First time swimming

At Larrabee State Park, Lucy and I went wading into the Sound, hoping to entice Audrey into the water. Audrey ventured out a little, but more in an oversight capacity. Being a puppy and thus enamored of all things stinky and gross, she much preferred to hang out in the muck and the mire.

Rotting seaweed definitely counts as stinky and/or gross.

Cousins!

Audrey recently met her cousins when my sister brought my niece and nephew out to Washington from upstate New York.  It had been a year since I'd seen Lucy, my three-and-a-half year-old niece, and I had yet to meet Jasper, my six-month-old nephew. When I first walked through the door of my parents' house, Lucy greeted me by saying "I love you, Audrey!" They became buddies pretty quickly after that, a bond which they helped forge by some rambunctious hard-core playing.

Eventually, they settled into a sweet easy rhythm. 

While, unlike Lucy, Jasper didn't dub Audrey a "cutie munch," or report every time she was being mischievous or "ridiclious" or poised to poop on the floor -- due, in part, because he isn't yet verbal -- he did have a chance to be rowdy with the gremlin. Here he is, unaware of how his life is being spared only by Amy's benevolent hand, fixing his big smile and blue eyes on the camera. 

Monday Night Structured Fun Night

Monday Night Structured Fun Night originated out of a thwarted attempt to compete in the local city dodgeball league, which proved to be dominated by 15 year-old drunken punks who are suprisingly accurate at head shots. So our erstwhile dodgeball team has vowed instead to take on a new activity each week -- last week it was badminton, this week it's croquet. So far, the 15 year-old punks' loss of easy targets is Audrey's gain. Here she is on her very best behavior...
But I just had to include her in the game. Much to teammate Anne's chagrin, I tanked the shot. (Although Anne may or may not have tanked a few of her own without Audrey's help, so I'm fine with it...)
Later, Audrey gave me some lovin', to which I was maybe sort of a little receptive...

And then, with much exertion, Audrey somehow became cute.

Getting Puppysat

After a brief work trip to NYC (and a really fun pit stop in Philly to visit Tim and Hallie), I'm finally back home with my puppy. I agonized over what to do with Audrey while I was gone, dreading the thought of boarding her for five days. Thankfully, when Devon heard this, she excitedly volunteered to puppysit the diva gremlin. She soon discovered some essentials about Audrey that I haven't posted about here yet: first, she's a pooper! It's impressive, and I talk about it a lot. Second -- and not entirely unrelated -- Audrey loves toilet paper. My bad for forgetting to mention that, Devon!
Devon got some one-on-one time with the diva...
...and the gremlin.
And Audrey got some one-on-one time with Pete the cat.
For the record, Audrey seems about twice the size she was when I left, is dating boys, driving, etc. At least she was excited enough to see me when I got home that she peed on my shoe. Devon, you have my enormous gratitude. If I could give you your whippet puppy named Devo (get it, everyone?), I really really would. How about settling for a bottle of liquor?

Audrey and Her Dog Friends

Audrey had a play date with Mac's dog Murray not too long ago, and they made quick pals. Murray's a very good-hearted -- and very tolerant -- thick train of Mastiff who could easily swallow Audrey in about two seconds if he wanted to. But even though Audrey instantly acted like an annoying little sister around him, and constantly snapped at his legs and, uh, other parts, Murray just rolled with it like a champ -- and even ventured to give her a kiss. 

Later, Audrey used Mac's backyard as an opportunity to learn how to dig.

Murray and Audrey ran and ran together, and got progressively exhausted...

... until they were, in Mac's words, thoroughly "wracked out," which is prolly about the most apt characterization of this picture that I can think of.

Audrey also recently made a trip to the Steilacoom Dog Park, an enormous off-leash dog park on the way to Tacoma that features vast, separate fenced areas for big dogs and for small dogs. Audrey played for many hours among the small dogs, and made particular friends with one charming but scrappy pug, with whom she could not stop rolling around in the dirt.  

By day's end, Audrey was completely gray, and I felt like a stupid rookie for having given her a bath before we went to the park. We'll definitely be going back -- and we'll keep our eyes peeled for that pug. 

The Sporting Life

Taking advantage of the gorgeous Cinco de Mayo weather yesterday, some friends and I gathered together at Capitol Lake for some majorly competitive badminton. Or it would have been competitive if the wind wasn't blowing. And Audrey wasn't constantly underfoot. And any of us was even moderately good at anything more than shuttlecock jokes. Which never cease being funny, by the way. Big thanks to Anne for the ridiculously clear pictures, especially the gratuitous snot shot at the bottom.

Hunting Gremlins

In this first of two parts, an explorer of unidentifiable provenance bravely ventures outside the gremlin's den. 

After having roused the gremlin, our rather annoying explorer meets his untimely demise in this second and final installment.