Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated!

Introducing....

Laverne & Shirley!  Yes we grew.  By two.

2 parents, 2 kids, 2 cats, and now 2 dogs.

2 girl black labrador retriever puppies.  Yes, they have that puppy smell.

Red collar, Laverne.  Turquoise collar, Shirley.  Sisters.

    

We really did name them Laverne & Shirley.  Why?  Well, because that's funny. And they are classic trouble makers and fun friends, and I'm sure our girls will be too.  SO...

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated.
We're gonna do it!
Give us any chance, we'll take it.
Give us any rule, we'll break it.
We're gonna make our dreams come true.
Doin' it our way.
Nothin's gonna turn us back now,
Straight ahead and on the track now.
We're gonna make our dreams come true,
Doin' it our way. There is nothing we won't try,
Never heard the word impossible.
This time there's no stopping us.
We're gonna do it.
On your mark, get set, and go now,
Got a dream and we just know now,
We're gonna make our dream come true.
And we'll do it our way, yes our way.
Make all our dreams come true,
And do it our way, yes our way,
Make all our dreams come true
For me and you.

Sing it!  It's gonna be in your head ALL gosh darn day now. I speak from experience.

Also, why get only 1 when you can get 2? Then they'll have eachother.  We also don't have brains.

It took a long time for me to consider getting another dog after the loss of our Phoebe (yes, a black lab) last summer.

Isn't she lovely?  I wish the quality of these pictures were better.  They are pre-digital photog. She was the best. 

The girls have been begging for months. And honestly?  So has my husband, silently. They have all been waiting on me.  I decided to start considering it.  I looked at a lot of lab rescue organizations, but unfortunately all the ones close by didn't have good fits for families with kids. 
So, early last Saturday, we drove to Missouri.  Yep, Missouri. Isn't that where everyone goes to get a dog?  And found ourselves with new family members. 

First stop, somewhere in Arkansas, for pet supplies.  "Just in case" we decided to bring one two home....

Dog Crate.

Dog crate assembly

Donuts.  Wait, donuts?  Yes, a girl's gotta eat.  And it is Shipleys. Enough. Said. (they were actually just being built, but we tried)  I would totally drive 2 hours to get Shipleys. 

So, 4 hourse from Memphis we are on a farm and at Misty Woods Labradors in Alton, Missouri.

We got to meet their mom (black) and dad (yellow) and some of their siblings.  They were in a litter of 11!  Poor momma!

And we had 2 new babies. 

They got baths and we were off.

They slept the whole way home.
Then the best part, surprising the girls.  The human girls.  The look on this child's face, and the literal flying through the air to get to them was priceless.

And the sweet puppy snugglin.

Once we were home, I realized I forgot about all the baby stuff.  Kinda like with people babies.

They don't sleep through the night.

They have to be potty trained.

You can't leave them for long.

3 meals a day.

New toys to fight over.

Yall, this toy is called "Happy Moppy"  I kinda love that.

It also means, you have to figure out this whole situation...

This is a work in progress.  But they all hang in the same room together so I'll take that as a success! For now, the cats are bigger.  Now's their chance to be top dog :) They need to show them who's boss.  Plus they don't have claws. Because these puppies, they are gonna grow.  A. Lot.

Belly Rubbins.

We are doing all the things new parents do.  But no one offered to bring us meals or throw us a shower.  Rude.

Going for walks, learning about the leash.

And taking 1.4 million pictures.

I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of these two, today is puppy photo shoot day.  I'm just know it's going to be a piece of cake...

C-At-Lay (how we like to say Seattle, cause we are dorks) Part 1

It's taken me forever to get this written, I couldn't get my pictures to load.  And I am not tech savvy.  At. All.

This is a great big jumble of us getting our PAC NW on - so fantastic!  This is part 1, cause we did a lot.

It's not easy to fly out of Memphis.  I'm totally not being dramatic either.  We actually drove 3 hours to Nashville and spent the night there because it made the trip easier (and cheaper!)

It's easier if you dress alike though, as seen here:  back packs, ankle socks, go fasters, green cargo shorts, navy cardi.

And if you electronic yourself up.

So....we fly into SeaTac, rent a car, and fly up the I-5 to get to Pikes Place Market before it closed.  Scotty boy dropped us girls off and went to check in at the hotel.  I needed flowers for our hotel room.  If you've ever been to the market before, you know.  $15 - giant bouquet of gorgeousness.  I wanted to enjoy them every second of our trip, so we had to hit Pikes straight away.

