Chewie's Day Out

A couple of weeks ago, I arranged my day off so that Chewie and I could have a day running errands. We started the day with going to Town Lake to jog around, let him sniff butts, and then go swimming. Then we headed over to the Farmers Market at the Triangle and then off to a field of Bluebonnets on 45th street. Chewie was pooped after our day out, but I am pretty sure he had a fun time!! He isn't always a fan of car rides (he whines), so we try to take him out as much as we can so he can become more comfortable.

At a stop light... Chewie checking out the traffic

Chewie was running along the ridge of a hill near the leash less area of Town Lake... It was like he was patrolling, making sure the area is clear of all squirrels

He has really become a water dog recently. Over the past few months when we walk around Town Lake, he looks for opportunities (aka- breaks in the trees) to get into the water and swim around! As a puppy he wanted nothing to do with the water so I am happy he is now a water dog!

There are times when I try to do a self portrait of us, but there are times when I get close enough he just needs to lick me-- which is what he is doing below. Luckily I was spared the super sloppy kiss from him.

There we go... a nice photo of us in the bluebonnets

I love this picture of Chewie. He would only sit for a few seconds and of course he wouldn't look at me but it is still a perfect picture.

University of Texas Baseball

We had a great time at the UT baseball game yesterday. We try to catch a few games a season and support UT. Right now UT is on a roll, winning 14 games in a row and we were lucky to see another win. Jim got us fantastic seats, about 8 rows up on the first base side.

This little 3rd grader sang a beautiful version of the Star Spangled Banner. I was impressed!

We ate at the Hat Creek Burger trailer on the park. I have had a few of their burgers from their location on Burnet Rd. I will say, next time we go I doubt I'll get this burger. While it was good, $7.50 for just a burger, even at a ball park, is way to expensive. The burger was good but not great. There was a Poke-E-Joes next to Hat Creek, and they had sandwiches for $6, so we'll probably give them a try next time.

The pitcher, Brandon Workman, did an awesome job pitching! He struck out 9 batters in 6 innings (I think he went 6 innings). The final score was 9-3.

Great view from our seats but we had to stay aware of any stray foul balls

Bunt!

The happy couple...

I did a major no-no at this game. I forgot to wear sunscreen and now my left arm is a nice shade of red. Arrrghhh!

Two cuties!

I was contacted by a friends co-worked to take pictures of her grandchildren, Gracen and Georgia. We chose a date and location but little did we know we would have to cut the photo shoot due to rain and a fussy little lady (Gracen). I had a good 30 minutes to take photos, and for the first 15 I had two happy babies! They are so adorable and had the cutest little giggles. I just wanted to squeeze Georgia's cheeks and Gracen little rolls on her arms.

Even though it was a short time, I was still able to capture a few great photos of these adorable little girls!

Hope Farmers Market

I finally got around to heading over to the Hope Farmers Market. This farmers market is held on Sundays 11am-3pm on the East side of IH 35. Hope Farmers Market says that they are a weekly community gathering space for local farmers, artisans, families, and wellness workshop groups. There are a couple of different area's of this farmers market: an outdoor area where the food was, an indoor area that was split into an area for crafts (where I bought a necklace) and an area where musicians were setting up. I bought quite a bit... breads, veggies (carrots, Brussels sprouts, onions), cilantro chutney, red curry, necklace, and tamales for lunch!! I forgot to go back to the meat guy, but I'll check him out next time. I love the option to go on Sunday since I tend to work a lot of Saturdays.

Veggie Stand

Cauliflower

I have tried cauliflower a couple of times and I just haven't been impressed. Maybe one day I'll find the recipe that wow's me

Lovely carrots.

I haven't used them yet, but I think i am going to do a stir fry with snow peas for dinner.

I picked up the cilantro chutney and curry from this booth. So far we have used the cilantro chutney on broiled fish and it was wonderful!! I had to laugh because while i was talking to the vendor, I asked if this sauce would be good on chicken. I was a bit dense and didn't realize that everything on the table was vegetarian :) OOPS.

Back room where the musicians were setting up
Some of my loot

I had no idea that putting on flip flops could be this hard!!!

12th Annual Mighty Texas Dog Walk

This Saturday we woke up early, crossed our fingers that it wouldn't rain on us, and headed out to be a part of the 12th Annual Mighty Texas Dog Walk. This dog walk is hosted by the Texas Hearing and Service Dogs, and helps them raise money for their organization. I did this walk years ago with Taylor, so now it was Chewie and Jim's turn to do it with me. The weather the night before was pouring, so we were pretty worried about the conditions on Saturday morning, but we were blessed with just a slight mist and cloudy weather.

Chewie did a great job around the other dogs and really just left most of them alone- he isn't much of a butt sniffer. He had some rambunctious puppies try to play with him, and he just looked at them and kept walking. We stopped at some of the booths and picked up some free treats and food as well as a couple of reusable bags. Score!!

Along with being a great way to raise money for the Texas Hearing and Service Dogs, they were also trying to win the Guiness World Record title of largest dog walk. In years past this walk held that title, but then England decided to break Austin's record and take over the title. We needed to have more than 10,272 dogs walking to beat their record. I'm sure we'll have to wait and see how many showed up, but as you can see from the photos, there were a lot of people that showed up to walk!

Chewie making sure I was still behind him!
Start of the walk! We started on the 1st street bridge, walked down Cesar Chavez, looped around near Austin High School, then walked back down on the 1st street bridge.

There were all shapes and sizes of dogs at the walk.....

There were older dogs

Dogs that licked children

Dogs that kept looking back at me wondering why I kept taking pictures of them.. good thing Chewie is used to the camera in his face :)


Dogs that wore hats

Dogs that looked similar

Dogs that wore grass skirts (Dawn, I had to do a double take to make sure that wasn't Sue :) )

Long line of walkers, we were towards the front of the crowd

Dogs that wore rain slickers

I have always thought Chewie was a tall dog until he was next to this dog. The owner said he weighs 170 pounds... 90 pounds more than Chewie!

There were plenty of watering stations along the walk

Dogs wearing blankets

Dogs wearing fabric necklaces

Big ol' lumbering dogs

Small dogs riding in carts

Big dogs riding in carts

There were also dogs that were adoptable doing the walk. There were a few rescue organizations that were there showing off their dogs

Loved the feather boa

Me and my Poo-pa

I think Chewie would eat all of my shoes if I were to make him wear something like this

After we finished the race, we got a little gold medal for finishing!! Chewie sniffed it and then walked away. I'll be a good mother and hold it for him.

After the walk, we went over to Austin Java for a little breakfast. They have a nice patio area that was overtaken by people and their dogs from the race. I had a mimosa and Chewie got his treats :) The race and breakfast was a great way to start our Saturday morning!