Rainy day

Day 1 in Telluride has proved to rainy so we are just taking it easy and looking around. 

Beautiful View!

Matthew thinks the Gondola is WAY COOL! Notice he is wearing two different shoes.   Sometimes it is just easier to let a two year old have his way then deal with a tantrum. 

Matthew is taking pictures with my iPhone

pretty  mountains

a street in Tulluride

more pretty mountains

Matthew and I in the Gondola

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

Alex, Matthew and I finally are getting a bit of family time together.  Life has been really stressful lately and we took a week off to escape to the mountains for fun and rest.   It a long story but we ended up driving to Telluride all in one day today (8 hours).  Matthew actually did remarkably well and slept most of the time.  We took the less senic route for the beginning part of the drive but it all was a beautiful drive!  Our place is nice but not super fancy - the cost of stuff in this small town is insane.

Lunch at Qudoba in Vail.  

The whole drive was so pretty!

partial view of our condo. 

Out to dinner - Here's to some fun family time!

Alex's appetizer

Blue Columbine I saw on an after dinner walk. 

Yellow Columbine - so pretty

Alex and Matthew check out the stream behind our condo. 

Keep reading - I put up three total posts today. 

More Femi Pictures

Below are some cute pictures I took of Femi when I took her to work with me this past week.  People would fight over getting to take her out to DYB.

Such a cute face!!

What a silly sleeper in her small kennel. 

The next day she passed out asleep before I could get her little vest off.  She is just too cute!

She even sleep the same way at home

Matthew is helping me plant flowers while Femi tries to drain the pool.  

I really enjoyed watching Femi this past week.  It was a good reminder of how much work the little ones are.  We will likely not be getting a new puppy until the fall.  We are going to be to busy till September and we need to find a new co-raiser (Maddie went off to college).   But I'll keep y'all updated on our crazy little petunia's progress at GDB college.  Keep reading, I put several posts up today. 

Petunia is off to College

Guide Dog's needed more puppies for training and Petunia was recalled when there wasn't a puppy truck coming.  So GDB flew her back with a few other dogs.  It was really hard to put her in a kennel and in trust her to some unknown person to see her safely to campus.  We had to be at the Denver airport by 6am, which meant we had to leave by 4:45 - ouch... it was an early morning.  We also took Chico with us.  Below are a few pictures of their send off.  Petunia was one the most challenging dogs we raised but I still loved her a lot and wish her all the best!

Petunia and Chico waiting to get checked in. 

Bye Petutie.... Please be a good girl and don't eat everything.

Petunia is off on her new adventure. 

Ponies

In addition to cows, Matthew also loves horses.  We went to Lee Martinez farm today to let him take a pony ride.  He had the best time and really didn't want to get off the cute little pony.  

Matthew on the little pony Sam. 

Hi Daddy, look at us. 

COWS!

My son just LOVES cows!!!  When he smells manure he yells out COWS!  It really is quite adorable. 

We stopped at a farm one day on the way to visit Daddy at work.  Matthew just stood and stared at all of the cows for the longest time!

"Look mom, COWS!"

"Can I feed them this Mom?"

Day at the Lake

Several weeks ago while my brother was here visiting we spent a morning at Boyd lake Jet skiing with some friends.  My friend Jeff, who refuses to pick up or hold Matthew, spent some time playing with him in the sand.  It was really cute!!

Matthew and Jeff go get water to build sand castles with. 

Playing in the sand is so much fun!

Jeff shoed Matthew how playing in the sand is really done. 

"I just don't know Uncle Chad, I think maybe I'm tired but I just don't know if taking a nap is a good idea."

Guide Dog Cuteness

We received an email last week that GDB wanted Petunia back ASAP.  We were a bit confused as she was not set to go back till the fall.  Apparently during the big Parvo outbreak that they had a year ago they didn't bread any puppies so now they are super shot and want any puppy that is close to recall age back.  Barb told us that there is something in petunia's pedigree that they really want to breed.  I responded with "our petunia?  really?  Do they know what she is like?" In all seriousness though, I will be sad to see her go.  She has been our most challenging puppy that we have raised.  I really think if given enough time she will mature and do great though.   They are flying her to San Rafel and I have to have her at DIA to send her off at 6 am this coming Saturday. 

Cute Petunia paws!

 A rare quite moment.  I will miss her silliness!

Our co-raiser is headed off to college and we are trying to decide if we want to raise another puppy.  I really want to but my husband needs some convincing.  My attempt at convincing him involves an 8 week old puppy named Femi - she is one of Lacy's puppies.  We are watching her for a week while Virgina is on vacation.  Below are some pictures of this cute guide dog puppy. 

Look at that face!! 

Silly puppy!

She absolutely loves water and will drink till she pukes.  Here she is on a tie down and appears to be trying to use the her magical powers to bring the water close enough to drink. 

She is just so cute and fuzzy!

Fun for All!

Alex, Petunia, Matthew and I were all melting in the 100 degree weather and smoke of Fort Collins this past weekend.  So we packed up the car and drove to a mountain lake where it was only 75-80 degrees!  We all had a great time!  

The car is small and was full of kid stuff so we didn't have room for petunia to sit on the floor - lucky dog! She was so excited to get to sit on the seat and snuggle with her best bud. 

On the way up... Matthew and his Petunia. 

What a spoiled lucky Guide Dog Puppy... so illegal to lay on the seat!  Shhh don't tell.

We arrived at the lake and Matthew went running right in - he didn't care at all that it was freezing cold. 

Brainard Lake

I am determined to get a picture in the GDB calendar this year... what do you guys think of this?  I may need to doctor it a bit and make the sky blue.  : )

Matthew continues to be in love with all things rocks.  Future Geologist?

How about this for the calendar if I tweak the sky in photoshop and make it blue?

Petunia got a bit of time off leash to go swimming.  She had a great time!

After changing into dry warm clothes we went for a hike.  Matthew was so proud of himself that he could walk along side of us on the hiking trail.  He loved picking up and throwing rocks.  

Wildflowers were everywhere!  

Matthew and his Papa.... headed up to another lake.

He walked about 1/2 mile before asking for his "binky" and the backpack...  phew... swimming and hiking is exhausting!

Lake Michelle

Petunia at Lake michelle. 

Alex, Matthew and Petunia when swimming in the absolutely FREEZING cold lake.  My husband is gonna hate me for posting a picture of him in his undies but really.... it is it really any different than his swim trunks?

Petunia finally actually swam... what a big girl!

Just to prove that I was actually there... Alex took a picture of me and matthew ont he way back down. 

Petunia, Matthew and I headed back down.