Monday, January 19, 2009

Bo-tacular Toys

Over the few months that we have had Teddy, it has become clear that one type of toy is favored above others. It's not that he doesn't like other toys...he does. He just prefers bobos.

For those of you uneducated on the features of the bobo, they are as follows:

-Long cylindrical shape
-Soft outer material
-Stuffed with fuzz
-Squeaker inside
-Head on one end
-Little nubby arms and feet

There is still great variance among bobos, but those characteristics that vary are not essential to the toy actually being a bobo. They are superfluous, but they do aid in naming the bobos.

So, here are photographs to document Teddy's Bobo collection. Each bobo is represented by 2 pictures:
picture 1 is the best possible representation of what the bobo looked like at time of purchase;
picture 2 shows the bobo in it's current state, rips and all.
*note: The fourth bobo has only 1 picture because it is rather new.

First: The original bobo, named "Bobo"






























Second: A female bobo complete with bikini and surfboard, named "Bobette"
*note: the surfboard has become something that looks like a cigar toy for Teddy - not very p.c. to have a puppy toy that looks like tobacco...



































Third: A reindeer bobo complete with antlers, named "Bo Derrick"






























Fourth (and last): A halloween-costumed bobo, named "Frankenbo"
*note: Frankenbo is by far Teddy's favorite - we've never seen him this obsessed with any of the previous bobos.




















Here are the bobos having a party:

Sunday, January 18, 2009

G.C. Here We Come!

We are terrible bloggers. It's been a long time since we posted. However, we just recently really started to get excited about our hiking/camping trip to the Grand Canyon. For those of you who were not aware, we are meeting our good friends Ashley and Aaron at the Grand Canyon and hiking to the bottom to camp on April 5-6.

We haven't seen these two for way too long. We're used to seeing them quite regularly since they lived just 2 hours from us in MI for a few years. We'd see each other every other weekend or so. Anyway, this will be a great opportunity to do something amazing and spend a ton of quality time with our friends.

We've been going on walks, etc., a bit more frequently over the past week to try to get in shape, but today we really started a good workout regime to get us ready. There is a hiking trail at the foot of the mountain in Claremont - it's just a quick 10-min jaunt from our house. It's a 5-mile trail all the way around. About 2.5 miles is uphill. It will be a good place to practice for the Grand Canyon hike. We'll take some pics next time we go. Plus, once they open up Chino Hills Park, we will be able to practice on a 7.5 mile trail. However, because of the fires we had recently, that one is off limits for a while.

Beyond exercising, though, we have to get ready in other ways, too. Like getting gear. We already have a 4-person lightweight (11.5 pounds) backpacking tent, so we might just use that for all of us. That way, only one person has to carry a tent. We put it up today in our living room to see how easy it was to do and to see if it would be big enough for all of us. Here are a few pics. The first pic shows the whole thing (keep in mind it's not staked down). The second shows it closer. Ashley and Aaron, what do you think? Is this the way you want to go?






We'll keep you all updated on the progress of the trip preparations. It's pretty exciting for us!