Fall is Here!

 I got back from dropping kids off this morning and realized there were leaves on my yard, which made me look up and glare at the tree....but then it sucked me in with it's beautiful changing colors and I forgave it....and took a picture while telling it how pretty it was. 

 Mom and Papa's bed is still the hang out spot in our house. Duke's trying to push me away so he can stretch that leg even longer.

 What Kona does every time Duke gets taken for a walk and he doesn't. Duke needs longer walks, so he gets walked separately.

 My beautiful girls got to get gussied up for an engagement party in San Fran. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait for the wedding!

 Emma's school pictures are happening below-

 This was Sophomore walk-thru day.  I so don't remember having walk-thru days in middle school or high school.  It's nice, though. They get pictures, their ID card, schedules, lockers, all their books, pe uniforms, all the spirit wear stuff - shirts, hats, sweatshirts, etc.-and we walk her schedule with her so she can see where everything is.  She has bowling this year, so she has to hustle a few blocks over to the bowling alley and then get back to the school afterwards. That's the only tricky part to her day.

  Sophie is in 8th grade this year, and also had her walk-thru.

 School clothes shopping happened.  They went easy on us and agreed to get what they needed at Ross.  One store.  It was so nice!!

 We also got all the school supplies they could possibly need even though I had no lists yet. Again, one stop - The Dollar Store.  They ended up having everything they needed and a few bags of extras.

 I got to haul some hay for our friend Kyle's graduation party.  They ended up being a ring of seats around a fire.

 We've been having fun with this awesome thing.  Brian's sister had one on the houseboat. I knew right away I needed one, too! :)

 Regular season hasn't started yet, but we did have our first Friday Night scrimmage. 17 minute periods of play with very hands on coaching happening.  The Freshman really threw down and whooped a few JV players hard! It was fun to watch.

 At the above mentioned graduation party we walked in to the sweetest thing! They made special cupcakes Emma could eat.

 Kyle opened his gifts around the fire.

 This happened.....Emma is truck shopping for her first vehicle. Makes me so happy!  She can get her permit in October if she completes a 25 hour online course. (CA has a totally different driving process than WA!)

 This was on Emma's first day of school.  Duke was at a loss as to what to do without his momma in sight at all times.  So, he slept.

 Emma's first day.

 This kid is a big baby in more ways than one.  He freezes when he sees cars. He's terrified and won't walk.  To get to our trails by the house, you do have to do a little street first...so she carried him.

 The teens all went bowling and we had them over after for games and roasting their dinners over the fire.

 Sophie and Myles had their first day of school yesterday.  All went well.

 I enjoyed some alone time with Duke out on the trail.

He was wiped afterwards, didn't want to get out of the truck when we got home, and slept by the door the rest of the day until Emma got home : )

We had a pretty low key, laid back summer.  We had a few really fun trips, and lots of down time, which was great.  We have a few fun things coming up quick, including our 20th! We've celebrated all year, but the big day is actually coming up. 

We are also heading to Disneyland this weekend.  We thought that would help pull the kids through the first week of school, knowing they were leaving Friday at pick up for Disneyland : )  (and again I have to say don't rob us when we are gone because you now know we are gone...we have 3 dogs and a house sitter). 

Hope you are all well!

Duke's First Trail Adventure

Duke finally had his last round of shots and is ready to get out of the house.  He is so full of energy, he needs lots of exercise beyond what the yard can offer.  No matter how long the walk, he just never seems to tire.  Brian took him for a run and that didn't even phase him.  So, yesterday Emma and I took him out on the trail.  We had been waiting for a break in the heat, and we held steady at 80 yesterday.  Now, 80 at home, and 80 on the mountain do not feel the same at all. The mountain always feels hotter because of how the sun reflects right back up at you.  It did the trick.  Not too hot, but hot enough that it wore Duke out.  We only did a 2 mile loop, and he drank water 4 times, even though he was unsure of his portable water bowl. Overall, he did well, and I can see him quickly becoming a good trail companion!  We headed out of Borges Ranch so as to steer clear of Diablo property, where dogs are not allowed.

 So far he's equal parts curious, and timid.  He's very interested in things in the air.  Planes and turkey vultures are fascinating to him. Above he was listening and looking for the turkey vultures that were circling above.

 Above, he has our family gene for being fascinated with the sweet smell of horse poop.

 Hard to make out but there are quail in the above picture and Duke was quite amused by the noises they make.

 So he shows he's timid or alerted to something by sitting.  It took us a minute to figure this out.  Here, he had 2 deer off to his right, and 2 hikers ahead of him on the trail.  He wanted no part of either, and just sat down.  Once the hikers were out of site, we got him moving again.

I love our little dogs, but I gotta say, it's nice to have Duke! In a few short months he's going to be a big sturdy boy, and he'll be a blast to have out here on the trails!

Tidbits

 I had to post a pic of the awesome piece of wood the kids found while at Shasta.  It was on the beach where we tried to write out the message with wood....and now it's on my mantle!

And below are a few current pictures of Duke.  He's already sooo long.

 Above, that's major progress. Kona and Duke are touching.  Kona's not big on young rowdy pups, and Duke is pretty rowdy, jumpy, floppy...my old furry man isn't amused.

 And here, Sam is recovering from a traumatic morning.   He caught a squirrel who fought back hard by biting his nose and lip.  Brian got him in the house, not realizing anything happened, and he came up to me dripping blood. (ps. he had his rabies shot within the past 6 months).

And with that.....we wrap up Summer of 2017.  Sophie starts back with a mentoring program on Monday.  She's in 8th grade, and will be mentoring a group of incoming 6th graders, and has training Monday and Tuesday, then to work Thursday.  Emma also has her walk thru next week to get her schedule and planner, etc. You know what that means?? Football season is around the corner!

Summer - Batch 4

Almost caught up.  We came home from the boat on a Friday and had been tossing around a kids mud run the following day.  We were kinda waiting to see how the boat trip went and how we all felt after coming home.  We were actually not worn out but pretty refreshed, which is always a nice way to feel after a vacation!  So Saturday we headed back over to Sacramento for a kids obstacle and mud run.  While I could not do the obstacles, I did run it with Myles.

 So....it was hot.  We were in a 9:30 wave...and it was hot.  I hoped there would be mud right away...but the last 2 obstacles had mud, the rest were dry.  There were 2 water stations, which even with a short race, were needed cuz, again....it was hot.

 That's Sophie and Emma coming towards us, dragging up a hill....which was hot : )

 We caught up with Emma, who, no surprise, had taken a fall off the cargo net and her tailbone hurt when she would try to run.

 Finally, water! I expected them to lay down in there as the balls were floating in water, but they just walked through.

 

The water tanker back there was attached to hoses, so they were able to clean off before we headed home! Good times.