Happy Holidays!!!

We hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and is looking forward to 2009! Although I have been under the weather for the past week (I blame CO for being too cold), it has been great to spend time with our families.

Christmas morning was cold but the three of us went on a long walk and opened gifts to each other. Then we went to G. Paul's parents to have lunch and open presents with his family. Julianne was very into her books and of course her new reading chair. Then we came home to meet my parents, have dinner and open presents with them. It was a wonderful extended day with lots of food, lots of gifts and lots to be thankful for. Hana was so worn out that she slept most of the second half of the day. We just missed Brett and his family but we were able to see them on Skype today and hear about their gifts.

Today the weather was unseasonably warm (70 degrees) so I put on my flip flops and sat with Hana out on the deck. The sun wasn't out but it was nice to feel a warm breeze for a change- then we met Ginger, Cara, Julianne and Linda for walk. Once again Hana was worn out and has been sleeping all evening! We are trying to gear up for our annual New Years Eve party so I am sure we will have more to blog about then.

Cold in Colorado

Life is still a whirlwind. We have been attempting to unpack our boxes and settle in while getting ready for the holidays, but first we headed to Colorado to scope out our next possible move.
Unfortunately, December is not the time to come to Colorado and then add to that it happens to be the week for record setting low temperatures. It makes envisioning living here, after 3 plus years in temperate San Diego, very difficult. This morning it was 30 degrees below zero with the wind chill- this is the point at which any skin exposed to the elements can experience frost bite within ten minutes. It is a shock to the system to say the least.

We did enjoy having dinner with our good friends Brooke & Dave and their beautiful daughter Kate this weekend in KY. Tonight we are having dinner with old neighborhood friends that I have not seen in many years and hopefully can tell me how they adjusted to this very different climate! Visiting with friends is the one bright spot in the cold dreary days of December.

December in KY

We made it to KY without incident and most of our senses in tact. Hana experienced the house much differently than we anticipated- we thought she would love having so much room but it turns out the hardwood floors are slippery and feel funny. Watching her try to navigate was at first hilarious and then became absurd as she would bark from being left in a room and afraid to move to the next one with us. Each day she seems to get a little more secure though so we are hopeful this won't last long.
It has already been 3 days since I have seen the sun and it is hard on me. G is happy to have so many projects at the house and there seems to be more of a mess as soon as I try to clean another one up.
We are so happy to be near friends and family again especially for the holiday which was filled with food and warmth. Hopefully many game nights and watching the Cards play basketball with friends are on the horizon. Happy December!

Thanksgiving stop

The long four days in a car and on the road temporarily ended in St. Louis for Thanksgiving with the family. Hana was more than relieved to get out of the car, but she is having trouble settling in to a new environment and more people around- a lot more fear barking than is usual for her.
Yesterday morning in Oklahoma City we found Paw Park, which has been named one of the top 10 dog parks in the U.S. - it was great for Hana to run with her Frisbee and it had a big pond which thankfully she decided not to wade into. The wind chill had to be in the 20s but we played for at least 30 mins. - this did nothing to make the ride any quicker for any of us. We had gorgeous weather the rest of the way and are so happy to be spending a few nights here- we already feel so much better with 8 straight hours of interrupted sleep!

Big G express keeps moving

The title of this post is from a trucking company we have seen along this journey and thought it was appropriate for us! :)
We began again at a dog park, different from the one yesterday afternoon. I found a Frisbee for Hana and she loves that more than chasing the ball and there were two other dogs there to sniff. It was 35 degrees out and of course Hana didn't seem to mind that my hands were freezing! She did great for her third day in the car and longest day.
We stopped for lunch in Amarillo but did not partake of the 72 oz. free steak being offered nor the fried pie place- nothing like Amarillo, Texas! It was a boring drive but uneventful is good and the weather has been great enough to allow us to eat lunch outside the car to give Hana a chance to stretch her legs.
Since we got to Oklahoma City after dark, we kept Hana entertained with a bone and new toy. For a long road trip, this has been a pretty easy trip and we are looking forward to arriving at my parents and taking a break from driving for a few days!

Day 2 a/k/a Last day for shorts!

