WEDDING/HONEYMOON/WHISKERS AND TAILS; NOVEMBER 2010
Here's a few photos of our honeymoon trip to Fort Lauderdale, where we took a cruise to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Maarten, and the cruiseline's private island in the Bahamas.
During the wedding and honeymoon, we boarded Tico again to Whiskers and Tails. He was there for about 10 days. He was already used to the staff around this time, and they told me he always loved to play with the staff, which would have been unusual with the PetSmart staff. I'm not dogging (pardon the pun) PetSmart, but their pet hotel and grooming are not the best. Their vets are okay, especially the staff at the Whittier office, where we kept our records because HB's PetSmart are not that great. And the Torrance PetSmart, which is closer to us in the LA area, are snotty to our dog. But going back to the Pet Hospital. I liked that, for $25+\month, we get to have all of his shots current, most of his medicines paid for, some of his surgeries and stuff paid for, and thanks to them, we have a very healthy, happy dog. And I go to PetSmart for our doggie groceries. I don't like PetCo at all. Sometimes, I'd go to Albertson's and Food 4 Less because of the convenience, but PetSmart is my number one choice for everything dog - related food, and toys-wise. Tico loves Beneful, and Alpo Prime Cuts. He eats almost any snacks, but the rawhides are always the winner. When we used to shop at Costco, we'd have groceries shopping for a month, and Tico's groceries are about 1/3 of that. For a large dog, be prepared to spend a lot on dog food. Tico eats about 3 cups of dry food, and a can of wet food a day. He'd eat more if he could, but we try to keep him on a sensible diet. We never have him eat non-dog food items because he easily reacts on it, and gets the runs immediately. My black leather car seats have experienced enough abuse from one of those "episodes" for us to know better not to feed him junk food.
RUNYON CANYON (DOG) PARK; NOVEMBER 2010
After the wedding and honeymoon madness, on Thanksgiving morning, we managed to check out Runyon Canyon, which allows dogs to be off-leash. Tico had a great time. It took us a long time to find the place, because Yahoo gave us the wrong directions. The best way to get there, IMO, is to get off on the 101 via Mulholland Drive; and take it up until you see the dog park just up the hill. But the address, they say is 2000 N Fuller Ave., LA CA 90189. Amazing views of the greater LA.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/runyon-canyon-park-los-angeles
Later in the afternoon, B and I went to Rolling Hills Estates, where his grandparent's houses were, and I got to point out where I was earlier this morning (it's in close proximity to the Hollywood sign, so I pretty much knew where the park was, from the pool area of his grandparent's house). This photo is taken at his grandparents' house during my wedding shower the month before. Which brings me to some of the pros and cons of living on Main Street. We are within 20 minutes to just about everywhere, because we are near the 91, 405 and the 105 freeways, but the neighborhood is much less to be desired for. Across the street from us is the industrial buildings. Our neighbors are great, friendly and helpful, but we are nowhere walking distance to anything.
THE STRAND/MANHATTAN BEACH, CA; NOVEMBER 2010
The next day, I took Tico to have a nice walk on the strand on Manhattan Beach. To get there, just take the 405 freeway, exit Rosecrans, make a left on Sepulveda, and right on Manhattan Beach Boulevard and take that all the way to the end. There are lots of paid street parking, but they, like Huntington Beach, are trying to get away from coins, so don't forget to bring your bills, or debit/credit cards. We got to see a handful of dolphins on the water playing. Tico was really well-behaved today, and I was worried since B was not with us. He's a strong dog, and he almost cleared me under the bushes one time when he was chasing after a neighbor's cat. With all of the dogs, people and cars, I am always concerned what will tick him to go after someone. The leader leash helps, but I can still feel him leading me most of the time.
CHRISTMAS 2010:
With a handful of Home Depot Gift Certificates from the wedding, we drove to the local Home Depot that afternoon to get our christmas tree. We got this 8-footer baby for $40 bucks. Tico sniffed around for a while, and then just went back to his couch to rest. We don't have much of an ornaments per say, since I always liked to buy ornaments that meant something to us (this year, I bought a house ornament in honor of buying our house. I am still looking for a wedding ornament that I'd like). What we do for decoration instead, is just hang the christmas cards that we receive during the month. Speaking of ornaments, we also received this year a Hawaiian angel with her aloha dress from Wennie and Jason. Wennie is a girlfriend of mine who came to the wedding with her husband. When she got home, she mailed this ornament, along with a couple of Na Leo Pilimehana CD's, as well as Iz Kamakawiwoole's CD; whose songs were featured in our wedding via the ukulele player at the ceremony atop the beach cliff, and during the reception at the hotel. Another new ornament we got this year is a princess house angel we got from his mom (she sells princess house for a living, and is the top seller in Riverside, where she lives).
This photo was taken at Redondo Beach Dog Park one weekend. For $5, we got to have Tico take a photo with I believe, is the photographer's son, and the photographer's granddaughter is the cashier. It was a cute operation, all they had were some digital SLR camera, and a portable photo printer. The proceeds went to the park as donations.
Sunday of the Christmas weekend, we took Tico to Huntington Dog Beach again. He loved going there. I took him to Redondo Beach Dog Park the day before, but this place is vast, and Tico can roam around freely and I can toss the ball farther without worrying about running into other people or dog in the way. And the dog park itself is about 1-2 acres big, it just get crowded, especially on the weekends.
In HB, it was a high tide because of the storm, but the place is still beautiful. Tico loved running around with balls, twigs, or whatever he can put in his mouth. I used to blow bubbles and he used to chase him a lot here, but I keep forgetting to bring them with me each time I think about going back to HB. B don't care much for the bubbles, but I told him it's non-toxic.
Tico used to be scared of the water, but now, he is not even fazed by it. He loves going after his ball in between the waves. After an hour of that, we drove to Seacliff mall and ate at the local Pick Up Stix in their patio area. We came home, and Tico was down for the count for the entire day and night.
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