Is this becoming the puppy blog?

The Colonel thinks so.
The Mrs just finished Summer School, so there will be more time for posting.
She's heading out on some adventures on her own though while the Colonel studies.

Here are some pictures of Hazel taken today. Also, there are some new albums on the picasa site here.

Introducing...

Hazel!

Checking out her big sister (from last year's litter)
We hope to have many moments like this:

She is very active though and likes to explore.
Yesterday we officially picked her
and marked her with purple nail polish,
which made her start sneezing - very cute.
When we went to leave, she bounded across the yard after us,
and when she went back into the fenced kennel, she laid down
facing us and watched us leave. So I think she likes us.
We'll get her in 2 more weeks and are trying
to take advantage of sleep and downtime now!

I've got some puppy videos that I am working on putting up here.
Look for them soon hopefully.

The puppies are 4 weeks old

This week I am checking in on the puppies each day, which has been really fun.

Maybe our little girl...

Lots more pictures here.

Lillies

First time in bloom!

The Puppies are 3 Weeks old

We went to see the puppies again today. It helps to put the memory card in the camera when you go to see them. (unlike last week)
The first time we saw them they were 1 day old and kinda pink and fleshy. When we saw them last week their eyes had just opened and they were walking around. They actually started walking around BEFORE their eyes opened! We missed that though.
So yesterday they were 3 weeks old. They are very soft and cuddly - except for their little claws that are really sharp.






We have kind of picked one out, based only on the fact that it is a girl and she is darker than the others. We are told that their personalities will be coming out more in the next couple weeks - which is great because we are going to help take care of them June 18-23 and will have lots of time to interact with them.








In the picture below, you can see that the 2 in the left corner are a darker color. That's what we are looking at. The others are almost white. There is one big male that's darker and the female is in the next couple pictures.

Last week she was crying a lot, but this week she slept in my lap for a long time and wasn't making as much noise as some of them were. They have learned how to bark, which is really funny (although I'm sure it's not funny when you live there and want to sleep!)
They have also started to bite at each other a little bit playfully. One of them had its mouth all the way over another one's head at one point.









It was hard to leave and hard to stop taking pictures...so if you want to see more, click here.

I have never seen the entire Bruce Almighty movie. I have heard mixed reviews. With a movie like that, a sequel usually is not a good thing. However, the first reason that I will go see Evan Almighty is Steve Carrell. I love The Office and everything I have seen him in so far. But, Evan Almighty was also filmed in Crozet, just outside of Charlottesville. (the director went to UVa) Last June, when we were coming back from our 1 year anniversary trip, we stopped in to the "set." The filming was pretty much over at this point, but the massive ark was still there:





























You can't really tell how big it is in these pictures. In this one, there are about 8 bales of hay stacked up under the ramp. Maybe that helps to put it into perspective a little bit.










This house is also a main part of the set.








I heard people talk about going out there and seeing giraffes and all kinds of animals, but I never got myself together enough to go out and see all that. The previews for the movie are showing now, and it's cool just to see the ark and know that we were there. Also, it's a beautiful area with scenic mountains, so when there are shots of the landscape it looks familiar. The Young Life Golf Tournament took place a few weeks ago at the Old Trail Golf Course, which is in the neighborhood where the movie was shot. There are some pictures that show the scenery here. So, we'll see how the movie is...

The 5k

Our Memorial Day weekend started with a little high school soccer before heading out of C-ville for Richmond. We stayed overnight with Mom and Dad Saunders and got up (for the second Saturday in a row) very early - before 7 this week. We got to Innsbrook, where the 5k for Autism was held, around 7:30. There were quite a few more people than at the West Haven run! There were close to 1000 participants (men, women, children, and some dogs). We picked up our bags, pinned our numbers on, and headed to the Start line.
Since there were so many people, and we know we are not competitive runners, we started moving toward the middle of the pack. This was as the announcer was saying that if you couldn't run a 5 minute mile, you should move back! We obviously kept moving. There were lots of strollers behind us and one of the most ridiculous things we have ever seen. First, there was a woman with her dog in a stroller. But, to top that, another lady had her dog in what looked like a Baby Bjorn. This and this don't even show the absurdity of it. The dog was facing out, its back legs were sticking out of the bottom, and its front legs were hanging in front of it. It looked like it was wearing a diaper. I digress...
So, we were able to keep up a steady jog the whole time, and crossed the finish line together at 32:56. The race results (if the link doesn't go directly to the page, click on Race Results on the left side bar, then use the drop down menu to pull up the 5k Run/Walk for Autism) have The Colonel listed as #342 and The Mrs. listed as #343, but we did finish together and you will notice that our time is the same. You may also notice that a 1 year old and quite a few 5-9 year olds beat us, but I can tell you that most of them were in joggers being pushed my mom or dad!
We were astonished at the # of 90 year olds listed in the last age bracket and really think that there is some kind of mistake. I think we would have noticed that many 90 year olds-even among 900-some people!
So overall, we are happy that we were able to keep our jog on the whole time and we weren't too sore afterwards, but do hope to improve our 5k time in the coming months. We are looking at doing the Clark Elem. 5k in September, but want to get another 1 or 2 in before then.
Sunday and Monday were relaxing. We painted the bottom portion of our bedroom walls. There is a really ugly border that has always been here, that will not come off despite The Colonel's and The Colonel's Father's best efforts. Our only option is to paint over it, but we have cathedral ceilings so that can get tricky. So, we painted from the border down, and will put a plain border over the ugly flowered one. We also spent a little time at our pool (with half of the neighborhood) and took Bailey down to the Rivanna for a little swimming and fetching.


More pictures here.
Back to the grind Tuesday for 8 more days of school.