Check out the people under the Public Market Center sign - an awesome dance group getting their groove on.  Totally wanted to join in, but I refrained.

 
Beautiful, the kid too.

One of the great things about Seattle (C-At-Lay as we like to call it, cause we are dorks) is that it has a ton of hidden treasures.  You stumble on lots of uniqueness as you take in the city.  Like these great mosaic stairs we found while trying to find our hotel.

And this cool colorful glass thingy.  Is it a weather vane?  I don't know.  But I like it.

We made it to the room, turned our ice bucket into a vase and headed out for dinner. 
Let me introduce you to Anthony's Pier 66 on the waterfront and across the street from our hotel.  Very strategic on our part.

 
This guy greets you in the lobby.  A fish covered in baseballs.  Mariner style.  This is the gateway to some of the best seafood you will EVER eat.  I say this with great confidence, well, because it's true.  They have nicer dining upstairs or you can eat out on the back patio overlooking the marina. We voted to go marina style.  Crab cakes, halibut, salmon - to. die. for.

Right after dinner we strolled to the Space Needle.  Up hill. (I forgot about Seattle's hills) In the rain.  But it's cool. I've been up before.  I've had dinner up there before.  I forgot how high it was.  And that I had to basically ride in a tiny little elevator filled with giant windows so that you can "enjoy" the view on the way up and down.  I faced the back wall the entire ride.  I almost didn't get on.  I was having an internal freak out.  My girls were excited...I went up.

I'm so glad I did.

Got a sneak peek at the Chihuly Glass Garden.  Gorg!

And geared up for day 2:  Whale Watching!

Early the next morning we jumped on the Victoria Clipper for a boat ride to the San Juan Islands and a little wildlife excursion - this was on our must do list.  It did not disappoint!

The boat was great, we sat at a table and played UNO.  Who doesn't love UNO?

Roo tried her hand at shuffling.  It's a life skill.

And we ate hot dogs at 10 a.m.

Then it was time to check out the wild life, I had some crazy excited people with me!

We were so thankful to get to see so many of God's awesome creatures.  Bald eagles, harbor seals, porpoises, a sea lion, and yes, killer whales - and LOTS of them!  Blessed with an amazing show of nature!

We saw 46 Orcas.  Two resident pods of the Puget Sound had gotten together for what our Naturalist on board called a "Greeting Ceremony."  It's just what it sounds like.  When two groups meet up, they go through the motions to let each other know that they are friendly and aren't going to try to eat them :) We also were told that a new baby was born while we were out there and that was probably the reason for the ceremony.  (I thought, this is what they tell every group, but it was confirmed for us on the news that night, we were super lucky!) What's really cool about this whole greeting business is that they just chill on the top during it.  So instead of just seeing the whales diving as they move along, we got to see them all just hangin on top with their noses out.  HOLY AWESOMENESS!!  I'm not kidding yall.  Go do this.  Right. Now.  My pictures do not do them justice.  They are beautiful and crazy ginormous!

I love Hazel's shoes, they make me laugh.

Now during all of this whale watchin, it is chilly (like crazy cold) and wet!  We took this to be a teaching moment and schooled our girls in the art of "the open tab".  They were thrilled!  All the hot chocolate they could ever want and all they had to give was our name?  Dreams came true.  Another life skill learned.

This turned into a lot of this

And people were warm and happy and all was right with the world.

So, after all the excitement we got to stop in Friday Harbor on San Juan for a couple hours to tool around and feast on some out of this world seafood!

A Washington State Ferry

I crazy want this turquoise beauty!

We ate at Downriggers

These mussels and clams were caught that morning on the next island over, now that's what we call fresh ladies and gentlemen!  My Hazelmonkey LOVED them!  She has been spoiled, we all have!  We are officially seafood snobs.

I'd like to call this the Holy Halibut Salad! Totes yummers!

Tequila + Chocolate?  I'm in!

A great day on the sound.

Love this glass art in the hotel lobby "Lost Treasures"

And this van was parked just outside.  Gave us such perspective. Reminded us to be thankful. Thankful for our freedoms.  Freedom to do so many things. Thankful for the people who protect it.