More fun with Bella

For the last week we have had a friend visiting with us from Mexico City. This has given us a great excuse to get out around Oregon with Bella. Here are some pictures of our adventures last Sunday.

Sean, Bella and our friend Alicia at a vine yard.

Our first family photo! Notice Bella's ears blowing in the wind? She is so photogenic.

Another family photo in front of a lake that I forget the name of...

We tried to get a good picture of Bella on a rock with the lake in the background. This is the only one with her looking at the camera we were able to get.

We kept trying to call her name to get her to look at the camera while she was on a three foot tall rock. Like any good dog, she heard her name and tried to come instead of just look at us. We didn't figure this one out until after the fact. This is her just before she jumped head first off the rock onto the concrete. She cried for about two minutes strait after her fall. We were so worried she was going to have a broken leg or brain damage or something horrible like that. It was about at this time that we decided that we are glad we are doing the puppy thing first so we don't make the same mistakes with a baby someday.

Bella is hiding her head because she is still hurt and scared from her leap off the rock.

Sleeping it off.

Stairs

One thing Bella has not quite figured out yet is stairs, especially going down. If there is only one step she can usually manage to flop herself down somehow but if we are at the top of the stairs this is usually what happens.

When we go upstairs I carry her up and then she will follow me around and I don't worry about it. I brought her upstairs this morning but when I got into the bathroom I realized that she was not right behind me. All of the sudden I heard this thud, thud, thud. I looked over the railing and there was Bella, spread eagle on her tummy sliding down the stairs. I tried to catch up with her but she slid all the day down, did a somersault, gave a little whimper and the started to jump around and wag her tail as she watched me run down the stairs. I was laughing so hard by the time I got to the bottom. I can not believe no one was around to see what had just happened! It was so funny! When Sean woke up I told him what had happened and he tried to make her reenact it but no such luck.

Our New Addition

Introducing our new beautiful baby puppy Bella!

We have been talking about getting a puppy for a long time but we have never had an apartment that would let us have one. That was a requirement when we were apartment searching here in Eugene so we could finally have our very own puppy. A few days after we got back from Europe Sean took me to the book store and had me look through all the dog books until I found the dog I wanted. When I saw the picture of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel I knew this was the one for me. As we did some more research we learned that not only are they super cute but they are also great family dogs and like to snuggle but also have a fun playful side. It was perfect! We tried to find some where, anywhere, on the west coast to get one but we did not have much luck. We then came across a breeder in Missouri who was willing to ship her puppies. As soon as we saw the picture of Bella we knew she was ours. She is a perfect little puppy and we have all fallen in love with her.

On our ride home from the Portland airport Bella found the perfect place to nap.
Taking a nap with Kyle.
She sure does lover her flamingo.

Granada

We have finally reached the end of our travels. If for no other reason but to document our adventures for my own memory, I will now attempt to go back in time and remember all that we have done and seen....
I left off our last post in Granada so that is now where we will begin.

High on a hill opposite the old town is the Alhambra. The Alhambra was once the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and their courts. Each ruler would try to out-do the ruler before by making more beautiful contributions to this area. The detail that gets put into the Muslim architecture is amazing. This place is so popular with the tourists that you have to make reservations months a head to get in. Luckily we ran into a girl from Spain while we were in London who gave us the heads up. Only 200 people get in every half hour and we were lucky enough to get into one of those groups.


The background didn't turn out so well in this picture but any picture we can get with both of us in it is worth posting.

This is the view of the city from the main Palace that we were trying to get in the background of the last picture.

The Orangery.

This is the entrance into the gardens from the Palace. These purple flowers are all over Europe. I loved them. Does anyone know what they are?

Pheesh!

This was the main protective fortress of the Alhambra.


By the end of the day I was so burned that I didn't even care how silly I looked as long as I was somehow covering up my poor pink skin.
After a wonderful day exploring Granada and the Alhambra we were up with the sun the next morning and ready to head out to the next city.