For our October Furry Friends visit, the dogs were supposed to wear costumes. Shinobi wore a pirate costume (but refused to wear the hat). There was a bumble bee, a cop, a devil, and lots of bandanas with pumpkins and bats on them.

Shinobi belongs to a club called Furry Friends. He visits elderly people one Saturday a month and cheers them up. He wears a special bandana that says he is a therapist. We are very proud of him.

We went back to Oregon in September to visit friends and family. We went to Sunriver, Portland, Corvallis, and Eugene all in a week's time. We got to meet some new additions to our group of friends while we were there. This is Moriah Grace at 6 weeks old. She is a very sweet little lady with tons of hair. Her mom and dad are very proud.Toby is almost 10 months old. He likes playing with dirt. Shinobi also likes playing with dirt. They are pretty good friends.

We got out to Half Moon Bay at 9am and rented some wetsuits and body boards. We had the whole beach to ourselves because everyone was sleeping in and it was really cloudy and about 62 degrees. But, being from Oregon this was fine by us. We spent about 2 hours getting punished by the waves. This beach has particularly huge waves. We got flipped and tossed and smacked in the head and laughed really hard. As I am typing this, Jonathan is passed out on the couch from exhaustion. We are definitely doing this again.

This song by The Weepies summarizes our life right now. Enjoying the simple things and being grateful...

Can I get up in the morning,
Put the kettle on,
Make us some coffee, say "hey" to the sun.
Is it enough to write a song and sing it to the birds?
They'd hear just the tune,
Not understand my love for words,
But you would hear me and know,

I want only this, I want to live,
I want to live a simple life.

I dreamed you first,
But not so real,
And everyday since I've found you,
Such moments we steal,
Like little thieves, we rub our hands,
We hold our hearts between them.
But will you hear me and know?

I want only this, I want to live
I want to live a simple life.

Move on, move on,
Time is accelerating.
Drive on all night,
Traffic lights and one-ways.
Move on, move on,
Parking violations waiting,
Turn off the car, breathe the air,
Let's stay here.

I'll kiss you awake, and we'll have time,
To know our neighbors all by name,
And every star at night.
We'll weave our days together like waves,
And particles of light.

I want only this, I want to live
I want to live a simple life.