more portland pics - courtesy of Joe

I snagged these pics from Joe Gorski's blog because they are really cool. more pics from our big thanksgiving weekend...
this is where the Gorski's live in Portland. it looks like ski chalet's. it's a beautiful neighborhood with a really great park just behind it. Sushi loved the ducks.
I don't think this is everyone -- there seemed to be more people... oh that's right - BOTH Gorski's are missing!
Joe really loves the way Brian looks in Matthew's hat.
not sure what Andrew and PJ are doing in the background, but Joe is playing the Wii.

Friday - the big Ski Day!

that's right - Friday is the big ski day! we're going with Aaron and Reagan to Snoqualmie to try out our ski legs for the first time... well everyone but me is snowboarding, but I'm going to ski. I'm a rebel. I know you can't wait to see pictures, so I put this one together to hold you over until after the big event.
this is what we'll look like...

more pics from Portland

Brian lives really close to the train station - so we all took the train to downtown Portland to explore.
Andrew at the waterfront.
we stopped at an italian restaurant for lunch and belinis...
Andrew enjoyed his lasagna
that night there was a big tree-lighting celebration in the downtown square. Starbucks was giving out free peppermint hot chocolate.
cheers for hot chocolate!
Here's Carolyn with a hot chocolate mustache
This dude in the cricket outfit was giving out light-up green cricket buttons to everyone in the croud (PJ is really happy about it!) we still have no idea what Cricket is...
there was a balloon artist selling balloons who had Elmo with a tip jar.
Portland has the worlds largest bookstore (it's freaking huge)
here's Joe with the books...
We decided to get some beer at a tavern. this is us J-walking for beer.
Henry's Tavern...
it turned out to be a little brewery. very cool.

pictures from Thanksgiving in Portland

big thanks to Joe and Michelle for hosting the big Thanksgiving meal this year.
Emma making her "cheeseburger" face
Grace had a great time taking pictures. She wants to be a photographer when she grows up.
no thanksgiving is complete without plumbers
Brian with all the food
we all played the Wii. a lot.
a new challenge to Wii Sports - couch bowling. it's harder than it looks.

CSI Bellevue

the scene of the crime - dinocuz is under the bookshelf and someone decided to eat the bookshelf to get it out. two suspects:
look at that sweet expression - it couldn't have possibly been Sushi...
what a sweet face, it couldn't have been Ruby -- wait what's this? wood splinters on the kitty bed? BUSTED.

Javalog

This one's for Kim, since she doesn't seem to like Javalogs.
George gives Javalogs two paws up.
yay for javalogs.

More pics from Dallas...

here are a few more pictures from my trip to Dallas with Sushi for the Ufli nationals. Sushi really fit in well at Robbie and Sonya's house with their 9 dogs... I keep telling Andrew taht we need 9 dogs and he doesn't think it's a good idea, but here's the proof that it really does work!
here's dinner time - Robbie preparing meals for 9 dogs + Sushi. she's right in the mix there. (left to right we have Bella, Dare, Sushi, Sadie with the demon-eyes, Sunshine, and Sniper. missing is Kess, Chakra Keaton and Kodi)
Here's Sushi and her best buddy Sniper wrestling on the bed.
and finally at the fence trying to convince me to let them all out. (left to right is Sadie, Sunshine, Sushi, Dare and Bella)

Sushi's first flyball photos!

Last weekend Sushi and I travelled to Dallas to get some extra training at the Ufli flyball nationals. It was so much fun and we learned a lot, and best of all Sushi has her first official flyball photos!
she got off to a little of a rocky start and had some troubles with the box,
but then she figured out the game and started really showing her stuff
she is such a happy flyball dog!
and in the end she was acting like all the rest of the racing dogs!

are you there Andrew??

Last night Andrew got his nintendo wii. I played some bowling game with him and it was interesting, kinda fun, but I think Andrew's WAY more impressed with it than I am... Ruby hates it. she's beside him trying to get his attention and it's like he doesn't even know she's there. poor sad Ruby.

worst burglar ever

as seen on TV

if you watched Gray's Anatomy last week (I know I'm late -- I just watched it... that's what happens when you have a DVR) they went camping and walked over this bridge. that's Mom on the bridge... it was kinda hard to walk on because it really swayed. made Dad sick and Mom would only go 1/2 way across it...

jim?? or aaron??? you decide...

we agreed at dinner last night that Aaron looks like Jim on the Office.... what do you think?

two thumbs and 4 paws up for Alaskan Airlines

Sushi and I took a weekend trip to Dallas to visit old friends and work on her flyball technique. We had a very pleasant experience with Alaskan Airlines. not only were they very nice and happy to have her travelling in the cabin under the seat, but they let us play ball in the terminal, and we were paged so we could be the first people to board the plane, so Sushi got settled in her spot before anyone else got on board! very pleasant experience all around.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

my favorite nephew Taylor turns 3. Happy birthday!!

this one's for Alex

Rocco says he misses you!

sharing a kitty bed

the dogs love their kitty beds. the sad part is that I only have 2 (I have to get a couple more) and they always want to be in one. George and Sushi found a solution though. they share one. it's a tight fit, but they seem to make it work and even fit a blanket in there too!.

Bodies Exhibit

on Sunday we went with our friends the Halifax's to Dim Sum (Aaron was not a fan of Dim Sum) and then to the Bodies Exhibit. this was amazing. they are actual real dead people. they take all the water out of them and then replace it with silicon and then they harden in these amazing poses. the circulatory system was amazing. a really interesting section showed healthy lungs and then lungs with cancer and emphazema. they had a bin beside the smokers lungs where people were depositing their cigarettes. very cool. if you get a chance to see this it's worth it.

interesting...