Puppy training

Ok, I promise this isn't going to turn into an all dog blog, but since that's been the main focus of our lives for the past two weeks (other than Brian going to Manchester for work, but he has to write his own blog post for that), I thought it might be nice to show some of the progress Rocket has made since she's been with us.

I've been working pretty hard at training her, and so far she can come when she's called, sit, lay down, fetch and go down/up the stairs (trust me, this was the hardest one to teach her - she's so small!). I'm also working on hush, stay, off and drop it. She's really smart - but very stubborn as well, meaning she only does the tricks I want her to do when the timing is convenient for her. But she'll get there, it'll just take time and lots of patience.

Anyway, a few photos below:

Teaching her to sit

Teaching her to lay down

Teaching her to go down the stairs

- Krista

Family photo

Ok, this may be a little cheesy, but we were all sitting together on the couch the other night and decided it was about time we took a family photograph. We plan on taking a better one later, but here it is:



- Krista

Rocket!

We picked up Rocket yesterday!

We got her from Belgium so she had quite a journey home - a car ride, a bus ride, a two-hour train ride, and a walk. She did great, didn't whine at all and only threw up twice (poor thing, she'd never been in a moving vehicle before).

She's incredibly cute - and really sweet. So far Fishstick and her have gotten along pretty well, although Fishstick does seem a little jealous. Our guess is that they'll be best friends soon.

Here are a few pictures, more to come soon:

Brian holding her before taking her home

How can you resist this face?

Playing with some of Fishstick's toys

Me & Rocket

- Krista

Barcelona

Brian was sent to Barcelona for work this week, so naturally, I tagged along.

We were only there for two nights, but I really enjoyed it. Ever since I traveled to Spain to volunteer with my mom when I was 15, I have been in love with Spanish/Latin culture, so it was really nice for me to get to go with him.

I've been to Barcelona once before, and think it's a beautiful/interesting/slightly gritty city full of culture and life, and would love to live there someday. On this trip I was on my own for most of the time since Brian was off on a photoshoot, so I mainly just explored the town and beaches by foot. The weather was perfect, about 70 degrees and sunny, so I was pretty happy to just be outside.

We were able to have a few hours to hang out with each other Friday morning, so we checked out the Gaudi Sagrada Família house (check out the Wikipedia site on this, it's pretty interesting) together and took a quick trip to the beach. We'll definitely have to go back soon for further exploration!

I've posted a few photos below:

The famous "La Ramba" street filled with birds, artists and street performers

The beach is easily accessible and right in the city

The Gaudi house is still unfinished (it's set to be done in 2055)

Brian and I on the beach before he had to catch a plane

- Krista

Geneva

We booked our Chamonix trip a little late (the hotels fill up fast with European tourists), and couldn't get a hotel for the entire weekend so we decided to stay in Geneva, Switzerland for a night.

We had a really good time, despite the city. It was really strange! We went out for a nice vegetarian dinner on Saturday night (we had gotten sick of eating only bread & cheese in Chamonix), and then had the whole day on Sunday to explore. We knew there was a possibility of things being closed since it's Europe, but absolutely everything was closed the entire day. We had a hard enough time finding a place for lunch.

What's more, there was no one outside! It was a really nice day - sunny and around 50 degrees out - probably the nicest day Europe has had so far this year. Yet there was barely anyone out. No tourists, no kids, no dogs - even though the weather was beautiful. So we had a nap in the park and soaked up the sun, thankful we live in a more lively city!

A few pictures below:

Standing in front of the famous fountain

At the UN - We still need to find out the point of this big three-legged chair

In front of Lake Geneva

- Krista

Chamonix weekend

The month of March flew by and we finally made it to Chamonix for Brian's birthday vacation. It was a fantastic trip, and was just as fun and relaxing as we'd hoped for (aside from an unwanted trip to the doctor's, but I survived).

We went snowboarding on Friday, and despite not having gone up to the mountain for an entire year, we both did pretty well and had a great time. The snow was amazing, since it had been snowing for a couple of days straight, and even though it was a complete whiteout it was still a lot of fun.

Chamonix is beautiful, and the town itself is really cute and charming. We had a great time just walking around and checking out a few restaurants and bars. We went snowshoeing on Saturday just to get outside and explore the area, which was fun especially because the weather cleared up and it was sunny and gorgeous outside.

Overall it was a great trip - we definitely want to go back next year!

I've posted a couple of pictures below, but if you want to see a few more check out our Picassa web album.

The hotel we stayed in - it was recommended by some friends who have stayed there before. Not so bad, huh?

A paraglider high above the mountains

On the slopes and ready to board

Brian in his snowshoes - we realized very quickly we probably could have just worn our tennis shoes

- Krista

Puppies in Belgium

We're getting a puppy!

I know I know, you may think we're crazy, but Brian and I have been envious of dog-owners for a while now, thinking that it would just not be practical to get one of our own. We notice dogs everywhere, especially since moving to Amsterdam - in the city's hundreds of parks, in the grocery stores, in cafes and bars (there are no dog laws here, so dogs can go anywhere)...

Lately we've been talking a bit more seriously about it and realizing that it would not actually be insane for us to have a dog here. With me currently just volunteering part-time and with better weather in the (semi) near future, we decided it would actually be a pretty good time to have a young pup since I could spend a lot of time with it.

Things moved quickly once we came up with that conclusion. We saw a couple walking a beagle, I did some research, and the next thing we knew we were on our way to Belgium to check out a puppy farm.

It was quite a journey - a two hour train ride with two transfers to southern Holland, a 30-minute bus ride to a Dutch town called Zonder, and then a two mile walk over the border to the puppy place in Belgium. We tried to take a taxi but were informed that no taxi drivers worked on the weekend. But we had our iPhones so it was no problem to find it!

Once we got there we fell in love - the place is run by a really nice family who obviously love dogs. There were a couple of different kinds of dogs there, and you could tell they were all really well taken care of and that the parents were happy and healthy. We met several adorable beagles, but we settled on a five-week old girl we named Rocket (Rocky for short).

We thought we were just going there to look... but who were we kidding, we knew we wanted a dog and these pups were just too adorable and perfect to pass up. We get her in two weeks! Fishstick is going to be very, very excited (he is not a normal cat - he loves dogs!)!

Here are a few pictures:

A few of the three-week old puppies sleeping in their bed

Brian holding our new puppy

Our puppy sleeping with the youngsters

More updates to come soon...

- Krista