Chicago

We just go back from a long trip to Chicago to visit some friends.

The trip took seven hours. We decided it would be more comfortable

for everyone if Mulan stayed at the CCI kennel. It is good practice

for her(and us).

We spent a extra day and visited different sites around Chicago. We

went to the Field Museum and saw the Tsavo lions and Sue the biggest

T-rex in the world. We also went and saw Frank Lloyd Wrights, Robie House.

He put so much work into it! Even the windows are incredible. Here are a few pictures.

Photoshop Class

I am taking a Photoshop Class for school and I had to create a layered piece for a assignment.
So all though this is fairly novice my mom said I should post it on my blog because it pertains to Mulan. . . .












Mulan Update: She is doing fine, we took her to the doggy park again yesterday. She played happily with her buddies for 45 minutes or so. She was all muddy when we got back and after I gave her a bath she promptly slept the rest of the evening.
I would also like to tell everyone that if you post a comment on a update that I did a while ago I probably will not see it. I will have a better chance of seeing it if it was posted on a new post.
-Thank You:)

More Snow

So I have not posted in a while because there has been not much new about
Mulan to post. She did see her first snow yesterday though. It did not last
very long and it melted by this morning. She would not go to the bathroom in it and
waited all day until it had melted more in the evening. I don't know what she is going to do when the snow stays for days! It has also been very cold and this morning I had to take her for a
walk in 14 degrees. It is a exhilirating way to start the day:)

Virtual human development game



www.human-age.com

New Coat

When we were visiting my grandparents for Thanksgiving I mentioned

to my grandma that Mulan needed a coat. This was something she had not

needed in Texas being that is rarely rained and was not nearly as cold as Ohio.

A couple of days later we headed out to the store and bought her a brand new dog

coat. It is really nice and good quality. It is like a mini horse coat. Here is a picture of her

in it. . .

P.S. Hello Rose and Tjodie and Eddie:) Thanks for reading my blog. I miss you all! Mulan says "Hi" and says that she misses playing with Taco and Chico (If you can call it that:)

Extreme Makeover Home Edition!

Guess what? In Whitehall one of the nearby towns, they had Extreme Makeover Home Edition building a house for a family of nine. The reason they were redoing the house for them was that the father had been one of the firefighters at the Trade Towers on Sept 11th.

We went to visit the site on Tuesday and we got to meet two of the designers! First Tanya came up and we got to meet her and then Ed came up and we talked to him for a while. We also saw Tye (though only from a distance). It was a very unique experience:)

Do you remember when I said I was teaching Mulan how to turn? I was just telling my mom the other day that I couldn't really think of a place that we would be able to actually use the command.

But when we got our picture taking with Ed, Mulan had gotten turned around and was backwards and I had really wanted her face to be in the picture so I quicky commanded her to "turn" and she turned right around and plopped down! I was so happy that one of her commands actually paid off:) If you notice in the picture she is facing a little to the side that is a result of her turning at the last minute.

Today we went back to visit and see how the house had turned out. It was beautiful! Unluckily we were unable to stay and see the family arrive because it started sleeting! It was freezing! Welcome to Ohio. . . .

P.S. Go OSU!!!!!!!

The first picture is the day that they demoed the house and the second pic is of the house all finished. The last two pictures are of Cara, Mulan, and I with Ed and Tanya. The last pic is of Tye standing on top of one of the trucks they used for hauling the junk away. He is like a big kid! He crawled around all the wreckage when they were demoing the house and he loved it.

At Least Mulan Liked It:)

Yesterday I stayed home by myself all day while my family went
to church because I wasn't feeling well. It is probably just working to
hard and the cold weather. Sometimes I just feel stretched thin. Like
Bilbo says on "Lord of the Rings" he says, "like butter spread over too much bread."
Luckily I have Mulan and my family around me to keep me going:)
We took Mulan over to a new doggy park. She loved it! It was a huge fenced in area with
toys, water bowls, and even a small pond for the dogs to explore. We spent over 45 minutes
there just letting her run around. I think she liked just being a dog for once.

