Duncan, Turtle and I arrived back in Ann Arbor this week. We were very excited to get re-settled in our apartment and go to our local dog park.

Duncan held back with me while Turtle made his usual rounds.



Turtle checked back often to make sure everything was o.k. and to get Duncan up to speed on dog park etiquette.



Then Duncan felt brave enough to go explore on his own!



Then it was back home for a nap on the cool kitchen floor.

My mom's two adopted puppies, Abby & Finn, arrived last weekend (the same weekend Duncan and I came home from New York).

Abby & Finn were abandoned by a river in Minneapolis where a fisherman spotted them and brought them to a local shelter. They were suffering from dehydration and neglect and would not have lasted much longer on their own.

We're so happy to have them in the family!

Turtle doesn't know it yet, but he became a big brother yesterday! Tyler and I were walking near our summer apartment in NYC when we saw an adoption booth with three cavalier/cocker spaniel mix puppies.

We held the puppies and reluctantly left to catch our ferry to Ellis Island. We were very distracted at the museum thinking about those cute puppies. My mom, aunts, cousins and grandma were all visiting for the weekend and when we couldn't convince any of them to take one of the puppies, they started trying to convince us. After about 30 min of deliberation (yikes!) Tyler and I decided to rush back in a cab to see if any of them were still left.

When we got there, we discovered two had been adopted and one of the boys was still left! It took about 20min to fill out the paperwork and then we were walking away with our new puppy (wondering if we had seriously gone crazy and if Turtle would ever forgive us.)

After discussing names with the family that night at dinner, we settled on Duncan, or "Dunk" for short.

Duncan had his first full day with us today. We took him to Central Park and let him explore the neighborhood. It took us a while to complete the tour because people kept stopping to meet him; one guy even wanted to take his picture.

Here are some of the photos we took today. We'll have Duncan in NYC for the next two weeks and then he'll go home to meet his big brother! Wish us luck ;)

Old mom has been watching Turtle this summer since I've been in New York for my internship (I decided Turtle would have more fun this summer with access to his own back yard and a nice big house to roam).

It's been hard being apart for so long, but we did get to spend some time together over 4th of July. Turtle spent a lot of time swimming with his cousins Luca (rotweiller) and Maggie (lab puppy).







Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Turtle turns two on June 2nd, so we had a little garden party last night to celebrate while the whole family was together.

On the menu were Apple Crunch Pupcakes (recipe courtesy of Preston's blog) with peanut butter and cream cheese frosting (Turtle's favorite part).




We made Turtle wait to blow out the candles until we all sang to him (our family has some particularly talented singers, so Turtle really enjoyed the serenade).






What a great birthday!

This past weekend Tyler came to visit us from Tokyo, where he's been living for a work project.

If you were ever curious how a Puggle reacts after six months of separation from his human, check this out...

Last week our family lost our dear friend, Sadie, to cancer. One of Sadie's favorite places is our lake house in Michigan where she used to go for beach walks (sometimes with her sidekick, Turtle). She was a beautiful, sweet dog and our thoughts and love are with her parents, Mary Ellen and Uncle Bob.

Happy Halloween! Turtle's grandma bought Turtle his very first Halloween costume this year (T's dad doesn't let him wear clothes). She got him bumble bee costume because she thinks he's such a "busy bee" whenever he visits her house.

In true form, we had a hard time getting him to sit still in his costume to take a picture with princess Emma.


Emma: "What are we waiting for?"
Turtle: "Grandma, leave my ears alone!"



Now they're ready for trick or treating!

Turtle's family (grandparents and Emma) came to visit him this weekend. He was really excited to show Emma his new dog park in Ann Arbor.

Emma just celebrated her 14th birthday, so she's usually not up for such uncivilized affairs, but she was a good sport.



This guy gave T a run for his money.



Turtle protecting the girls.



Emma prefers Turtle in small doses, so she wanted to make sure she didn't get left in Ann Arbor and took up post next to the luggage until it was time to go home.



Turtle had a great weekend, but he's tired from so much entertaining!

Turtle made it safely to Michigan, but would like to avoid airports for as long as possible in the future. He's been recovering from the "trauma" by relaxing at his family's lake house before our new apartment in Ann Arbor is ready.

Here's me and Turtle in front of "his cottage."



This is Turtle catching some breeze on the porch with his cousin Emma who is a 13 year old king charles (=queen bee). Turtle has been keeping a respectful distance.



But his favorite thing has been taking naps on the porch after going for long walks on the beach.