Weeeeeeeeeee!

Mark and I went to a retirement party for one of my coworkers. This was the best part of the day....the ZIP LINE!

Living the Good Life!

Here are some pictures from the pets' vacation. While we were roughing it in Yosemite, the cats and dog were practically in a full service salon for a week. Both of our moms came by our house each day to tend to them. (Thank you!) Dave, Lizzie and Pige enjoyed frequent belly rubs, freedom to sleep on our bed and gravy for dinner!

Friday the 13th

Today is Friday the 13th. Because of this, I find it very appropriate to now talk about the most superstitious of the Kitten Cousins.....Baldy (the black cat).

Baldwin Wallace was born on April Fools day sometime in the early 1990's. (I think she is now 18 years old) Baldy is the craziest, most fun cat The Beckers have ever had. She used to hang out on the roof of the house for hours on end and we could hear her running from one side to the other at night. Some of her hobbies used to include break dancing and back flips, but now she prefers sleeping and laying down. Baldy has picked a few fights in her younger days and gotten into trouble more than once, but she is a tough kitty and keeps on kicking. Although she is much older now, she still has the sweet kitten face we all fell in love with.

Hopefully there will be a picture posted here soon. Its not that she isn't photogenic, she's just a little camera shy. Check back soon for Baldy's pic.

We Are Getting Way Too Old For This

Mark and I just returned from our 4th backpacking trip in Yosemite last week. It was fun, but we are definitely getting too old for this! We hiked an average of 6 miles per day for 5 days. What I mean by average is that one day we hike 2.3 miles and one day we hiked 9 miles!! Some days were hard and some days were really REALLY hard.

Here are just a few pictures from our trip. Let us know if you want to see the narrated slideshow :)

Dave in a Nutshell (I mean a basket)

Here is a spotlight on Dave "Letterman".

Dave was born in a barn on July 24, 2003.  He is the older brother to Lizzie.  He lived with Sheona and I in an apartment for 2 years and loved every minute of it.  Even though those were the good old days, he now loves going outside in the cool Santee evenings.  He enjoys napping in our neighbor's planter box.  His favorite food is canned cat food, though he'll snack on doggy kibble if given a chance.  Water is his favorite beverage.  He prefers running water over still water.  He wants to learn how to turn on the bathroom sink.  Dave recently slimmed down and now has a more athletic build and can no longer rightfully be called Fat Boy.  Dave is a social butterfly and loves to have meet and greets whenever we have company over.

Let's hear it for Dave!

Mark & Moira's Menagerie

Sometimes our house feels like a zoo with all of our pets running around. Well, we've just been upgraded to a Wildlife Preserve. Check out our recent visitors.: 5 baby birds nesting under the eaves by the "cats bedroom" and 1 relaxed black beetle hanging out in the pool using a leaf as a flotation device.

He really is just big boned

This week we came to the realization that some of the kitten cousins are a little overweight.

We all know that Max is the big papa of the bunch weighing in well over 15 lbs. Gracie, however, just tipped the scales at 13 lbs. That's the same weight as Dave and he is a few inches taller/longer than her. Porker!

Jake has always been the poster child for feline fitness. Here is Sheona displaying the perfect specimen.

Please note: Lizzie and Baldy both say its rude to ask a lady's weight, so they refuse to condone this post.