Mom and Dad recently bred their dog Joie, so they had 6 six-week-old Wire haired Griffon puppies running about. Kearson keeps a few of them entertained on the lawn - or is he giving them beer?!.
Joie had her paws full taking care of her hungry brood! Yes - those cute little puppies will grow up to be hairy, ugly dog you see here! But despite their not-so-good looks, they are a loving and intelligent breed, and amazing bird dogs.
One of the pups, the only girl, was promised to my 3 year old niece, Lily. This was the first time she'd gotten to see the puppies and you can imagine she was EXCITED! The first thing out of her mouth when they arrived was "Where's MY puppy?!" Mom named the puppy "Sweet Pea" for her. Here Dad, Lily, and Mom watch while Sean gives Sweat Pea a little early instruction on the finer points of bird retrieval. That's right - the puppy is for Lily...yeah, right! :)
Nice picture of Lauren with one of the other pups. I think this is "Crazy 8" - so named for the 8-shaped spot on his rump.
Kearson wasn't giving them beer, but Dad was! The puppies liked Corona, yep - they're gonna fit right in to this family!! Don't worry, we didn't let them have much, this pup is sleepy - not drunk!
Dad shows Lily how to give Sweet Pea nice kisses. Lily thought this was really fun!
More kisses!
I was pretty disappointed with the quality of these "cousin" photographs - the flash just didn't cut it in the large, dark hotel lobby where we were. But, this kind of photo op doesn't come along very often, so I'm posting them anyhow! This first one is just of the girl cousins. From the left: Tracy, me, Lisa, Erin and Megan.
Here's the guys and girls: Kellen (aka Kelly) and my younger brother Chad on the left, the girls, and older brother Sean and Scott (AKA Scotty) on the right.
This is nearly ALL my cousins, plus significant others and my siblings! You met the girls on the couch, everyone else, from the left: Dave (Lisa's husband), Kelly (Tracy's brother), Bill (Megan's Fiance), Faiyaz (Tracy's husband - hiding in back), Chad, Scott (his wife Connie stayed home to watch their girls), Chad's wife Nathalie, Kearson peeking from the back, Lauren - Sean's wife, Kathleen - Kelly's wife, and Sean. I think the only cousins we're missing here are my Mom's sister's son's - Ty and Troy, and one of my Dad's brother's daughters - Lynn. 8 out of 11 isn't bad!! Again - sorry these photos didn't turn out so great!
Finally, a cute, but unrelated, photo of Kearson and our niece S-A-O-I-R-S-E, Saoir-se Eliz-a-beth Mc-Nulty! (Thanks to Breaen for embedding that little rhyme in my head forever!
