Puppies Three

The puppies continue to grow and get cuter and cuter. We took individual pictures to help their potential owners choose a puppy but I won't put all 11 on the blog. They still look an awful lot alike!!!

Puppies two

We are enjoying the puppies and I think they are enjoying us. Some of us even more than others!!!

 Learning to eat solid food. Each puppy has his own style.

 Mélanie missed out on the first few weeks, so she has been catching up. She would sleep with the puppies if we would let her...

Friends are begging for more puppy pictures...The problem isn't that we don't have any, the problem is how to choose which ones to put on the blog. With a family full of shutterbugs and puppy lovers and digital cameras, puppy pictures are plentiful!!! Here are a few from the first month. More coming shortly!!!

 Knowing which one is which - very important to make sure everyone is getting enough milk - was pretty hard at first. Embroidery thread helps...

Laura is pretty proud of this puppy (she calls him Brownie) and of her picture.

Diza is a mommy!!!

We were expecting a few puppies here at the farm last week. A few. The vet thought there would be five or six at most. But as we neared the due date, Diza's size told us that maybe there were more.

Well, there WERE more, many more. Diza is the proud mama to lots of beautiful puppies. What a miracle life is! We will try to put more pictures on as soon as they open their eyes! Anyone care to guess how many there are? (Don't guess if you already know!!!)

The mandatory beach trip

Philip spent a month at the beach every summer as a child, and I lived so far from the ocean growing up, that a beach is a real treat for me. Therefore for us, no summer is complete without at least one day at the beach. So when the weather turned warm right before school started, we dropped everything and drove the two hours to play in the sand and sun.

 Family tradition of building a sand castle too near to the rising tide.

Sand castle gone wild...

Taming the dragon

Other activities on the farm (Vacation 3)

 Camping out.

 Playing instruments.

 Picnicking.

Celebrating Nathan's birthday

 Playing ping pong, lots of ping pong.

Star gazing. We saw lots of shooting stars.

Castle, Castle, Castle (Vacation 2)

Now the Loire Valley is famous for its castles, or châteaux. And they are rich with French history. We couldn't spend a week there without visiting some of these incredible places. At least that's what the adults thought. But by the time we saw castle number two, the kids were moaning and groaning about one more château.

 First on the list was Chambord.

 I guess this photo doesn't need a caption.

Break time.

Light show on the castle of Chambord.

We had help to carry the moaners and groaners.

One more moaner...

 Blois was second on the list. It is less impressive on the outside but lots of history on the inside.

 Amboise was right across the river from where we were staying.

And my personal favorite, Chenonceau.

The gardens are as beautiful as the castle.