Kinney Family Vacation

The Kinney's escaped the Arizona heat and arrived in Portland on Saturday morning (7/28/12) to begin their summer road trip. We accomplished quite a bit in the 3 days they were here. Some of the highlights were Ocean Side Beach and Evergreen Museum. We also went to downtown Portland to eat at the food carts, visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory and several visits to local eateries.

Ocean Side Beach

The Kinney Fam

Uncle Matt teaching Max how to play in the sand

Auntie Kristi being silly!

Max didn't want to let this airplane go

Space Museum

Outdoor playground

Big Kid

Beautiful day in Oregon

Biplane ride, probably Max's favorite event of the trip!

Happy Birthday Trudy!!

Yesterday Trudy celebrated her 12th birthday! What a wonderful day it was! Hubby and I were not naive to the fact that she easily might not have made it to this milestone after the rough 5 months she has had. We are so grateful and looking forward to lucky number 13 with our sweet, old girl!

Frosty Paws doggie ice cream for the birthday girl

That's quite the curl!

P.S. Happy Birthday Alana Banana!

The X-Files (1993-2002)

Back when Trudy originally hurt herself, she needed constant contact and attention, so I was desperate for something I could do without using my hands or getting up off the couch much. That left television for the most part, so I popped in season 1 of X-files which lead to 2 and 3 and so on until just last week I finished season 9. My overall feeling a week later is that I am glad I survived it. :-)

It was fun to take the adventure all over again and watching all the episodes in order really made the mythology arc of the show make so much more sense. However, the writers/creator of the show changed the characters and scripts so much the final two seasons that it was almost unrecognizable. I am glad I experienced the X-Files again (this time older and wiser) but I cannot imagine doing it again anytime soon. Maybe in another 10 years.

 P.S. Trudy is feeling much better today!

Jinx

I think I jinxed us by posting about Trudy yesterday. She had an episode this morning. It seems to be under control with medication, a heating pad, and being kenneled but I should have known better than publicly declare a victory. It isn't nearly as bad as in the past, so hopefully some rest and downtime will do her good. :)

Trudy: Update

I just realized that I haven't updated regarding Trudy in awhile. As you will remember, our story with Trudy began back at the beginning of March when she hurt her back. Here we are 4 months and two weeks later and she is doing remarkably well. Trudy is currently on a single daily medication, the doggie version of ibuprofen. The doc is concerned with the long term effects of being on it every day but Hubby and I are in agreement that if it makes her quality of life better in the short term than it is a chance we are willing to take. She hasn't had any episodes since being on this medication and we are pleased that she is as close to normal as we could expect. Our lifestyle has changed but we seem to have the hang of it now: carrying her down the stairs, blocking the furniture so she can't climb on it when we are gone, and not letting her jump off the couch when we are home. She also has grown accustomed to these changes, knows the routine and waits for us. 

Here is to hoping we have a few more years with our old girl!

Family Vacation: Sea Side

It has been quite warm in Oregon, getting into the 80s and 90s and no air conditioning, so to escape the heat we opted for the beach. This time we traveled even further north to Sea Side. We decided to take the dogs with us since they had never seen the ocean. So adorable!

Lily liked the people more than the water

Trudy didn't like the people or the water

Simply stunning!

Jackie in the ocean

And yes, Yoda came too

Sweet Lily

Family Vacation: Oregon Zoo

I just realized that it has been quite some time since my last update. Life has been busy and my mother-in-law has been in town for the past week and a half. Between showing her the sights, working at the museum, and keeping up on chores, I have been a busy little bee.

On the 4th of July the three of us took a jaunt over to the Oregon Zoo. What a lovely place! So much to see! Surprisingly, some of the animals were indoors because it was too hot. 75 degrees. :-)

Jackie (AKA mother-in-law)

Yoda came too

Piper Photoshoot

Piper has really been enjoying the sunshine the past few days so while she looked so adorable I snapped a few photos (and when I say a few photos, I mean dozens, my sis calls me the Kitty Paparazzi). It isn't very often she is so sweet and loving, so I take the moments when I get them.

I thought these were especially precious because she is sleeping on Lily's bone

Garden Success

I had the opportunity to work in the garden again this week so I decided to check on the status of my vegetables. After only 45 days I have success! I anticipate it will still be another month before harvesting but if everything grows I will have more food than we can eat. The lettuce and cilantro are also growing well but the cucumbers and tomatoes haven't made an appearance yet.

Broccoli 

Red Bell Pepper

Zucchini 

The Mighty Huntress

There are a million reasons why I think my husband is the best husband in the world. He added another reason to the list yesterday when we discovered that Lily had caught her first squirrel. I don't know the details, nor do I want to know, but what I can tell you is that Hubby took care of everything and saved me from the gruesome task of "the aftermath".

I will be honest and say that I can't look Lily in the eye for the time being and every time I hear a squirrel chitter in the trees I imagine it is calling out for its lost mate.

Garden: Update

All the folks at the museum told me that I would have no problem growing a garden, in fact they were right, the problem is keeping things from growing. I have to weed every week or two and bugs are taking a toll on my broccoli and lettuce but everything is growing quickly!

Before (beginning of May)

Now (middle of June)

A natural way to deter insects from tomato plants is to plant Marigolds around it. Who knew?

Silly Schnauzers (and Cat)

I know all my friends and family in Arizona will tell me shut up when I say that it has been in the 70s here in Oregon but the "kids" are really loving the sunshine and nice weather. :)

Trudy never sunbathed in Tucson but loves it here

Lily has taken a liking to waiting on the deck for the squirrels

There is a skylight in the master bedroom and Piper found the one afternoon beam of light

All stretched out on the couch in front of the living room window

Hudson Vacation: Final Day

The final day of the Hudson vacation ended up being the best! We decided to drive about two hours west towards Tillamook. On the way we stopped by the Tillamook Forest Center:

Honest to goodness, the Tillamook National Forest makes the rest of Oregon look like it is underachieving. I have never seen such beauty in all my life!

We also stopped by the Tillamook Cheese Factory:

Big disappointment, the factory was mostly closed but packed with visitors. We didn't stay long but we plan to go back on a non-holiday.

Finally we decided to eat lunch at the beach:

View from restaurant in Oceanside, Oregon

The Oregon beaches are so different from California

Uncle Matt decided to walk out into the ocean...

and Liam tried to follow.

Mom and Dad joined in too...

but not Auntie Kristi!

We thought for sure those were the rocks from Goonies, but we were wrong. They are further north in Astoria, Oregon. Maybe we can go on the next trip. Thanks Hudsons for a great visit!!