The second day of our trip was very nice. We took Hana to a dog park first thing in the morning- she ran a bit and chased the ball. After about 3 hours we stopped again for a break in Flagstaff and then had lunch on Route 66. We drove the rest of the way to Albuquerque and found a dog park here. The temp. has definitely dropped since leaving Phoenix- the low tonight should be in the 30s. All of us seem to be pretty exhausted and are looking forward to a quiet night's sleep before hitting the road early tomorrow morning.

Road trip begins

Our last few days in San Diego were busy and sleepless. We were able to spend time at the beach and I had my last few yoga sessions at Bird Rock. I am truly going to miss the studio and all the people associated with it. It was a wonderful journey and I am thrilled to be starting a new path as a yoga instructor.
We had breakfast at Kono's this morning so Hana could have one last walk to the beach and to attempt to wear her out before the stressful car ride to Phoenix. She also had some play time with her best friend Dude- I cried for her when we left. We said good bye to our apt. that provided so many good times over the past three plus years.
The trip to Phoenix was uneventful for us but Hana sees it differently. She was very stressed even with the Rescue Remedy we gave her to naturally relieve her anxiety. Good news is that she did not throw up. This is a first for such a long car ride. We hope to take her to a dog park not far from here in the morning. Three more days in the car and counting...

This video was taken on my phone a few weeks ago - to explain the low quality video, but Hana played with this shell for about 10 minutes until we made her leave it because she got so frustrated. She pushed it around, clawed at, and tried to open it with her mouth. We had never seen her so interested and so determined to get whatever was inside. The high pitch yelps are very unusual for her. I will try to post both short segments I caught with my phone.

Happy Birthday Lane!

Lane turned 7 yesterday and although we missed it, I was able to sing Happy Birthday before he ran away from the phone- I wonder if it was my singing? I know he had a great time with his grandparents and great-grandparents there to celebrate. Apparently Star Wars and Lego's are all the rage for boys at 7.

Happy Anniversary to my parents as well. Their celebration includes babysitting the grand kids for a week but I think that is probably all my mom wanted anyway.

As for Hana, we are still having flea problems- two more were discovered yesterday and she went on her new flea medication per the vet's orders along with continuing a low dose steroid. I have been pretty stressed and frustrated at her lethargy and loss of hair, but last night and this morning she started destroying her toys again. It is a game to pull all the stuffing out of her sheep toy and then I put it back in so she can pull it out again. She must be 2 in human years. All I want is for her to have her normal energy level (which is actually pretty low key for a puppy anyway).

Only two more weeks of yoga teacher training! We are at the point where all we do is practice our flow so it is almost four hours of yoga at each session. I think my quads might give out one of these days but so far they still allow me to go to the other four classes a week that I have to attend. I am really excited about teaching when this is all over and I am so glad I did it.

Happy Halloween!

These are not this years pumpkin carvings as we are behind schedule, but we will be carving this afternoon. I am so excited to see pictures from all the kids Halloween costumes. I don't think Hana will be having much fun since her life is limited to her food and nothing else while we determine what her allergies are- a frozen treat of her food might be the extent of her Halloween excitement. We are supposed to go to a party but we haven't quite figured out costumes either. Hmm.

I hope everyone gets sweet treats and we should have a new post coming soon with some big updates so check back!

10 years, 3 kids and soon to be 2 marathons!

Happy Anniversary to my brother and sister-in-law! Ten years ago on this day we were enjoying beautiful weather on Bald Head Island (one of my favorite places) as they said "I Do". Now they have three beautiful kids and are preparing to run their 2nd marathon together. It doesn't get much better than that. Cheers to another happy ten years together in health and love! Good luck at the marathon next week and we hope you truly get to enjoy your vacation.

