the Sweden trip!!

that's right folks, i've finally sat down to write this puppy up...so hold on to your boots and let me show you the lovely country of Sweden!

first a little back story business:

why did we go to Sweden (and abandon our favorite aire-dog?!)? well, my dear friend from college mentioned that when it came time for her to walk down the aisle with her swede it would definately be in his hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden. our reaction was the same as anyone's would be...YAY!!! for a destination wedding and yay for sure for a european destination :) i mean, it doesn't get any better than that...unless someone gets married in italy...in that case ben and i should definately be invited to that too!!

ahem, fast forward to september 2010 and the wedding weekend approaching!

after a tortuous overseas flight complete with odd airport decoration (exhibit A)

yes...that IS a corn cob shaped like an airplane...i don't know either :)

and an emergency landing in maine, we made it to gothenburg!

Gothenburg, Sweden

a charming city on the west coast of Sweden, it is the second largest city in the country. it's history is a running list of battles for ownership of the important hub of trade. for more history visit this site. we were able to walk around the city a bit and take in some of the sights...it rained most of the time we were there (of course it was sunny the day we left...) so we didn't really get to know the city very well, but it was a nice mix of old and modern architecture and having the sea within steps is pretty awesome too.

some political propaganda...we were in the country the same weekend as their national elections which made the trip even more interesting...we got caught in a political rally!!!

some shots of one of the public gardens we toured...lovely!

Our Hosts

european destination wedding = some serious $$$ but i was given an awesome gift of a paid for plane ticket and then we were housed with a family that are friends of the groom.

this =awesome!

our hosts, Carina and Andreas were incredible and were so kind for letting us stay in their really cool house and cart our butts around gothenburg.



they introduced us to traditional Swedish foods and we had many late night discussions at the dining room table about American and Swedish politics. also in the house was a half-pint host, little Martin, the happiest little baby ever! Martin entertained us many times and was so well behaved.

Ben and i can't say enough how thankful we are to Carina and Andreas for letting us stay with them. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

The Night Before...

a little rehearsal dinner action at Tobias' parents house...excellent food and company!! thank you so much Lilimor and Matts for making us feel at home :)

(i know i'll have to edit their names...spellcheck!!)

me and Gennie, the bride...pay no attention to my awful hair. bleh.

hmmm...ben REALLY enjoyed the "smoky" scotch...who has the drunk eye now?!?!

The Wedding

the boat....hello Erik....

my 3rd favorite part of the day...helping to decorate!!

the "gallery" where the ceremony took place.

Gennie's wedding was truly a handmade wedding...designed the invitations and made all the place cards, menus, etc. by hand...we arranged flowers the night before (not going to lie, i was voted most talented flower arranger :) i was in awe of the attention to detail she had for her wedding day...it was so lovely!

oh, and see all those glasses at the place setting...yeah, those are ALL for ONE PERSON!!! my kind of people, those swedes :)

Gennie and Tobias tied the knot on a saturday evening on a hundred year old boat named St. Erik. at sunset the couple held hands in the gallery and said their vows before an intimate gathering of family and close friends. it was so beautiful!

the hand off...

Ben, always entertaining the ladies!

we sailed around some archipegilos off the coast and watched the sun set. dinner was the traditional Swedish fare of herring served in a variety of ways and the main course was a very tasty halibut and perfectly steamed and seasoned potatoes. Swedish tradition dictates that married couples do not sit at the same table as each other...this was a very good way of meeting other family and friends of the couple and we enjoyed this tradition immensely and think it should be adopted for all weddings and parties.

after the wedding and dinner on the ship, the after party started up at a local pub and good times were had by all. we had a great evening with new friends and i'm so glad and happy that Ben and i got to be a part of Tobias and Gennie's wedding day!!

Day Trip to Marstrand

to say that our trip to sweden was short is and understatement...it was a micro-trip!! BUT, we did get to get out of town and sight see to the small island of Marstrand, known internationally for an annual yacht race in the summer. it has had an interesting history as a protective fort that then morphed into a large jail and then became a tourist/summer vacation location for locals and the Swedish royals. it was very picturesque and in the summer i'm sure it's booming with tourists.

me and Carina on the ferry to Marstrand...and little Martin in the pram.



on our way up the tower on the island.



laying around on the job...

you might ask what mr. wallace was up to on our 5 day journey...well, he was pining away for his mom while his uncle brian dutifully watched over him :) when we got back to austin (after a hellacious flight in which a small human kicked and screamed directly behind me for practically the ENTIRE flight from amsterdam to minneapolis...yeah awful) wally was so overcome with joy at seeing me, that he could not stop moving and did his "bone dance" for me not some stinking piece of rawhide!! it was so nice to be home and with our favorite aire-boy.

hope you all enjoy the pics...we had a great time in sweden and really we can't thank Gennie and Tobias enough for making it possible for us to be with them for their wedding celebration. and another HUGE thank you to Carina and Andreas and little Martin for allowing us to stay with them and also be our tour guides and chauffeur...thank you so much, we really enjoyed our visit!!!

