Keeping Up With the Allens

Thanksgiving in Breckenridge

One of the perks of having family scattered across the country is that sometimes you get to pick a random place in the middle to meet for holidays. This year, our “central” Thanksgiving location happened to be Breckenridge, Colorado. It has been really fun to watch Alex’s family get into skiing more and more each year, so our Thanksgiving trip to the mountains seemed rather fitting for us all.

The Breck Connect Gondola near where we stayed.

Since Colorado is reasonably close to Seattle, Alex and I opted to drive there so that we could bring Jackson with us. The drive was long but beautiful and we arrived to the house we rented late Tuesday afternoon. The house was awesome – a perfect open floor plan, more than enough bedrooms and bathrooms for the six of us, a big kitchen, and most importantly, a hot tub. We quickly settled in and acquainted ourselves with the surroundings that evening.

Terrible photo, but it was an awesome house!

The rest of the clan wasn’t scheduled to arrive until Wednesday afternoon, which gave us ample time to cruise around the neighborhood with Jackson, brave the crowds at the grocery store and get some food prepared for everyone to have when they arrived.

A great big kitchen to cook lots of food in!

Once we were all together the clock started ticking and time raced by. We enjoyed cooking our Thanksgiving meal together on Thursday. Once we popped the turkey in the oven we took a quick trip to downtown Breckenridge to walk through the village.

Awesome Colorado chair made out of old skis.

Our dinner menu included a turkey, of course, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie and special wine that we acquired with Alex’s parents last summer in Yakima, Washington. Although the timing of the meal was a bit off since the turkey was cooking at lightning speed, everything turned out great.

Friday morning we were up and at ’em bright and early so that Donna, Stan, Alina and Alberto could make it to their ski lesson by 8:00. They were taking a lesson from the instructor, Rick Parks, who taught Alex how to ski back in 2007. I will forever be thankful for Rick for providing the foundation for Alex to learn how to ski, as well as for Alex’s parents for affording the opportunity for Alex. While everyone else was at their lesson, Alex and I headed for the slopes to have our first day on skis, too. The groomers were great and just what we needed to get our ski legs back under us!

Once the lifts closed we met Rick and the rest of the family at Breckenridge Brewery for an apres ski drink and some great conversation before heading back to the house to eat leftover Thanksgiving.

Our last full day in Colorado was a busy one! We had a long day of skiing followed by some hot tub action and concluded with a very nice dinner out at Briar Rose in Breckenridge. The skiing was great – we got a chance to ski with Donna and Stan and watch their vast improvements continue to unfold throughout the day. It is so fun to watch people improve at something. I sure have enjoyed watching Alex continue to excel at skiing since he was a beginner and now is an extreme skier, 6 years later. Unfortunately, Alberto was having some foot troubles with his boots, so we didn’t get a chance to ski with him or Alina on Saturday.

Jackson loved being surrounded by new best friends in Colorado.

It was hard to believe how quickly the trip went by. It always goes fast, but this trip in particular really seemed to fly by. Maybe next time we’re in the mountains we can stay awake a little later and spend more time together.

Alex and Jackson making the same silly face :) — Alex and Jackson making the same silly face 🙂

Thanksgiving Road Trip to Breckenridge

For the second time in her short life, our dirty, tired Subaru Forester made the 1400 mile drive to the mountains in Colorado last week. We decided to drive to our Thanksgiving celebration with Alex’s family in Breckenridge so that we could bring Jackson with us. Last Christmas was so memorable having Aspen with us in the mountain town, so we figured it would be a delight to have Jackson with us this year.

We hit the road bright and early on Monday morning, the week of Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful day for a drive – bright and sunny with picture-perfect mountain views for much of our drive.

Since we were driving with Jackson we had to make sure he wasn’t going stir crazy in the back of the car. We stopped at two dog parks along the way to let him run around and get tired out. Something clicked with Jackson at the first dog park and he finally started playing fetch! This made it infinitely easier to wear him out for the rest of the drive.

Crossing the Columbia River from Washington into Oregon.

It was our plan to stay the night in Boise, Idaho as a mid-point, but then I received further confirmation that I tend to be directionally challenged when I realized that Boise is not exactly {read: not even close!} halfway between Seattle and Breckenridge. We scrambled in the car and were able to cancel our hotel reservation and book another room in Salt Lake City instead.

