We are still here

School has started for both Luke and I. As you can see Gizmo is still holding down the apartment while we are out.

A Dog-gone Awesome Summer!

The humans were not paying attention today so I saw this as my opportunity to update MY blog. My summer was absolutely wonderful! My neighbor puppy friend, Deja, moved away. We had a great last play date, though.

 A friend of my humans, Mike, paid us a visit this summer. He thought he was oh so funny putting his hat on my head. I was less than amused.

The bipeds finally got around to getting me groomed. I looked so smart in my handkerchief. ("Smart" is British slang for good looking. I feel as a dog of Welsh descent I am qualified to use such slang.)

 I found plenty of time to nap on the bipeds'  bed this summer.

I never used to be interested in what my humans were cooking when they were vegetarians. Then, the male started to come home with a food called "bacon." Now, I make guest appearances at every meal hoping they forget I'm not supposed to have people food.

Afternoon nap time is still my favorite part of the day. 

We went over to the man-human's sister's house. The yard is the perfect size for me to play frisbee. I wanted to play the WHOLE time we were over there. If my humans went inside I would throw the frisbee on the bottom step to wait for them to come back outside. I tried to look (and sound) as pathetic as possible to coax the humans into playing with me. In all, I probably played frisbee for over an hour. I would consider that a success.

After all that frisbee, boy was I tired. My humans have always told me I can grow up to be whatever I want, so I became an armrest. 

I hope everyone else had great summers, too! I am always happy to have visitors, so let my humans know if you ever want to come hang out with us in the great city of St. Louis. It's actually a pretty cool place.

- Gizmo

This blog was written on my iPooch 4.

John Mayer

This is a view of the stage from the lawn where we were sitting.

Another view, looking across the lawn into the sunset.

Phillip Phillips was the opening act. The women screaming for him sitting behind us told us he won some season of American Idol. We don't watch singing shows on principle so we cannot verify that information. If Phillip Phillips or his representatives are reading this, the aforementioned women also want to have his babies. 

John Mayer!

All of his backgrounds during the show were reminiscent of a desert in Arizona. They were all beautiful!

Naturalization Ceremony

 As mentioned previously on this blog I am interning at the U.S. Attorney's Office this summer. The U.S. Attorney's Office in St. Louis performs naturalization ceremonies about every month or so. During the summer the lawyer performing the ceremony with a judge can bring an intern along to read the names of people who will become U.S. Citizens. On July 3rd  I was lucky to be that intern. This ceremony was performed at the Old Historic Courthouse in downtown St. Louis.

 This picture is before the ceremony begins.

Me waiting for the ceremony to start.

51 people became U.S. Citizens.

 The courthouse singers.

Me at the podium, I read 25 of the names.

New U.S. citizens taking the Oath.

It is cool to be an American. Happy 3rd of July.

California

For my Dad's 60th birthday the whole family took a trip to Southern California. There was no way I was going out to SoCal without visiting one of my favorite breweries, Stone Brewing Co. It was our first big stop.

Upon leaving Stone Brewery, we discovered this wonderful motor vehicle. You can find good people everywhere.

Megan's brother lives out in Long Beach. He drove down to hang out with us for a day.

California bore us some excellent snacks: the elusive white Gatorade and the never before seen (only heard about in a children's rap song) Takis

Megan seriously reconsidered law school for the life of a surf bum.

We found these babies on the beach. They weren't too excited when we picked them up. Just kidding. We tried to take this photogenic beach photo with our niece and nephew. However, this kind of photo is more our style.

We also went to the San Diego Zoo. Megan was a wonderful aunt and took a turn pushing the little ones. 

This picture is solely for Katie Frankhouser. 

Monkeying around comes easy to me. Megan had a more difficult time focusing.

Just an average day pondering the great circle of life.

I saw this giant camel statue while we were at the zoo. The natural response for anyone when they see such a object is climb onto it.

Megan's favorite bird is the Flamingo. She was pumped that San Diego had so many.

Megan's favorite animal of all time though is the capybara. I don't have the heart to tell her they are just snacks for rain forest carnivores.

We joined a rookery of seals!

We had a great time in San Diego. *Link not appropriate for children*

If you looked at some of these pictures and thought to yourself, "Wow! That's a good looking photo!" it was probably taken by my brother-in-law, Brad. We owe him a thanks for the good looking pictures on this post.

Portland

Our hotel was on the river walkway and there was a group of geese that hung out here in the morning.

Gosling daycare section.

There are a lot of courthouses in Portland, this is just one of many.

Map of Courthouses in Portland, Oregon

Pioneer Square

We toured the Pioneer Courthouse which was very cool. 

The Ninth Circuit hears cases at the Pioneer Courthouse.

This loft building has wind power on the roof.

This is the brand new federal building in Portland, the outside looks like designer crow bars on the windows.

Zoom in.

Zoom out.

Ghost bike.

More information here.

I managed to bring only one back...

(photo credit: http://thedailycorgi.blogspot.com/2011/08/slipper-cam.html )