Claire gets a New Kitty

So, the boys are goose hunting and admittedly, Claire and I took advantage of the situation and got a new kitty!!!  About a month ago one of our outdoor cats disappeared and has not returned.  Tracker, our older garage kitty, is a little lonely so, we thought we should get him a buddy.  Claire has never had a kitten and it has been about 15 years since I brought my last kitten home so we thought it would be fun!  It definitely is!!!!  Claire has named her Asia Moon, but we mostly call her Boobie Kitty!!  She has been spending some time in the house, but is happy to go back to the garage and doesn't hang around the door to come back in the house at all, which is very, very good.

She is soooo sweet when she sleeps.

Greyhounds have a Party

WE WANT TO COME TO THE DOG PARTY!!!

On September 13th, Claire and I saw the boys off on their way to MB for goose hunting and we got in the car and headed to the Chinook Winds Greyhound Foundation Edmonton Annual picnic. We had about 80 dogs registered and about 130 of their people attending with them.  I took Sidney and Seymour(they spend most of the afternoon in their xpen in the field) and Chester, who spent some time on leash and some time chilling out in the van.

Chester enjoying the sun during the auction.

Everyone had a great time.  Claire was in charge of kid's games and she also got to work our bidding card during the auction.  She made a new friend named Hannah and had a fun afternoon.  

Claire and her new BFF, Hannah

There was a bag auction (buy tickets and put them in the bag for the item you want to win) and a live auction.  There were kid's activities and also a Weiner bobbing game for the doggies. Chester took 2nd place only to be beaten by Bubba the weiner scarfing champion!!!  We also had a burger/hotdog BBQ so, that was good too!  

This little girl was feeding Chester sunflower seeds off a sunflower. 

 He was happy to help her pick them!

Bobbing for Weinies!

Everyone taking in the live auction

The field where everyone hung out for the day.

  Sidney and Seymour are out there somewhere in their cozy pen!

My favorite purchase from the live auction.

My greyhound friend, Vanessa, made this stuffed guy and I just love him and 

that he came with his own stuffed kong to play with!

Party

Curtis has decided that he would like to be more social.  So, we planned a party for the people that he works with and their families.  We were supposed to have about 30 people, but I think ended up closer to 20.  I had enough food to feed about 50 (sigh).  Now I know that it is quite easy to plan and deal with so, will definitely be doing it again next year.  I think that the next party will be all the greyhound people here on the US Thanksgiving weekend.  

Rachel, London and Claire playing in the yard.

Rachel, Claire, London and another friend.

Horse shoe Tournament

Happy party host.

Goose Hunting in Manitoba

Claire and I have had a very relaxing week here in Alberta while the boys are at Bill and Donna's goose hunting with Uncle Bob.  Here are the official pics from the last 4 days of hunting.  

The Hap Happiest Time of the Year!!!

Today was the 1st day back to School!!!!!  The kid's and I were both very excited to see them on their way this bright, if somewhat chilly, morning.  I followed them to the school a few minutes later to make sure there were no hiccups and found out that Claire is in Mr. Dunn's room and Daniel is in Mrs. Basktel's room.  Claire is with her BFF, Shae, and Daniel is with his, Hyrum. They were both really ready to go back and super excited, which was great to see.

Claire ready to head for the bus. 

Daniel looking super cool.  He used mouthwash for the 1st time this am.  

Now thinks his Dad is "crazy for using that stuff everyday"!

Note the change in Claire's tude with closer proximity to Daniel?

In case you are wondering what is in those super stuffed backpacks!

You can't see because I am taking the pic, but I am doing the happy dance!

August Trip to the cabin

August was VERY  HOT here and we were a little afraid to go to the cabin with the doggies.  They just don't do well in extreme temps of 30+ degrees.  We also had swimming lessons for two back to back weeks.  Both kids passed, btw, and Claire is now in swimmers 4 and Daniel is in swimmers 5.  We did go to the lake for one weekend when we only had 4 dogs so much less work than the maximum 8 that I had when the kiddies were in MB.  The kids got to tube again.  Pay close attention to the tubing pics, they are a little funny!

It was very choppy this tubing day and we don't usually manage

to dump the kids out of the big tube, but....

NO DANIEL!!  He is in the drink!  After we picked him up and

the did a few more laps,

It was time to swim a bit.  They now love to jump off the boat and hang out in the water.

Salamander

One morning the kids and I were rushing out the door for swimming lessons and Claire almost committed murder!!!  She almost squished this little guy as he made an attempt to cross our sidewalk.  We checked him out and then set him free to carry on his way.  Pretty cool.  The kids have never seen one before and I have not seen a Sally since I was a kid.