Jackson's first time in snow! — Jackson’s first time in snow!

Jackson did not enjoy the hotel we stayed in. He was awake all night long, pacing and panting, sniffing and whining. Needless to say, no one got much sleep!

Tuesday morning came early and we took Jackson to a park in Salt Lake before grabbing some breakfast and getting back on the road.

Another gorgeous day – it was especially gorgeous because we got to drive next to the Wasatch Mountains and through central Utah and eastern/central Colorado which is spectacularly gorgeous.

We made great time on Tuesday and arrived in Breckenridge at 4:00. It was still light out so we were able to check out the neighborhood and walk around with Jackson. It sure was nice to get out of the car!

It turns out Jackson loves rolling around in the snow! He was so happy to get out of the car.

After a few days in sunny Colorado, it was time to make our way back to Seattle. We woke up early on Sunday, packed up the car and pointed her west. Since we were so close to Vail we decided to take a pit stop and walk through the village on our way out of town. It was so nostalgic being there – Alex and I hadn’t been back to Vail since our wedding in April of 2012.

The Donovan Pavilion - our wedding venue! — The Donovan Pavilion – our wedding venue!

We spent a little too much time walking down memory lane and ended up getting back to the car later than we had hoped. To add to that, I didn’t really pay too much attention to the directions getting back to Salt Lake, so we missed a shortcut that would have cut a half an hour off of our drive. Oops!

The drive west was much more exciting than it was going east. We encountered extremely thick fog in Utah and a few snowstorms in Oregon and Washington.

Our stop at In-N-Out burger was nothing close to “in and out” – more like “in and wait 20 minutes.”

The same thing happened on Monday for lunch. We chose to eat at a local sandwich shop instead of going to Jimmy Johns across the street and boy did we pay for that decision. Our sandwiches were flavorless and they had forgotten about our order, thus making us wait, and the lemon bar they gave us as an apology was soooooo tart we couldn’t stand to eat it. Go figure.

Jackson was so ready to get out of the car.

The moment we crossed over the line from Bellevue to Seattle on Monday afternoon, traffic came to a slow. There was a Seahawks game. To add to that, we hit the city limits at the time that schools were getting out for the day so there were 20 MPH slow zones all through the city streets. Finally, blocks away from our house there was a funeral processional that held up traffic for a few minutes. We diverted and went a round about way back home and finally made it to our house around 3:00 p.m. Oye!

It was so nice to be in the mountains and spend Thanksgiving with Alex’s family. It was well worth the 2800 mile round-trip drive to bring Jackson with us. I don’t think we’ll be taking another long road trip like that for a while, though.

New Mud Room!

Our new mud room is serving its purpose quite well! The project is about 90% complete – we still need to get a rack of hooks to hang things from but we’re still deciding on that. All we did was remove the carpet and replace it with tile and an indoor-outdoor rug to make the entrance from our backyard into our house a bit more mud and pet-friendly. Check out some “before” and “after” photos:

"Before" - lots of carpet! — “Before” – lots of carpet!

Jackson and Henry sure like the new tile and rug!

Backyard Project… Take Five!

We are so very thankful to be able to own such a beautiful house and to have a backyard for our little pup to safely play in. That said, it sure is a lot of work keeping up with our bite-size backyard during the rainy season.

In the three plus years of living in our house we have undergone several big backyard projects and I think we’ve got another one coming down the pipeline.

Our dear dog decided last week that he would like to visit China by way of our backyard. He almost made it but then decided that he wanted to take a different route. If you get my drift, he dug two very, very large holes right off of the patio. The holes aren’t really that big of a deal themselves, but the area the holes are in turns into a complete mud pit for the duration of our 9 month Seattle winter.

To deal with the mud and grime inside our house we added a mud room off of the basement door. This has been so, so great. I will post some “after” photos of that once we get a different rug.

But, now we need to deal with the mud outside. We have a few ideas floating around but I think we might need to just bite the bullet and hire a landscape designer to help us put something together the right way, the first time. Either way, I think we’re going to lose some grass and replace it with pavers or something to alleviate the muddy mess off of the patio. We do want to retain as much grass as we can because Jackson sure loves to run around back there. For now, we’re mentally preparing to embark on yet another backyard project… Oh the joys of home ownership!