Missing Timmy

Riddle me this

Hana has been having an allergic reaction for the past week. It has literally made us sick to our stomachs to see her suffer- she scratches constantly, her belly and under her paws look as if she has been burned and her hair is falling out. I have never had a 9 month old puppy with these kind of issues so it has been both frightening and frustrating.
We took her to the vet on Thurs. and they suggested she might have a food allergy- we don't suspect environment because she never chews on her paws so it seems to be coming from within. She did receive antibiotics because she has scratched and chewed on herself so much it had become infected. The idea was to put her on hypoallergenic dog food which costs a mint and contains soy - soy is one of the top three allergens so I don't understand this and her food is already wheat free; wheat being one of the other top allergens. Luckily she takes her antibiotic with no problem but it did nothing to help the itching and I wanted this relief for her more than anything and so she would not need to continue scratching to the point of infection.
Finally we went to our favorite natural dog food store to ask for help and they suggested switching her to a fish diet and using an oatmeal shampoo to soothe the itching. So far the shampoo seems to have calmed the itching, now it is once an hour as opposed to every two minutes and I have not seen as many clumps of hair coming out.
However the biggest discovery I have made is that the flea product we used could be the culprit of this allergic reaction. This is very scary to find- there are literally hundreds of stories on the Internet describing the same thing that happened to Hana after I had given her this flea treatment- and I looked for similar stories on the flea treatment we used to give her and found very few. We won't know for a month if this is in fact the problem, but I really hope it is just so we have an answer and she suffers no more. It is so upsetting to watch her discomfort and I just want it to be over. Keep your fingers crossed that we can find out for sure what caused this so it does not happen again because I for one cannot take it!

Frosty Paws!

What do you do when it is almost 90 degrees out and you don't have air conditioning?
Have ice cream! At least that is what Hana does.

Thunder and rainbows

Monday morning was a strange one for San Diego. About a quarter of the way into our morning walk, Hana and I heard thunder. She barked at it and we kept walking. A short time later I hear it again, Hana looks up at the sky and big, fat raindrops start to fall and continued to fall for the rest of our walk. Luckily it was not getting any harder or faster as we walked because I was in a mostly white T-shirt and not interested in meeting the neighbors that way. It kept thundering a few more times and Hana learned to ignore it- I supposed she figured it wasn't much different than all the other noises she hears since we live in an urban area.
Toward the end of the walk I look up to see a rainbow- in San Diego! It wasn't very long but the colors were so bright. It made me feel like I was in Maui again and I knew it was going to be a good day. Hope everyone has a Monday with a bright rainbow.

Hanalulubeardogpups

Photos from D.C. trip

Birthday and Anniversary wishes

Belated Happy Birthday to our friend Amber who I would have Journey sing to her if I could because she deserves it. Also Happy Anniversary to Cara and Ryan who deserve a date night which I would give to them as well if I was home to baby-sit :)

It is a warm day here in SoCal- 80 at the beach but the breeze is making it bearable. I am watching Hana-bear sleep right next to my chair- it is so sweet that it is hard not to reach over and disturb her with lots of petting. She is still recovering from 2 days of play with her friend Hovis- he is a month older than her but seems to have plenty more energy than she. It may be reason to get your pets spayed or neutered, they seem so much more calm! They wrestled most of the day away and last night got to go to a playground to really run- Hana takes such tight turns that the other dogs fall over themselves trying to keep up, it is pretty funny to watch. I love her so much and hope she is a happy dog.

We are off to dinner tonight with some more Louisville friends, to our favorite restaurant, Roy's. The new one overlooking the marina makes us feel a little closer to Hawaii especially as we near almost one year since our last trip.
Mahalo as always!

Officially fall

We celebrated the end of summer last night with a Southern summer cookout. BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, cornbread muffins, sweet tea and of course for dessert- S'mores! There is nothing so great as grilling on a charcoal grill for S'mores and lucky us the weather stays nice enough here to do it more than just in the summer time. :)
Hana spent the weekend at the beach with us (avoiding the noise of the Thunderboat races in the bay- you may have seen one of the guys who crashed and survived on the Today show this morning). She is starting to assert herself in her adolescence and would patrol our chairs for any approaching dogs- we would prefer she didn't do this and need to keep her socializing so she does not become aggressive in her adolescence as some dogs are prone to do. Luckily she will have her friend Hovis here for the next two days to give her lots of play time.

For those of you who have asked about my yoga teacher training- it is really going well and I am very excited by all I am learning. I am part of a group of seven who are going on this journey together which makes it all the more fun. We are in our third week now and really getting into more poses. I am deepening my own practice and learning a lot of Sanskrit.
Namaste

What a weekend!

I am watching U of L football and thought it was a good time to multi-task and update the blog. Go Cards!

