where did he go?

I am wondering if any one has seen my cute sweet Guide Dog puppy Anthony?  I gave him to the co-raisers about two weeks ago and when I picked him up from the puppy sitters after a week vacation I could hardly recognize him!  Not only has he grown like crazy but he has become SUPER energetic and even more stubborn than usual.  I have never seen him so playful and spunky in his short little life.  Could it be his hormones kicking in?

For the past two days when I took him on his walks he has about dislocated my shoulder taking off after people and other dogs.  I have tried and tried to correct him but he is so big and strong and he will just not calm down for me.  So after a very tiresome two days full of LOTS of corrections, I went and bought a gentle leader.  I know I can get one free from our GDB leaders but I just couldn't wait a week till I see them.

We went on a big outing with Eve (another guide dog puppy) today and Anthony wore his gentle leader for the first time.  Lets just say that things were different!  Anthony didn't like it at all at first and really fought it but after he figured out that if he stopped lunging and pulling then it wouldn't be tight on his nose, then my sweet angle reappeared and walked slowly and perfectly at my side! Now if only he would stay around without the gentle leader on.

The funny part was that whenever I stopped to look at something while we were shopping he would flop down on the ground and roll around trying to get it off.  I would make him get up and then he would rub all over me trying to get it off.    Poor little guy, growing up is tough!

Getting ready for parties

Alex and I are hosting several different Holiday parties in the next few weeks.  The first one is this coming Sunday and is the Guide Dog for The Blind Fort Collins Party.  It is one of my favorite GDB events of the year.  We all get together, eat good food, play with the puppies,exchange gifts, and  sometimes dress up the puppies in silly holiday hats.  When I was at Petsmart the other day I bought a bunch of holiday hats for the party and I tried them on Anthony and Bree tonight - I would say they got "mixed" reviews at best.

"I refuse to submit.... I will not look at you, I will not look at you, I will not look at you:".

Reindeer Kitty - "I mean REALLY, do I look like I could pull a sleigh to you?"

Santa Kitty - "You leave for vacation for a week, I stay home and take good care of the house and this is the payback I get.  I mean really, next time you go on vacation I'm tearing up the couch!"

"ppptttthhhhhhh!!!!  Humans suck!"

"look ma - when I move I make all sorts of jingle noise!"

"Boy that was a long shift at the toy factory today, that Santa, he sure is a slave driver.  I need a nap."

"I mean seriously, no respect!"

"I am being patient because I love you but having blinking antlers on my head is just not good for my manly image!"

"fine then ...I am just going to go to sleep and pretend like this isn't happening"

"Somebody help me! How many of these silly hats does she have? This is so humiliating!"

"Could you explain to me again exactly why you think this is cute?"

After I was done torturing the poor animals I asked Alex to take a quick pic with me and Anthony for perspective so y'all could tell how much he has grown lately.  He is really filling out and is becoming a "teenager", he will be 7 months this coming week. 

He may not be growing a ton taller but he is for sure growing wider and bulkier!

The last of Las Vegas

Alex and I came home today after a great week in Sin City.  I posted two posting while we were there but here is that last of our adventures.  At least the parts I can put on the blog....he he...just kidding.

We had free tickets to the "Eiffel Tower Experience".  It normally costs 12bucks, which I think is a rip off, but it's kind of fun when its free.  The lights of the strip are beautiful.  Here are a few different views from the top:

 

 

The Bellagio fountains went off while we were up there and they were even more amazing from above!

The Lions at the MGM had two babies and OMG are they just the cutest things ever. My pictures didn't turn out that great because they were behind really thick glass but take my word for it, they were so tiny, fuzzy and cute.

For thanksgiving Alex and I went out to another show and then went to a club that was on top of the Rio.  The views from the top were spectacular and in my opinion, better than from the top the of Eiffel tower at the Paris Hotel.

Celebrating Thanksgiving on top of the Rio at the Voodoo Lounge.

View from the top of the Rio

View in the other direction.

Overall we had a great time in Las Vegas.  The shows were great, the food was fantastic and we didn't loose more than about $20 at the penny slots.  I only have one complaint, Americans are getting fatter and fatter all the time.  Places like Vegas definitely promote obesity, God knows I probably gained 10 pounds while I was there, but.....  Vegas now rents motorized wheelchairs.  Now this is a great thing for the elderly who can't walk the strip or for those with disabilities but these were not the people using them.  They were used primarily by the very obese.  I guess I just find it offensive when they get all righteous and expect everyone to move out of their way so they don't have to wait in line at the buffet.  It would do them so much more good to burn a few calories and actually walk a few feet to get their food.   Anyway, it was nice to be back in somewhat healthy state of Colorado.

