Kai's New Friend, Dog Tricks & Rainfall

So Gil left today super duper early for training on the big island.  He will be gone for two weeks so it is only Kai and I.  Which should be interesting because she tends to listen to Gil more than me.  

My first day alone with Kai; we spent it trying to teach her to sit.  She has been doing it off and on when we tell her to but it isn't consistent.  Today, She did really well though!  We spend maybe 45 minutes to an hour and she now sits on command...sometimes it takes her a bit of time to sit but she will eventually do it.  Next we are going to work on down and shake.  My wish it to get them down pat before Gil comes home.  

Here is a picture of Kai sleeping, just to give you an idea of how much she has grown.  On our vet visit on Friday she had gained 4 pounds since our first visit so she now weighs 11 pounds!  

Kai met her future playmate today.  Since she is still in the process of getting her puppy shots she isn't suppose to be around other dogs or places a lot of other dogs have been (like parks and beaches) but since Meredith's puppy just finished her shots and the vet knows her dog, Meka, he said it would be safer since they know she is healthy.  Well after Meredith and I went on a walk with Meka we stopped by so Meredith could see how big Kai has gotten.  Both Kai and Meka were so excited to see each other.  Which I was happy about because lately Kai has been getting scared by everything so I figured a dog 3 months older than her and 3x her size would terrify her.  But she loved her.  I am so excited!  

Other than teaching Kai a bunch of tricks I am going to try and paint the office and guest bedroom.  They are the only things left to paint.  I am not sure if I will be able to get both done because I can only paint when Kai is sleeping but I am gonna try!  

I have attached below a video of Kai during her first rainfall.  The steady stream coming off the roof was quit an adventure for her...and very entertaining for me!  

Happy New Year!

Kai is growing like a little bean stalk! When we took her to the vet 2 days after we got her, she weighted 7 pounds. We don't have a scale but I am almost positive that she is now almost 10 pounds. Just picking her up to take her outside I can tell that she is heavier. Also looking at the pictures from when we first got her till now you can see that she is bigger.I don't know how many of you have read Marley & Me or seen the movie but I believe Kai has seen the commercial one too many times because she tried to run through our front screen door. When she hit it she was so confused on why she wasn't outside! It was so cute!By the way, this is Kai in a basket of our CLEAN clothes!

Since Gil has been on vacation and we have gotten Kai, everything we have done has been very low key. We spent most of our time watching movies, reading and working on our Christmas puzzle.
Christmas was a little odd this year. Gil and I both agreed that we think it was because we weren't with our families. It was fun to start our own traditions though. This year we decided that we would exchange one gift on the beach. We had opened all of our gifts after midnight on Christmas Eve so we saved our ornaments for each other and exchanged them on Christmas morning on the beach. I really liked it. I thought it was unique and something we may not always be able to do. But I can officially say that I went to the beach Christmas morning 2008!
We are hoping that our families will come here for Christmas next year...hint hint. ;)
This was our Christmas dinner. I was very happy with it! It all turned out really well!

We have been trying to spend a little bit of time out of the house every so often so Kai gets use to us not always being there. The first time we left her, we went to the movies. We saw Spirit because Gil deserved to see a man movie, since I always drag him to chick flicks. I was really antsy though and couldn't really focus on the movie because I was worried about our little Kai back home. We were gone way longer than I thought we would and when we got home I decided we wouldn't go to another movie for a while. Of course we tried a week later (when we went to go see Marley and Me...super sad movie by the way!) and she did much better the second time. We weren't gone as long though either.

Oh, I forgot to tell you what happened the first time we left her alone. We had blocked her in the kitchen while we were gone. When we came home she wasn't there! She had managed to push the boxes and sneak out. I ended up finding her curled up in our closet on a pile of our dirty clothes! I thought it was so cute!

For New Years we went out to a nice dinner in Kailua. It was a preset menu with a wine pairing for each course. It was a lot of fun to get all dressed up and have a nice meal together. That is something Gil and I have always enjoyed doing together...it is kinda our thing but since we moved here we haven't really had the chance. After dinner we came home and our friend Meredith came over. Her husband Pat was on duty so we invited her over for the midnight celebration. We played Wii and popped a bottle of champagne at midnight. Meredith had so much fun playing Wii that her and Pat went out and bought one the next day! I won't lie...it really is a LOT of fun!
This is us on New Years all dressed up.

That is all we have really been up to. Gil starts work again tomorrow. He leaves next week for the big island. They train there for about 2 weeks then they are back home for a month. I will be staying busy with Kai...hopefully training her not to bite! Wish me luck!

I hope you all had a great holiday season and hope this new year brings great things for you all!

Oh, I almost forgot. Most of you probably heard about it on the news...mostly because Barack Obama was vacationing here in Kailua but if not our power went out around 7 pm the day after Christmas...I think and didn't come back on till 6 the next morning. This is us playing backgammon by candlelight.

I am such a proud Momma right now!