We spent a wonderful four day weekend in Washington, D.C. for my college roommate's wedding. The first night we went to the rehearsal dinner and met other wonderful friends. Sasan and Christina's families were so welcoming, very thoughtful hosts making sure we were having a good time. Our hotel and the restaurant were in Dupont Circle so we were able to walk there- I always love the city at night to see and feel the energy. On Sat., G got up early to start his first tour of the city- we went to breakfast at Kramerbooks, took the Metro to the mall and started walking. We walked a lot! First to the Washington monument, the Lincoln memorial, back up to the Capitol and the Archives. Finally taking a break to meet Jess and Mark for lunch- what a surprise that their plans changed and were able to meet with us.

The wedding on Sat. evening was held at the National Democratic Women's club and it was so sweet. The couple had written their own vows and the dancing was so much fun, especially the impromptu rap of "Ice, Ice Baby" by the bride. :) It was a late night but even when we left the bar at 1:30 in the morning, the humidity was stifling. G and I can't decide if we have already adapted to San Diego or we were just being wimps.

On Sunday the heat wave continued with a high of 93 so we tried to stick to the museums- Air & Space, Natural History and walked by the White House in time to see the President of Ghana arrive. We got to see my family in VA for dinner and my Aunt Jackie's birthday- grandparents, aunt & uncle, cousins and their wives- it was great to see all of them. When we got back into the city it was time to see the monuments all lit up and there was a full moon! We couldn't have asked for a better night to be there.

Monday before we left we were able to fit in a tour of the Supreme Court (though they are not in session obviously), then the Martin Puryear and Jim Henson exhibits. The Muppet exhibit was probably my favorite simply because it is associated with childhood and amazes the imagination. Some of the Muppet's beginnings were truly comical like Animal & the Electric Mayhem band.

Hana was well taken care of when we arrived home after our first four days apart-thanks to Jen and Dude, she seemed happy to see us but not in the least bit stressed by our absence. Pictures of the weekend will be posted as soon as I can find some decent enough- we forgot the tripod so they aren't are better photos. Amber & Galen would be ashamed. :)

Summer's End

It is funny to say the summer has come to an end when you live in San Diego where it is summer year round, but there are some obvious signs that it has in fact drawn to a close.

We walked Hana to the beach last night (it is her most favorite thing in the world to do and she gets pretty ornery when we don't go that direction). It was almost empty. Any other Tues. night in the summer there would still be plenty of people hanging out to watch the sun set and enjoy the waves, but last night it was just us and a couple of surfers and one or two other dog walkers.

Labor Day weekend was very nice here- we went to the Jack Johnson concert on Sat. night at the amphitheater - it is a great venue with a wonderful breeze and colors from the setting sun were beautiful. We took Hana to Fiesta Island on Sunday and went for Sushi with our good friends Emily & Adam. On Monday we did the typical go to the beach for a couple of hours and grill out- one last summer S'more for me, yum!
School started here yesterday and the sun sets earlier and earlier but summer lingers in San Diego through most of September (it is supposed to be a picturesque 77 deg. F today) even if the vacationers have left the beach!

Easy come, easy go

We got three paddles in before our kayak was STOLEN! It makes you feel awful when anything is stolen, but especially when it is brand new. I didn't really get to enjoy it and we were so looking forward to spending time together (even with Hana). To start the day with that discovery has certainly put a damper on my mood and the weather is fitting as it is overcast.
I could rant about what kind of sad, pathetic people drive around with bolt cutters looking for things to steal to make a quick buck that is probably spent on drugs, but I am trying to let it go. I am repeating my new mantra "I have everything I need." It is true and reminds me about the great people in my life who outweigh all the negative.
However days like this reinforce what I hate about living in tight quarters with no storage space and people who don't care about their neighbors. It makes me want to pack up and move, but this has happened before and can happen again anywhere.
I am grateful that no one was physically hurt and nothing so special was taken that it can't be replaced (even if we will not be replacing the kayak with no place to store it).

Hana's kayak and swim adventure

We took Hana to Fiesta Island this weekend to introduce her to the new kayak. It was a pretty good experience overall. She got some exercise first by playing in the off leash area and then we attempted to have her sit in the kayak. She had her life vest on and we made a little mat for her to sit on so she wouldn't slip. It took some balancing on our part as well to have a third body in the kayak. There were a couple of times she started to move around but we were able to keep her in and she didn't give any stress signals so we started to just paddle near shore and around one buoy so as not to overwhelm her and end the experience on a positive note.
After that we got in the water to play with her and she actually swam out to us and between us once all on her own before heading to shore. We were completely excited as she seems to love the water but only up to her belly so this was the first voluntary swim. It was a neat day for the pack and we hope it will only get better the next time.