Turn-in

Mulan now has a official turn-in date. It will be in March. We were leaning toward
that but we haven't been sure until yesterday. When we were talking to Sarah at
the kennel we were saying we would like to know if it was going to be in Feburary or
March and she said that all her paperwork says March. So we will continue to
raise her for another five months or so. It seems long now but I know it will fly by.
We don't yet know how much we are going to miss her:(

New Commands

CCI has sent out a e-mail saying that there are two new commands we need to teach the dogs. We are working with Mulan on "turn" right now. This will help in grocery stores. I didn't realize how big she had gotten until I tried to move her out of the grocery store aisle. So this will be a nifty little command. I put her into the bath tub and used a piece of food to guide her into a turn. I said turn as she did it. We have been working on it for almost a week and she is getting pretty good at it. I wanted to show you how much she has grown compared to her old puppy pictures. . . .

First Snow!

My sister and I think that it is a minor miracle for it to be snowing
this early but it did! It flurried for over a hour. I could not concentrate
on my classes and I spent most of the time watching snow outside. It didn't
build up and finally it stopped all together but it was neat anyways.
I took Mulan out in it and she spent the whole time trying to figure
out how to catch it in her mouth. I can't wait until she sees real snow!

100th Pumpkin Festival

We picked Mulan up from the puppy raisers house Monday. She had a great time
playing with the ladies two dogs. Unfortunately I think she got into something
while she was there that she was not suppose to have and she has had a upset
stomach for a day or so. Don't worry if it goes any longer then three days I will take
her to a vet:) We went to the 100th Pumpkin Festival in Circleville yesterday.
We had the most delicious hot pumpkin donuts. They were so good. The whole festival was
based mainly around food. We tried pumpkin fudge, pumpkin cornbread, pumpkin chili, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin donuts, and pumpkin pizza(which happened to be delicious). We all enjoyed it and it was a welcome break from all the traveling.

left picture: A huge stack of pumpkins at the pumpkin festival

right picture: The "world's biggest pumpkin pie."

Another Trip

We are leaving again. This time we are going to Maryland to stay up in the
mountains for a week. It is suppose to be really pretty up there this time
of year. I hate leaving Mulan but she is going to stay with a puppy raiser
that is raising a young puppy at the m0ment. Mulan is not the smallest any
more:( I will update when I get back and if I have access to a computer hopefully
before that.

Apple Picking

We went apple picking for the first time! It was very pleasant.
The air feels like fall here. I have not felt fall air like this before. The
trees were dripping with apples and we all filled our bags to the brim in
ten minutes. They were Liberty apples which are very tart and sweet.
Mulan loved it! She loved just holding the apple in her mouth because it
felt like she owned it and it was hers alone. We also attended a Puppy Class
at the Polaris mall Wednesday night. We practiced walking up and down stairs
and various socialization skills. Mulan did wonderful(I am such a doggy mom).
One of her only problems was staying by my side towards the end of the stairs because she would get excited and want to get off really fast. It was a good refresher course for both of us.
Here are a few pictures. . . .

LPCCI Booth

Mulan and I got to help work the CCI booth Thursday at the Lions
convention. Mulan loved all the attention and behaved very
well. It was a very neat experience. I answered a lot of questions
about CCI and my personal stories of life as a puppy raiser.
One lady I talked to at the booth was getting her ninth puppy
the following week! Nine puppies is a lot. Mulan is now on four
cups of food a day. This is to fill her out a little bit. And the next bag
of food we buy will be adult food(we have been feeding her puppy food).
Here is a picture of us at the CCI booth.

