Happy Memorial Day

We are spending Memorial Day in the Outer Banks NC with my family. We arrived on Sunday and are staying through Wednesday. The K-Man was again a good sport during the five hour car ride. More on the beach and sand hopefully later this week, but here are some pics from the ride down.
Head out the window:

So cute:

Yes, he's still spoiled and spent some time in my lap:

Sunroof action when we were close to the beach house:

Although everyone (myself included) loves the three day weekend, let's not forget the real reason for Memorial Day - to honor the folks in the military and our veterans for their service to our country. So to those reading, thanks!
In honor of Memorial Day, our CrossFit gym did a special "hero" workout called Murph on Saturday. The Hero workouts are always tough and are usually named after a soldier who was killed in battle. Murph the workout is in memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.
This workout was one of Mike's favorites and he'd named it "Body Armor". From here on it will be referred to as "Murph" in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.
"Murph"
1 Mile Run
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Squats
1 Mile Run
With an option of doing the entire thing with a weighted vest or body armor (I did not... Ha!)
You have to start and end with the run, but you could break up the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats. We did 20 rounds of 5-10-15.
It was a doooooozy! But I finished!! In 64:50. And was exhausted for the rest of the day and may or may not have taken a nap. Needless to say, I am a tad bit sore and going down stairs is a bit of a challenge due to the squats, but it felt very good to finish such a long and challenging workout. When I was halfway done with the 100-200-300, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it, but I powered through. The push-ups were by far the worst part and the hardest for me. I struggled to do five, then would try to do three more, then two more. Then to have to finish with a mile run in the humid sun, whoa.
It's early to rise tomorrow for some early morning beach time with the pups!
<3
Kara

Happy Birthday Dear Kairo!

I wrote this post almost over a month ago, but never got around to adding the picture (which always seems to be the bottleneck on posts).  I made a few updates in italics below, since what was future-tense has now happened.  And where did April and May go?!?!?    

On Sunday, April 15, Kairo turned one!  We didn’t have any special doggie cupcakes like he received on G$’s birthday, but we did go on an extra long 4+ mile hike and he had a blast!  As did G$ and I.  I need to get some video footage of it, but Kairo looooooves to stalk bird.  It's too funny to watch.  And he knows the difference between birds, squirrels/bunnies.  Birds he stealthily approaches, since he knows they have the power of flight, but with squirrels/bunnies, he will just take right off after them. 

G$ tried to get me to send out a joke e-vite inviting family and friends to Kairo’s birthday party, but I unfortunately never got around to creating it…kind of like I never got around to posting this entry.

It’s so hard to believe that a year has gone by since Kairo was born and they he’s almost been in our life for a year (May 31st will be a year).  And man, what a year it has been!  I recently  went through all 1000+ pictures I have on my phones (yes, you read that correctly), and it was a nice trip down memory lane.  He was such a cute little ball of fur back then.  Still is super cute, but now has the added benefit of having a larger, more controlled bladder! 

Here’s a cute before and after picture:

As a wee little pup

Same stool, at a year old.  Sorry it's a big blurry. 

After Easter church and brunch with G$'s family, we swung by and picked up Kairo before heading back to G$'s parents' house for an Easter Egg Hunt for G$'s nephew, Jack.  Kairo help find the eggs, but was very good and didn't try to pick one up!

Kairo is getting more comfortable swimming.  Last summer he dabbled, so we really think this is going to be a good summer for me.  After the Easter egg hunt, we went home, took a family nap, then later in the afternoon went to the dog park.  Since it was late in the day, there weren't a ton of dogs down by the water, which meant the K-Man wasn't distracted and would actually fetch sticks. 

One of the vizsla blogs G$ and I follow recently did a post about their friend’s vizsla passing away and it really got G$ and I thinking about how sad we are going to be when that day comes.  He really has become a part of our daily life and it’s very bizarre when G$ and I find ourselves home with the K-Man by our side (the few times we’re home, but haven’t yet picked him up from daycare).  And nothing, really  nothing beats the whole body butt/tail shake that ensues after we come home from being away (even if it’s just 2 minutes to run and check the mail).  He.just.gets.so.amped.up!  As sad as it will be when Kairo’s time comes, there’s no sense in thinking about it now, instead we are going to live up some exciting times in our life, including:

• I have a new baby niece!  Allison Katherine was born on April 16.  I’m so excited to meet and hold her on Saturday!  She’s a cutie-patootie! G$ and I met her the Saturday following and got to spend some time chatting with Scott and Amy at their place.  And I sadly neglected to take newer pictures of Ally when I saw her on Mother's Day.

• Kairo’s best friend, Chester, the labradoodle, moved a few weeks ago and the nightly play sessions have not been the same.  We have had dinner plans with them on Friday night, so Kairo and Chester will be were reunited once again.  Kairo had a blast with Chester, got to experience a doggie door.  It was funny, he's use it to get back in, but opted to push the screen door with his nose and/or his paw to get back outside.  He was once again intrigued by their cats.  Yes, plural.  He becomes VERY curious, but then gets scared.  It’s actually been good that Kairo is starting to change his nightly routine (less hardcore running right before bed), since...
• We move next Friday moved!  I have not done nearly enough packing and I’m sure I’m going to start feeling stressed once this weekend is over… And I was stressed, and we didn't get everything packed, so we've had to do a number of loads between places after the fact.  I took Kairo over to the new place on Wednesday night while G$ had his softball games, which may have been a bad idea… a new strange place... in the dark... without his daddy.  After smelling the place top to bottom, he was whining a bit, so we went for a quick loop around the block, then I went back to clean some of the cabinets.  Since he was still whining/whimpering and I stupidly forgot to bring a toy for him, we headed out to catch the end of G$'s softball game.  As we were leaving, we met one of our neighbors with a dog named Molly.  Kairo was super friendly and actually walked up their stoop to greet Molly’s momma.  Our next visit there will be this weekend, when it’s light out, with G$, so hopefully he’ll start to be more comfortable with the new place.  No worries, Kairo has since adjusted to the new place.  I will do a post on the new place, so you'll hear more then.
• Five More Days of our Whole30!  I owe you guys and updated post on that – I’ll get it to it soon, hopefully before it’s over!  And it's over!  I took measurements before and after, which I will publish in a summary post. 

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite recent Kairo pictures:

<3
Kara