July Recap

July was a busy month for us. We fostered a two year-old Boston Terrier, Boz, through the Wonder Dog rescue group. He was super sweet and very smart, so eager to please and learned very quickly. Except where social skills with other dogs came into the scene, which was the reason we couldn't adopt him. We just didn't have enough time, energy or skill to manage training and socializing Boz and also taking good care of Rhys; the two dogs had to be kept separate the entire two weeks, with the exception of walks (as long as we were both present, one person could not have walked both dogs incident free). He was adopted by (we're told) a loving family with experience with dogs and no other pets. After our fostering experience we decided, as a family, that we would love to foster again in the future but we need a large gap between dogs because it was quite an emotional experience for all of us. Rhys has taken to guarding the house from other dogs, even those walking by with their people, in case any of them decides to come stay for a couple weeks.

Boz

Boz and Rhys out for a walk

Fourth of July

Our friends Rob and Danielle hosted a "CharTD Kidstravaganza" pizza party on the Fourth of July weekend; something must have been in the water for a few years because a lot of J's co-workers all have kids in the same age range. Its a fun group and its always a blast to get together.

CharTD dads and their progeny

a great group of dudes

J took about a week off work in July and we indulged in a staycation. We were able to get a lot of projects done around the house, which felt really good. And its just always nice to be able to sleep in and to have a 24 hour one: one ratio (parent: child).

finally made the kids' closet functional

a desk for B, $20 craigslist find

an old record cabinet, now a media cabinet

the kids helped spruce up their play kitchen

At the end of the month we celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary (and thirteen years together) with not one, but two date nights. Perhaps to make up for several years with no dates. On our actual anniversary we went out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Crouching Tiger in Redwood City, and then we skipped the movie we planned to see and spent the rest of the evening drinking hot chocolate and strolling around a bookstore. For our official anniversary date we saw Fiona Apple at Fox Theater in Oakland. This was our third time seeing her (we also saw her at the Roseland Theater in Portland in 2005 and with Damian Rice at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend in 2006) and as always she puts on an incredibly powerful live show. We were thrilled to discover the restaurant next door to the Fox Theater, Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe; hipster heaven, but such good food and a full bar...its quickly become one of our favorite date night combos!

at the Fiona Apple show