We went kayaking without Hana on Sunday to make sure we could paddle in sync. It was a gorgeous day and one that represents why I love San Diego in August. We paddled over to a bait dock where about ten sea lions were sunning themselves and barking. It was amazing to see them up close and one young one even swam right near our kayak. The weekend was full of sun, water adventures and great memories. Next time we will have to waterproof the camera so we can share pictures.

August in San Diego

It is already back to school time for most of my friends and their kids. Even though I am not teaching, it is hard to believe summer has gone so quickly. For me living on the West Coast, the most obvious sign is how early the sun sets here. We wonder how we will exercise Hana in the evenings when dusk comes earlier and earlier.

This past weekend we picked up the new kayak and realized paddling tandem is much different. We will be working on this and will be sure to share our stories and pictures. :)
We also got to spend some time with our good friends, Lynn & Dave, who are now residents of AZ and realized they should have moved one state further west in order to enjoy summer outdoors. It was a great day poolside catching up with friends.
While we were with friends, Hana went to a new daycare to meet her own friends. I think she loved it - she was completely exhausted when she got home. She had been outside running for about 6 hours and even waded into the salt water pool to keep cool. I am hopeful she became a more confident dog due to her experience and won't shrink back at going again. We even picked a daycare with a web cam so we can check on her and check on the facility. As another dog friend put it, you want to make sure the tour you get is the same for the dog and they aren't throwing them in a kennel somewhere.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today we celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. It has been a beautiful day here, which we started by having breakfast together and walking Hana. G took the day off so we could pamper ourselves a little bit by having lunch and wine at the winery where we were married. I added our wedding album on the blog for those of you who might not have seen pictures- this is not all of them but a good representation of what a beautiful day it was.

Everyone always asks if it feels like 2 years. When we were at the winery I can say it feels like a long time since we were there and the second year of marriage has been much different from the first for many reasons. However, at the end of every day I still know how lucky we are to love each other and share our life together.

Yoga Challenge Complete!

I completed the yoga challenge yesterday and received the month of August free for my efforts. I promptly took today off! :)
I am really proud that I stayed dedicated- thanks to my hubby for his encouragement as well. I can see a difference from when I started and that is the big payoff. I am going to try to keep up going five days a week before I begin yoga teacher training in September. It is exciting to focus on something while I continue my job search and hope that teaching yoga will go along with the online tutoring to support what I spend on my puppy!

Julianne's first trip to the West Coast & Happy Birthday Linda

Julianne, our niece who will turn 1 in August, made her first pilgrimage to California. Of course it couldn't be the easiest trip for her, as they were delayed over night in Atlanta. She came with Cara and Linda for Linda's birthday. It was so great to see how much she has changed, losing her baby rolls as she busies herself crawling. Hana's reaction to having a baby here was pretty cute too but more on that later.

We took Julianne for her first trip to the Pacific Ocean the day she arrived. Her initial reaction was dislike for sand and the quite chilly water but she grew to love it. We took her to Coronado Beach the next day for a couple of hours of fun in the sun (or cloud cover as the marine layer hangs on again). She was so cute in her all American swimsuit and delighted in picking up the sand and watching it dissolve through her fingers. She wanted to put it all over the blanket too.

Julianne loves the zoo so off we went for an early morning stroll at the World Famous San Diego zoo. She watched a Malayan tiger gnaw on a bone, a giant Panda- Su Lin- chewing on bamboo while her sister, Zhen Zhen slept in a tree high above, and polar bears splashing and playing. Jules visited some local attractions like In-N-Out burger and Lamont St. grill, where she was very well behaved! We miss her so much already and wish she wasn't so far away.

Why can't dogs scratch with their front legs?