WP_20131109_009 — This is what it looks like when Jackson comes inside from the backyard.

Low-Key Weekly Recap

It has been a pretty low-key week here in the Allen household. We are finally easing our way into a pretty consistent routine and finding that we have some extra time on our hands. Here are some highlights from the week:

Lunch date at Kukai Ramen in Bellevue on Thursday

Puppy play date with Berkeley at Marymoor - 3 weekends in a row! — Puppy play date with Berkeley at Marymoor – 3 weekends in a row!

Henry got a new bed but was more interested in the box it came in

Finally got him in the bed! Henry went to the vet for a check-up after the gouge in his leg. It's healing very well but he needs to remain indoors for ten more days to allow his wound to heal. — Finally got him in the bed! Henry went to the vet for a check-up after the gouge in his leg. It’s healing very well but he needs to remain indoors for ten more days to allow his wound to heal.

We took Jackson for a great walk and swim in Lake Washington on Saturday morning, followed by a delicious breakfast of bacon, egg and cheese biscuits at home.

Our first fire of the season! We had a perfectly relaxing evening in front of the fire while enjoying a wonderful bottle of wine {Hidden Horse by Two Mountains}

On Sunday evening we took a Wine 101 class at the Bottlehouse.

We got to sample 5 wines and learn a lot about identifying wines, as well as tasting and describing wine

Jackson started a new tradition of jumping on our bed to get Alex up on the weekends

Jackson is getting pumped for ski season! He gets to experience snow for the first time in 2 weeks... he has no idea what he's in for! — Jackson is getting pumped for ski season! He gets to experience snow for the first time in 2 weeks… he has no idea what he’s in for!

We ended the weekend with a relaxing night on the couch watching a ski movie.

A Week of Pet Drama

The week started off with a trip to the vet for Jackson. He had been battling a bit of a cough for a while and we got a little paranoid that it was turning into pneumonia so we thought it would be best to bring him in. Thankfully he just has bronchitis, so we got some antibiotics and now little Jackson is on the mend and his cough is almost completely gone.

At lunchtime on Monday I took Jackson out in the backyard to play. I was hanging out with him and Mr. Henry strolled up. Immediately I could tell that something was wrong with Henry – he just looked like he didn’t feel well. Ultimately I ended up bringing him inside, not knowing what was wrong, but when I went to check on him up in our bedroom a few minutes later I noticed there were a few blood spots on the mattress {the sheets were in the washing machine}. It took a few minutes to figure out where the blood was coming from but I was able to notice a pretty substantial gash on his back leg.

Henry hanging out outside before I realized he was injured.

Not knowing what to do, I called the vet and they just said to keep an eye on it and to come in if it’s swollen or if his injured leg feels hot to the touch. Henry kept to himself for the rest of the day and ended up making himself comfortable under our bed. We figured that was so he didn’t have to jump up onto the bed or off of the bed, but the next day when he emerged I realized that his injured leg was more than twice the size of his other leg. Thankfully we were able to get him into the vet that afternoon.

The vet found an abscess and was able to drain some liquid and give him a shot of antibiotics. He sent us home with some pain killer and instructions to keep Henry inside for the week. We got Henry set up in his own little cat condo downstairs to make sure he was kept comfortable and away from Jackson.

Since his trip to the vet he has been recovering remarkably! His wound is now closed and the swelling is completely gone. Whew! We have plans to visit the vet again on Thursday for a re-check.

Alex and I have been through a lot of pet drama in the last year, but we are so thankful for our vet clinic. Four Paws Vets is absolutely fantastic. It’s so comforting to have a vet we can trust for the little things, but more importantly, for the big things.

In other exciting pet news, Jackson is a puppy school dropout! We got halfway through our third round of puppy classes (Puppy Junior High) and this class has been horrible for Jackson. There is something about the other puppies in the class that makes Jackson crazy. Because of that, and because we regularly work on training our dog, we didn’t feel like we were getting anything out of the class, so we’re done.

Jackson wearing Aspen's Franken Weenie costume - he HATED it! — Jackson wearing Aspen’s Franken Weenie costume – he HATED it!

We finished off the week with a quick puppy playdate with Berkeley, Ryan and Mary’s 4.5 month old wheaten terrier, and we’re hoping to join them at the dog park tomorrow.

