Birthday Month!

September is birthday month at our house.  David and I both have September birthdays, but my birthday this year seemed to go on and on.  I am spoiled!

I woke up on birthday morning to these very cute - and delicious - pirate donuts from David.  Jimmy Buffett sings a song called "A Pirate Looks at Forty" and if you have read the blog a long time, you know that we have had a couple of pirate themed 40th birthday parties for friends and for David's 40th.  This was NOT, I repeat NOT, my 40th birthday, but pirate donuts are fun for any birthday!

The week before my birthday, my Grandmother had taken a tumble and landed on her face.  We were thankful that she didn't break an arm or leg, but she did break her nose and was still pretty bruised a week later.  

 Mom brought the party on the road, so I enjoyed birthday cake with Grandmother and again with my Grandma that day.

 

 I wasn't at work on my birthday, but this fun surprise was waiting when I got back.  A birthday door!  For me! :)  I like it so much that it's still there.

We had a delicious lunch, and a cheesecake that my friend made from scratch. I also received the honor of a crown and magic wand for the day.  You get funny looks walking around like this!

It was an especially good birthday - thank you to all those who made it so!

Camping Close to Home

A few weeks ago, our new-to-us camper made its maiden voyage to a nearby lake for the annual Bass Pro's Outdoor Days.

 I can be a reluctant camper, so David bribed me with these delicious cookies.  Have you had these?  They're delicious!

 This is our new pop-up camper.  It was great!  Riley loved laying on the bed and looking out the window.  It was like dog TV for him.  He was much more calm than in the tent where he can't see anything.

 It was hot hot hot the weekend we camped, so I was very thankful that David brought along our shade.

This isn't our pop-up at it's best, but look how roomy!  David has big plans for making this camper much cooler and off-road capable.  I know he's got lots of pictures of the progress of his project so maybe he'll make a blog post about it.  Pretty please, David? ;)

Water Dog

Every year before they drain the pools, our town hosts a Dog Swim at one of the city pools.  They don't chemically treat the pool on that day, so it's safe for the canines.  

 There were dogs of all shapes and sizes, some in life jackets like Riley.  There were lots of water-loving labs, and the funniest little dachshund swimming around in the middle of the pool.   Most of the dogs just socialized around the perimeter of the pool, but Riley was all about his racquetball and the water.  Other dogs tried to introduce themselves, but he had eyes only for that ball.

We stayed until Riley seemed to be worn out, but I'm not sure he was ready.  He spent the evening sacked out in his favorite chair.

Still Here!

It appears as though I took the summer off from blogging.  Not for lack of material, as we had a great summer.  I just never seem to get around to it.  I enjoy looking back at old posts to see where we've been and what we did, so I'm going to make another attempt at keeping up with the blog.

To get the ball rolling, here's me on the first day of school this year.  January-March, I participated in a Biggest Loser contest with some friends at work.  Our team won!  I kept working at it, and lost a total of 45 pounds since January!  Despite it being the season of all things pumpkin and caramel, I'm working at maintaining new me.  Clothes shopping has suddenly become fun again!

But don't worry...we are still eating really well!  This was the mountain of ribs David made for my Dad's birthday.  We ate all we could hold, then fill leftover bags to go home with Dad and to David's buddies at work.