Unfortunately I missed getting the picture of her when she fell asleep getting a drink from her water bowl. It was very cute. Here is the best video we have so far. This is in the evening so the edge is already taken off. In the morning she is CRAZY!!! (ignore the fool picking up the poo in the background...someone has to do it)

She is working hard on her sits, downs and comes. She loves to do any or all of them!

Fly Like an Eagle

I have finally had enough time (with Rosie and all) and figured out the technological side of posting videos so here is a little flashback to France. The first video is of Mike flying. Enjoy...I know he did!

The next video is of me flying. It was amazing!

Finally, here are a couple still shots taken in flight. This was a once in a lifetime experience (although Mike hopes not only once!) and we loved it.

Puddin' Pup

We're home and although I am fighting some jet lag (again) we are keeping very busy with Rosie. She has a wonderful personaility and is already sitting and laying down on command (when set up for success of course). She is very bright and full of energy. We are struggling to capture any good pictures of her awake because she moves very quickly. Here are some to enjoy.

She has been enjoying her new bed although sometimes she wiggles too much and falls off. She also likes to use it as a chew toy. I am really glad we decided on the $30 version over the $200 version!

Another sleeping puppy. Her naps seem to last about 20 minutes or so...ahhhh.

I love this picture.

This ones a little fuzzy but like I mentioned before pictures of her awake are a little challenging to take.

This is the best awake picture. She is about to pounce but the camera caught her just in time.

After all that action it is back to sleeping....ahhhh again. That belly just begs to be tickled!

Au Petit Sud Ouest

Well, it's 11:20 on Saturday night - our last night in Paris. We've just finished packing up as much as we can until tomorrow morning.

To celebrate the final night of our vacation we went to a fantastic restaurant: Au Petit Sud Ouest. They specialize in duck. Neither of us have ever eaten duck before so we didn't know what to expect. It was excellent. We shared fois gras for an appetizer with Andrew and Heather, and also shared a very nice bottle of red wine that was recommended by the restaurant owner. We've never tried fois gras before either...it turns out that we both quite like raw duck liver! For our Plat Principal (what we would call an Entree in Canada) Andrea had the preserved duck leg with ceps and thin sliced potatoes and I had the duck breast with thin sliced potatoes. Andrea commented that it was the best meal she has ever had.

After the meal Andrew and I headed back over to Celio (we seem to have a problem) to take a look at some more clothes and cufflinks. I got another shirt and Andrew got a nice pair of cufflinks.

Well it's bedtime now.

Bon Soir.
Au Revoir France.

Skulls, Shopping and Ice Cream

On our second last day in Paris we decided to head to the Catacombs. I was really looking forward to this macabre display of human bones. This is where during the plague (and other times) they dumped the thousands of bodies that would not fit into the cemeteries. Luckily we latched onto an English speaking tour guide that told all sorts of interesting tidbits of history. After trudging through low tunnels for a while and yes, climbing more stairs we reached the entry to the ossuary.

Here are some very interesting bones...

and some more...

I really enjoyed this outing as creepy as it sounds and I highly recommend it for anyone who is not claustrophobic...sorry mom.

After the creepiness of the catacombs we headed home...the long way as usual. We luckily discovered a really pretty church and it turned out to be Saint Sulpice. This was one of the churches that figured in the book The DeVinci Code.

We meandered through the Luxembourg Gardens too. They were beautiful but orderly as all Parisian parks seem to be...we didn't dare walk on the grass. We saw some trees too - an unusual sight in Paris.

After our wandering we headed over the the Champs Elysees for some serious shopping. We found a store that Mike loved and he shopped til he dropped...not really...only two shirts. They cut the clothing a lot tighter here so the dress shirts were perfect. On the Champs a lot of car companies have simulators and displays set up. Here is Michael driving the F1 car. He looks very content...although a tad serious.

After that we headed home for a quiet evening.

Today we wanted a quiet day with a little wandering, a little ice cream and a little shopping. Surprisingly enough Mike wanted to go back to his new favourite store for some more stuff. On the way we walked under the bridge where in the movie Ronin the gun exchange took place.

(On a previous day we saw the stairway and bar from Ronin too)

There is an ice cream place that is famous throughout Paris and is reputed to be the best ever invented. Since I am married to an ice cream connoisseur (no idea how to spell that) I figured we should give it a try...it really is the worlds best ice cream. I had gingerbread and Michael had Coffee...yuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmyyyyy!

We made it to Michael's new favourite store and he managed to find another shirt and two pairs of pants that he loved. I also got a shirt...orange of course. On the way home our feet got sore so we chilled for a while at the fountain.
This is Michael's view of the world.

We are planning to go for a nice dinner tonight...I heard talk of duck. That could be interesting. We had a wonderful time here in France but are looking forward to bringing our new family member, Rosie, home tomorrow. This is the most recent picture we have of her.

Chow for now!

Sore muscles and tasty mussels...

On Wednesday we decided to catch the underground up to Sacre Coeur and after poking around there head back down to our place on foot. Sacre Coeur is the highest point in Paris so we were anticipating a nice view. After lots of stairs...I'm getting sick of stairs...we reached our destination. It was beautiful as most of these buildings are. When we went in a choir of nuns were singing and it was very nice.




We decided to climb up into the tower to get the best view...only 200 steps this time...easy! They were a little tight and twisty but fun.

The view from the top was fantastic!

After we finished poking around the church from the tower to the catacombs we made our way down for lunch. We went to a place recommended in the Lonely Planet book and it was yummmmmmmmy! This pictures is from the window that we ate beside.

After lunch we made our way back down to the area we are staying in. We saw lots of nice shops and passed the Opera House...

...unfortunately nothing is playing right now...that would have been fun...and passed the Moulin Rouge...

Eventually we made it back home after a very long day of walking. I am sick of walking! Mike wanted to head over to the Eiffel Tower at night and after some coaxing I agreed. I am really glad we went. He took this picture that I think looks fake but since I was there I know it is not.

And another one. I think the Eiffel Tower was one of my favourite things on this trip...even though it was a tourist trap!

Today we headed up to Versailles to see how the other half lived...in the 17th century. It was beautiful but it is undergoing an extensive restoration so there was a lot less to see than we had hoped. All the public rooms were open but we really wanted to see some of the inner workings of the palace (kitchen, stables etc). Anyways, we were glad we went.

This is the Hall of Mirrors. I think I was born into the wrong family...but at least I still have my head attached to my body!The gardens were expansive but sterile. That seems to be the Parisian way though. Heather got a hankering to rent a row boat so here is a picture of her and Andrew rowing. Once she got facing the right way she was pretty good.

With sore feet and tired muscles we headed back to Paris and had a fun dinner of mussels. I have never had mussels and they were pretty good. We topped off the day with more gelato and are now going to bed...goodnight.