Happy Holidays 2013

summer days campchaos style

Summer seems to have campchaos on the move and we've been lucky to have enjoyed some great adventures. The pups love it when we load up in the 4Runner put the windows down and sail away on the warm currents of summer air.

They loved it all- the supermoon rising over the Atlantic, the trips to the dog park or a weekend camping. Life is full of adventure for these pups and they love it. We've got the traffic patterns dialed in a bit better this summer and have been avoiding the crowds even on the busy weekends. 

 We've managed to take full advantage of the weather and was able to spend a long weekend in July in northern Maine. It was the type of weekend that made time obsolete. The only thing that mattered was enjoying the sun and sleeping under the stars on the beach.

Spring Adventures

Now that summer has hit the seacoast we've had to give the beaches back to the tourists. We managed to snap one last group shot on a warm day in May. 

Our daytime beach adventures may be over for the summer but we can still do the occasional evening on the salty shore. A few weeks ago we pulled out the camera and took the pups for a walk in the park where the first blooms of the season were coming out with the warmer weather. 

I'm still learning how to shoot manually and have been enjoying the process. I'm not always getting the image I want but I'm getting closer. I lucked out as the rhododendrons move much less then the pups.

Dave's been in training mode this spring and his coach, Mayhem has been really encouraging on their runs. Mayhem puts aside his urges to chase squirrels and runs (mostly) alongside Dave. Chaos hangs at home and waits for me to get home to go for our nightly walk. The runs are a bit too much for the big guy and we have to respect what his body tells us. Dave's had two 5k races this season and his coach has been impressed. He's shaved time off each race but most importantly has been enjoying the runs.

Chaos enjoys the quiet times and loves his perch on the steps overlooking the backyard and his pesky  little brother. Don't let this pose fool you- behind those mellow eyes is a playful pup who comes out for a bit of zoom time each day.

We're all loving the tired, young pup who mellows out in the evenings after running with Dave and playing with his favorite toys outside. 

Moose Alley

You may recall that last year Elvis ripped up Sugarloaf. This year we met up with her again along with some friends for a weekend filled with sunshine, warm weather, puppies and skiing.

After the morning drop off we took a short hike down the Golden Road before dropping deep into Brackett Basin. 

Elvis hit up Mountain Magic for the day to work on her skiing and have fun with friends before showing off her skills by visiting her friend Amos's house on Moose Alley off off Whiffletree.

It was a beautiful day to hit up the mountain and I'm pretty sure that a good time was had by all. 

I even managed to get a bit of knitting done in the warm sunshine. This doesn't happen often- knitting outside in the warm sunshine on Timberline. First off, it's the east coast- a sunny warm ski day is to be treasured. It means getting out of bed early to walk the pups so you can still get on the hill at a decent hour and not lingering over the Bag Burger at lunch time... even if it is so much better now that they offer gluten free buns that really just makes the Gucci burger. 

We were able to squeeze a lot of good times in and were pretty exhausted by the end of the weekend. We missed our cousins by one weekend but thankfully they had sent along photos of the crew regrouping at the Bag over lunch so we got to live vicariously through text messages. 

Of course Elvis went home with new knitwear from Aunt K8 Knits... 

for more photos from the weekend click here

winter waves and a bit of snow

We found Nemo

A little mayhem...

This past spring Mayhem had a seizure. It is just as awful as it sounds and we were in a rocky place. It was a rainy, cold day and he had been acting funny. He was restless and whined as if he needed something. This went on for a while and eventually he just hung out. He was by my side and started to jerk. I held him as we entered into the next five minutes that seemed endless. I barked orders at Dave and Sara. They called a local vet (not helpful) and Home Safe. The local vet wasn't our vet and brushed Sara off the phone. Home Safe gave solid advise and helped talk us through a scary day. There isn't much that we could do and the little dog was fully normal the next day. 
This weekend Mayhem gave us another scare and had his second seizure. Again- terrible and time moved slowly- Dave and I both went to Mayhem's side as the pup jerked around unable to control his little golden body. His after shocks seemed to go on for longer and once again I called Home Safe. They took my information and kept me on the line while they consulted their vet. We ended up going to the emergency clinic in Portsmouth and saw a great crew who checked the little dog out and ran his blood work.
The results came back all within the normal ranges and we're back to the waiting game. We're hoping for a nice long wait...

campchaos welcomes 2013

Happy New Year from the beach...