A Walk on the Beach

As all residents of Washington know, when it's not rainy (sunny, partly cloudy, whatever) you get out and do something outside!  Today we did just that...and it was even mostly sunny!  We headed down to the Mukilteo Ferry Beach, which has recently been changed into a very nice hangout spot with a park for kids, fire pits and benches by the water.  Coda was in heaven!  Lots of new smells, many new dogs to sniff and make friends with, and some interesting water that moved (the waves that is).  As much as we tried to throw sticks into the water to lure him in, he still won't go past his little paws in the water...darn!  We had an awesome time talking to many strangers about Coda's breed, and running around with all the other doggies.  Next trip to the beach though must include some ice cream from Woody's...a warmer day would be great for that!

Mommy and Coda at the Mukilteo Ferry Beach

Daddy and Coda right around sunset time at the beach

Robe Canyon Hike

The sun was shining and the sky was blue, and we were not about to pass up a day like this in Washington!  We loaded up Coda in our Highlander and headed out for the afternoon.  We tried out a new harness for Coda in the back of our car and he was still unsure about it, so he didn't know how to fall asleep.

Coda trying to sleep standing up in his new harness (he's still growing into it)

We decided to go on a hike in Robe Canyon Historic Park, which is just East of Granite Falls.  This historic park has a lot of history from the mining and railroad era.  We went on Lime Kiln trail which has a lot of neat artifacts along the trail. 

Me with Coda and Lindsey with Roxy and Riley in a big Lime Kiln off the trail

Even though it was sunny out without a cloud in the sky, the hike is in a thick foresty area so it was a bit chilly.  Luckily we were prepared for the cooler weather and were perfect! 

We thought it would be fun to bring along some friends, so we hiked with our friends who have dogs, Nick and Lindsey and their two puggles Riley and Roxy.  The dogs had a great time together sniffing the plants and trying to lead the pack.  So much fun in fact, that Coda was weezing from pulling so hard on the leash.  That puppy will learn eventually that it's okay not to always be in the front of the pack :)  Like I always say, he secretly thinks he is a husky!

 Lindsey with Riley, Jason with Coda, and Nick with Roxy

What good little hikers they are!

The end of the trail was at part of the Stillaguamish River.  We enjoyed a nice lunch, a walk around all the rocks and some picture perfect moments!

 Coda having a little lunch

Our little hiking family

Me and Coda checking out how cold the water is (it was COLD!)

Jason and Coda

The dogs didn't seem the least bit tired on our way out of the canyon.  They were energized and ready to go!  It was a great hike with great friends and fun little doggies!!

Our puppy is getting so big!

A Valentine's Double Date!

Valentine's Day is one of those days that Jason and I have just kind of passed on by because we don't feel we need to make a big deal out of going on a date when we go out on a date every Friday night.  I think the last time we went out for Valentine's Day was our first Valentine's Day in WA after we got married. 

This year I was trying to think of something different we could do and I came up with the idea of going on a double date with our friends Nick and Lindsey.  We decided to go to The Melting Pot because it's a great place to share a bunch of food and have good conversation.  Lindsey and I also wanted a place where we could get all dressed up!  We made our reservations exactly one month in advance (we were on top of things this year) and thought 8 pm would be a romantic time for dinner.  For never eating there before, I had no idea how long it would take.  We literally were there for 3 hours...but they were definitely 3 very fun hours of eating, drinking, and great conversation!

Jason, me, Lindsey and Nick at The Melting Pot in Seattle

Me and Jason

Nick and Lindsey

Cheers to a special date!!!

Enjoying our main course of meat fondue...yummy!

Lindsey and I got a long stem rose from the restaurant

We truly had a fun time with some great friends!  The food was amazingly delicious (and this comes from a picky eater) and the night was memorable!  Did I mention that the dessert fondue was the best part though?!  I didn't care how full I was by the time that dessert fondue came out!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Battle of the Pets

I told Jason "Man I would sure pay to watch our pets on pay per view!  We need to get our video camera out and start streaming this to YouTube or something!" 

It's just a typical day in our crazy house!!  I will be finished getting ready for work and I will let Coda out of his crate.  Rascal is typically sleeping peacefully on our bed when Coda jumps up on the bed.  It was a different morning (or so I thought).  Coda jumped up on the bed, but instead of standing on top of Rascal right away he laid down on the opposite side of the bed.  A momentous occassion...I had to snap as many pictures as I could and send one on my phone to Jason at work!!  He couldn't miss this picture perfect moment!

Obviously I was right, this picture perfect moment couldn't last forever.  Right after I snapped about 5 pictures of these two calm animals Coda decided to jump on top of Rascal and bite his entire head (I'm NOT exaggerating about eating Rascal's entire head either).  Rascal doesn't put up with it for long before he has an amazing Hulk Hogan takedown and gets Coda in a headlock.  Truly, I think I have the most amazing and strong cat in the world!!

I would call this a TKO (Total Knock Out) for sure!!!!