Belated Birthday Post

With all the excitement of adding Sammy to our family, I didn't even mention that last week, well, June 19 was my birthday! I turned 31 and the day itself was just ok. It was the day before we picked up Sammy. I had to work on my b-day this year, which kind of sucked. Uncas did take me out to lunch with some of my favorite co-workers, which was very fun. I also tried to do as little work as possible :-)

Uncas had given me my birthday present back in April - the GPS for my 1/2 marathon training. So - I really didn't open any presents that day. He did get me a fabulous ice cream cake from Dairy Queen - it was Choco-Cherry Love. So yummy!!!


I shouldn't say that I didn't open any presents on my b-day. My best friend from Seattle sent me a couple of very cute and appropriate gifts.

Dachshund Earrings:

Dachshund cookie cutters:

We did actually do some celebrating on Friday night with our parents. My mom made a cake and I got some gifts from both sets of parents, so that was very fun! Thanks to everyone who sent me cards. I was impressed with all the dachshund cards that are out there!

This weekend we stayed in town. It was pretty relaxing, although watching a new puppy takes up a lot of time. Friday night Uncas played poker and then Saturday morning he went to a shooting range with his friend. I stayed at home and Ella came over to hang out with me and Sammy. We planned our annual "Last Year at the Cabin Weekend" - which is 4th of July weekend. We are going to Shangri-La again and we can't wait.

Saturday afternoon Uncas and I took Sammy to our old neighborhood. We introduced him to our old neighbors and then walked part way around Lake Harriet (about an 1/8 of it.) Today we hung around the house and actually got some things done. Lawn was mowed, blinds were hung in the kitchen, cd's and movies were put away. I am feeling pretty good that we got a few more house things done. Tonight we took Sammy for a walk around the neighborhood. He did incredibly well, once we got him out of the yard. He kept up with us, didn't bite the leash or put up a fight when I put on his harness. We are very proud of him! It's fun to see how far he has come in just one week. And on that note, I am signing off to get ready for the coming week!

Sammy Update

It's been a busy week adjusting our household with the new addition. Sammy seems to like his new home well enough. We haven't let him go upstairs or down to the basement yet, but he doesn't seem very interested in those places either. He doesn't love his kennel, but hopefully he will come around. He has enjoyed meeting the neighbors, and they all seem to think he is pretty fun - especially our 5 year old neighbor Cindy!

Here are a few new pictures:

Mama and Sammy sleeping.

Sammy sleeping while Daddy is on the computer.

Posing sweetly for the camera!

Sammy got a new toy today!

And finally - totally unrelated to Sammy - We had to clean out our gutters last night. Actually Uncas did all the work. Here's why:

Sammy Time!

 

Introducing Sammy Sacnu, the newest member of our family! He is a red, male, smooth dachshund, we think he will be just slightly larger than a mini dachshund when he is full grown. He was born in Superior, WI nine weeks ago and we picked him up on Friday afternoon. He spent the weekend in Duluth meeting both sets of Grandmas and Grandpas because my parents came up to visit Uncas's parents this weekend. He also met his "Auntie Sophie" who is an English Springer Spaniel belonging to Uncas's parents and cousin Bake, a husky belonging to Uncas's sister. We had a fun BBQ on Saturday where Sammy met Uncle Marcos and Auntie Ella and Uncle Andy. Everybody loved him and though he was super cute (cause he is!!!) We drove back from Duluth Sunday afternoon and introduced Sammy to his new house and yard. He loves his dog bed and is sleeping in it as I type this entry.

I have been waiting an awfully long time to get a puppy and the timing was finally right (a house with a big yard helps)! We love him so much and he has been a great puppy so far. He doesn't cry in the car, loves to be held and petted, already has a favorite blanket and responds to his name. You will see many, many pictures and videos in the near future.

Welcome home Sammy!!!

The Countdown is On!!!!

Check back this weekend to see what the countdown is for . . . :-)

15th Annual Nel-Roys Walleye Classic

This weekend our friends Annual Fishing Tournament up at Mille Lacs Lake. Last year was the first time Uncas and I went to it, although we didn't actually part take in the fishing. This year Uncas decided to fish in the tournament. His partner was our friend Matt (who's family co-hosts the actual tournament). Uncas was really excited to fish, especially since he hasn't had a chance to fish since we moved. After a slow start on Friday, we finally made it up to Mille Lacs. Matt and Janis had set up our tent for us, so we didn't have to do that in the dark. The wind was blowing pretty hard that night, and by the morning, it hadn't calmed down too much. I got up with Uncas and helped fix his lunch and off went Matt and him. I went back to bed and basically relaxed and hung out with people while they were finishing. Janis also went fishing for part of the day (you fish with partners and Janis and her sister-in-law split the time with Matt's dad - their father-in-law). Word had it that no one was catching much during the day. The boats started coming back at 3 pm. Here is a picture of Matt and Uncas.

