Elsie's Almost-Birthday Post

Since today was Elsie's official due-date, I thought she deserved a little post celebrating the fact that she was one of a very select group of first-born babies to be born six days early.



Elsie's best frowny face.



Cuddling with Daddy.



One very happy milk-drunk smile.

Elsie

Here she is!

First trial with our new Flip...

...in which Toodles leads his brother and sister in asking for dinner, and Ms. Ping tells Pongo in no uncertain terms that she does not want help taking a bath before she eats.

A bit more of NZ

Here is the garden at the B&B we stayed at in Westport, it went all the way around the house in a horseshoe like this. Apparently it takes almost zero maintenance! Very few weeds/pests in NZ.

Seal colony south of Westport! Here is a momma and baby getting along.

And here are some seals fighting over a sunny spot. I did not understand the battle as they did not ever touch. The one on the right seemed to "win."

Down the west coast another 40 minutes are the Punakaki (sp) Rocks, aka the Pancake Rocks. Basically the ocean tides slam into channels in the rock and can explode like a geyser! This was the best one in the 30 minutes we were there watching (high tide):
After the geyser there was also this cool fine mist for a bit:

More from NZ!

These are some rocks on the west coast - right near the seal colony. Very harsh ocean. A beach near Westport, this shot shows blowing sand, and some of the mountains inland.

This a view from the top of the Mountain across from our B&B at St. Arnaud.

This is the base of the same lake as the above, just amazing to see soo many mountains right to the base of this lake (lake seemed sea level).

View from a kayaking break from our day kayaking at Abel Tasman National Park.

Back from New Zealand!

We are back and slowly recovering from the 18-hour time change. Lots of great memories,beautiful hikes, and new animal friends (and some human ones, too). Here we are in the mountains of Arthur's Pass the day before we flew home.

Anyone for a nap?

Feeling just a little queasy this afternoon (I think I'm coming down with a bug), I went in search of a cat to cuddle in bed with while I napped. Looks like Toodles was one step ahead of me!

The Cooper family is growing...

...as is my (Josie's) midsection. Baby Cooper ("Sprout") will be joining us at the end of June, and we can't wait to meet him/her! With only 25 weeks of gestation left, we are realizing that nine months is not a very long time to prepare for the arrival of a baby! When you take out the three weeks this winter that we will be spending in New Zealand, it seems like Baby Sprout will be arriving in no time at all.


While I've been busy trying to avoid morning sickness, Andy had other things to keep him occupied:



Shoveling us out after 18 inches of snow from The Great Blizzard of 2009







Keeping Toodles from performing his new favorite trick- jumping on top of the refrigerator and knocking cereal boxes onto the floor for Miss Ping to play with.









Taking Josie to a Christmas concert and trying to stay awake (he failed).






Bringing Josie to a tree farm to cut down their very first Christmas tree, then ensuring that no Christmas tree decorations were hung within two feet of the ground (the danger zone for being eaten by curious cats).





Considering past Christmas tree problems (Toodles climbing the tree, then falling and breaking his tail, Toodles eating glass Christmas tree light bulbs...), the season was an uneventful success. Happy New Year!

Newish Couch

Some updates our couch:
-Brownish
-Does not smell yet
-Comfortable to sit on
-Good for sleeping
-The cats love it:

Stalin gets the scoop on new art!

This "new" art has been on the wall for some time but has not been seen online - yes the 3rd piece exists! Photos exist and will be posted if they do not appear on a popular art blog soon!

SPOOKY, SCARY

The neighborhood children were not prepared for the Cooper house. They got their candy but witnessed...

Yep, they won't be back.

Camping Trip!

We went camping this weekend, Yellow River state park. We also saw some of Josie's relatives and such.


The views were beautiful - this is NE Iowa near Harper's Ferry. In the morning there were mists rising out of the valley.

Here is a closer view - it it looked a lot like smoke but more wispy and random.