WOOF!

BYE FROM SWEDEN!!!

2nd Anniversary...check.

today marks the day of our second year of wedded bliss :)

i am truly lucky to be traveling through this life with someone like Ben, possibly because he is always prepared for it seems just about everything...like a boyscout, but more likely it is because he makes the everyday stuff great.

and....he buys me flowers, not only for special occasions, but sometimes just to get flowers. see exhibit 'A'

my gift to him was a homemade loaf of bread. see exhibit 'B'

(who am i kidding, i totally used the bread maching...but the house smelled GREAT!)

AND wally didn't eat it this time around!!

anyway, enough mushy stuff mum....on to MY weekend!!!

my "girlfriend" is visiting...we are having so much fun chasing each other and playing tug of war with my rope. it's really the perfect life having a friend over.

she's smaller than me and not a perfect airedale like me, but she's super fast and has the energy level of an airedale that's for sure! mum took some video of us 'ruff' housing, but i don't think she knows how to load it up to the computer...figures!

well, that's all for now, i have some patrolling to do and tug of war to play.

take care!

WOOF!

did that car just float by????

well, we haven't completely been swept away down here in central Texas!
after torrential rains from tropical depression Hermine, we have lots of destruction to deal with! at villa debellis, we received at least 10 inches. other parts of austin and surrounding areas report 12+ inches. crazy! luckily our little neighborhood fared well and we have no damage...thank goodness!



all this rain has caused one big fluffy aire-head great displeasure...he is not toO keen on going outside to do his business in the rain. (he finally "went" when it was more than he could bear) i think these pics show his opinion of t.s. Hermine....

...um....that's some stink eye for you!!!


anyway, back to the flooding and destruction...
here are some pics of some of our parks in Round Rock that are much worse for wear.

we lost some asphalt at a few of our parks...

this was a storage barn, as you can see the water just ripped into it.

this is a GIANT pecan tree that totally flattened that poor little bench! our arborist said it was 2" wider in circumference than their largest saw. that sucker was big!

at our memorial park our WWII torpedo display was basically dismantled by the floods...the torpedo was busted out of its concrete cradle and went as far as it could before the trees stopped its journey...if not for the trees it might have floated on down to some other town! i am saddened by this picture, our vets worked really hard to get the torpedo and have it restored and it's only been on display since last fall.

while these photos show some pretty big obstacles, we will clean up and patch and repair!

hope everyone has a great weekend.
bark at ya later!

WOOF!

dog days of august are over...

howdy everyone!
the pinkies are all wearing maroon and excited about something called "college football"....personally i'd rather be chewing on a bone. but apparently this weekend marks the beginning of the season. (mum: lets hope the aggies can pull off a respectable season...WHOOP!)
it's the start of labor day weekend and it's shaping up to be a good one...the weather dropped significantly and i already got in a quality walkie with the mum today :)
cross your paws that the weekend stays on the cool side of the 90's!!

mum has been busy, she abandoned us boys and went on a girlie trip to fredericksburg for a bachelorette weekend for her friend Gennie K. apparently they had a great time, although i don't know how she could have had that much fun without me...just sayin'.
here are some snapshots...they did some action stuff and also tooled around the main drag in town, and visited Luckenbach, Tx too...where everybody's somebody!!




















hope everyone has a safe and wonderful labor day weekend...
WOOF!

catching up

howdy folks! just wanted to let you all know what i've been up to :)
lots of laying about...evidence here-



i've also gotten pretty good at stalking the squirrels in the tree in the back yard. here i am ferociously waiting them out! sometimes i get so excited i try to climb the tree! mum is never fast enough to catch that in action...



i also spend a lot of time begging for a piece of the cheese sticks mum and dad seem to have everyday...they taste wonderful!

well, that's what's new with me, i suppose i have to turn this writing stuff over to mum so she can tell you about all the "cool" things they've been doing (as if they could be cooler than me..)

we have been doing cool things!
my sister came to visit for a few days a couple weeks ago. we ate some mexican food and embarked on "Craft Day 2010". now, i had a whole list set up of some reasonable 'beginner' crafts that we could accomplish in one afternoon...sad to say, we chose to lounge about in the morning and then eat mexican food. by the time we got home from the craft store (we needed some minor supplies) it was late afternoon!!
the results of "Craft Day 2010" are a beautiful set of cloth napkins made from a vintage table cloth that i had and audra learned how to hand embroider. yes folks, we have made things with our hands!!! (trumpets playing...ok maybe i hear led zepplin) see below for a pic of the napkins.



we also had a wonderful dinner last night with our friends jorge and julieth and their pretty little girl pricila, who was born this past february (the best month in my opinion for birthdays) we got to pose with little pricila for some pics!





she was such a good girl and is very strong. she was so happy she didn't want to go to bed...we have that effect on people :)

as i close, wally is super focused on ben out in the neighbor's front yard, he is helping to take down the dead tree :( so sad, we'll miss the shade and it looks so strange without something there now.
until next time, au revoir.