Kai is only 6 weeks old but we are trying our best to train her now so she doesn't develop bad habits. Everything I have been reading says that you shouldn't punish them because they don't understand it. Instead whenever they do something good you are suppose to encourage and praise them. So if they are chewing on something they are supposed to, give them a toy to chew on and when they chew on it praise them. That is somewhat hard to do when they are chewing on you and they don't want the toy but then again she is a puppy and it will take time.

One of the things my friend Meredith taught me, which she also does with her puppy, is to put a bell at the door that leads outside. Whenever you take them out to go potty you make them touch their nose to the bell. It is suppose to teach them to ring the bell when they have to go. That way you hear it and are able to let them out; preventing accidents inside. Well on Kai's very first full day at home she already did it all on her own! I couldn't believe it! She had just finished eating and walked right over to the door and hit it with her paw! I was shocked and SO excited!

Over all she is a very good puppy! She mostly sleeps right now, minus nighttime when we want her to sleep. She is getting better though. We are taking her to the vet today to get her second shot and get started on all the new puppy vaccinations.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Much more to come on puppy Kai!

And Pup Makes Three

Christmas came a little early this year for us. On December 22 Gil went out "shopping" and came home with a puppy! We have been talking about getting a puppy for a VERY long time but had decided to wait. Sure enough Gil had been planning for weeks to get me a puppy. Every time he left to go shopping I thought he just might come home with a puppy but then always convinced myself that there was no way we would get one for Christmas. Sure enough Gil walks through the door two days before Christmas with a puppy.

Gil left early in the morning on the 22nd and came back a few hours later. After lunch though he said he had to go out again. I didn't give it a second thought. This time he said he had to go down to Honolulu. He left once again and when he got home he said I could look (which of course is always the first thing I do, but that day I was determined not to be me and totally ignore him.) He walked through the kitchen and into the living room and placed something under the tree. I was so so so determined not to look. I asked him how his shopping was and he went and sat down on the love seat. I continued to watch tv ignoring the fact that he had put a gift under the tree. Gil kept staring at me and then the tree, just smiling. I heard something move but thought it was a ornament on our tree. (Our tree is really dead now so ornaments are starting to fall off.) A few seconds later I heard something move again; by the way Gil is still smiling at me and the tree! I finally look over and a little head pops out of the top of a gift bag! I of course started crying! I was SO happy!

We decided to name her Kai, as in Kailua, where we live. Growing up my family and I always named our dogs after where we lived. Kai also means, sea, in Hawaiian. She was born on November 13th on the Big Island, Hawaii. She is part black lab and part German short-haired pointer. She is just the cutest thing! She is so incredibly tiny! The two other dogs I have had growing up never seemed to be this tiny. Or maybe they were and but it is just hard to believe they were that tiny with how big they got.

Feeling the Christmas Spirit

Gil and I have had our Christmas tree up and decorated since the weekend after Thanksgiving. Sadly that is all the Christmas decorating that had been done. That is until yesterday. I hadn't done anymore because we had so few decorations it looked sloppy rather than looking like I had actually decorated. Lucky me, my amazing mom swooped in and mailed me a bunch of decorations that she got on sale at Target and Michael's. Between what she sent me and what I already had I got to the task of cleaning and decorating the living room. Thanks to mom here is my decorated living room!

The House

Here are finally pictures of our almost completed house. Before and Afters! Hope you enjoy.Kitchen Before and After.

Dining Room Before and After.

Living Room Before and After...and After AGAIN!

We just got the carpet this past week. We love it!

Guest Bathroom. Still thinking about painting it...

These next to photos are for you Grandma B! I thought you would be proud! I absolutely love my linen closet! It is so organized!

I just organized the pantry yesterday and almost love it as much as the linen closet!

The Office. As you can see we don't have much to put in it. It is more of Gil's dumping ground for all his gear; plus our books that don't have a bookcase yet. This room is still a work in progress and I plan on painting it, hopefully soon.

Guest Bedroom. Also a work in progress. Looks better than the office though. I am going to paint this room as well.

Master Bathroom. Also debating whether to paint.

Master Bedroom Before and After.

Day After Thanksgiving!

I have never been so gung-ho about Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I always thought it was crazy. I feel like you should enjoy and appreciate the Thanksgiving holiday and not fly right past it in anticipation of Christmas.

This year though was another story. I don't know if it is because it is our first Christmas as our own family and I am trying to make it as much like home as possible or because it just doesn't get cold and I am trying to make it feel more like Christmas. Most likely it is a combination of both.

So the day after Thanksgiving, Gil and I got into a little Ford Focus and drove through base to where they were selling Christmas trees.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how good their selection was.  I assumed it would be like Belgium and we would be searching for the best Charlie Brown tree.  They had three different types of trees and all price ranges.  I was very impressed.  

The tree ended up on top of the car....and we were going to tie it down when....

...we weren't sure how to tie it down so....if you can't tell...

...the tree ended up inside our car!  Yes that's right...inside.  Here is proof!  Our tree getting comfy in my passenger seat!

Here is our tree with just the lights...

...the tree after being decorated; Gil putting our star on top.

...us with our first Christmas tree!  Yeah!

Hope you all enjoyed the day after Thanksgiving as much as we did!