Monday, March 23, 2009

Phone Pictures

Obviously I'm a little bored at school today, so I decided to upload some of the pictures from my phone onto my computer. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to run and grab the camera to capture those naturally cute moments. Luckily I usually have my phone close by! These aren't neccesarily recent...

Lemon's first trip to Lowes:




Lemon sweetly resting her head on Hilga's foot, right before she bites it:


Our snuggly Hilga getting loved on by Chris:



All three (I love it when Lemon curls up against their stomachs and between their legs):



Half in, half out, too tired to care:





Snoozing back to back:

My First Unchie Munchie Day

The Coopers had a tradition while Chris and Danielle were growing up to have an Unchie Munchie day once a year. Everyone would take a sick day, each family member would pick an activity, and the whole family would spend the day together. Some of the past activities I've heard about were tasting each of the 31 flavors at Baskin Robins, having a picnic, planting flowers, getting a massage, and the list goes on.

Anyways, over Spring Break, I got to experience my first Cooper Unchie Munchie day. Chris took the day off work on Friday and we headed down to the lake Thursday night to meet up with Jim, Rita and Danielle.

We spend a good part of the day down at Bagnell Dam before heading back to the lake house. Activities were: Rita--Old Time Photos, Kelli--Haunted House, Jim--best burgers ever, Danielle--arcade, Chris--hike with dogs (luckily he decided not to go with the polar bear plunge, although we were all ready for it!).
The Haunted Hotel...surprisingly spooky for being the middle of the day:



Skee ball at the arcade:

Random Lake Attraction that we walked by/very big tree:


Hiking with the pups:



The whole gang (7 total, a little crazy perhaps, but keeps us on our toes!):

Grooming!

Lemon got up on the grooming table for the first time last week. Things have been crazy with school for a while, so I as thankful for a day over spring break to give the dogs a bath and groom them. There is nothing Jackson and Hilga love more than being up on the table and getting some one on one attention. Hopefully Lemon learns to feel the same way about it (since she'll probably be spending a lot of time there!). I groomed Jack and Hilga, then put Lemon up for just a few minutes, combed her a little and gave her lots of treats. She did great! Now we've just got to get her convinced that trimming feet and nails is as much fun!



Sunday, March 15, 2009

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Lemon's First Bath

No one is happy about this bath... (Chris thought I should maybe put down the camera and be more involved with the holding, scrubbing and rinsing rather than the documenting of the moment). But, she was clean and fluffy when it was all over and done with.












Making Progress...

Once again, it has been a while since the last post, so lots of new pictures. Lemon went to the vet on Thursday and weighed 18lbs, doubled in weight since we brought her home. Just this weekend she seems to FINALLY be getting potty training. I think part of it is that she has learned to walk down the two steps to the backyard, so instead of getting carried to the potty spot, she walks herself. It seems to have made it kick in to her brain where the potty spot actually is, and she is going to the door now when she has to potty! Pictures...



Lemon with her Papa:



Helping Papa with the laundry room trim:



How cute is this?



Beautiful boy:



Everyone hanging out in the yard:



Hilga's classic pose:


Jackson hanging out with Uncle Spencer:


Lemon snuggling up with Jackson:



Puppy play:



The best natural pose ever, I only wish I could have gotten closer before she moved!



Lemon:

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Best Buddies

I haven't posted my pictures in a while, so some of these are from last week and some are from this week. It is amazing how big Lemon is already, and she'll only be 10 weeks tomorrow. It is fun watching her and Jackson learn to play together, and we're so happy for Jackson that he finally has a playmate. Hilga has finally learned to tell Lemon to get off when Lemon is darting between her legs and biting her. It is the sweetest thing. Hilga opens her mouth really wide and gently places it on the back of Lemon's head with an agitated notise (not even a growl). For the most part it works. So, I am happy they have found a way to peacefully sort things out! Pictures...



Last week Lemon went to visit my dad at the office. She met A LOT of new people and had a great time running around and getting into trouble.





Laying sweetly with Hilga for the time being:



Cuddled up with Jackson:









Jack and Lemon enjoying the beautiful day:


















Monday, March 2, 2009

Lemon's First Big Snow





Weekend of Firsts

Chris and I headed down to his parent's lake house this weekend with Jack, Hilga and Lemon. Jim and Rita weren't able to go, so it was just us and the dogs at the house. It was Lemon's first trip to the lake. All in all she had a great weekend. For a puppy it is a really exciting and stimulating environment. Lots of new sniffs, the actual lake, lots of tools around the house that are new and different, etc... I am so mad at myself because I forgot our camera, but hopefully we'll get some pictures from Jeff in the next few days that I'll post.

