October 7th

Lily was 5 months old last week and she’s growing fast.

Today I took Lily to a groundbreaking for one of our new parks. I thought this would be a good opportunity for some “crowd” socializing. Getting her used to being in a situation where she had to be good and be around a lot of different things that she wasn’t used to. Well, she didn’t disappoint.

She was great!! We were there for over an hour and she was the best ever. Everyone there commented on how they had never seen a puppy so good. They also said they had never seen one so big.

We were under an event-style tent with chairs, about 50 people (large and small) and lots of bark dust (just large enough that there were lots of sticks). Lily’s latest thing is to pick up sticks and carry them up from the backyard. It was very hard for her not to pick up everything around her at the groundbreaking (it was all sticks).

She missed her morning nap today, so now she’s lying under the table (her latest favorite place) and snoozing away.

I took her for her well-baby checkup last week and she was pronounced in excellent health….she’s up to 59 lbs and about 24 ½” tall. The tail keeps growing….it’s about 20” long so far. I think we’ve gotten into another growth spurt, she’s eating like a pig.

October 20th

Lily just came back from her first BIG road trip. It was back to the Northwest for our annual trip back to Oregon. She took to the trip like a pro. Riding in the car is one of her favorite things to do. It means she’s part of the plan.

This trip was full of a lot of “firsts” for Miss Lily. One of our favorite hikes is Cape Lookout just south of Tillamook on the Oregon Coast. It is 5 miles to the point and back. Lily loved it. There were so many new smells and things to see. The coast agrees with her. She was born not too far from Tillamook in Nehalem. So the coast is like “coming home” to her roots.

This was also a great opportunity for Lily to visit with her grandmas and play with sister, Sirius, for an afternoon. A wonderful afternoon was spent, visiting and playing.

Part of this trip was to a beach cabin on Orcas Island in the San Juan Island chain of Puget Sound. We were graciously loaned the cabin from one of our great skydiving friends, Deb. But, first, we had to ride on the ferry across the sound to get to the island. Most Washington State ferries do not allow dogs on their main decks. So, Lily had to make the ride down below in the Jeep. Several minutes after we were underway, I went down below to check on her. I really shouldn’t have bothered. The motion of the waves had lulled her to sleep.

Once we arrived on the island we drove to the other side where the cabin was located. The cabin set down into a small cove. It had this set of stairs that you had to climb down in order to get to the house. These stairs had to have at least 50 steps that seemed to go straight down at what looked like a 120 degree angle. Lily didn’t seem to mind the steepness, or the number of stairs. We settled in for several days, enjoying the solitude, the beauty and comfort of being on an island in the sound during a northwestern storm.

Back to Portland for another quick visit with friends and then, all too quickly, it was time to head south back to Flagstaff.

October 23rd

Tonight was Lily’s last Basic Obedience class. Even with missing 2 weeks of class (we took our lessons with us and practiced along the way), Lily passed with flying colors. She is now a graduate!

November 3rd

This little darling, just keeps growing and growing. She’s up to 69.7 pounds. We came home from the Pacific Northwest to early winter snow. Lily thought this was just the best toy we could ever possibly give her. She spends a lot of time romping in the snow out on the deck.

November – Thanksgiving

We had special guests for Thanksgiving this year. Friends from Switzerland were visiting the Drop Zone and decided to take us up on our offer and come up north to visit for the holidays. They were totally captivated by Miss Lily….the super-sized puppy.

December 16th

We just got back from Utah. We went to Oakley to spend an early Christmas celebration with Tyree’s family. They were very surprised at the size of our little puppy. Lily was in hog heaven with all the wonderful snow to play in. Tyree’s folks have a fenced pasture by their house, and Lily spent lots of time running and frolicking through the snow.

December 26th

Lily’s first Christmas passed as a quiet celebration with just our small family and a few friends. She loved her toys and spent lots of time out romping in the snow.