See Spot Splash

I think that Bella likes Boise just as much as we do. Last week a local pool called that natatorium shut down the pool and opened it up to Boise's four legged friends. The night is a fundraiser that is put on by the humane society and is pretty much the coolest doggie event in town. We were so excited to take Bella to play with her favorite friend Nesta and the rest of the pups. When we got there our little girl was a little afraid of the pool. Chris stood by the poolside semi mortified that he had the uncool dog who was afraid to swim while Nesta and pretty much every other dog fetched, jumped, splashed and dove into the water. Chris tossed Bella in so she could give it the old college try and I swear she nearly drowned. The girl is not a deep water swimmer. She much preferred the grassy area where she found a fun squeaky ball and was quite content to be chased by the other dogs.

(Chris being supportive)

(Bella's boyfriend, Nesta)

(Bella nearly drowning)

(Bella, perfectly happy to play in the grass)

Soon enough Bella found the kiddy pool. It was a place where she and Christopher both found contentment. He no longer had to stand by embarrassed that he was the dad with the uncool kid and she got to play in the water without fear of drowning. It was a great success and we will have to go back next year and see if Bella has acquired real swim legs.

(The kiddy pool - what a great thing!)

(Nesta, obviously too good for the kiddy pool)

The Western Idaho Fair

We thought that it would be a good idea to bike to the Western Idaho Fair. There were some bumps on the bike ride like a 30 mile per hour head wind (not good for an out of shape girl like me). Chris purchased a new bike and I am still riding the one I purchased when I was sixteen so I tried to blame my trouble on the hill on our way home on my bike, but we all know that it was the biker and not the bike. Even with the bumps in the road and sore bums today, our first Boise bike ride was a success.

Since we rode our bikes, we decided that it was OK to partake in drinking some brewskies and dining on corn dogs, sweet potato fries, and an Elephant Ear (a huge fried thing with cinnamon and sugar). They were so good. While there, we road the swings and the ferris wheel. Yes, we have officially graduated to the old people rides.

We also toured the animals including this big horned guy below, who was in the petting zoo! It seemed a little over the top to have him in the little kiddie area next to the pygmy goats and baby cows, but I needed my picture with him nonetheless.

The fair was fun and filled with some crazy carnies and some interesting teenagers. I think that I remember it a little more fondly as a kid, but it was still pretty fun.

Soon to be Mohnacky Mahem

What a weekend, what a group of gal pals I have! I had a great weekend down in San Diego. It has taken me until today to fully recover from all the "soon to be Mohnacky mahem" that went down. I headed down to San Diego to celebrate Mrs. Dina Salcido in her last few single days before tying the knot. A fun time was had by all. The weekend consisted of kayaking in La Jolla, sunning ourselves in San Diego, staying in an incredible beach house, and enjoying one crazy night out in the gaslamp district, which Lynsey liked to refer to as the torch district. I am already Idahoan enough that I felt like a small town girl amongst many scantily clad ladies and hungry eyed men. I came home completely exhausted with sunburned shoulders late Sunday night, but could not have been happier. Dina was a great sport and it was so nice to be with my girls. I miss all my California ladies (and my one Montana lady too) already. Here is to bachelorette number 6 of 8 of my housemates affectionately known as the 801 girls!

Daytime fun. . . . and . . . .

Nighttime fun.
(all thirteen of us, all in black, except the bachelorette in pink)

(me and Lynz - gas torch girl)

(three beautiful sets of eyes, Stace, Becko and "soon to be Mrs. Mohnacky")

Chris says that this is not very much of a Johnson Doodle and is more of an Ali Doodle, but we all need our own doodles sometimes, right? Chris held down the fort with the Bels this weekend, but don't feel too bad for him, he got a day of fly fishing in and purchased himself not one, but two new bikes.

Grandmas are Great!

This weekend we went to visit with Chris' grandmas in Walla Walla, Washington. We were lucky enough to also be able to visit with his parents too! Chris' grandmas are both just the best. I lost my last grandma when I was only 13 so to be able to have grandmas again is great. These ladies are just amazing. Grandma and Buffie both live on their own and have quite the active social lives. Buffie golfs at age 93 and is heads and shoulders better than I am and Grandma is a tech savvy little grandma and is even on Facebook. They are both loving, generous, sweet and just wonderful ladies. We had so much fun visiting with each of them and enjoying the darling town of Walla Walla. Among our activities were having a picnic complete with cheeseburgers from the famous Ice Berg, playing a round of golf with Buffie (which I unfortunately did not snap many pictures of), eating a fabulous dinner at the country club, and stuffing ourselves with a huge breakfast compliments of Grandma. It was also so great to be able to see Kim again and to be able to spend some time with Eric, who was my amazing golf partner. Without Eric, I could have been on the golf course whiffing the ball until sunset.

(no pictures of Buffie playing were taken, but here she is driving her cart, a Cadillac nonetheless)

Doggie Friends

Our people friends introduced Bella to some doggie friends last weekend and Bella was very much obliged. We went on a little hike in the Boise foothills with six people and five very cute pups. The dogs had a great time and so did we. Bella does not have very good trail etiquette as she would stop in the middle of the trail to make sure that we were following her, but other than that she did great. Our little fuzz muffin can hang with the more rugged guys!