The Fabulous B@ker Blog

Today, we took Jasper to the vet for his continuing round of puppy shots. He's tipping the scales at 27 pounds, having gained 19 pounds since joining our family just over 2 months ago. Don't even make me calculate what % growth that is...you know I'm not good at math. Anyway, he continues to astonish and charm everyone he meets with his calm and sweet nature!

Remember back on May 25 (in one of my first blog posts) when I said that the summer stretched out in front of me with no end in sight? Well, the end is in sight. I cannot believe it's already Labor Day weekend. Here's a sampling of my goals for this summer and how they all worked out... Hire a teenager for activities direction (mostly to get Cameron out of the house during the summer days) - NOT ACCOMPLISHED. I never did locate anyone, and before I knew it there was only three weeks when the kids would be mostly by themselves with some miscellaneous activities thrown in. Oh well, boredom makes going back to school more appealing (says me...). Get a puppy - ACCOMPLISHED, AND HOW! We now have the most loving, cuddly dog in the world. Maybe that's why we all didn't mind hanging around all summer... Paint the side yard fence - NOT ACCOMPLISHED (yet). I took a nap instead. Go to the Renaissance Festival - NOT ACCOMPLISHED. For two years in a row we have not managed to ge...

Th e kids turned me onto " Simpsonize Me " a site where you can make yourself into a Simpson's character. What do you think? (The image from the site was a full-body version.)

Last night we had our third puppy class at Bill Payne's School of Dog Obedience in Victor. It's so much fun with all the puppies around. The class has two (hyper) Boxers, two Yellow Labs, one Australian Shepard , one Golden-Doodle, and a couple of other mixed breed dogs. Last week for the demonstration of "wait," and this week for the demonstration of a longer "wait", who do you think the instructor chose? The star puppy, of course! We do a lot of "wait" at home, so by the time we got there Jasper had mastered those two skills. He was very impressive, sitting at rapt attention until the next command was given, after which the instructor (known as "Uncle Bill" to the dogs) said to the group, "Don't you wish you had a Golden?" His family was beaming!! Don't get me wrong: we have a really long way to go with excited pulling when he see people/dogs and pulling on walks. But it sure was a proud moment!

A couple of weeks ago Mark's brother Dave and his wife, Mandy, were in town for an early baby shower (they are due with their first child in January). Next week they will be leaving the States for a two-year stint with the State Department in Turkey (or, "Churkey ," as Cameron pronounces it). As always, we'll use any excuse to get together for an extended-family picnic. We were joined by our cousins from Massachusetts , and, as all the kids are around the same age, it was a great time. Whenever the kids are all together we like to get a picture of them, preferably hanging in and around the front yard tree at Mark's Aunt & Uncle's house. Looks like trouble to me!

On Friday, we took a day trip to Skaneatles (Mark and I had never been), which is about an hour-and-a-half from Rochester. It was a smaller town than we expected so by 2pm, after a nice lunch at the Blue Water Grill and walking around the shops, we were ready to head home. Another "must see" we can check off the list!

What a fun weekend with Jasper! On Saturday, we went to Spring Lake (I think) Park on the East Rochester/ Fairport / Penfield border and took the dog into Irondequoit Creek to try to get him acclimated to the water. Along the way he met a lot of new "friends," and had a muddy great time! We were able to lure him into the shallow water with (what else?) a treat, and he was a natural at swimming. We are having fun at puppy kindergarten, but he already knows most of what the trainer is teaching. For instance, the trainer called on Jasper to demonstrate the "wait" command (first you start with having him wait two seconds, then four, then six...), and I didn't want to break it to the guy that he is already pretty good at "waiting" as he has to wait three times a day until we tell him to come for his food. He has a really good attention span, and was very impressive as the demo dog.