Holiday bling from cousin Maggie

Turtle and Duncan had a holiday party last night, which meant they got to wear their new holiday bling from cousin Maggie.

Let the fashion show begin...

Here is Turtle doing his model pout (notice Tyler is wearing a matching flannel!).



Next up is Duncan looking sleepy fierce.



And finally we have Maggie, who looks like she should be in an Orvis catalog (the boys could learn a thing or two from her).

Best Post Turkey Poses

We all did a lot of lounging around this past week. Grandma had the best human post-turkey pose with the "leg-over-armchair" maneuver.



On the puppy side it was a toss up. Duncan went for the "pillow as taco" strategy. Well played, Duncan.



While Turtle did the old-school "single paw dangle." We'll let you be the judge.

Go Blue!

Despite Duncan's heartfelt cheering, Michigan lost the homecoming game to Iowa this weekend. But we're still a maize & blue family!

First dog park trip together

Duncan, Turtle and I arrived back in Ann Arbor this week. We were very excited to get re-settled in our apartment and go to our local dog park.

Duncan held back with me while Turtle made his usual rounds.



Turtle checked back often to make sure everything was o.k. and to get Duncan up to speed on dog park etiquette.



Then Duncan felt brave enough to go explore on his own!



Then it was back home for a nap on the cool kitchen floor.

Abby & Finn

My mom's two adopted puppies, Abby & Finn, arrived last weekend (the same weekend Duncan and I came home from New York).

Abby & Finn were abandoned by a river in Minneapolis where a fisherman spotted them and brought them to a local shelter. They were suffering from dehydration and neglect and would not have lasted much longer on their own.

We're so happy to have them in the family!

Meet Duncan

Turtle doesn't know it yet, but he became a big brother yesterday! Tyler and I were walking near our summer apartment in NYC when we saw an adoption booth with three cavalier/cocker spaniel mix puppies.

We held the puppies and reluctantly left to catch our ferry to Ellis Island. We were very distracted at the museum thinking about those cute puppies. My mom, aunts, cousins and grandma were all visiting for the weekend and when we couldn't convince any of them to take one of the puppies, they started trying to convince us. After about 30 min of deliberation (yikes!) Tyler and I decided to rush back in a cab to see if any of them were still left.

When we got there, we discovered two had been adopted and one of the boys was still left! It took about 20min to fill out the paperwork and then we were walking away with our new puppy (wondering if we had seriously gone crazy and if Turtle would ever forgive us.)

After discussing names with the family that night at dinner, we settled on Duncan, or "Dunk" for short.

Duncan had his first full day with us today. We took him to Central Park and let him explore the neighborhood. It took us a while to complete the tour because people kept stopping to meet him; one guy even wanted to take his picture.

Here are some of the photos we took today. We'll have Duncan in NYC for the next two weeks and then he'll go home to meet his big brother! Wish us luck ;)

Summer vacation

Old mom has been watching Turtle this summer since I've been in New York for my internship (I decided Turtle would have more fun this summer with access to his own back yard and a nice big house to roam).

It's been hard being apart for so long, but we did get to spend some time together over 4th of July. Turtle spent a lot of time swimming with his cousins Luca (rotweiller) and Maggie (lab puppy).







Hope everyone is having a great summer!

A birthday celebration

Turtle turns two on June 2nd, so we had a little garden party last night to celebrate while the whole family was together.

On the menu were Apple Crunch Pupcakes (recipe courtesy of Preston's blog) with peanut butter and cream cheese frosting (Turtle's favorite part).




We made Turtle wait to blow out the candles until we all sang to him (our family has some particularly talented singers, so Turtle really enjoyed the serenade).






What a great birthday!

Reunion

This past weekend Tyler came to visit us from Tokyo, where he's been living for a work project.

If you were ever curious how a Puggle reacts after six months of separation from his human, check this out...

We'll miss you, Sadie

Last week our family lost our dear friend, Sadie, to cancer. One of Sadie's favorite places is our lake house in Michigan where she used to go for beach walks (sometimes with her sidekick, Turtle). She was a beautiful, sweet dog and our thoughts and love are with her parents, Mary Ellen and Uncle Bob.

The princess and the bee

Happy Halloween! Turtle's grandma bought Turtle his very first Halloween costume this year (T's dad doesn't let him wear clothes). She got him bumble bee costume because she thinks he's such a "busy bee" whenever he visits her house.

In true form, we had a hard time getting him to sit still in his costume to take a picture with princess Emma.


Emma: "What are we waiting for?"
Turtle: "Grandma, leave my ears alone!"



Now they're ready for trick or treating!

Family visit

Turtle's family (grandparents and Emma) came to visit him this weekend. He was really excited to show Emma his new dog park in Ann Arbor.

Emma just celebrated her 14th birthday, so she's usually not up for such uncivilized affairs, but she was a good sport.



This guy gave T a run for his money.



Turtle protecting the girls.



Emma prefers Turtle in small doses, so she wanted to make sure she didn't get left in Ann Arbor and took up post next to the luggage until it was time to go home.



Turtle had a great weekend, but he's tired from so much entertaining!

Relaxing at the Crow's Nest

Turtle made it safely to Michigan, but would like to avoid airports for as long as possible in the future. He's been recovering from the "trauma" by relaxing at his family's lake house before our new apartment in Ann Arbor is ready.

Here's me and Turtle in front of "his cottage."



This is Turtle catching some breeze on the porch with his cousin Emma who is a 13 year old king charles (=queen bee). Turtle has been keeping a respectful distance.



But his favorite thing has been taking naps on the porch after going for long walks on the beach.

Beach bum

This weekend was a hot one in San Francisco, so Turtle headed to the beach to cool off. Here he is checking out the view with Tyler.



Turtle picked up three sand dollars on his walk - one for each of his girlfriends so they wouldn't get jealous.



And this is the giant sand hole Turtle said needed to be dug right next to my towel.



Family photo!

Turtle's first trip

Turtle recovered from his surgery just in time to enjoy his Thanksgiving trip to Colorado. Here he is with his new "go bag" that was packed with all his favorite toys and treats.



Turtle got to play with his cousin Daryl who is twelve years old, but who still gave T a run for his money.



He also got to meet his cousins Bella and Macy. The three of them had fun showing Tyler all the tricks they know.



But the best treat of all was the snow that fell on our last day in town. After eating half the snow in the yard, Turtle had a wheee of a time running through the rest. He can't wait to go back at Christmas!

Turtle + Freddy

Turtle had a great time getting to know his relative, Freddy. From a distance it was hard to tell the two of them apart! We hope that Rocket and Preston can make our next Puggle meet-up.