I have been considering this for a few days. I have never seen a dog use their front paws to scratch. I thought about this as I watched Hana and wondered if she perhaps has gotten fleas. She uses her hind legs to scratch her head and neck, she will even stand on three legs to raise a back paw to her side. She will also contort her spine in a variety of ways so she can nibble on her paws, her backside, her rib cage or her belly. I realize that her hips can open up in ways her shoulders can't but why can't dogs use the front paws to reach down and scratch their belly when they are sitting up? It seems so much more time and energy saving then having to rotate her head and spine 45 degrees to get to a spot that itches.

Hana had her first half day at doggie daycare today so that we could get ready for a visit from our family (more on that later.) I was much more anxious than I thought I would be because she is such a shy dog and being a rescue dog I have limited information on her previous life so I worry. Luckily she went with her good buddy Dude so he could show her the ropes and hopefully make her feel at ease. She made it the whole four hours and more importantly so did I. Apparently though she only played with Dude when she did play but mostly sat back and observed. This is par for the course for a thinking dog and probably Border Collies who aren't sure what their jobs are in this situation and who they should be clinging to. I hope the next time she will have more playmates and be trusting of us that we will always return to get her.

Tim

He became one of my best friends the very day I met him. The day I had to say good-bye also changed my life, but thank God his big sister Becca made him come talk to two girls at the swimming pool that day. It began almost 14 years of amazing times. I think of a country song, "even if I had known how this would end, I would have done it all the same" - Tim was the first person to ever get me to listen to country music.
This is a picture from his last birthday we spent together, doing what he loved, being out on a boat with some friends. Living in Southern California, there are many "Timmy" days, like today where the sun is shining and the sky is clear blue and every time I see a water skier, I hope he is skiing somewhere. I miss him every single day and today especially because it his birthday or my half-birthday as I used to tease him. I know he would want us to take full advantage and get some friends together for a game of ultimate frisbee or to go to the lake or maybe have a chocolate milkshake, which he was pretty sure he had perfected. Happy birthday my good friend.

Yoga challenge update

I am well into the second week of my yoga challenge and doing well. It is very strange because I look forward to going and seeing what my body has learned to do from day to day, but I also find myself looking forward to the two days I take off. I definitely see improvement in my flexibility and strength though any time I do chair pose it can feel as if my thigh muscles are burning and bleeding.
The last few days while I was at yoga and G. Paul was out of town, Hana had play dates with Dude. We are so grateful to have Jennifer in our lives because she feels the same way about her dog as we do ours. It is truly special to find people who love animals the same as us. Hana would get so excited when I would say "let's go see Dude" and run to the back gate. She came home everyday exhausted. This morning she stayed home with G. and I think she thought she should be going to Dude's again. As I got dressed and on my bike, she again kept coming outside and looking around.
June Gloom has been sticking around in July but the humidity is up here. We hope to get Hana to Fiesta Island in order to keep her cool and hopefully kayak often.

Happy Birthday Grandma Hawkins and Happy Independence Day!

Happy July 3rd birthday to Grandma Hawkins! We are hoping to see her in Sept. when we visit D.C. but we still send lots of love from the West Coast to the East Coast.

Happy Independence Day to everyone! In our tiny beach town, almost 700,000 people are expected today and although they banned alcohol on the beach, I think the beautiful weather will still attract most people. We could do the truly American thing and rent out one of our parking spots for some good money, but we are storing the kayaks there temporarily- another San Diego issue- no storage! This will be our 4th celebration of the Fourth in San Diego. Luckily we can wait until 8:45 to walk to Mission Bay and get a prime viewing spot for Sea World fireworks, PB fireworks as well as the three sites along Coronado, Downtown and Ocean Beach-depending on the wind and marine layer we should be able to view all of them. (Hana will be watching Animal Planet at home in an attempt to drown out potentially scary noises though she has done well this season with the nightly Sea World display). Have fun!

Yoga Challenge

Wish me luck! I began a yoga challenge today. If I can do yoga five times a week for the month of July, I get a month free. I have been going four times a week and that gets me pretty tired. Hopefully by the end of July, I will be able to do a forward crow instead of just side crow. :)

Tonight is the second night of Hana's continuing obedience class. Let's hope she is not as stressed as last week. We just played hide and seek with a Kong full of treats and she was pretty excited for that. She played with Dude and his friend Wrigley this morning and handled two dogs well; this is a major improvement over hiding behind the chair the last time Dude and Wrigley were together.

