Vacation Day 1: San Francisco

This year we began our annual vacation in the charming city of San Francisco. It was my first time to visit the city (Gary's third) and I really fell in love with it. Gary and I kept joking about which house we were going to buy, although we later changed our tune after being stuck in traffic for an hour on a Saturday. Living in a medium sized city does have some advantages.

We enjoyed getting a glimpse into the wide variety of architecture found throughout the city of San Francisco.

The farmers market was a dream come true...especially for vegetarians like us who love organic food.

Near the market, we heard a couple of very talented musicians.

Chinatown made me think of Natalie. It would be so much fun to bring her here someday.

To get a good overview of the city we went to the top of 210' high Coit tower, which was built in 1933 as a tribute to San Francisco firefighters.

Coit Tower from a distance

From the top we saw some great views of the city including Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge.

Looking through the top of Coit Tower

Next, we took the obligatory touristy cable car ride on one line from beginning to end.

While we were waiting in line we got to see how they use a large turntable to turn the cars around when they reach the end of the line. The cable car operators make it look so easy.

Louie's Latest Lark

Louie has gotten into the bathtub a few times in the past, but now it is becoming a standard occurrence. Lately he has been giving us this not-so-subtle hint several times a day. He loves to drink out of the faucet, so I guess he is trying to get closer to the water source.

Turn this thing on already!

Ladies First

Patiently Waiting his Turn

When's It Gonna Be MY Turn????

That's More Like It!

Pup Quiz: Name the Dog Breed

Gary and I recently went to a dog show that was held in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since we weren't participating this time we were able to visit with lots of interesting dogs. Here is just a sampling of the many different dog breeds we saw. See if you can name them all. The answers to the quiz are at the bottom of the post.

#1 Me with Maggie, one of Louie's girlfriends from dog school.

#2 Cuddling Cuties

#3 A Tall and Elegant Girl

#4 Patiently waiting for Mom to finish his beauty routine

#5 My very first time to meet this breed in real life. I think her name is Star. She is a super sweet girl who would make a wonderful therapy dog.

#6 This little girl's name is Lily

#7 Another breed besides Newfoundlands that knows "Drool Rules!"

#8 Petite Princess

#9 An imposing fellow

#10 Sleeping Beauty

#11 One of the toy breeds on the judges table

#12 This little lady has enough hair for herself and her owner :)

The Pup Quiz Answers:

#1 Portegese Water Dog

#2 Labrador Retrievers

#3 Borzoi

#4 Bearded Collie

#5 Kuvasz

#6 Newfoundland puppy

#7 Great Pyrenees

#8 Yorkshire Terrier

#9 Bouvier des Flandres

#10 Saluki

#11 Japanese Chin

#12 Pekingese

Did anyone get them all right? There were a few I had to look up...especially #4 and #9.

Cousins Are Cool

by Katie the Newf

Last night two cousins came to visit us. I'm not sure exactly what a "cousin" is, but one of them was small and one was tall like Mama. The small cousin remembered the time I gave her a ride in my little red wagon. She begged me to take her again, but understood when Mama said that it was just too hot for me to be outside this time of year. So instead, the small cousin tried to find a toy for us Newfs to play with.


She offered me this big stick, but...


I thought it was more fun to watch the small cousin play with Mama's toys. I wonder why Mama never lets me play with those fun toys.


My brother Louie was B A D. Mama said he needs some lessons on how to behave in our house with kids. Even though he is Mr. Perfect when he goes out on his therapy visits sometimes he gets a little too rowdy when he is at home. He kept wanting to chase the small cousin around. It was like he thought she was his own special playmate. After a few corrections from Mama and Daddy he finally settled down.


I think these cousins are super fun to have around. I hope they come visit again soon.


"Kissing puppies" by our sweet little cousin

Allie: Therapy Dog in Training

We made a new friend recently. Cute little Allie is a therapy dog in training who wanted to practice with some active therapy dogs. Mama volunteered us which we thought was super cool since we always love to have visitors. Allie was a bit afraid of us at first, but she quickly figured out that we are just big marshmellows.

See we are so sweet that we even wait our turn for treats. This shows A LOT of restraint from us 'cause we LOVE food so much!

Best of luck to Allie in her Therapy Dog training and testing.

Love & Licks,
Katie & Louie

Wishful Thinking

It's near the end of July and the heat index has been over 100 degrees for weeks now. The weather has been a bit depressing lately and has us thinking back to happier and cooler times.

Please wake up me when it's cold again.

A Newfie Summer Day Dream:

Run...Runnin' All the Time...

Earlier in the summer before the temperature soared, Katie & Louie got to visit their grandparents' house. Since their own yard is sloped and not very big they really appreciate having room to run and play. I love this video because the deep love and friendship that Katie and Louie have for each other really shines through.