September 11

I can't believe tommorrow it will have been five years since September 11. I remember
that morning very clearly. I feel for everyone who lost someone.
Today we took Mulan to a little outdoor tomato festival. It only had three tents!
I tried my first fried green tomatos and tomato fudge (don't try either of them).
My mom and I were discussing how Mulan has changed while we were gone. There
is a definant difference. Before she was unable to just lay and relax , but now she will lay
around for up to two hours doing nothing. It is kind of enjoyable. It makes life much easier
for all of us.

Eleven Months

Wow! Mulan is officially eleven months old. Where did time go?
It seems like we just got her. We were just told that her
official turn in date will probably be somewhere in May. That means
that we are about half way there:(
On a different note I heard about Steve Irwin. That is so sad and he was only
44! Well I have to go. . .

Another Puppy Class

When we picked up Mulan she was so excited! That made me feel pretty good.
She is sooo big she looks like a adult. I will post pictures as soon as I can but my camera
is full from vacation right now so I have to wait until I empty it.
We took her to one of the monthly puppy classes at the CCI center last night. It was really
enjoyable we did relays with our dogs where we had to carry a spoonful of dogfood while
handling our dogs in the correct manner. Whichever team filled up the dog bowl at the other
end of the room first would win. There was also a added distraction of dog food on the ground.
So it was a good way to reconnect for both Mulan and I.

Home

Finally! I am really glad to be home. We have been busily collecting our pets
one by one. First was our hamsters and fish and Monday we will be picking
up Mulan. I wonder what she looks like now? I am kind of nervous it is like picking
her up for the first time all over again. Thanks to everyone who has been so patient
while I have been out wandering around:)

NYC!

We are at our grandparents house for a few days so I have access to a computer.
We just returned from visiting New York it was fabulous! We had been before
but we have done the usual tourists things and visited Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty.
This time we got to really know the city. We got to picnic in Central Park, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, see the play "Stomp", visit Little Italy, eat every type of food imaginable(one of my favorites:), see the "Today" show live with Anne Curry, go to Ground Zero, and the list goes on. I really enjoyed it. I think my two favorites were visiting Chinatown and running to a little diner as the rain poured down! I am blessed with parents who are willing to try anything and be adventerous.

Camp and Vacation

Today we are dropping off Mulan at the CCI center for four weeks
while we go to a church camp and then on vacation. So starting at the beginning
of September start checking back for the further adventures of Mulan:)

Nine Months!

Mulan is now well over nine months old so here is her nine month picture
and a picture of her with her new "baby."
She loves this little doggy that she picked out herself at a garage sale. The lady
was so impressed that she let Mulan have her for free.

Michigan

We got to spend a few days in Battle Creek, Michigan last weekend.
Mulan stayed at the CCI kennel so you don't have to worry:)
It is a really nice little town they have a very nice zoo and even the Kellogs
Cereal Factory.
Mulan came back bathed and with her nail clipped! I was impressed.
Can you believe she is over nine months now. I don't think she is going
to be huge but she is not tiny either.
I just finished reading a article about a new kennel that specializes in "teacup" dogs.
Meaning dogs that are not over five lbs. In my opinion those dogs are more like "arm candy"
then a real pet. Why don't you just by a hamster?

Potluck Pics

I finally have got around to downloading the pics. So here they are, Mulan is the one
in the brown collar. It is was very hard to get a good picture with the dogs running
around like crazy. She had a blast and was very well behaved considering she
hasn't seen any other dogs in a while. The center is only about forty minutes away
so they said they would take Mulan while we go to Michigan this weekend.

North Central Pot Luck

We have been invited to attend a class and pot luck with other puppy raisers
at the North Central Center tonight. I am looking forward to meeting other
puppy raisers in our area. I hope Mulan behaves herself for me. She usually is
very good but she gets very excited around other dogs. Which is understandable.
I will try to get some good pictures and post them tommorrow.

Settling In

I think we are finally all settled in. Cara and I just got some hamsters
which Mulan seems to find very interesting. Mulan is adjusting fine
the move did not seem to affect her at all. Here is a picture of us in front
of the television the other night.