The weather is perfect in San Diego as we gear up for 4th of July. I am not sure the 700,000 people who are expected to come to our beach this year will due to the alcohol ban. It is always interesting and we will see how Hana handles all the noises- she doesn't mind the Sea World fireworks every night but add a few thousand people and a much longer show and who knows what will happen?

Hana is back in "school" for intermediate obedience. She still gets a little stressed with the other dogs barking and all the humans talking to the dogs, but I learned to use her stress signals to calm her down. It is really cool to have that communication with her and she keeps her eyes glued to me so I know it is working.

On Wed. evening, she had her first long play date with Dude (pictured above). For almost 6 hours she played at Dude's house and made him pretty tired. I think she was pretty good for Jennifer who was so sweet to take her on a warm day for us. The funniest moment we saw came at the end of the night when we were saying good bye and I was trying to get Hana to do her "touch" (where she puts her nose on the back of my hand) and instead she put her paw right on Dude's shoulder! It was too cute.

Last night we took her for her first kayak in the water experience. I think this will be a long process. While she willingly gets in the kayak in the yard, once she had her vest on and we were at the water's edge, she was not interested in being in a floating kayak. It may have something to do with her Frisbee which she prefers to semi-bury when at the beach or the kayak moving and her not being ready to swim. We tried to use the Frisbee to lure her further into the water to no avail. We will post a short video of this trial as soon as we can edit it!

Small world

Our good friend Mark was here on Monday for a quick business trip. We took him to the Atoll restaurant at the Catamaran Resort and Spa for dinner. As the waiter comes up to us, Mark notices it says Louisville on his name tag. Mark asks if he is in fact from KY (because yes there are other Louisville even though we think we are the only one!) and when the waiter pronounced it correctly, we knew he was in fact a Louisvillian. What makes this truly remarkable is that not only in a city of almost 3 million people did we find someone from the same city, but I actually graduated high school from the same graduating class! Go BHS Class of '93!
It is always nice to make a connection in a place where you can often feel isolated- people don't have the Southern hospitality or even common courtesy sometimes that you find in other places, like Louisville, KY! :)

Happy Birthday Hillary

Happy Birthday to our sister-in-law, Hillary. She is a great mom, hard working attorney and all around neat person to know. We talk about being the kind of patient and creative parent that she is with the kids.

We are also excited today to have our friend Mark visit us from the right coast and he is just in time for the heat wave here on the left coast. Today still has remnants of June Gloom on the coast but more humid and still which makes it quite warm. Hana has found shade under the tree to snooze in again after I caused her stress by running the loud and scary vacuum cleaner!
It is also restaurant week here in San Diego so we are hoping to take Mark out to a place that we have not been to either. These are the types of events I look forward to because they encourage us to get out of our comfort zone and try some place new.

Full Moon Paddle

Did you spend or save your stimulus money? We decided to do our part for the economy and spent it on a new activity that we could do together. We bought a Cobra tandem kayak! It won't be in for a couple of weeks so they let us borrow 2 regular kayaks in the mean time. Last night we went out for our second paddle on Mission Bay- it was a nice sunset and we were supposed to see the full moon (aka Strawberry Moon because it is as close to the earth as the sun is in winter), but there was a bit of a haze on the horizon so we didn't actually get to enjoy it until later.
Still the water was smooth and fairly quiet so we took a nice leisurely paddle out and back at dusk. We can't wait for Hana to go with us once we get her fitted in her life vest, we hope she will enjoy it as much as we do. Yes, she is the primary reason we chose a tandem. Also it will be easier to share with friends when they come to visit (hint hint). No it does not mean we won't move back to KY ever, we hope to use it here and there whenever the time comes.

Hana had spontaneous play dates this morning with both her boys. Hovis and Dude. Of course playing with Hovis only happens because she lies down in his yard and waits for him to cry enough that Chris will let him out. Then she heard Dude going down the alley and hung out with him in the yard for awhile. She is now sleeping it all off. A dog's life is truly good.

