My First Wild Bear Sighting!

We hiked the Faulty Trail in the Sandia Mountains this morning, and at the very end, I saw a bear! I'd gone ahead of Tripp and Sebastian because the terrain was difficult, and Tripp was wearing Baz on his back. We were attempting to reach a spring that is supposed to be surrounded by beautiful travertine rock. It seems the bear(s) had the same idea! I went ahead to see how far it was, and if it was worth it. I didn't get far- only about 75 feet, when I saw, and heard, movement about 200 feet ahead. At first I thought it was a person. You know how your brain takes awhile to register things sometimes? My brain went through this whole process. "There's someone there. But they are moving very strangely, and up in a tree. Gorilla! No, wait, bear! RUN!!!" It seriously took my brain about 5-10 seconds to finally realize what it was seeing! So I got a good look. Definitely a bear. Not a very big one, either, maybe 150 lbs, and I heard more movement off to the left. Figured there were two bears. One could be a mama. Time to go. The adrenaline was pumping as we called our dogs, which were both off-leash, frolicking after squirrels (thank GOODNESS they didn't see the bears!), and headed back down the trail, glancing behind us constantly for about 1/2 mile. Whew! I was so psyched, though! After a few minutes and the fear wore off, I wished I had watched a few more seconds. But, we figured that people who did watch a few more seconds probably ended up dead; like those people you hear about who try to photograph dangerous wild animals, and the last photo on their camera is of the animal just a few feet away.

Just as we got back to the campground next to where we had left our car, Sebastian, walking by now, said, "There's a big snake!" Sure enough, I looked back, and there is a 3 foot snake about 2 feet from him, sunbathing! Tripp and the dogs had walked right past it and not noticed! I grabbed Baz and plunked him down a safe distance away, and then realized that it was not a rattlesnake, but probably a non-venomous bullsnake. Beautiful, actually!

What a successful hike! Bears are SO much better than any travertine spring could have been! I am still so psyched.

Our TA is On the Way!

We received an email today that our TA is en route from China to our agency. We can hardly wait!

Cino and Scottie were adopted on Saturday- yay!

Jen

OT: Aussies in Need of a Home!

These two beautiful Australian Shepherds were brought into Animal Humane of NM (a private shelter where I volunteer twice a week) two days ago. They are 4 years old, neutered, with all their shots and microchips. Scottie is a male, and Capuccino a female. Both are very friendly, but Scottie is more exuberant, and "Cino" more reserved. They are very attached to one another and need a home together. They are both housebroken and used to being indoor dogs. They are also both a little overweight.

These two lovely animals are in Albuquerque, NM. If anyone is interested in adopting them, please contact me, or visit the shelter. Their website is http://www.ahanm.org/.

Here are some photos I took today: Cino

Scottie

Hiking the Armijo Trail

Here are some photos from the hike that we took Tuesday morning. This is in the East Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, about a 20 minute drive from our house. Chloe had such a blast romping around. Bondi was more cautious and didn't venture far from us. And when he did, he didn't stay away long enough to get a photo! Sebastian is so slow that in order to get anywhere, he had to spend a lot of time on Tripp's shoulders.

My first horny toad photo!

State Fair!

Last Thursday we took Sebastian to his first State Fair. We went in the late afternoon, as it was cooling off. One of the first things we did was to visit a building that had Lego, scrapbooking, and woodworking displays (among others). There were several woodcarvers working, and one of them burned "Baz" into the bottom of an adorable little owl that he was making, and gave it to Sebastian! I of course forgot to remove it from the stroller console when I folded the stroller in the parking lot, and it fell out and we lost it. I was so sad!

But on to the rest. We had to visit the model train display, and Sebastian was riveted! He did NOT want to leave, and has been talking about it to everyone he meets ever since. Check it out:

Isn't the detail amazing?! Looks real!

After we finally escaped the model trains, we went to see the animals. Baby goats, pigs, sheep, kittens (that couldn't have been more than 5-6 weeks old; far too young to be without their mama!), puppies, ducklings, chicks, and ponies. It was crowded, and Sebastian wasn't all that impressed. I didn't take any photos because it was a bit sad.

All this trainspotting and animal sympathy left us hungry, so we feasted on the best roasted corn with butter and lemon pepper that I am sure I have ever had, Tripp had a corn dog, and Baz and I had a hot dog. And some awful watermelon flavored beverage that tasted like melted Jolly Ranchers.

Next we explored our amusement park-like options. Sebastian flat-out refused to go near the ferris wheel, so we settled on the more familiar carousel (there is one in the mall that he has ridden many times). Tripp and I were both privileged to accompany Sebastian on a ride. Nighttime moving shots seemed to have stumped my camera. OK, OK, I was really the one that was stumped (though Tripp was more stumped- ha!), but here are the photos, such as they are:

After the carousel, "Mama" as I have been called now for the last week (a result, perhaps, of our "Chinese for the Adoptive Parent" CD constantly playing in the car) actually won something at the throwing-darts-at-balloons game. The man lured me in by saying that even if I missed, he would give me something for Sebastian. The smallest stuffed animal, I assumed. But I totally rocked the darts, and popped 4 with 3 darts! Yet, I still only got the tiniest stuffed animal, a bulldog about 6 inches long. Rip-off! Apparently you have to "work your way up" to the worth-it prizes by paying upwards of $25 in darts. I don't think so! I'd rather continue to begrudge all the happy, proud dads that I see carrying around prizes that are bigger than they are.

Still no TA...maybe tomorrow?

Jen

Moon Festival

I had my first mooncake two days ago! I sent Tripp to the local world market to get some, and he developed option paralysis, so he bought a variety tin. Sebastian and I split the pineapple-nut mooncake, and it was quite tasty! I wasn't brave enough to try any of the others, like ham and mixed nut, or the dates, lotus seeds, or red bean paste, all with "yolk". Hmmm. Tripp said there is an actual cooked egg yolk in the middle of these. I don't have anything against cooked egg yolks, but I am not an adventurous eater, and I was suspicious. I think I will stick to the all sweet mooncakes in future.

Adoption-wise, we started the visa application process today!

House preparation-wise, today Tripp and I laid our Flor carpet tiles in the guest room, and set up our new day bed, sans mattresses, which we plan to purchase tomorrow. We also chose bedding for the day bed. Or, at least, I think we did!

Here is a photo of Sebastian twirling his hair, something he does as he falls asleep.

LID to LOA!

After some stumbling blocks, we were finally LID on May 29. Our LOA arrived at Adoption House on August 19, but because Adoption House has CLOSED, and is in utter chaos, instead of sending our LOA to us, they sent it to our new agency, Heritage! As a result, it was delayed a week getting to us! When it finally did arrive, we had it for 30 minutes before sending it back to Heritage with our signatures! It was a beautiful document, and I actually took photos, which I will post whenever I upload them to the computer.

Sorry for the delay in updates!

Jen