We are very thankful for our animals and for the ability to provide adequate care and attention to them. It sure is a lot of work to raise a puppy, but our cat and dog make our lives so, so, so much better, more fulfilling and more enjoyable. Honestly, I don’t know what we’d talk about half the time if we weren’t talking about Henry or Jackson, or remembering silly memories with Oliver or Aspen. Even with the drama, the never ending visits to the vet and the frustrations and stress they cause us, we are so happy they are in our lives. They’re well worth the effort and investment.

Happy Halloween!

Last weekend our friends Tricia and Dave hosted a Halloween party at their apartment. It was a great chance to spend some more time with them, along with the Millers and Carrie {Patrick was out of town}. Alex and I didn’t have any brilliant ideas for costumes, so Alex went as a man in a suit and I was Audrey Hepburn.

Alex's mustache kept moving all night... — Alex’s mustache kept moving all night…

I found amazingly realistic fake cigarettes for Mary, the flapper, and me.

Mary and Ryan's costumes were so fun - Mary was a flapper and Ryan was Zach Galifinakis from the Hangover. — Mary and Ryan’s costumes were so fun – Mary was a flapper and Ryan was Zach Galifinakis from the Hangover.

Carrie showing off her new haircut under her witch hat.

The mustache kept on moving... — The mustache kept on moving…

7 Month Old Pup

Today marks the day when Jackson became a 7 month old puppy! It’s so hard to believe that we’ve had him since he was 7 weeks old and now he is 7 months old. Time has gone by soooo fast. Alex and I were recounting some memories this morning and it’s amazing how much our lives have changed since the middle of May when he became a part of our family.

Our little Jackson is now older than Aspen was when she died, which also means that we’ve had him for longer than we had Aspen. We were remembering that the last few weeks of her life were definitely the best – she was starting to turn into a dog and our hard work was beginning to pay off with her behavior. We are definitely seeing some parallels with Jackson – the last few weeks have been so great!

He is starting to become interested in his frisbee.

Aside from a very terrible, horrible, no good, very bad puppy class, Jackson, too, has started to turn into a dog. He is making mature decisions like finding an appropriate toy to play with or chew on {as opposed to a slipper or dirty laundry}, he is better able to regulate his energy and knows when it’s time to take a break/nap, and he has started to become protective.

Tuckered out after a fun day at the dog park with his buddy Berkeley.

For the most part, he is pretty well-behaved and seems to be following directions about 75% of the time. He recently learned “stay” but hasn’t totally mastered it yet. We’re working on “around,” “play dead,” and also coming up with more tricks for him to learn.

Jackson is such a sweet dog. He is always near us and wants to always be in the action and have someone paying him attention.

Keeping my toes warm while I got ready this morning.

We are so excited to see what the next milestones are since we never got to see them with Aspen – we have no idea what is in store for us, other than continuing to live with a fantastic dog.

Catching Up on the Little Things

Since May Alex and I have employed the mantra “go, go, go.” Now that it’s late October I am elated to say that I look forward to a “boring” winter with few activities, trips or get-aways planned. While the last 6 months has been unbelievably fun and exciting, time has flown by WAY too quickly. We can finally sit back, relax and spend some time at home and watch the time pass a bit more slowly.

In between our trips and visitors we managed to get a few things done around the house. We are currently in-progress with the creation of a mudroom as an entry point from our backyard to our house. Stay tuned for photos once it’s complete!

Just getting started... — Just getting started…

Three years later, we finally have a bookshelf. It truly took us three years to decide on a bookshelf for the office. It really was worth the wait. We ended up picking a Threshold bookshelf from Target and the price couldn’t have been better! It fits perfectly in the office {photos to come!} and is a great height for when we decide to add a TV to it sometime down the road.

Right now our bedroom and the office are our decor priorities. We are hoping to purchase some curtains, a headboard and some art for our bedroom to go along with the rug we recently got. Our office was thrown together because it was so boring, but now that we’re getting some newer pieces we’ve decided to replace and/or rearrange many of the things that litter the walls.

Jackson LOVES the new rug - and so far, he has not been interested in chewing on it. Fingers crossed that keeps up! — Jackson LOVES the new rug – and so far, he has not been interested in chewing on it. Fingers crossed that keeps up!

