Bailey

Last week was an emotional rollercoaster for our family.  Chris and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. More importantly, and heartbreakingly, we also said goodbye to our beloved pup Bailey.

Back in 2005 we were on the hunt for a new family member. We had moved into a house with a fenced backyard and were itching to have a canine companion to take hiking in the hills east of Santa Ana. We visited several local animal shelters and were approved for an adoption by the Southern California Lab Rescue organization.

October 16  found us down in San Diego at a regional adoption event. It was chaotic; the facility was located on a busy street and dogs and people were running everywhere. I sat down next to a young female black lab that was missing an eye; her name was Patches. She was eager for belly rubs and had a sweet disposition. I looked up to tell Chris that this might be our winner only to see him being dragged across the parking lot by a massive monster of a dog. It was easily the biggest lab I'd ever seen and he was doing his best to flee the scene with Chris as an unwilling accomplice.

After a bit of flailing, Chris and the beast came to a halt in my vicinity.

The Famous Bears of Olympic National Park

I was scrolling through MSN News today and came across an article with the following tidbit:

A photographer who was heading home from a weekend of camping was stunned when he waved goodbye to a bear - and it waved back. 

The bear was on the grass and lifted his paw waving goodbye as Dylan Furst passed him in a car. Dylan, 25, had spent the weekend camping at a national park which is also home to bears. 

As he was leaving, the Jeep Patriot SUV he was travelling in passed by the large kodiak bear so Dylan said “goodbye bear” and waved at it. But Dylan was stunned when the bear, who was sitting just 10ft away, raised his paw and waved back at him. 

Mr Furst captured this moment at Olympic National Park in Washington state, USA.

Nice story. Except there aren't any kodiak brown bears in Olympic National Park.

There are, however, several of the bruins at the Olympic Game Farm, conveniently located next to the national park. And they're pretty good at waving too, in exchange for a few slices of bread.

Here is the photo used in the article:

Provided by Mirror

And our version from a few months ago:

Whoa. Get a load of them claws. 

The article was picked up by the Daily Mail that had this additional bit:

"'I was no more than 10ft away from the bear, separated by a small wire fence. He didn't seem threatening at all, and it was almost tempting to go up and hug him."

Yes, a small wire highly electrified fence. Those bears know down to the inch how close they can go to that fence without getting zapped. 

Haha, oh well.  Washington is a fantastic state, but waving bears in national parks is not one of our features. :)

xo,

Sonja

News and Reviews

Hello!

Summer is in full swing. Last weekend we went out to Salt Spring Recreation Area with my parents for a bit of camping and it is now my new favorite family camp ground in Washington (although Deception Pass is also fantastic). It has a playground, gorgeous tide pools, a nice sandy beach, and little trails through the woods to WWII bunkers. Plus Emma is finally getting the hang of gliding on her push bike and our little girlie wants to go, go go! She desperately wants to keep up with Ben.

Of course it was packed with people. Such is the state of most campgrounds during the summer these days.

But we also saw a few critters, including this guy:

Here are a few links from around the web:

Where 10% of the world lives. 

Buenos Aires to permanently close its zoo. 

A tale of two temperaments. (This plays out in our house daily!)

At this point, Orlando is our fault.

Meet the hardcore minimalists 

More testing, less play. Expectations for today's kindergartener.

Quit damaging our precious wild spaces. 

Long but worth it: The unbelievable tale of Jesus' wife.

Another reason to visit Jordon: Massive monument found buried in Petra.

Landscape artist uses water from her destinations. Love these! Although I am somewhat curious about how she got the water from Horseshoe Bend, given that it's a 1,000 vertical drop to the river below.

I stopped showering and life continued.

Child safety hack for crowded places (airports, amusement parks, the train station)

Republican dads vs. Democrat dads

And, last but very much not least: read this (if you haven't already).

xo,

Sonja