Video was filmed by Gary and edited by Charity

Another New(f) Friend

Gary recently removed some planks from our fence while he was making some repairs. Katie and Louie decided to take advantage of the temporary opening into our neighbor's yard to have a little adventure. Louie was mainly interested in exploring this new territory, but Katie quickly developed a playful friendship with our next door neighbor, a 1 year old beagle puppy named Cooper.

Socialization Newfie Style

Louie and Katie recently volunteered their services as puppy socialization trainers extraordinaire. Eleven week old Eko the Dobie pup needed to practice his socialization skills with some safe adult dogs. You can't find much safer dogs for a puppy than Katie and Louie. They both are the most tolerant dogs I have ever known. Pups can jump on their heads, bite them on the necks or grab hold of their tails and they never complain. Little Eko was afraid of Katie and Louie for the first few minutes of our visit, but being the smart pup that he is, he quickly figured out that they were no threat. He got so comfortable with them that he darted out the door as we were leaving, ready to spend some more time with what he seemed to see as his new doggie pack. When he realized he wasn't going with them he was just as content to stay with his new human pack which he is already loving very much.

Eko is a wonderful puppy. Since his parents are doing such a great job of socializing him Eko may very well end up being the world's sweetest Dobie.

Louie with one of his new friends.

Traveling Therapist

During a recent trip to Southern Arkansas I called one of the nursing homes to see if they would be interested in a visit from a therapy dog. I got the impression that they had never had a visit from a therapy dog before. After asking me a few questions they said we could come. Since they didn't ask what kind of dog I was bringing I decided to just let that "little" bit of information be a surprise.

When we walked in the building there was a collective gasp from the nursing home staff and then a mad rush to see who would get to pet Louie first. Soon he had quite an adoring crowd around him and we heard the usual comments: "Wow he's so big!" "Did you see that? She just moved her finger and he sat down." "How much does he eat?" "He is so beautiful." Louie soaked up all the attention and passed out a few kisses to his latest fan club.

Louie making his "cutie pie" face

The puparazzi continues to follow us everywhere we go.

This nice lady fell in love with Louie...she just couldn't get enough of him.

I don't blame her :) Almost everyone loves this sweet teddy bear Newf.

Signs of Summer

Summer arrived early this year and we can't wait for it to be over.


It's already about a MILLION degrees outside so we are faithfully performing our fan worshiping ritual daily. (Note: all three fans are on in this picture; our camera just has a speedy shutter.)


In the summer the homemade bread that Mama makes rises higher than during the cold winter months...too bad we can't eat any due to our wheat free diet. We do get to sample the organic vegetables from our local community supported agriculture program though. Our favorites are watermelon, kale stems, broccoli and cabbage...at least summer has a few benefits.


Everyone who has Newfs can probably relate to this picture. We like to lie right on top of the air conditioning vents. We think it's hilarious when Daddy comes along and slides us off of them. As soon as he turns his back we scoot right back until the whole vent is blocked again. If they didn't mean for Newfs to lie on the vents they should have put them somewhere other than the floor!


Happy Summer everyone! We hope you all stay nice and cool. Love and Licks from Katie & Louie

I Love New York in June...

On a recent trip that my Mother and I made to NY to visit my sister, I fell completely under the spell of the City. From the pigeons perched on lovely old buildings, to phenomenal music in the subway station, to the multi-cultural crush of humanity, it all held charm for me.

It's amazing that there is such a strong feeling of community on the small island of Manhattan that contains over 27,000 people per square mile. The compassion and kindness that resulted after the tragic events of 9/11 still seem to be prevalent.

All of the sidewalks (and even some of the stores) are populated by an abundance of dogs. This of course made me miss Katie and Louie. I kept wishing I could magically zap Gary and the Newfs to New York. I think we would have so much fun there although it would be difficult for us to ever get any exercise since we would likely be stopped every two feet by the Newf Paparazzi.

We stayed very busy during our visit. We went to the Lenox Lounge in Harlem to hear some old style jazz music, did a lot of shopping, toured the Museum of Natural History, went to a street fair, and took my sister's dog for several walks in Riverside Park. But my favorite two things were getting to spend time with my Mom and Sister...

And, getting to see my dear friend, her sweet husband and their two precious daughters who were adopted from China. We spent a lovely afternoon together and before the day was over I ended up with both girls in my lap. Spending time with them really made me happy and somehow made me feel closer to Natalie.

I'm looking forward to the day we have a reunion and Natalie is here to play with these girls. After talking with my friend about the status of our adoption I am actually allowing myself to think that we might get a referral within the next 12 months. After over 5 years of waiting I am more than ready for our daughter to come home.

When I returned to the Happy Haus I had a wonderful reunion with Gary, Katie and Louie. The Newfs were super excited to see me and their grandma walk through the back gate. It's always good to come Home.

By the way, Katie and Louie say Hi/Woof and wanted you to know we will back to our regular blogging soon.