Elizabeth & Brendan

More Eli fun.

Well we headed to Taconic State Park for some fun with Mother Nature. Chris, Kim, Charlie, Kristin, Jack and Lulu also went (Kim organized it all so thanks!).

Eli had some issues but overall was great, especially sleeping. We thought he might be up all night. Here are a bunch of pictures of Eli camping. I swear I was there too.

Hanging out…

Sleeping in the tent…

In the tent looking for Brendan…

What I like to call “Snout and trees”…

Okay – picking up where we left off…

Eli pictures!

Eli on his perch in the anteroom.

Eli in the yard.

Eli on his new bed.

This weekend was the one year anniversary of Eli joining the family. He got some extra treats and attention. I took some pictures and he was of course adorable. The only problem is that I can’t find the cord to download the pictures.

What this also means is that I can’t download the pictures of the house that were taken. We are officially unpacked and almost fully organized. Just in time for the BBQ Saturday. Now if I could just get ahead of the weeds that are growing in the yard…

Brendan got his grill – the grillmaster. The directions said 40 minutes to assemble. It took closer to 3 hours. But after much cursing, the grill was ready for use!

Here is Brendan with my lovingly made burgers.

Then Eli wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

Here is Brendan and Eli chilling on the deck in my new red, plastic, awesome adirondack chairs.

Then Eli wanted to try out the Heineken Premium Light.  The dog has taste.

Here is Eli during the unpacking process.

Eli can be much like a 1-year-old child.  He has an understanding of what certain words mean, he tries to talk but his language is not really understood, we have to take care of his poop, etc.  You get the picture.  Well yesterday we were over at the house doing things and there was this really big box (grillmaster grill!!!).  Eli was having a grand ol’ time, not playing with his bone or his toys that were brought over but the box.

Here is Eli with a piece in his mouth, trying to run away from me.

I find it interesting that on this Friday (June 18), we were cleared to close on the house while one year ago on that Friday (June 19) I was told I have cancer (which I then met up with Kristen and JB and said “I have cancer.  So let’s get drunk.”  And thanks guys for taking the commend seriously and getting drunk.  The night ended in a dive bar with the entire bar singing along to Baby Got Back.)

To celebrate just how far we have come, Brendan and I cashed in a christmas gift and went to erbaluce for dinner.  (We both wanted what we got last time but branched out.  I got the steak and Brendan got the poached lobster)  And in talking, we both never thought that 1 year later we would have a dog, be buying a house and Brendan at a new job.  And while I am still technically “in treatment” and still finishing up the reconstruction, we are doing tremendously well.

And we have to thank you for all your support, cupcakes, well wishes, food, babysitting, prayers, etc.  We couldn’t have made it to this point without you.  And I am serious.

We have been taking Eli to the Dog Park the last few weeks and he loves it. I love it because then he is tired and we can go out for a long stretch of time without guilt.

Eli loves to run around with the dogs and is usually one of the fastest (no lie – I will get it on video). However, Eli prefers to be chased rather than doing the chasing. So if no one will chase him, he will half-heartedly chase another dog or go get attention from some owners. He can get intimidated at times (varies on dog size and aggressiveness) but he is doing better.

The other day, an owner was playing fetch with her dog. She would throw something, the dog would chase, and then Eli would chase the dog and the object. By the time the other dog got to the object, he was disinterested in the object and interested in Eli. Well after this happening at least 10 times, the owner got annoyed. I felt like she wanted to play fetch without disruption. Um, sorry. You are at a dog park. What do you expect? You want me to tell my dog not to play with your dog? How?

We also tend to go 8:30-9:00 and there are quite a few dogs there. Once we went around 11:00 and the crowd is so different. And the dogs are more aggressive (at least this day). We realized that we prefer the early crowd and not this young, fast, later one.

Aah, the politics of the dog park.

Because Kristen asked, here is more Eli. (disregard the mess that is our life, we are in the midst of packing)

Eli playing outside.

Eli watching Brendan leave.

Eli watching Brendan come home.

Since the last post was on the sadder side, here is a pick me up.  ELI!!!