Starting Off with a Bang!

Okay, our Monday actually started on Sunday evening, if you can believe it and what an evening it was! Gretchen left me at the house, but when she returned, she brought a new friend — Wilson. Ann, my other mom came with us as we walked up to Jessica’s house, picked up Quillette and then headed, to of all places, the lake!

Oh joy!

I love the lake, but Wilson loves the lake almost as much as I do. He is a retriever after all so you can imagine how excited he was to fetch the red buoy or the orange and blue ball every time it was thrown into the water.

I was excited, too.  An evening swim is a perfect way to spend it with old and new friends, don’t ya think?

Wilson is quite the swimmer.  He swam with ease out to to the ball and then swam almost all the way back before he’d stand in the shallows dropping the ball over and over again.  We had to beg him to bring it in and when he did, Gretchen would throw it back out in the water again.  He liked that a lot.

Quillette likes to get in the water, but she doesn’t like to swim as much as we do. Instead, she wades in and then stands on the shore and barks at the rest of us.

I’m not going to post too many photos of Wilson yet because we got to see him again this evening and well, Gretchen likes to take lots and lots of pictures so he’s going to get lots of air time.

The actual day today (Monday) started with a curious activity. Ann climbed up a big ladder, reached up in a tree, and pulled down these curious red things that she put in a bucket. Then she gave the bucket to Grandma Genevieve (visiting from Mexico) who pulled the stems out again and again. She must have done that for hours this morning while I watched intently.

Occasionally, she gave me a red thingymajig, but only after she pulled out the stem AND the pit.

After all the “cherries” (that’s what they are called) got picked, Ann retrieved Oshi and Perrito and Gretchen and I got Gemma. We headed to the tennis courts for a game of fetch, chase, and body slams.

And then Ann came by with Oshi and Perrito…we were very, very thrilled to see them all and have a crazy play time at the courts…

Okay most of us were excited…Oshi just kept running toward Gretchen. Perrito, on the other hand, chewed and chased the ball while Gemma ran around inviting us all to play with her…

Ann hung out in the shade and eventually we all paid her a visit…

And then we played some more…

Gemma headed home with Gretchen while Ann took the boys back to their house. When we arrived back home, Gretchen, Ann, Grandma Genevieve and I got into the car, onto a ferry, and landed at our friends’ house for lunch and a play date at the beach.

See, I told you it was a big bang of a Monday!

This is Keenan. She’s a good friend and an elderstateswoman.  She’s almost 11 years old, but she still swims like a smooth otter.  I like to steal her ball, but she’s very friendly and is willing to share, but boy was that water cold!

The best part of the beach trip was that Mt. Rainier was full and beautiful on the horizon…almost as beautiful as Keenan!

But don’t think our day was over after we arrived back in Seattle. Oh no, no, no!  Remember Wilson?  Well, he needed a walk again tonight so while I ate my dinner, Gretchen took Wilson for a walk and guess who they ran into?

GEMMA! Talk about fast friends…

They played for about a half hour and then took a bit of a break…a perfect photo opportunity…

But still the day was not over because Gretchen brought Wilson back to our house and let me tell you, we played like fools!

And then Wilson figured out where the treats were sitting…oops…

Good thing there was only one treat on the table!  We played some more and then Gretchen took Wilson back home and guess what I did?  Well, I slept and dictated this blog to Gretchen who graciously typed it up for me. Boy am I tired…

…and it’s only Monday!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin