What a weekend!

We had a fun, yet interesting weekend!

We are starting to get some routines with Nina and figure out her personality. The breeder said she was a very bold and outgoing puppy and he was right. It was finally warm enough to let Kassi play in her pool for a little while. We decided this year we were going to forgo the 600 gallon pool and just get her a small one that was easy to take down and put up. Last summer it stayed so cool that she only got to use the big pool a couple of times. Kassi was excited to fill her pool and got right in and started filling it. Nina was very curious as to what was going on and soon enough found her way in as well. The water was cold and neither one wanted to stay in very long so they would come and go. Nina ended up finding a warm spot to lay (see the picture at the bottom)...silly dog now she lays there all the time. She will be too big for this in a very short time though.

Filling the pool. Nina was intrigued with this process.

First she did a little point (she points at the funniest things right now), then up and in she went. Good thing the rubber on it is pretty thick or else those sharp little puppy toes would have popped it.

Warming up in the sun.

Yes this is the bottom of Kassi's slide. Silly dog she loves to lay there.

On Saturday Wes had Fire Training and Kassi and I watched our friend's little boy Rory. It was interesting to see how Kassi reacted to this. While she loves to have her friends over to play this was different, because he is only 16 months old and required a lot of mom's attention, which she did not like. After Rory went home Kassi was sitting in her room crying and I went in to see what was the matter and she told me that she missed her mommy and wanted her mommy to her self. So the remainder of the day was "mommy and baby" time. This is something that we have come up with since Nina came home as the puppy often requires a lot of my attention as well and Kassi gets really upset. So I asked her one day if she just needed some mommy and baby time and she said yes. Now if she is feeling sad or like I am too distracted she says she needs some "mommy and baby" time and that is exactly what we do. I know she is very spoiled and I don't care!

This was just the beginning of our weekend. We had a nice walk around Beck Lake, only to find out later that a mountain lion was reported as being seen up there! On Sunday we decided to go for a drive to the Top of the World. We stopped at Lily Lake and let Nina and Kassi out to play for a little bit. One of the people there was trapping crawdads and showed Kassi one. Nina tried really hard to get to the trap and get the stinky little thing. (The last time we tried to catch crawdads here was after Wes and I got married. It was a lot of fun. If I remember correctly both Casey and Wes fell in the lake and Daisey ended up getting to eat the only crawdad! Good memories!) While there it started to get very black and rain really hard. We decided to go ahead and keep going up the mountain. We got out of the rain for awhile, but could notice it seemed to be building all the way around us. Kassi wanted to get out and play in the snow we stopped for a little while and let her make snowballs and play. It started to rain again so we started to head back down. We stopped at the Top of the World and went in to get a drink. When we were in the parking lot lighting hit right behind us, it was kind of scary. As we started back down it started to hail, not just little tiny hail, but hail about the size of a quarter! Fortunately it was kind of soft and did not dent the pickup. I have not seen it rains so hard, so fast or so much in a long time. The road was covered in several inches of water. It was crazy. Wes and I commented on how the storm was moving and what it would be like when it hit the warmer air off the mountain. On the way down we let Nina out and Kassi got out and played with balls of hail alongside the road. Of course I did not take my camera so I could not get pictures of the hail, the two moose we saw or the several herds of elk, oh well I don't think I'll forget it anytime soon.

After we got back we decided to go shooting and got a nice gash in the tire on our Dodge (the very expensive tires I might add) thanks to those lovely people who don't know how to pickup their glass bottles and other junk. Poor Wes had to change it out in the mud as it went flat instantly. We thought he ended up having a bad end to his Fathers Day. Then we got home and heard from my brother-in-law that a tornado hit Billings not far from his home. His camper and Excursion were totaled by the hail that came down around the tornado. Made us feel kind of bad for thinking our day ended badly. I think his was a lot worse. Sorry Casey that really sucks. I'm just thankful he and Jack are okay.

Nina's Home

We picked Nina up at the airport in Billings late Wednesday night. Her flight was delayed so she didn't get there until a little after 9:00 p.m. Kassi was so excited she got to watch the plane land and watch them bring Nina's crate in. Both Kassi and Nina slept all the way home.

So far Nina is doing very well. I do have to admit I forgot what it was like to have a puppy around.

Annie

Those of you who have spent much time around us know who Annie is, or are at least familiar with the stuffed otter Kassi has carried with her everywhere for the last two years. Annie was bought at the zoo when Kassi was 8 months old. She has gone everywhere with Kassi since then. She has been chewed on, slobbered on, dropped in the dirt, washed and washed and washed some more. Well when we went to the zoo this past weekend they happened to have new Annie's. Kassi was ecstatic to see another Annie and there was no getting out of there without her. We now have old Annie and new Annie. It is amazing to see the difference two years of tagging along makes! Old Annie is still the favorite though.

Zoo Montana

For the last few years we have been going to the Billings zoo each year around my birthday. Since Kassi was born this has become and even better tradition. She loves to go and see the animals and to be able to run along the trails. This year it was really nice. It is usually hot and buggy, but this year it was overcast and just perfect.

Look at my wonderful family!

I like the red pandas.

This is the first year the wolverines have been out to where we could really see them. She kept going in the water and splashing.

Kassi's favorite! We always spend a lot of time watching the otters.

Yard and Garage Work

It finally started to get warm enough to plant our garden and do a little yard work so we have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks. I was very glad to get Kassi's vegetables in the garden and off the kitchen table and window sills. We had corn, tomatoes and zucchini overtaking the kitchen!

I had not used my small garden area since Kassi was born so it took a lot of work to get it cleaned up enough to plant our vegetables. Kassi wanted corn, cantaloupe, zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, onions and carrots. I am pretty certain the corn will not get ears on it, but she can still see the stalks. This is the zucchini we had started inside.

We also decided to eliminate some of the rock areas we had put in when we moved in and put grass back in. Some of you may be familiar with the rock areas we put in to create a separation from our crazy neighbors. Well since they were charged with stalking they have moved on to bother some poor other family somewhere else and we can now replant our yard! Kassi helped us and dug up lots of worms and put them in the flower pots. She decided she wanted to keep two of them forever because they were her friends. So we have a small flower pot with worms in it. She waters them every once in awhile and likes to dump it out and dig for them.

We have also been getting things puppy proofed for when Nina gets here this week. We put a small fence around the garden and cleaned up a lot of things in the garage. I have been so spoiled by Daisey I am a little nervous about this puppy. Daisey doesn't dig, she doesn't chew and she has always stayed home even if the gate or door was open. We have decided to crate train Nina in the house. I have never done this nor have I ever believed in it, but we are going to try it. She will still spend her days out in the yard with Daisey, but we will try this for the nights. If anyone is familiar with this and/or tried it any advice you can give?

Carnival

We took Kassi to the carnival last night. She had a lot of fun. Each time she would get off a ride she would say "that was fun". It was really nice because we went on a Thursday and around 4:30 there were hardly any people there and most times there was only one other kid on the ride and sometimes none. She rode the carousel, the cars, the helicopters and the mini roller coaster. Of course she played games as well and won lots of cool carnival toys including an inflatable hammer.

It was a lot of fun and so cute to see the huge smiles she would get when she would ride. The cars were the only thing she actually rode by herself. Paranoid mom was right there with her on the carousel, in the helicopters and the roller coaster, but she didn't mind.

She rode the cars and the helicopters two times.

She kept telling me to let go of her and her horse because she was fine.

The big hammer!