Monkey See Monkey Do

So I know its been a while since my last post, but I've been extremely busy these days. School has been almost overwhelming and work has been filled with drama. So when I get home in the evenings I'm either doing homework or trying to clear my head. Not to mention, now that I'm off crutches I've been doing some chores around the house in the evenings. Anyway, I've got a really cute story to tell all of you about Tundra and Nanook. At the end of this post you'll find some updated pictures...we can't get over how quickly he's growing.

Anyway, when we got Tundra naturally we got him a few toys to chew on as well. My mother had gotten him a toy bone and another plastic toy with a rope through it. For some reason the rope toy has been Tundra's favorite and he really hasn't paid much attention to the toy bone...or at least not at this point.



One evening Jim thought it would be a good idea to give Nanook his rawhide (we only give it to him every so often). I was a little hesitant since I wasn't sure how Tundra would react. So, Nanook lays down on the floor and begins to enjoy his bone. Meanwhile, Tundra is staring at him trying to figure out what he's doing and he begins to bark at him. Next thing we knew Tundra runs to grab his toy bone and lays down in front of Nanook and proceeds to imitate his every move. Tundra was holding the bone between his paws just the same way Nanook was and Tundra was chewing on his toy bone the exact same way Nanook was. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen! I actually told Jim that I had no idea that dogs imitate each other....monkey see monkey do.

Ahh, this is our little penthouse boy. He sleeps like this all the time!

Tundra Has Arrived!

Well after many months of waiting Tundra has finally arrived! All of us are very excited and we really enjoy watching him play and get to know the other animals of the house. So far everyone is getting along really well. Nanook doesn't know what to think of the little guy and he has been growling a little. He hasn't snapped at Tundra, but he's certainly been showing Tundra who is boss. To my surprise, Corki is doing really well. I'm not sure if you guys remember or not, but I was expecting Corki to live on top of the refrigerator for the next several months, but he doesn't to notice Tundra. Sasha is a different story...she's not a happy cat. She's also all of a sudden become skittish of sudden moves. I'm sure she'll get over it, but it may take a few months.

Anyway, I took some pictures of Tundra yesterday during play time so I hope you enjoy the following photos:

These are my two favorite pictures thus far.

Beautiful Banff

Jim and I had an amazing time in Banff!!! I can't say enough about how beautiful this town is and how much I would love to live there some day. Everything about our weekend was such a dream and even though I was on crutches I still made the most of it. We arrived in Calgary on Thursday and we spent the afternoon driving around just getting to know the town. I was a little disappointed in Calgary, I was expecting it to be similar to Colorado Springs in the sense that Colorado Springs is nestled up against the mountains. Calgary is a little over an hour from the mountains...not nestled up against the mountains. Between Calgary and Banff there is a lot of open space used mainly for farming, but also has rolling hills.

On Friday Jim and I slept in and then we headed up the mountain in a gondola to enjoy the view. It was rather cold on top of the mountain, but the views were amazing! We finished up the day back in Calgary where we watched the Calgary Flames take on the Nashville Predators...the flames lost but Jim thoroughly enjoyed the game and the people. Saturday was spent hanging around Banff and doing some shopping. Yes, even though I was on crutches I was still able to shop! When we woke up on Saturday morning I decided that I wasn't going to let those darn crutches ruin our weekend so I crutched around Banff all day. Of course I took a few pain killers during the course of the day though...to help with the arm pain of course. I even managed to wear Jim out walking around town! Moving on, Sunday was spent in Lake Louise and then back to Calgary to catch our flight home.

I decided during the weekend that Jim and I need to make this an annual trip. He came up with the idea of rotating seasons...summer one year, winter the next. We hope to go again next summer and I'm hoping to take Zach, Sam, Aaron, and Jimmy with us. The entire time we were in Banff I kept thinking to myself how much Zach and Sam would love this town and I can't imagine being there without them. I have numerous pictures to share with you, so sit back and enjoy the show.

Here are a few images from out hotel.

We stayed in a castle in Banff (The Fairmont Banff Springs), so here are a few images of the hotel. I have a better "airel" view later on during this post.

The next two pictures are of a "bus" used to take tourists to the columbian ice fields. We were very intrigued by the sheer size of this thing.

The following pictures were taken during our gondola ride.

This picture was taken on the gondola ride, and you can see our "castle in the woods". Its located in the bottom-center of the photo in case you can't see it.

This is downtown Banff.
Here I am at Lake Louise. Crutching my way to the lake....


This picture is a hockey rink on Lake Louise. The lake was frozen...allowing people full access to walk on water. Which included playing hockey on the lake, ice skating on the lake, and walking from end to the other. This was a completely different concept to me...one that was hard to comprehend.

Here's the ice skating rink that I mentioned above.

Here's Jim standing on the hockey rink.
And finally, here's me standing on the lake...something I've never done before.

Coming Soon!

Well, I just thought I would let everyone know that I am alive and well. The last few weeks have been extremely hectic for me. Jim and I just returned from Banff, plus Tundra is now home with us. I don't have time for a big post but I promise pictures of Calgary/Banff will be posted soon, as well as, pictures of Tundra.