View from the plane on the way home.

KA!

We went to the show Ka last night and it was AMAZING!!!!!!  It was not at all what we expected but was even better.  The chairs had speakers in the headrests so it sounded like it was all right around you.  The stage and effects was like nothing I have ever seen before!!!

Alex joked around a lot and called the show "ka ka" before we saw it but it was anything but! This is Alex the morning before the show making fun of the show - Ka Ka....Ha ha ha my husband is soooo funny.

Pre show snack!  Yumm!

Cool entrance at Bellagio.

Me after the show in the atrium at Bellagio.

Cool talking tree in Bellagio Atrium.

Another talking tree and huge pumpkin at Bellagio.

See below for the big post from yesterday.

SIN CITY!!!

Alex and I were both in need of a relaxing vacation.  Since a beach vacation was too expensive and we both love to eat good food we decided to head to Vegas for a week instead.  Our flight was less than $100 and our 4 star hotel was only $60 bucks a night, leaving us money to eat at great restaurants and see some great shows.  Gotta love SIN CITY!!!  (pleases note this is a long post - cost a lot for internet in our room so I am doing just one post until I get home.)

Our flight to Vegas was amazing!  It was a beautiful sunny day and we flew straight over the Rockies and Lake Mead.

View from my seat on the plane.

Cool pic from the plane

Lake Mead from the plane.

The strip as seen from the plane as soon as we landed.

Our main goals in coming to Las Vegas was to eat, sleep and go to fun shows.....and maybe walk around a bit and see the cool casinos.  We started off with a fun snack....   (don't worry, I am not going to detail EVERYTHING that we eat...)

Fancy sliders and sweet potato fries!  YUM!

We arrived in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday we headed to the Bellagio for their AMAZING Sunday morning Champagne brunch! 

Alex got all sorts of fancy fish dishes while I got yummy breakfast foods, it was the perfect buffet for us!

 

OMG!!!  Look at the dessert area, and to think I couldn't even fit it all in the camera!

But don't worry, Alex managed to fit most of the dessert on to his plate and somehow in to his stomach.

Las Vegas seems to be full of people spending money but there is a lot of poverty here as well.  I would not normally post a picture of a homeless person getting busted by the police but this was just so classic Las Vegas and you can't see his face!!!  Even the homeless here are over the top.  This guy was completely drunk and had all of this life belongings with him, a bag of clothes and a microwave and he was sleeping in side of the Bellagio.  I bet a lot of the homeless in Fort Collins would kill for a microwave!

 He is sitting on his microwave.  I just wonder where he plugs it in?

We have been able to get tickets for half price to some great shows!!! Here a few that we have gotten to see:

And of course we went to the Bodies in motion exhibit where we "saw dead people".  Alex was so excited and we spent over 4 hours looking at the amazing exhibit!

We also went to the Blue Man Group show and our seats were in the front row dead center.  It was amazing!!!  Alex and I got totally covered in Banana goo and they did this thing with toilet paper so at the end of the show it all ended up in the front on top of us.  It was a blast!!!

Us after the show.  Alex had to take off his dress shirt because it was all covered in Bananas.

Us at the end of Blue Man Group covered in TP and Banana Goo.

Some of the new construction on the strip, amazing architecture!

 

MGM Lion

 What a pretty kitty!!!

We had a lot of fun watching the lions play with their toys, I haven't ever seen such active Lions so close before, it was great!

View from our dinner table last night.  We ate a restaurant in the Venetian. 

Me in front of New-York, New York Hotel.

They have some really fun stores here!  I loved the M&M store that had 4 floors of nothing but M&M stuff but Alex loved the Coke store.  Here he is with the Coke bottle of his dream!

With a diet coke this size maybe he would really only need one a day. : )

Ok, so we do need to eat some fruit and veggies... so we had some fried bananas and raspberries covered with caramel sauce with a scoop of coconut/pineapple ice cream.  Oh the gluttony!!!!

And of course, a trip to Las Vegas wouldn't be complete without a little bit of gambling.  Since neither of us are big gamblers, we stick to penny slots.  Last time we were in Vegas (2006) the penny slots were always hard to find and they were usually hidden in the back.  But now with the bad economy, they are everywhere and are up front and great!  I think we have probably lost about 3 dollars but Alex won 5 bucks yesterday, which is a lot on penny slots!

Alex at the Venetian playing penny slots.

Well we are off to a show and dinner in about 20 minutes so I better go get ready!