As you can see, they caught 3 fish - which was great. Out of 21 boats, they tied for 6th place. Next year they are hoping to do even better! Here is a picture of their fish.

They contributed their walleye for the appetizers that night. They deep fry fresh walleye - yum!

Here is a picture of the tee-shirt from the tournament.
Here is a picture of all the fishermen.

After the tournament, it's a big bbq and bonfire with plenty of tasty food and drinks. The day was really nice and the wind had died down as the day went on. After dinner we were hanging out by the fire. Cloudy skies starting appearing, but I never believe weather reports, so I figured it would miss us - boy was I wrong. All of the sudden the wind came up and had us all running to the garage. It started pouring and the wind was scary because not only it came up so fast, but it was so strong. We kept checking out our tent, which was sustaining pretty well. Then all of the sudden someone told us that our tent collapsed. Sure enough - it was completely flat! After the storm passed through, we went out and checked it out. One of our poles was completely bent, which caused our tent to collapse! Fortunately everything was pretty much dry, so we brought it into Matt's parents house and ended up crashing on the floor in their living room for the night.

Because they had a full house, we woke up pretty early and actually headed home around 8:30 in the morning. I can't remember the last time Uncas was up by 6:30 both weekend days! It was nice to get home before noon. Of course, the storm also rolled through the Cities, and we had branches down all over our yard and driveway!

It was a great weekend. I know Uncas is excited for next year already. We have a big week and weekend ahead of us! Let's hope it goes by quickly!!!!

And - Happy Father's Day to our Dad's. We are looking forward to seeing you both next weekend and celebrating then!

Long Week

It's been a long and busy week - but I guess what week hasn't been busy for us lately?! I guess I should back up to this weekend. Saturday morning I participated in a MADD 5k walk with my friend Jacqueline and her daughter Carly (see picture of them below)

A couple of years ago they were hit by a drunk driver. Fortunately no one was seriously injured. We had a beautiful morning to walk even though the weather looked a little iffy at first. It was great to see Jacqueline and catch up with her. My "busy" life pales in comparison to hers and she still makes time to have fun!

We ended up having two bbq's this weekend. Saturday night we went to one for our friend's Janis's birthday and then on Sunday we had our old neighbors over to grill out and see our new place. It was so much fun to see our neighbors. They have two adorable kids who are curious and interested in everything. They loved our big backyard and our fun climbing tree to the side of our house. Fortunately the weather held off both days and we spent much of the time outside.

This week finds us gearing up for the annual fishing tournament at Lake Mille Lacs this weekend. Uncas is actually going to fish this year in the tournament. He is pretty excited and his main goal is to not get "skunked". My main goal is to hang out by the big bonfire and eat lots of yummy food! Let's hope for clear skies, or at least no rain!

R.E.M. Concert

Last night we went to an REM show. REM is Uncas's favorite band of all time. It was my first time seeing them. We went with Uncas's sister and her fiance. Don't have much time, but here is a video from the concert. It was actually harder to get good pictures, but the video came out ok.

Squirrel

We had a little friend in our yard today. Have you ever seen an albino squirrel?

 

Happy June!

Yay - June is here already! May just flew by, but I think it helped that we just bought the house and had lots of work to do on it. It's been fun to show it off to our friends and family. Last night we had our friends Matt and Janis over. They saw the house right after we closed and basically we hadn't done a whole lot. They brought us a couple of housewarming gifts. My favorite:



Hopefully in the near future, I will had an actually dachshund. Stay tuned for more details.

Just a couple of other notes. You may have noticed that I stopped talking about my training for the half marathon. That's because I stopped training. I hate to admit defeat or announce that I am a quitter, but quite simply the house work took over training. After a lot of thought (and tears), I decided that I really wanted to focus my time and energies on the new house. We are still planning on going up to Duluth for the weekend, so it should still be fun - I just won't be so tired!

And finally - LET'S GO CUBS! They have the best record in baseball right now! Maybe this is the year?!

Hail Storm - May 31

Haven't posted much this week because we have been busy. Not too busy unpacking, but busy with just life in general. Tuesday this week my half brother from California was in town for work. I hadn't seen him in years and Uncas had never met him. It was so nice to catch up with him.

Wednesday we cleaned out our old apartment. It feels so good to finally just have one place. I was a little sad as we locked the doors for the last time. It was our first house together and we loved the location and our neighbors. But I quickly got over feel sad once we were back in our new home.

Yesterday was the most gorgeous day! We were very excited because we were having friends over to grill out. Just before they were going to come over, the sky turned dark and we had the worst hail storm ever! I couldn't believe it! We took lots of pictures and even a video. There were two rounds of hail. The first is what you would expect and what I have seen before. The second was just crazy! It looked like snow and accumulated like snow too! Our friends did make it over, and when they left later that night, there was still hail in the yard!

Here is our YouTube video debut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqCewDcYGqU

Pictures of storm.