Hana's first day herding

Hana had her first experience at a farm and to see if she is truly a working dog. We went with our friend "Dude" and his human Jennifer who have been herding for awhile now. Hana at first wanted to play with the other dogs but got interested when Dude went in the pen with three sheep and made them run. By the time Dude was in the big pen with the sheep, Hana was almost whimpering and putting her paws on the fence. Finally it was time for her to have some fun. She went in the small pen with three sheep and I got them started by running after them (G believes we should have video of this but thankfully we do not!). Hana immediately started to chase them and especially the one who would break loose from the pack- although she never did her stare or herding stance that she uses on us and other dogs, she seemed to know she wanted them all to go one direction or another. It was pretty fun to watch and really hot so we quit while it was still interesting to her. We hope to take her out in another month or so and see what happens when she actually has to work and not just play. In the mean time we might try agility and see which she is suited for- agility requires a more hyper dog so we kind of hope she doesn't pick that up! Thanks to the action K9 sports for letting us play today.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Birthdays abound in June in our family. Happy Birthday to Ryan who gets his first Father's Day and birthday back to back. Ryan is a great dad and great brother-in-law who we are thrilled to have as part of our ohana. Ryan will drop what ever he is doing to help anyone and can talk to anyone. He is probably at Lowe's right now working on a project and it might not even be for himself.

Hana had another big day. Yesterday she played in the park with her frisbee, then "Dude" & "Quest". Quest is a retired Greyhound- it was amazing to watch her run and at some point she decided Dude was a rabbit and was after his tail. It was too cute to watch. Hana wanted to get in but was unsure how to get around Quest's legs! This morning she stalked her friend Hovis and he eventually came out to play for an hour. She is happily resting in her bed again. We are so proud of what a good dog she has become and the friends she has made.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Dad's day to all the Dads out there. New dad Ryan, more experienced dads, Brett, Chuck and Galen, Granddad Hawkins, and pup daddy G. Paul. All of you are such great Dads and all the kids are lucky to have you for fathers. Hope you have a day filled with just what you want and that you really get what you want every day.

Happy Birthday Mary-Stuart!

Mary-Stuart is 1 today! Happy birthday little one! This picture is from Christmas when we saw her last. We miss seeing our nieces and nephew so much, but that is what happens when you live on opposite coasts. All the time when we think about staying in CA for awhile, we come back to missing out on the kids. Pretty much the entire Hawkins clan is getting together this weekend to celebrate and I wish we could be there too. She is a little shy with new people so I hope she lets everyone give her birthday kisses!

The sun has shone for a little while today. Long enough for me to ride my bike to yoga and back and enjoy the trip around the bay. Even Hana was excited to go on her walk this morning and carry her stick (her new thing!). I think she is happiest when she is working- a true working dog.

Hopefully we are going to try her out with herding thanks to our new friend Jennifer and her dog, "Dude". That should be a fun blog for next week.

June Gloom

http://http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=sgx&smap=1&textField1=32.71528&textField2=-117.15639
There is a secret in San Diego that no one tells you until you live here. IT IS NOT SUNNY ALL THE TIME! The past two days have been a perfect example of what they call "June Gloom". None of my friends back east believe this when I tell them of course because all you ever hear when you live there is "Sunny Southern California". This is a lie. I am not saying San Diego does not have a million other endearing qualities but one month of gray skies is hard to take. Even the pup sleeps more-oh wait I can't tell with her because she sleeps all of the time anyway.
Serenity now!

Most sensitive dog in the world?

Our 6 month old puppy is currently sleeping under the guest bed. She went there after I attempted to play frisbee with her and it hit her in the nose. It is made of a flexible material, it is not a hard frisbee. She immediately ran away with her ears back, then crawled in my lap then hid under the bed where she has been for at least an hour.

Is this normal behavior or are we the most neurotic parents? She is almost too low key for a puppy. Of course being a rescue dog, we have no idea what happened that could have traumatized her in the first few months. This is currently one of many "discussions" my husband and I have been having. Is she normal, over sensitive, depressed, sick? Are we pushing her too much or not pushing her enough?

first ever blog

I have been thinking about blogging for a long time, but who really wants to read one person's rants and raves? Well I am going to do it anyway. This way I can update everyone on Hana's growth (not really exciting when she is sleeping) and what our plans are (as this is the most asked question). So add it to your list of things to read in your e-mail or don't, but it will be here.
Thanks!
P.S. For all you non-Hawaiian speakers- ohana means family and all its extended members, like our great friends!