Family Fun- Heidi, Ryan, and Ayla Visit

Or perhaps, the title of this blog post should be "Ayla Meets Fucie" or "Why you can't ever get a clear (non-blurry) picture of Ayla"

Ayla LOVED Fucie!  When she first arrived at the house, she started greeting us and saying hello and then she spotted him... we were all forgotten as she belted out "Fuuuuucccciiiieee!". 

She was a little unsure at first but it didn't take her long to figure out that Fucie couldn't jump on her.  She already knew he had no teeth, and that he wore a diaper, and that his legs didn't work so he had "wheels".

As close as she dared to get the first day

It also didn't take her long to figure out that it was great fun to feed Fucie Cheerios.  She wanted to feed Cheerios so often that we came up with (what we thought was) a smart plan:  that Fucie had to eat all his food before he could have a treat (The poor old dog doesn't have much of an appetite so we thought this would slow down the treat feeding).  

Ayla began stalking Fucie and patiently hand feeding him, one morsel at a time:

she's very excited that he's eating

patiently waiting for him to finish eating

getting down on his level to try and figure out
what the heck is taking so long for him to finish

We were at work and she asked Aundray to hold Fucie in his lap so she could "hold his paw".  This kept her occupied for a long time I'm told. 

Fucie was resting on his bed one afternoon and Ayla decided he needed to finish his food so she could give him cheerios so she brought his dish to him:

Silly Heidi made the mistake of dropping a piece of food off her plate the very first day.  From that moment on, Fucie was convinced she was the one to beg from at mealtimes.  And any other time Ayla wasn't feeding him.

We went to Newport one afternoon.  We toured a lighthouse and the gardens behind it.

Love this cheesy grin!

We stopped by Hatfield Marine Science Center and also went to Nye Beach.  

Heidi and Ayla next to tsunami debri from Japan

Cute Family

Love my Seestor!

Wading in the surf at Nye Beach

We went north to Tillamook and Oceanside beaches one day.  We stopped at Blue Heron on the way to check out their petting zoo and gift shop/food/samples/etc

Ice Cream!  So hard to pick just one flavor....

Ayla fell asleep on the way from the cheese factory to Oceanside beach so Ryan graciously stayed in the car with her while we went and got lunch.

looking comfy

We went through the tunnel at Oceanside.  Ayla LOVED it and wanted Uncle Skott to take her back through it again and again (it's a pretty long and dark tunnel).

Ayla's treasure... a nasty crab claw

fascinated with the barnacles

Another day we went crabbing at Siletz Bay.  We enjoyed playing in the sand, eating food cooked over the fire, and we actually caught some crab!

Aundray graciously babysat Ayla one afternoon so we could go back to Newport and eat at Local Ocean

Kung Pao Prawns

We had to sit at separate (but next to each other) tables
 in order to avoid the 1 hr wait list

Ryan and Heidi with Newport Bay Bridge in background

We went to the museum here in town.  It was very informative and interesting.  Thank goodness for the childrens "hands on" area.  Ayla found a puppet and loved watching it jump off the chair:

un-enthusiastically riding the pretend horse

We went to the park at the lake here in town one afternoon to burn some energy off Ayla (and Aundray) (oh, and Ryan)  :)

beautiful Heidi

Unfortunately, we didn't realize until halfway into the visit that this would be such a great form of entertainment for Ayla:

She would literally stand there holding his leash for a half hour or more.  Even in his wheels, he never went anywhere, yet she was content to stand there with him.  Brilliant!

 More feeding:

It was such a fun visit, but went by waaaay too fast!  It was so much fun having Heidi, Ryan, and Ayla here.  Fucie misses the stalking  company as well.

Thanks for coming!  We love you guys!