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:

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!

Happy New Year

Just to make you all jealous, here are the three of us on New Year's Eve.


Well, I am going to go prep my class outside!

Happy New Year!

Slackers

Hello everyone. We have been severely sucking at posting blogs. It's been 2 weeks or so since the last one. We are heeding advice from Aaron J Norris regarding the title of our blog. He believes that since, contrary to our initial wishes, our blog has become basically about our dog, the name of the blog should be CopyDog Blog. Nick and I couldn't agree more, so we are changing it.

We've been in NY for over a week now. This is how Teddy traveled to NY:
















Since we've been in NY we've made a trip to MI and back for Nick's graduation. I was so proud of him at that moment and Mary and Robert were, too.



































Teddy spent the day with the babysitter (Daniella) who took very good care of him despite his being a whiner. Teddy also got a chance to meet the Reeds' dogs and cats and thoroughly enjoyed his time at their house. He seemed to fall right in with the pack. We loved visiting with the Reeds and are looking forward to when they visit CA in March. Teddy enjoyed it the most - the dogs taught him how to go potty when the ground is covered in snow (he couldn't figure it out on his own) and Marilu got him a Christmas bandana.

Fru Fru Puppy

We took Teddy to be groomed today so he would be nice and spiffy for the holidays. But somehow they managed to not only spiff him up, but completely transform him from the scruffy puppy we adopted to this...















Even his facial expression looks posh! Here's a better look at that bow.






















Eventually it became clear that Teddy was not in the mood for photos today. I think he knew he had a bow in his hair.

Bruno and Maddie

I just stumbled across the strangest thing. The dog I grew up with was a mini schnauzer...Bruno. He was super cute and did not have his ears cropped like many schnauzers do. Now my parents have a red mini dachshund...Maddie. Tonight I hit my trusty 'Stumble' button in my web browser and up pops this picture...

Puppy Craft

So, I always think Teddy would be pretty cute in puppy clothes, but I can't justify spending money on something like that right now. Luckily I had some spare material laying around and a little sewing machine my mom had gotten for me (see, I told you I'd use it, Mom...). ;-) The craftsmanship is not great - I'm not very good at sewing, but I still think it's pretty cute on him. He needs a haircut, but he still manages to pull of the GQ look. :-)