{17feb2011: reunion party part 3}

We're almost to the end!  If you missed Darwin's birthday party/family reunion part 1 or part 2 check out the first half of the fun!


After hanging out by the water we moved back towards the middle of the park for some running time.
We passed by our other Dane friends, like Bettis and his little sister Rooney, whom Darwin had to chase.

While Darwin tried to steal Boo's monkey, Porky tried to steal Darwin's attention.

Darwin was not happy about it.

{when a girl says no she means no!}

Soon Boo and his monkey became the center of attention. (5 out of the 8 blues pictured are littermates)

Boo got distracted by Misha and Kona tried to make off with the monkey.

But he didn't act fast enough and Boo held onto his now footless toy.

At some point Darwin took possession of the monkey, and was so thrilled as her most favorite thing to do is steal other dogs toys and have them chase her.

{neener neener neener... I got the monkey!}

When Boo finally got a hold of his monkey he and Olive joined in for a three way tug match.

Boo is not afraid to show off his feminine side with his pretty pink flamingo charm.

Darwin got a short break from Porky's affection while he took interest in their smallest sister Sydney.

While Darwin was free she went back to a game of tug with Boo... that poor monkey.

Porky's a persistent guy and came back to see if Darwin changed her mind about him yet.

She didn't.

Bella and her family were taking off so we managed to get a group shot of all the siblings.

(Boo, Bella, Darwin, Sydney, Porky and Kona)

Here's some video of the action too!

***Stumpy wanted the pupcake recipe... You can find it at this old post.  I just made cupcakes rather than a sheet cake.  And I topped it with these cookies.  

{16feb2011: reunion party part 2}

Did you see the first part of the birthday/family reunion?  Well here's part two!


Once we got the pupcakes handed out and gobbled down, we headed in the park so everyone could relax and have a good time.
Darwin had given Boo Radley a birthday gift of a rubber monkey which he proudly carried through the park (the whole time).

Carrying a monkey makes you a very popular fellow.
{Gino goes in for his brothers monkey}

{Olive (not related, but sister to Kona) tries her turn at it}

{Darwin's turn to try and steal it, while Olive and Porky (brother) watch on. Kona (brother) couldn't be bothered with a monkey}

Darwin was constantly trying to run away from Porky.

But he was very persistant.  

Memphis tried to join in the sibling party time.

And someone left their old yellow lab amongst the group while he barked and barked and barked and barked and barked at the chaos of Danes.  (He was alone, barking nonstop for a good 15 minutes before his owner came back to take him away.)

You can hear the barking yellow lab and see some of the madness in this video.

After a while Porky was distracted by the younger blue, Olive.

He even gifted her with a giant slim trail on her back.

After all of Darwin's barking when he first showed up, Remi was cautious approaching her.

Soon another sister showed up, Sydney!  And her older neice, London. (Sydney's mom's daughter owns London.)

Sydney is so tiny compared to the rest of the siblings (we've met).  You can see how much smaller in this picture (you can also see her neice London in the background with the red collar).

Meanwhile, Porky continued his love affair with Darwin.

And here's more video of the dogs by the water.

Part three to come!

{15feb2011: reunion party part 1}

(446 pictures is a lot of pictures to go through, so we're breaking up Darwin's birthday party/family reunion into parts.)
We were all really excited about the second annual family reunion birthday, so we loaded up the car and headed to the park.

Once we got there I set up the pupcakes (I used the same recipe as last year but made them into cupcakes rather than a sheet cake) and we waited for our guests to arrive.

Remi and his bff (and Darwin's bf for a day) Memphis were the first to arrive.  Darwin greeted them like a diva... barking and barking and barking.  It was her party and she could bark if she wanted to. 

Then brothers and sisters started arriving. 

{Porky behind his dad, Boo Radley and Gino}

Porky isn't fixed and was fixated on Darwin all day long.  You can see from Darwin's face she wasn't too into the incestuous attention from her brother.

Kona and his sister Olive (an 8 month old blue Kristie helped rehome) showed up.

Olive was really excited to see Boo again.

Bella and her little older brother Jefferson showed up.

We were waiting for Sydney and her older niece London (a blue Dane also), but all the dogs were getting crazy barking and wanting to play so we quickly handed out the pupcakes (it was too chaotic to even get pictures) and headed into the park!

Part two to come!

{28june2010: the crazies}

This weekend Darwin got to meet "the crazies" (my mom and two aunties).  My mom and Aunty S2 were visiting my Aunty S1 in Sacramento and the three of them decided to come and visit us for the weekend.  They got in Thursday afternoon, but we didn't have time for them to meet Darwin.  They spent Friday touring Seattle via The Ducks and browsing around Pikes Place Market.  They met up with Jason and I after work and we took them over to meet Darwin.
 
 
Darwin soon noticed Jason was carrying a bag from Beecher's Cheese and had to inspect it.

{mmm is that cheese I smell?!}
She also serenaded them with a round of "hello's".
 

She kept leaning on my mom, which my mom thought was hilarious as she almost fell over a few times.

Darwin kept whacking everyone with her excited tail (which hurts) and didn't like everyone laughing at her.

After the introductions were over we noticed blood all over my mom's pants.  We realized it was from Darwin's tail.  At some point the tip of Darwin's tail started bleeding (we aren't sure if she was gnawing on the tip of her tail right before we got home, because it seemed a bit bald, or if she just whacked it too hard on something) and with all her excited tail wags against everyone she got blood everywhere.  I took a picture of my mom's pants, but I don't think she'd like me to share that with everyone... hehehe.   
My mom and aunties were shocked at how big Darwin is... my Aunty S1 has a little collie and we've always grown up with 'poi' dogs (mixed breed dogs) or a Golden Retriever so a giant Dane was quite a size difference.  
On Saturday we decided to watch the USA vs Ghana game at our place.

After the game ended (poor USA) I took them upstairs to check out the view from the roof.

Darwin really seemed to like my mom and kept going over for some pets.

My mom thought it'd be fun to chase Darwin.


Then my mom tripped on the leg of a chair and took a slow motion tumble.

Can you see her?

It was the funniest thing.  Of course we all had to get a picture before helping her up.  She tried to blame it on Darwin (jokingly) but we all saw her fall on her own.
Darwin had a great time with her grandma and aunties and hopes they come back and visit her again soon!

On another note... 4th of July is coming up!  Last year Darwin was about 5 months old and cared less about the noise of the fireworks (there's the big fireworks show right over Lake Union, near our house).  This year Darwin is 17months old and this time she seems to care about the fireworks noise.  Someone set one off last night and Darwin kept barking at the noise.  I know there is that product out there the Thundershirt.  Has anyone used it?  I'm kind of hoping to not have to order something though (as it may not make it in time).  How do you all deal with fireworks and barking dogs?