We have a to do list that only grows. Every time I check something off the list I think of 3 things to add, it seems. The top priorities are a major deep clean {tomorrow!}, detailing the car {tomorrow!}, getting the house ready for winter {this weekend??} and re-grading our driveway {this weekend!}.

I found the time one Sunday to make a delicious pot of chili. I have been excited for fall cooking for several weeks now and I am really looking forward to taking advantage of having a little extra time on my hands to hang out in the kitchen and whip up soups, stews, and hearty meals.

I’m also looking forward to trying new fall vegetables via our CSA. Our food box has been so fantastic this year and I’m really excited for the winter squashes, brussels sprouts and fall veggies we have in store.

Our puppy isn’t so much a puppy anymore! Little Jackson is days away from being 7 months old. We have him enrolled in puppy junior high and we have been taking him to agility classes. After some very rough weeks between months 4.5 and 6, I am pleased to say that Jackson is doing very, very well in our home. He has been quite well-behaved, eating very well and just being a great dog.

Henry continues to surprise us with how cuddly and affectionate he has become. In the past, Henry has preferred to keep to himself, but be near the action. Lately, he has let us hold him for more than 1.5323 seconds and he has been overly playful – even our cat sitter says she has seen a big change in his demeanor lately.

Alex and I are certainly going to enjoy our “shoulder season” before we begin skiing again, but we’re also looking forward to a pretty laid-back ski season this winter, too. This is our year of saying “no” to trips, so we don’t really have any upcoming trips to look forward to until next summer. I think my posts are going to be pretty boring for a while – at least I hope they will! 🙂

Second Annual Leavenworth Octoberfest Trip

It has become an annual tradition with one of our groups of friends to make a pilgrimage to Leavenworth, Washington to partake in Oktoberfest shenanigans. This year marked our second trip together. Our group included the newlyweds {Carrie & Patrick}, Mary, Ryan, Sara and Carsten, and three dogs {Berkeley, Emma and Jackson}.

The Millers found a fantastic house for us to rent for the weekend. The house had a very open floor-plan with a huge kitchen, a bedroom for each couple, a hot tub and a fenced in backyard {perfect for the pups!}.

This was the only photo I took with the dogs... sorry guys :) — This was the only photo I took with the dogs… sorry guys 🙂

We all arrived on Friday evening. We had enough time to have a few bottles of wine, some snacks and some great conversations before hitting the hay for the night.

Saturday morning we woke up and took the dogs for a walk and had breakfast together {breakfast burritos, courtesy of Sara} before going into the town of Leavenworth for the afternoon. Last year we went to the official Oktoberfest celebration, which included a hefty entry fee, no drink tickets and a lot of chaos. This year we decided against the actual celebration and instead found a place to grab some lunch and then did some shopping around town.

The girls split up to pop into some shops while the boys found a great beer garden with food that was better {and over an hour faster} than the restaurant we had lunch at. If only we would have found that place first! While the boys were enjoying their beer steins us girls did a wine tasting, Mary and I tried on the “world’s best leggings” and we did some olive oil sampling before meeting up with the boys for beers and pretzels.

The weather was absolutely perfect. It was sunny, crisp and clear, so we got fabulous views of the mountains. Leavenworth is situated in the Cascade Mountains along the Wenatchee River. Given that it is currently fall, the colors were spectacular, which made the idyllic scene that much better.

On our way out we walked through an art fair and Alex and I bought a black and white picture of aspen trees that was taken outside of Aspen, Colorado. I think this picture will make its way to a wall down in the office. Mary and Ryan got a black and white image of Mount Rainier for their home.

We got back to the house around dusk and let the pups out to play while Carrie warmed up some hearty chili and cornbread for dinner. It was a pretty low-key night, but we all really enjoyed being able to relax so much. Alex and Patrick got a great fire going outside and then we all piled in the hot tub for a bit. I’m not sure how this happened, but we ended up watching Beauty and the Beast until we all fell asleep on the couch…

Sunday morning came way too fast and we had to pack up and get ready to go back to Seattle. Mary made a really good breakfast casserole with spinach, goat cheese and tomatoes, along with some rosemary roasted potatoes to fill our bellies up for the beautiful drive back home.