Wallowa Lake

Between a very busy schedule and my computer somehow deleting ALL of my pictures from this vacation, this one has taken me awhile to get posted. But with all that being said, fortunately between text message pictures, pictures I'd posted to facebook, and collecting the rest of the families photos, I can make this post! 

All that to say, over the Labor Day holiday we scheduled a fun vacation to a place that I have lots of fond memories from in my childhood. It was a long drive day for the kids but they were troopers and a couple of fun stops along the way made it even better!

   

But finally we were there. I think I was probably around 10-12 the first time I went to Wallowa Lake and it has been 11 years since my last trip there, but really not much has changed. So it was fun to just relax and unwind as a family for a few days before the total chaos of fall set in.  Between fishing (not a single bite) first time on horses for the kids, lots of runs for treats and ice cream, introducing the kids to geocaching, and a gorgeous day on the mountain peak it was fun for all of us! 

 

 

It really was a fun and simple vacation, just what our family needed before we burst straight ahead into the chaos of our fall schedule and a busy time at work for Peter. I am grateful for any opportunity we have to get out of town and spend time together as a family and it was really cool to be able to create some memories with my kids at a place that I have several memories from. The kids are already asking when we can go back! 

What Have We Done?!?!

It's no surprise that we like dogs in this house, hence the two years of puppy fostering we've been doing. There have been a few pups here and there that stand out in my mind that have been very hard to give back and not keep. But we've stayed strong..... until now! There were a couple breeds of dogs that were on an approved list with Peter. They weren't something that would likely come into a rescue organization so he sat pretty safe for 2 years.  Until this guy came into the picture! This beautiful boxer boy came up on rescue! The odds of an (almost) full breed boxer PUPPY coming up on transport to the rescue was very surprising and we couldn't help but scoop him up! 

The best part of it all is that since we are fosters we were able to test drive this boy and see how he fit in with our family! Our Junebug, while we loved her was neurotic, and stubborn, and not the best with the kids when they came along so while we loved and adored that girl, we weren't ready to repeat history of her personality. 

This guy from the beginning has been awesome! He's easily our best large breed foster we've ever had and I'm not just being biased. He had the added benefit of spending a lot of his early life in foster in California so he has been around people and in a home environment. Most large breed struggle with jumping on and trying to use the kids as chew toys but he never had any of those behaviors with the kids. But he loves and adores the kids and is super patient with them! It is fun to know the kids will have a dog of their own to grow up with and the kids are so excited after being so good at letting puppies go back all these years. 

And even Peter after years of being the tough one may be a bit smitten too. He reminds us so much of our Junebug. 

So there you have it, after 2 years of puppy fostering and 69 puppies brought into our home, we have a keeper! The kids have named him Groot, he's 5 months old and we are in the midst of potty training and basic puppy training.  Never a dull moment around here I guess but we sure are happy for this unexpected pup coming into our family!