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| When you have 3 very affectionate dogs you never have to spend a moment alone, even in the bathroom! |
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| We do spend a large part of our weekends attending birthday parties. Here is Maria at one of her very favorite friend's 4th birthday. |
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| Later that day I took Jagger to a GDA fundraiser event- this one a "Minute to Win It" game. This woman was on a team that had a "Breaking Bad" theme. Jagger was not at all thrown by the strange costume and hopped right into her lap. |
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| And then early that Sunday morning I put Gio on a bus in Sandton to head off for a week long camp outside of Durban. I was nervous. He was not! |
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| First photo from camp. Clearly he is missing me a lot. |
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| Reading to Papa. Maria missed her brother a lot this week but also enjoyed being the "only"! |
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| Oscar (left) had to do some kennel time at Guide Dogs. As luck would have it Jagger's best friend Isaac (middle) happened to be there so Oscar was in good company. |
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| Jagger and I spent a morning on a GDA trip on the Gautrain. |
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| On the train (he immediately went to sleep!). |
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| In Sandton hanging out with his adorable sister Jade. |
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| Trying hard to get a group photo. This was actually one of the better ones! The two other dogs are Obi and Olive (Oscar's siblings!). |
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| Photo from camp. Gio spent nearly every day on the beach! |
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| More from camp: Gio's counselor (Owl!) and his best friend. |
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| Rented this beast so we could take all 3 dogs along with us to Durban to pick up Gio from camp. |
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| But Gio did not really want us to pick him up! Camp was clearly a success! |
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| On the 6 hour trip to Durban. |
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| We made it! First experience with the ocean for Oscar & Jagger. Not sure about Bruno since his earlier life is a mystery to us. |
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| Tide pools. |
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| The next morning we picked up Gio (he did come willingly after all) and immediately headed to the beach where he was hanging out all week). |
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| All the beaches in this province (KwaZulu-Natal) welcome dogs. Since it is winter the beach was quite empty so they even got some off-leash time. |
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| Kisses. |
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| Had a week's worth of laundry to tackle. Luckily our AirBnB was fully equipped. |
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| Recovering after a morning of defending the garden from a monkey invasion. |
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| Heading back to the beach. |
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| Another beach day. The weather was not perfect which meant we had the entire place to ourselves. Dog heaven. |
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| And then it was time to head to Italy. First, though, I had 5 animals to take to 4 different places. Quite a lot to pack and organize! |
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| Oscar is spending the 3 weeks with my dear friend Claire who also has two GDA pups and runs Maria's preschool. Here he is "supervising" at recess. |
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| I dropped Jagger at GDA where he got to hang out with his best friend Isaac. |
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| And then we flew overnight to Italy. First stop, gelato, of course!! |
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| The next day we drove back to Bologna to pick up our beloved Uncle Tucker (my sister's husband). Maria loved her gift of a Wonder Woman t-shirt (complete with cape!). |
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| Gio could not wait for Tucker to come out of his room! |
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| Tucker was quite jet-lagged after his flight from San Francisco but still rallied for a night out on the town. |
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| Photo from Claire in Pretoria of Oscar keeping warm with Claire's GDA pup Vega (smaller one). |
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| Gio's favorite activity with Uncle Tucker is rock climbing! |
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| Got published in a local Pretoria paper! http://rekordeast.co.za/139421/diplomats-wife-become-a-puppy-raiser/ |
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| One day we visited a ropes course. Maria was a centimeter too short to participate so we took a walk in the forest while the guys climbed. We came upon a gnome world! |
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| For anyone who has visited our home in Italy you might remember that our fridge was once completely covered in stickers. Tucker made it his personal project to clean it up (I had decided it had gotten gross). |
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| After a lot of work (and quite a bit of WD-40), it was as good as new! |
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| Balloon fun! |
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| More climbing. |
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| Found this stick house in the woods when we visited Lake Ventasso for a rehearsal dinner (Paolo's best friend gets married this weekend). |
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| Maria checking out photos with the bride-to-be. |
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| Climbed Mt. Ventasso with Paolo and Uncle Tucker. |
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| Watermelon Girl. |
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| Wedding day. Gio's first ever time in a tie and belt! |
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| Paolo's best man speech. |
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| The newly wed couple's adorable son Lorenzo. |
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| Maria's favorite part of the wedding? Throwing rice and blowing bubbles at the bride! |
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| Entertaining Lorenzo. |
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| Maria absolutely adores Paolo's friend Adamo. |
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| It was a perfect evening for a wedding. |
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| Kids' table. |
Maria asked to participate in the wedding music.
Here she is singing "Let it Go"!
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| What a wedding cake! |
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| Opening the wedding Prosecco. |
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| Could have been a Christmas card shot.... but one of us is NOT happy. |
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| With Uncle Tucker (and a still sad Maria)! |
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| Heading off on a walk in the "Gruffalo woods" (a chestnut forest above our house). |
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| We never found that elusive Gruffalo but we did find lots of yummy blackberries! |
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| Last day with Uncle Tucker so one final climb. |
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| And then the sad evening came when we had to take Tucker back to Bologna. We are all hoping he will return at Christmas! |
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| Updates from Pretoria about our furry friends make me so happy! Here is Jagger with best buddy Isaac. |
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| The morning after Tucker left we drove to the Dolomites so Paolo could head off on his 50th birthday celebration. |
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| He and some of his best Italian friends had a 4 day trek planned. Off they go (after a bottle of wine, of course!). |
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| The kids and I were missing Paolo but we had lots of fun exploring the area around Villabassa where we were staying. We found an amazing playground and returned quite a few times! |
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| Mud to play in! |
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| Sibling love. |
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| Maria asked for "getti" for lunch. She tried her best to tackle this massive plate of it. |
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| Italians-in-training. |
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| Another update from Pretoria. Jagger & Isaac with Isaac's sister Lucie. And then back to the park. Maria and Gio loved the zip line! |
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| Bruno is very happy staying with Kwena! |
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| Update from Paolo- staying at this lovely refuge surrounded by cows! |
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| The kids and I did a bike ride from Villabassa to San Candido. Maria loved her chariot! |
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| Took a very steep cable car to collect Paolo. Stunning views but it was COLD! |
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| Got Papa back and took off on a bike ride from Villabassa to Austria. It was a stunning ride. |
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| And then a train ride back (we were able to rent the bikes one way!). |
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| Update photos of the cats from Menlyn Kennels. A rare shot of Pepper not looking too grumpy! |
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| And sweet Bruno keeping warm. |
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| Today (July 31st) is Pepper's 4th birthday. I wrote to Menlyn Kennels to ask them to give them some extra love. They sent back this photo and told me they had given him cat nip to celebrate. Doesn't he look thrilled?! Never too early to develop a love for dancing (and Bruce Springsteen)! |
Next weekend we head back to Pretoria. We have a lot happening in August including Maria's 4th birthday and Gio beginning 3rd grade. More soon!
xo. Clara
