Miss Eva

I wish I could afford one of these...check it out here.

17 months of braces + 6 months of 24/7 retainer =

I love my teeth.

Last weekend we took Marley to the long-awaited (rain-postponed) open house at Faux Paw Farm.

What a blast! Trish Wamsat—Marley's trainer—created this incredible place. Here's Auntie Trish and some dogs playing in the water. It was really hot but the dogs managed to stay cool, even smooshed-nose Marley.

Faux Paw Farm is two and a half acres of pure doggie bliss. It's an actual farm, complete with dogs (of course), goats, chickens and Levi the pony. There's a big field where the dogs play and run, a pond for splashing and even an agility course.

This was Marley's first chance to really play in water. He absolutely loved wading and playing chase through the pond with his new labrador buddy. And man oh man did they wrestle...

Adam grilled up hot dogs and sausages (they look the same to me but he insists there's a difference) on the fancy outdoor kitchen grill. He was dying to get his hands on it; when Trish asked him to grill he jumped for joy. Look at how happy he is!
He took a break to teach an impromptu Jazzercise class too. The blonde girl was a great student...
Marley must've had a blast because I've never seen him this dirty. We took him home and immediately gave him a bath and a cookie. He took a long, long nap. What a great day!

Marley still chases Onyx and she still kicks his ass, but this was a good day...

Our little Marley is about to embark on a new chapter in his life. He's going to learn how to be a Therapy Dog.

Therapy Dog refers to a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, mental institutions, schools, and stressful situations such as disaster areas. I ask you, what says affection and comfort more than THAT FACE!?

In order to complete his training, he'll have to earn his AKC Canine Good Citizen Certification and then be tested and evaluated by Therapy Dogs International. Once he's certified, he'll join a local organization that does visits and get to pick where he'd like to go. He really loves kids, so maybe a Children's Hospital would be a good fit...we'll see. We're all very excited about this new adventure!

Frenchies can't swim due to their large and heavy heads...they'll sink like a brick. We thought Marley would enjoy the beach so we packed up his life jacket and headed for Santa Cruz.

He likes water so he wasn't afraid, but he wasn't all excited like we thought he'd be.
Ten minutes later he decided he was done and headed back to the stairs.
We went to the Ferry Building Marketplace to celebrate Jeanette's birthday. WOW they have yummy stuff there! What a delicious day. Some of my favorites are:

• Star Anise & Pink Peppercorn Chocolate and Burnt Caramel Almonds from Recchiuti Confections. I seriously regret not trying the Fleur de Sel Caramels. Dammit I'll have to go back.
• Lavender Shortbread and Vanilla Parisian Macarons from Miette.
• Imperial Rolls at The Slanted Door, but honestly our entire lunch was delish.
• Stinky Morbier cheese from Cowgirl Creamery.
• Almond soap from Capay Organic.

Here are the boys hanging out at the Wine Bar while Jeanette and I got flowers. What a coincidence...the woman to the left is Liz—we know her from Viva in Los Gatos.

We finished off the trip with a flight of champagne (I had Vitamin Water) and a toast to Jeanette at the Caviar Cafe.
What a great weekend!

Marley discovered the hose today.

Marley had a blast at the dog park on Friday and Saturday. Here he is with his new frenchie friend Rocko. They wrestled forever.

We met the latest addition to the Frenchie Meetup Group, Chloe...
Sunday he did some more wrestling at Tricks & Games class...
And then it was off to Trish's Faux Paw Farm for the first time. There are all kinds of fantastic animals to play with...

Marley was neutered on Friday. The procedure was more extensive than normal because one testicle was deep in his abdomen. He has a huge incision and has been on antiobiotics, anti-inflammatories and pain meds all weekend. He was very brave and is really doing well.

Adam's dream—Marley & Onyx on his lap at the same time—almost came true when we first got him home. He was too groggy to start any trouble.

He let us ice him on Friday night; by Saturday he was much better.