Corgi city!

We went to Anchorage this week, just a quick trip up and back to run some errands and visit our new puppy.

When we got there, we saw lots of new faces to fall in love with. We are not sure yet who will be our new baby, so we had to meet everybody..of course!

We could not keep them all straight, so the owner explained that there was a colored collar system, and each pup wore a different color. After that, we found it much easier!

So we have it narrowed down to Rainbow, also known as Bitty Boop, (teensy tiny little female tri-colored), Goldy (tri-colored female who loves to cuddle and has a perfect blaze), Blue Boy (red and white boy with fat paws and obvious opinions), Light Bluesy (who is quite cute and also red and white, with white feet), Greenie (red and white boy, with dark eyes who is perfection itself in the cuteness arena) and Red Riding Collar (darling red/white female with a half-crooked white blaze and ears that have not perked yet).

We won't get to bring our baby home yet, as they are too young still. Can't wait for June! I was so sad to leave them there, but the owner was getting ready to truck them all to Fairbanks for the weekend, for a show her older dogs were in.

It was a gorgeous trip, sunny all the way, and we drove it all in one day. Phew.

I Think Our Rabbits Hate Me Now

Unforgiving little rodents. All I did was volunteer their time and patience to a petting zoo where a couple of hundred children could squeeze and hug them and freak them out. Our 4-H group hosted a petting zoo at the Mountain View Elementary Spring Carnival. It was kind of fun seeing all the critters, and the cutie pie kiddos with their snow cones, helium balloons and butterfly painted faces.

Happy Mother's Day (early!)

Last Sunday we headed happily off to Seward, the sight of our traditional Mother's Day destination; Alaska Sealife Center. Yep, we love it. And never get tired of it! I guess the educator in me can't get enough of a place that teaches me something new each time I visit, and the animal lover in me is always a bit giddy about getting so close to such fascinating creatures.

Our favorites?

Woody, the huge bull sea lion who loves to throw his weight around

Kiska, his friend (except at feeding time)

Inki, the resident sea witch aka pink swirling octopus

and all of the shorebirds too! We get a kick out of watching them, and we envy the worker bees who get to walk among them, feed them, and let them perch on their arms while they do their jobs. Those lucky marine biologists! Chena got very interested in someday becoming an intern, when she heard about their program. It would be pretty fun!

The girls were acting extra sneaky, so I pretended not to notice when they came out of the gift store with a bag under their coat..but after we got in the car they excitedly pulled out a special mom's day present bought with their own money- a very cool new coffee mug, decorated (of course!) with a pod of sea mammals on it. I love to collect mugs as souvenirs from places we visit. Anything that ends up with coffee in it is alright by me!

On the way out of town Michael mentioned he had run into some sailors, from the USS John Thomas, a Navy ship docked at Seward. So, we decided to drive by the port to see if we could see it. Sure enough, it loomed in the harbor, dark and grey and actually kind of menacing-looking. Quite impressive! I bugged my poor "yes dear, anything for a photo" man to get closer, so he tried a few roads and found one without a gate and I got a few shots. My favorite part was the brilliant American flag waving proudly on the stern. Maybe its cheesy to say it brought tears to my eyes but hey, whatever. It brought tears to my eyes.

All in all, it was a super Mother's Day celebration. I love a good road trip! I be a road-trippin fool mama! And to top off "my" weekend, I got home from errands to see an old enemy of mine, a layin on the sidewalk panting for breath...as it sighed its last watery leaky sigh. Yep, my DISHWASHER, the one that hated me and secretly loved to leave green guacomole goo on forks, and made puddles for me to get my socks wet each morning...is SOOOOO GONE! I got me a new baby! And its lovely and obedient and quiet, even. And it understands that by definition, a dishWASHER is supposed to wash. So yeah, I pretty much love it.