Moments 04 26 :: Week 01

Me and the dogs. I love them. Oh, and I also started a new Instagram page. Mostly to highlight the shelter dogs I take out on weekly field trips. But also, a little Van and Gretel love here and there too. It's called @pointingoutpups. I'm pretty excited about it. Give it a follow!

Mel, Leif, Brian and I have season theater tickets at the place Mel used to work. Penny and Chris came up for an afternoon and joined us. Miss these people so much. It was great getting to see them. 

Mel made an incredible lunch for us. We are spoiled.

Brian and I have started a fun little Sunday tradition. A trip to Whole Foods, and bagels from Allie Boy's. We pre-order (the line is always super long). We got there a little early last week so took a walk around the block. Some fun street art. 

Von Trier's funny fish fry signage. We need to visit this place more often. It's quite the gem. 

All the bagels from Allie Boy's are incredible, but this is one of my favorites. Tamago Egg Salad. It's perfect. 

Finished another book. It took a few pages to get into the letter writing format, but I loved it. 

I spent a beautiful Monday with Bella! She's 7-years old and might just be the easiest dog I've ever taken out. She waited to be invited into the car and then jumped right in. She rode with her head resting on my shoulder the entire trip. She was great in stores, seems totally fine with other dogs, has great manners, is calm but has some spunk. I really had fun with her, and kept extending our time together because I couldn't get enough. 

Gretel had a birthday! My girl is 12 years old! She's such a sweetheart. Her legs are pretty weak, but she still gets around well. We took her for a long walk and spoiled her with yummy treats. So happy to get to celebrate another birthday with her. 

A pile of Gretel paws. 

Los Cerritos, Mexico :: Day 06

The last day meant one more shelter dog walk. We were going to take out two shy littermates, but they tried to get them on a walk the day before and were unsuccessful, so we got Pinky again! She had improved so much on her leash by day three, and was so excited to see us when we came by in the morning. It was hard to say goodbye to this sweet thing, but I'm sure she'll end up in an incredible home. 

Brian was still not fully himself, and we had a lot we wanted to get done today. The boys and I went to the beach and rented a couple surf boards. Hard to believe this was our first beach day! That's insane. What we found was large (for us) waves, glorious water and golden sand that sparkled in the water. It was stunning. Hudson had a few good rides. Cole got up a couple times. Brian ended up meeting us and trying a few attempts. The waves were definitely larger than the ones we learned on many years ago. But it was fun. 

That afternoon we went back into Todos Santos so Hudson could do a little shopping. Low and behold, our chef friends clued us in on another event. This one was an oyster event. You bought drinks but ate all the oysters you wanted for free. Since we were flying the next day, I only tried a couple. Brian had one. But Cole and Hudson at their fair share. Cole himself probably ate 1.5 dozen. There were different restaurants and different preparations. It was fun. On the way back we stopped at Carnitas Migel to have a little snack. We had gone the day before for tacos, but Brian didn't get to enjoy it. Plus, we were told we needed to try to the gorditas. We quickly changed, and met some friends at Alex and Mel's then, since none of us were prepared to cook, went back to Jerry's. It was the perfect place for a large group, and was another fun night, and place to bid farewell to our friends. 

The next day was an early departure and drive to the airport. We all flew to Chicago, then went our separate ways. Honestly, this week was a dream. Getting to see this gorgeous area of the world and be with our family was the best. 

Los Cerritos, Mexico :: Day 05

Unfortunately, Brian woke in the middle of the night feeling like Mexico got the best of him. He was the only one in our group to feel sick while we were there, but it was still too bad. He was up all night. I slept on the sofa. The next morning I heard a loud noise and saw a whale and her baby so close to the shore, lobtailing. The sound was incredible and the sight even more amazing. This photo does it no justice. I had to wake everyone up. We saw whales from our balcony every single day, but unfortunately, we never did get the chance to go out in a boat to get up close while we were there. This was pretty fantastic, but it's just another excuse for a return visit I guess. 

Today, Hudson walked to the shelter with me and we got to walk Pinky again. We walked to the pharmacy on the beach to find Brian some medicine, then returned Pinky and took a walk around the hill/mountain outside our condo. The scenery really is stunning. Afterwards, Cole arranged with our friend to go off roading on their Razor. Since Brian was sick, I totally invited myself. Needless to say, I really didn't know what I was getting into and when the boys started driving, it was a little terrifying. I got used to it, and even did a stretch along the beach myself. It was actually so much fun. We ended up at Art + Beer, a strange and interesting but cool place, and Brian worked up the bravery to meet us there. He felt a little better, but still wasn't 100%. The night, our friends had an event they invited us to (several of them are chefs so well connected in that scene), but since Brian was sick, we wanted something a little low key so ended up at Jerry's Pizza, which was delicious. 

Los Cerritos, Mexico :: Day 04

The previous day, the shelter mentioned that I could take dogs out for walks. Say no more! That's my jam. So Brian and I went over and got to walk Pinky, the cutest puppy in the world. What's weird, is while going back through my photos, Pinky was the first dog at the shelter I took a photograph of. She came with her sister, who was already adopted. This was her second walk, and over all she did really well, but we did need to pick her up once in a while. Which, is my dream, considering our dogs are giants. No complaints here. Cole met us at the beach after his workout session and got to hang out with Pinky a little bit too. There were so many dogs running around the beach, and Pinky did great. She's so sweet and chill. She's perfect. And yes, I do want her. But that would be crazy. 

After we returned Pinky it was time for Brian and I to drive to the airport to pick up Hudson. The P4 was about to be reunited. It's an easy drive to the airport. About 1 hour 20 minutes on a new bit of freeway. It is, however, recommended not to drive it in the night, mainly due to the livestock that wanders around the area. Even in the daylight, we would see it. Hudson flew in no problems, and it felt so good to see him. We came back to the condo, showed him around a bit, and went back to Barracudas Cantina for dinner. Needless to say, we definitely overate. But everything is so good. You may also note, the area of Mexico that we were in is not cheap. Regardless, our dinner was such a treat. Other friends who live in the area also stopped by and before you knew it, we had a fun, full table. It was a great first night for Hudson.