Ohio!

Sorry it has been so long. We finally have a house and internet!
We are just about all settled in. Mulan is doing well. Let's just say
that a twenty hour car ride in the back seat with a lab is "interesting."
I think we can probably leave it at that.
I have been impressed with the climate difference up here. The first day
we moved in it was over 90 degrees. Then the temperature dropped and
it rained for three days straight!
One of the new things Mulan has learned is how to behave in a house. It just
clicked with her one day and she doesn't chew as much as she used to. I just did
a check on her weight and she weighs almost 60 lbs! Thanks for everyones support I hope
that I can start updating more regularly from now on.

Back Again

We are finally back from our final trip to Roswell. I love going to Roswell because we
get to stay in a members really old, eclectic house that was owned by the sheriff that
shot Billy the Kid! We also love going because she makes the best biscuits and green
chili stew. When we picked Mulan up she looked a little bigger I can't believe how fast
they grow.
I also figured out how to allow anyone who wants to post on my blog you don't have to
be a registered member anymore. Someone will have to tell me if it worked:)

Very Busy. . . .

We have been very busy these past few days. First of all one of our friends
died so we had to attend the funeral which is all the way down in Houston.
The day we were going to leave my sister came down with a 103 degree fever.
So while my mom stayed with her just my dad and I decided to attend the funeral.
That left the problem of what to do with Mulan. So (I felt kind of bad) we took her
back over to Barbara's where she spent a very happy weekend playing with Reefe (Barbaras dog).
She came back smelling like a lab and very tired:)

New Orleans Pictures

Ok, I finally got some of the pictures of the damage to load
here they are. . . .
The first one is of us and a friend eating Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. The other three are just a few of many pictures we have of the damage down there. Can you beleive that these have been taken nine months after the Hurricane!

We're Back!

It is good to be home again even if it is only until Friday!
We are going to Houston for a final farewell.
New Orleans was amazing. You are unable to comprehend
the extent of the damage until you have seen it with your own eyes.
There are families living on the street because their own homes are
so full of mold that there are unable to enter them without wearing
special suits.
Mulan is doing well. We went swimming in the neighbors pool today.
She will swim only if she is following me. She always has to see someone
go first:)
I have a few pictures I want to post but they are not loading so I will try
again tommorrow.

New Orleans

We are going to spend the weekend in New Orleans. My father really enjoys
it and it will be our last time to go before we move.
We are not taking Mulan because we think that the trip would be a bit much for
her. She is staying with a puppy raiser named Barbara Naylor and her dog.
Her dog is ten months old and weighs almost twice what Mulan does. They
hit it off right away though and spent the entire time we were there slobbering
all over one another. Barbara takes her dog to school with her every day(she is a teacher)
so she is going to take Mulan with her as well. I hope she behaves for her.
I will post again next Tuesday when we get back from our trip.

The Creek

Today we took Mulan down to the creek to play.
She loved it! The water went to her chest so it was just
the right height. We played for a good two hours.
She would run so fast in the water that it look like
she was running on top of her. As soon as she got her bath
when we got home she went right to sleep and is still sleeping.

Yeah!

We finally found a new house. It is so nice I never expected to find
such a nice house. It does not have a fenced yard so that would be
a problem with Mulan. My parents said they might be able to work
something out with the landlord so that they might build a fence.
I am so pleased with it! Here is a picture. . .

Packing

Sorry it has been so long these next two months are going to be kind
of hectic so bear with me if I can't post as often.
Right now our parents are in Ohio searching for a house while we had a
couple from church come stay with us.
Yesterday I got "carded" for the first time in the mall. A police officer asked
if I had any proof that Mulan could be there. I showed him the card and
he waved us on. We didn't stay very long because the mall is to busy on Sundays
for Mulan. She is still growing. Hopefully she does not outgrow her kennel:)

Mulan's First Swim

Isn't it amazing that dogs are born knowing how to swim?
Mulan tested her water legs for the first time yesterday. She had been interested
in our pool for a while so she must have gotten warm because she jumped
right in all by herself! We had a blast playing with her and swam for over
three hours. My sister and I are a little sunburned today.