WOOF!

Can you believe it's August?!?

nope, neither can i.
July was a pretty busy month for our household. it involved lots of travel on the weekends and busy days during the week. we are kind of hoping August is a little bit slower :)

July 4th weekend marked lots of celebrations, including Wally's birthday. we went to some parties and watched the fireworks from the comfort of our driveway. our neighborhood puts on a pretty good show. luckily the RR fireworks were canceled due to weather conditions so i didn't have to work July 4th like i usually do. considering this is my favorite holiday, i was elated.

The second weekend in July our good friends from louisiana came for a visit with their son, D3. it was such a good weekend and we had a great time seeing them. we always enjoy getting together with such good friends...we only wish they didn't live so far away! we got lots of shopping done and tons of good food was had by all. we really like to feast when we get together :)



Wally had his first prolonged meeting with a 9 month old and that went surprisingly well. he was very concerned anytime D3 made baby noises and really enjoyed sniffing the heck out of his diaper! we all noticed that since D3 was so busy scooting to and from Wally, he actually got faster at crawling and improved his pull up skills in one weekend! i guess dogs are good for something!

the next weekend saw the postponed RR fireworks show on fri. and so i had to work the event afterall. all went well and everyone enjoyed them. Ben and i left that sat for a quick trip up to his cousin's house in forney, tx. Adam and his wife Jamie live there with their 9 month old Ava. Ben's other cousin Paul from NYC was visiting as well, so we all had a good time catching up. Forney has really grown since my last visit a few years ago! Ben's cousins have a beautiful house and little Ava was a sweetheart!! she looks like her mom, but has the activity level of her dad. we got her this little frilly outfit from target.



if that's not enough car time, the next weekend we drove back to the metroplex to visit with my parents and family. my mom's cousins from Kansas stopped in to the FN Ranch on their way down to S. Padre Island. it was really great to see them, it's been almost 7yrs. since Ben and I saw them!!! the farming life doesn't leave a lot of time for vacation. we had a good time and had some great food at Joe T's in downtown fort worth.







yesterday we did some work around the house which included power washing the driveway and sidewalks and we painted the front door a lovely dark maroon...it looks fantastic!





whew!
that was a lot of travel!! luckily wally got to travel with us to the FN Ranch and got some good pasture running in. as our final weekend in July closes, we are clean and resting after a good morning down at town lake on the trail. hope everyone had a good july, here's to a happy august!!

WOOF!

That state of OK

we are sitting in the living room and my mum is watching her funny show 'Little Britain' laughing really loud...i just don't see what's so funny really, there are no squirrels or rabbits and no dogs catch the bird.
anyway...my pinkies left me TWICE in the last two weeks (i don't know how anyone would want to leave my cute face behind) but they had to go up to the metroplex to be with mum's dad who was not feeling well. turns out after a surgery to get rid of an infection he is doing better and is now back at the ranch. which is a good thing because he was getting pretty cranky being in the hospital all that time!
THEN, last weekend mum and dad took a road trip up to Oklahoma! (the state of Oklahoma! must be written with an exclamation point behind it otherwise it's just that wasteland on the other side of the Red River) anywho, my pinkies went up to Oklahoma! to visit some old friends from college and see their new house and just hang out.
since i wasn't with them, i guess i'll hand over this post to my mum...

we had a great time in Oklahoma! we visited that school that happens to be in norman,ok..we did not see bobby stoops. i think our campus at A&M was much better! we also drove over to Oklahoma City and saw the bombing memorial which was truly beautiful and very striking to see. it is very well done and conveys the story of that sad event in America's history.







after a GREAT steak dinner made by Lesli' (it was soooo good, thank you Lesli') we hung out and enjoyed a movie. the next day we ate at 'The Diner' an awesome breakfast establishment in historic Norman (it was so good we ate there twice..yum!) excellent blueberry pancakes.


all in all, we had a good time and our friends' house is beautiful and we are so happy for their success (even though they live in Oklahoma!) kidding!!

mum give me the computer back!!!
so while they were away my uncle brian was lucky enough to watch over me all weekend...thanks so much!! i was a bit of a toot though mum says as i got a hold of the remote control and decided it looked like a bone....i don't know why she got so mad...

well, it's almost bedtime, hope all of you are doing well.
goodnight

WOOF!