Get a Long Little Doggie - The Cape Cod Doxie Day!

What's cuter than one adorable dachshund?  One HUNDRED adorable dachshunds!!

Today, we traveled down to the Cape for Cape Cod Doxie Days.  This is an annual event held each September to support the Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue, which is dedicated to rescuing Dachshunds and Dachshund mixes all across the country.  They raised over $5,000 from today's festival!!

Never EVER have I seen so many dogs - let alone dachshunds - in one place, and it was by far the most fun I've had in a long (haha) time!  The day started out with information on how to approach other dogs and a silent auction, then went into the "superlative" competitions.  The categories were hilarious - Best Ears, Teeniest Weenie, Longest Doxie, Loudest Bark, Senior Star, Most Prized Puppy, Owner/Pet Look Alike, Hairiest Hound, Handsome Hound, Best Trick, Foxiest Doxie, Best Smile, Best Kisser, Best Waddle, and Best Tail Wagger.  The winners for each category got Olympic- style medals!

Who's got four legs and won "Best Tail Wagger"?  THIS GUY!

Another category winner, resting up after the fierce competition.

Jessica and Paris...lookin' fine for the look-alike contest.

There was also a fashion show (so funny) and a dachshund race.  There were so many participants in the race, they broke the pups into "heats", and then had semi-finals and a final race to determine the winner.  Toby was NOT a fan of the dachshund race, even though he won his heat!  Toooo many screaming people!

The starting blocks for the race!

Here are some other pictures from the day!

My favorite dachshund leash ever!  

Three to a leash?  Quite impressive!

There were ramps to go up...

...and down!

There were dogs in strollers...

...dogs in t-shirts...

...and dogs in costumes (someone gave Toby a hotdog costume!)

Did I mention there were a LOT of dogs?

 

17 years old!  So sweet!

Jessica and Paris

"Moose"

Toby and Paris - hanging out while the competitions were going on.

Ridiculous ears picture!  

Suuuper sweet guy!

Can we do this every month?  :)

Newport and Plymouth Rock

My parents came up for a visit over Labor Day a few weeks ago.  Since we've "done Boston" with them over and over (and over) again, we decided to do several day trips over the long weekend!

The first day they were here, we went to Newport, Rhode Island.  One of my favorite things to do in Newport is the Cliff Walk.  The Cliff Walk is a beautiful 3.5 mile trail along Newport's eastern shoreline along a (you guessed it...) cliff!  To you left, water.  To your right, some of the largest mansions ever!

Along the cliff walk is one of the Vanderbilt's summer homes, The Breakers.  The home was amazing - here are a few shots of the outside of the property.

The Breakers' backyard...

The front of The Breakers

After touring The Breakers, we went back to Newport's downtown area and walked around before heading back home to Travis and Toby.

Sunday, we decided to take a trip to Plymouth, MA, to see the famed Plymouth Rock!  Plymouth is SUCH a cute seaside town.  The rock itself, is a little unimpressive.  The lady at the visitor's center was telling us that when she moved to Plymouth in the 70's, the souvenir shops were selling postcards with pieces of the rock on them.  She assumed that the pieces of rock had to be fake, but later found out they were real!  While she should have shelled out $4 for a piece of the rock back then, things like that are what helped turn the original boulder into a 3 foot rock.  Oh well.  :)

Mayflower replica

Path along the water where the original settlement was

Jenney Grist Mill

Old firetruck! 

Inside the courthouse

Guilty!

National Monument to the Forefathers - this was the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty!

Love my mamma!

Orange Pepper Jack-O-Lanterns

Fall is here!  It's getting cooler, days are getting shorter, and every now and then there's a little preview of color on the trees.  I LOVE fall - it's one of my favorite things about living in New England, and this year Travis and I have vowed that we're going to do fall "right".

So far we've already been apple picking (blog to follow) to get honeycrisp apples (the MOST delicious apples ever) and are working on booking a trip to the Berkshires in mid-October.  

Tonight, however, we decided to get a little creative with orange peppers.  Last fall, after Halloween, Trav and I were walking through the grocery store and he had the brilliant idea to carve orange peppers to look like jack-o-lanterns.  Today I found some fun looking peppers at Trader Joe's and decided to get them so we could do a "test run" before we carve a lot of them for this year's trick-or-treaters.  Here's what we came up with!

Here are the things I learned while making these:

The best peppers are ones that are large and can stand up by themselves.  Cut the top off just like you would a pumpkin and hollow the inside out.

Cut out the face.  (Can you guess which is Trav's?  He's the king of silly faces...)

From here you could either "stuff" them and bake for some yummy stuffed "jack-o-lantern" peppers, OR put a tea light candle inside to make them tiny "pepper-pumpkins".  Smaller faces (like the pepper on the left) will work best for stuffing (so the insides don't fall out).  If you're going to put a tea light in them, cut a hole in the bottom too so the candle can sit on the table.  That way the light hits the teeth too!

Here's the result once you turn the lights out!

If you find a REALLY tall pepper, you might be able to leave the top on once it's lit...but otherwise, that's probably not the best idea.  (You don't want to start a fire...)  The tops of ours were charred after about 10 minutes.  

Won't this make a super cute addition to a Halloween party spread?  We can't wait to make a whole line of them this Halloween!