We backpacked to a site, and were able to hike from there to a Fire Tower - we think the barbed wire meant no climbing. Oh well.
And we saw a beautiful sunset! All in all a good trip!. I'll document the meal next!

Superior Shores!

Josie had a great mini-vacation in Two Harbors, MN. Lots of family, fun, and good wine! Here are some pictures of second cousins (first, and once removed), dogs, wildlife, and beautiful scenery!

Theft Alert!

It has recently come to my attention that a notorious "backpack thief" has been seen in the area. His M/O is to steal cuddly animal packs from small children, then flaunt his theft at family functions. If seen, placate the suspect with cheese (any type) and contact the police. Do not attempt to apprehend the suspect by yourself.

Sushi

So a few weeks ago our friends had us over for homemade sushi. Even some raw tuna rolls! [scary but turned our great]. Here is makin' a roll:

This is Andy's contribution - opening Miso soup packages and distributing into cups. I gave myself one thumb up for perfection.

And here is the spread-- a lot of time but was fun and delicious [except for those who hate the smell of fish, which was Josie and our friend]

Many Things!

Guess who got to take a nap with a kitty AND a puppy? Yep, Josie [see below]. Andy helped by tricking the animals so they did not realize they were in bed with "the enemy." Jackson is extremely cute, even for a puppy.
The cats still like their tree. In this unstaged photo you can see all 3 enjoying it. Pongo decided it was fighting time but Ping was not so sure. Toodles was happy with nip.
So this blog is not updated that much, but maybe 2 weeks ago Mom & Dad visited. Here we are enjoying a Verona brewpub. Slow service but they had sweet potato fries and good root beer so all was well.


And Mom went hope but Day stayed and enjoyed a classic winter oven baked BBQ chicken dish with asparagus, red potato, and mushrooms.


So as you can tell things are going well! More posts to come, perhaps they will be more interesting. Hmm in other news we are off to visit Josie's fam this weekend. Should be good times.

New Buddy

Josie and I have a new friend, here is Jackson:


Josie gets to puppy-site for a co-worker when she is working and Josie has the day off. Needless to say, Josie enjoys those days a lot:
I like him alright too.

Sunshine?

My dear friend Heather is vacationing in Arizona right now, and is filling her days with hikes and backpacking trips in the warm desert sunshine. Our friend Amanda is swimming in the glorious ocean waters of Saipan. My sister is relaxing on the beaches of Mexico (a much-deserved vacation from residency). In an attempt to make myself feel better about our snowy, cold, cloudy time in Madison, I am posting the famous 5:50 am photo from hiking in sunny, warm colorado this summer. The sun will return! I have faith, I'm just getting impatient...

2009 -- more food

Made some good oven food, rasperry walnut chutney on chicken breasts, asparagus, and sweet potato:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh6X4gwuqww (skip to 1:00 if you are pressed for time)

And a spinach, pomegranate, and walnut salad. Pretty solid.

On the non-food front... today:
-Running
-Go to store
-Samosas for dinner!

tomorrow:
-cross country skiing
-Christmas party for JoJo's work

Christmas at the Farm

The highlight of the visit was the infamous escaping cow- the vicious, wild cow (possibly mad) that Josie single-handedly corraled back into its pen. Yes, she is a cowgirl. Even Claire was properly impressed with the escape and subsequent retrieval. I am certain that others would be impressed, too, had they been awake during the wee hours of the morning during which this happened.




After Josie took care of the Great Cow Escape of 2008, there wasn't much to do around the farm. We ate a lot of delicious food (thanks, Tim!), played pitch and euker, and watched the kids play. After the little ones went to bed, we were reduced to licking our elbows for entertainment- according to Andy's cousin, Blake, "The most delicious thing you've ever eaten."

Andy and Josie had a wonderful Thanksgiving in MN, eating lots of pie and lefse and playing with our puppy niece and nephew, Yuka and Oscar. It turns out that Andy likes dogs. A lot.