Spring Pictures!

We took Mulan with us to Tulsa last weekend. She did wonderful.
She is a very good traveler and sleeps most of the time.
In Tulsa they had some very beautiful azalias. We thought it would
be nice to get some pictures in front of them. I am only posting two
but I think you can get the idea.
The bear in the this picture is Mulans "baby" which she sleeps
with all the time.

Six Months!

Mulan was six months old yesterday! Her half-birthday is
on my birthday. We took some cute pictures of her for her
six month picture in some Texas Bluebonnets.
We also introduced her to our gerbils. She loves them and is
very gentle with them. The picture of her with the grey gerbil
is my sisters gerbil and the brown gerbil is mine. Their names
are Dip and Dot:)

A New Collar

Since we are leaving Texas we decided to get Mulan a collar with some sort
of Texas star thing on it. We found a very nice leather one for only fifteen
dollars. It is a little loose on her but I think she will grow into it very fast.
We are training her "place" right now. We have a little mat that she goes
to when we eat or watch TV.



Mulans new collar

Cute Pictures

While we were away Mulan had a chance to visit the CCI puppy class with a puppy raiser.
She was the belle of the ball. They all really enjoy her. They took these
very cute pictures of all of them together. I don't think they got much training done:)

It's Official!

We are officially moving to Columbous, OH at the beginning of June.
This city would not have been my first choice to move to but
we will be only 8 hours from our family instead of over two days.
I am going to miss the Texas climate and atmosphere so much.
I was born in Ohio but since my dad is a minister we were transfered
to Pennysylvania to be closer to his congregations. I was not even one year-old
so I don't remember it much. We were then asked to move to Oklahoma and
finally down to Texas. We have been living in the south for about seven years.
I have done a lot of growing up here and I barely remember our time up north
so it is going to be very different. For all you fans of Mulan I did not forget her
she is probably going to be shipped up ahead of us and stay at a official puppy raisers
until we get there. These next two months are going to be so hectic.

Last Puppy Class!

Mulan at the computer desk with me.

Next week is Mulans last puppy class! I am really glad she was able
to do these because she enjoys playing with the other "pupils" so much.
Another puppy raiser showed us how to file her nails instead of clipping them. This works a lot
better and sometimes Mulan even
falls asleep while I file them!

P.S. If my grandparents read this they should call us we have awesome news:)

Big Bend

We had a relaxing time camping down in Big Bend National Park and Del Rio.
We got to see some neat cave paintings at the Seminole Canyon.
We were so surprised to come back and see how much Mulan has grown.
She is getting very leggy, which I think is a golden retriever trait?
She was not very happy to leave her new doggy friend at the puppy raisers house.
Can you beleive in about two weeks she will be six months old! Her half birthday is actually
the same day as my birthday. So we will be celebrating both of them:)

Here is a picture of the cave paintings. I will post more pictures soon but they are not uploading for some reason today:(

Just A Update

I didn't mean for everyone to get so upset. It is encouraging to know that there are
people out there that care so much about these dogs. I am glad to have all sorts of advice from different people. Mulan has had her parvo shots even though they are not required by the CCI.
We are going down to camp for a week in Del Rio and Big Bend. Mulan is staying at a retired CCI puppy raisers house. She is going to enjoy playing with their CCI dog a lot.
I am really looking forward to this trip and I will post as soon as we get back:)

Our First Official Outing

We took Mulan to a little Irish Festival Sunday.
She did so well I was really proud of her. Dogs were allowed.
and we saw two other assistance dogs.
Mulan usually draws almost as much attention as the singers.
Here is a cute picture of her.