Life with Pippa

Here is a blog entry by a special guest blogger, Ashlynn.  She chose the photos and wrote the text (I typed it and helped with spelling because the red misspelling squiggles would drive her nuts).  Enjoy!

We got Pippa!  She is a tri-colored Cavalier.  I like Pippa very much.

Pippa's routine is kind of like a baby's routine because she plays, eats, sleeps, wakes up and goes potty. 

Pippa is a lap dog.  She is fun to have on my lap.  She likes to turn over on her back when she is on my lap.

 Pippa is a cuddle bug.

She likes to be outside and she likes to chase squeaker balls.  This is me squeaking the ball before I throw it.

 She likes to chew on sticks.

At night Pippa sleeps in her crate.  Last night Pippa went into her crate all by herself for bed.

 Pippa likes to play with water bottles.  She likes the noise it makes when she crunches it. 

Pippa kind of looks like a horse trit-trotting.

 Aww!  She is so cute

May I introduce Beau.  Beau is Nana and Papa's dog.  He is also Pippa's brother.  He is a black and tan, and he comes to our house a couple days a week to play.

 They chase and wrestle with each other a lot.

 They look vicious but they really don't hurt each other.

 They wear each other out and then go to sleep.

 This is Beau chewing a stick.

Pippa loves giving kisses.

 This is me, Beau and Pippa on St. Patrick's Day.  Look!  They are doing their fighting thing.

 Their faces are so sweet.

 Today Pippa took cotton out of one of her toys that had a little hole in it.

 Pippa likes getting on top of us when we lay down.

 She even pulled on my braid when I laid down.  That was funny. 

 I liked reading a book with Pippa on my lap.

I love Pippa!

In Our Future: Braces

Ashlynn has 2 bottom front teeth that have been loose for quite a while.  We're talking at least a month and a half.  A few weeks back I looked in her mouth more carefully and noticed that her adult teeth are coming in behind the baby ones.  I've heard of this happening, so I didn't freak out, especially because the baby teeth are loose and are on their way out. 

Eric and I both had braces (although I had a waaaay more "exciting" orthodontic experience that included 5 years of braces, many teeth removed by oral surgeons, and major jaw surgery.  Woot!  Woot!  I get the prize.), so we were pretty much expecting that our kids will also need orthodontic work. 

When our kids' teeth came in I wasn't surprised that their mouths were crowded with teeth, so I could only assume that bigger adult teeth will have a pretty hard time fitting in such a small space.

The first adult tooth that popped up in Ashlynn's mouth looked pretty straight.  Somehow, I felt hopeful.

The second tooth poked through and I saw what I expected...it is crooked. 

 Even with crooked teeth, she is still beautiful!

Mayflower Auction 2012

On Saturday we arrived home from the airport a little after 4pm, spent some time with our kids and puppy, and went out for the evening to attend Ashlynn's school's PTA auction.  It was held at the Dalcorp auto museum in Monrovia, which is a fun place for an event.

 Our friend, Gretchen was on the auction committee again.  This year she carried a clipboard that said "Auction Master" (well, technically it was the master copy of the auction info, but it looked impressive).  We were so proud.  ; )

 Here's another one of our friends, Jeanine, and the raffle table she was in charge of decorating.

 Dessert!

 One of our class's baskets

The Astis

The Lees

The Andersons

The Kaufmanns

 They had a donation board where you could donate an amount from $1 to $100.  My big spender husband went with the $1.  (For the record: We donated more than that.)

It was a fun evening!  (And we totally crashed after those busy few days.)

Our 10th Anniversary

Last Wednesday Eric and I flew north for a 10th anniversary get-away to the Napa area.  (Special thanks to my parents for taking care of the kids and puppy.)

We flew out of Long Beach, which is an interesting experience in 2012.  Yep, at the Long Beach Airport you still walk out on the tarmac and climb stairs to board the airplane.

We arrived late to our B & B in Yountville but awoke to a beautiful day that started out cloudy but cleared by midday.  After breakfast (check out the cute breakfast room... so very Pottery Barn!), we walked around Yountville.

 We ate breakfast by the fire.  What a treat!

 Isn't Yountville charming?  I love random artwork around a town.

 

 Here's the garden for the restaurant French Laundry that is in Yountville:

And here is French Laundry across the street

 Even the gas station is charming

 Just a house around town

 We then left town to check out some wineries.  The first one we visited is owned by Francis Ford Coppola.  We drink some wine but are by no means "wine people".  Fortunately it was a slow Thursday so we hung out in the nearly empty wine bar (we opted out of taking the $50 a person tour and tasting... yikes!) and chatted with one of the employees who explained things to us.

The Tucker car from Coppola's Tucker movie.

 Entrance to the wine bar

 We picked up lunch from Dean and Deluca.  I didn't buy any candy, but look at this beautiful display.

Our second, and final, winery of the trip was the Stirling.  We chose it because it included a cool ride up to the winery on the hilltop.

 Beautiful views!

 Before dinner we strolled around Yountville again.  Such beautiful flowers!

 For dinner we ate at Bouchon Bistro, also owned by Thomas Keller, the owner of French Laundry.

 I had the leg of lamb and Eric had a rib eye that was a special for the evening.  For being the little brother of what has been called the best restaurant in the country, we weren't super impressed.  It was good, but not as good as we had expected.

 On Friday, our anniversary, we drove up to Saint Helena, which is a very pretty town.  We did a little bit of shopping so we had something to bring home to our family.

 Then we took a drive to Healdsburg for lunch and to meet Pippa's breeder, Shelley.  It was a beautiful drive!

 For our anniversary dinner we ate at Tra Vigne, per my cousin David's suggestion.  It was a lovely dinner.

 We tried the house-made mozzarella for our starter.  Apparently it is made to order.  Delish.

 Look!  Eric ate CHEESE!  (He does love me.)

 Eric ate their short ribs, and I got the pappardelle with rabbit ragu (both are house specials).

On Saturday we headed home.  We met my cousin, David, and his wife, Margaret, for brunch in Oakland.  We arrived early to the restaurant and ended up driving through the neighborhood.  We found a public rose garden and decided to explore.  Since it was a rainy morning we ended up being the only two people in the garden.  I bet the garden is beautiful when the roses are in bloom!

 It was a lovely get-away.  I'm so glad we got to celebrate this special anniversary in such a nice way!