On Saturday, Chris and I went to Preston (about 40 mintues from the lake house) to visit my grandparents. Chris's uncle and aunt, Jeff and Diane, live down the road and Jeff watched Lemon for us while we were gone. Jeff and Diane have a house full of goldens, and they are the perfect pack to socialize a puppy in. It is important for Lemon to learn that she can't be as abrasive with all dogs as Jackson and Hilga allow her to be, and this was a great opportunity for her to be put in her place and given limits in a safe environment. Jackson also spent a lot of time with the goldens as a puppy, and I think it was really good for him, although he proved to be very resilient to any 'lessons' regarding being abrasive. So anyways, it was Lemon's first golden experience!

It started snowing about the time Chris and I left for my grandparents, and by the time we got back about 4 hours later, the snow had really started accumulating. When we left the main road to head towards the lake house, I was terrified. These days, I can be a little tense in the car anyway, but when the anti-lock brakes kick in and we hardly have any control of the truck, I freak out! I was just glad the dogs weren't in the car. Somehow we made it back to Jeff's house to pick up Lemon and went in and talked for a few minutes. It continued to snow. Jeff lives at the bottom of a long, very steep hill that we have to go up to get back to our lake house. The truck would not make it up! We ended up having to leave the truck at Jeff's house, grab Lemon, her crate and our coats and hike back home.

Jackson and Hilga (who were left at our lake house) were so excited to see us coming down the hill. Jackson was jumping at the door and...knocked the dead bolt into the lock position (we learned our lesson about carrying a key with us!). Chris and I just kind of looked at each other in disbelief. We started checking windows and amazingly (we couldn't believe this), one was actually open. So, we were able to get into the house after only about 20 minutes of panic. In the meantime a huge chunk of snow fell out of a tree and landed on Chris's head. I had to giggle.

So, Lemon got to enjoy her first snow. And it was a real deal first snow. We must have gotten 6 inches. She loved it! We had a hard time getting her to come inside. It ended up being a beautiful day, and it was kind of fun being snowed in for the day. It was my first time getting snowed in somewhere! We ended up making it out of the neighborhood Saturday night in Jeff's big car to go to dinner, and Lemon slept peacefully in her crate for almost 3 hours while we were gone!

The snow brought out an interesting side to Hilga. Our perfect, velco dog lost her invisible leash yesterday, another first. I was so shocked the first time she flipped me the bird that I wondered whether she was starting to lose her hearing. With me calling her name, she trotted away from me and down the ravine over to the neighbors at the lake house. Of course, once I started after her she came right back, but she ignored the recall. Then, we were all out playing in the back and she ignored me again. When we got home from the lake, everyone jumped out of the car and we were all walking inside and I looked around to do my three-count and only had two. Hilga was actually across the road in our neighborhood which is just unheard of. It isn't a busy road, but even Jackson knows you don't cross the road. In the two years we've lived in our house, this is the first time one of the dogs has gotten that far away from us off-leash in our neighborhood. We always make the trip from the car to the house off-leash, and I was shocked that it was Hilga who pushed that boundary. For now I'm hoping she was just having an off day (a snow day if you will), but I will certainly be paying close attention to her for a while.

We took Jack and Lemon down to the water before we left and she got her toes in without really even noticing she was in the water. Lemon's first water experience! Jack waded in up to his knees, but I'm sure the water was pretty cold so he didn't go much further. Hopefully Lemon likes the water like Jack but is a better swimmer!

Sunday we walked down to Jeff's to pick up the truck (all 6 inches of snow were almost gone by Sunday afternoon) and took Lemon with us to hopefully tire her out before the ride back to Olathe. She walked great on her little leash. When we got close to Jeff's, all the golden's came running to the fence barking and her eyes got wide and she turned right back around and started up the hill the way we'd come. It was pretty funny, especially since a few minutes later, after she realized they weren't going to trample her, she was right up at the fence barking at them.

So anyways, that was a really long post without even a single picture! But, it was a really fun weekend and an exciting puppy weekend. I'll try and post some pictures later on!