Fudge

We have a new puppy. Or rather, Robyn does. After months of desperate pleading, we caved in and gave Robs a Puppy Of Her Very Own for her 11th birthday. Actually, we gave her a puppy 'voucher', on the understanding that she could exchange it for a puppy of her own choice after a) we returned from our mid-year holiday, and b) she managed to find a suitable puppy. Robyn was a child on a mission, compiled a list of phone numbers for animal shelters and pet shops, and started phoning them all. Eventually, we found Fudge nee Brownie, and after much anxious waiting to see if she could really be ours (she'd been reserved by someone else, but the home check there didn't work out), we brought her home one Friday morning towards the end of the school holidays. She's a gorgeous little dog, half daschund and half something else.

Milo is thrilled to have some bouncy company, Benjy is tolerant in a long-suffering sort of way, and Sammy (the cat) tries to remain aloof. Right now all three dogs are cuddled up together in the scullery. Milo turned out to be a good nanny for Fudge, as Fudge howled piteously the first couple of nights on her own in the scullery (until she's house-trained she needs to be locked somewhere for the night so she can't mess all over the house), until we had the bright idea of putting Milo in there to keep her company. Benjy seemed to feel left out of the huddle, and so now they all sleep there together.

Our kids always have greatly protracted birthday celebrations. First there's The Birthday (family presents, supper of choice, exemption from home chores, cake at school). Robyn's other major present was a new bicycle. Can't believe she's on a 24-inch already - that is almost adult size (26-inch). Then, sometimes weeks later, when we manage to extract a free Saturday or Sunday out of all the chaos, there's The Family Birthday Outing. Robyn chose the lunch restaurant, and then we went ice-skating and to a movie (since Stephen's not interested in movies yet, this last part was just Peter and the three big ones) and finished the day with ice-cream and waffles. Finally, there's The Long-Awaited Party, to which hordes of friends are invited. This year, I got off quite easily with Robyn's party, as she planned most of it herself, opting to play on the Wii Sing-It and watch a movie for entertainment, eat pizza for supper, and have helium balloons, streamers, poppers, sparklers and ice-cream to help the festivities along. She has a really nice group of friends - 11 year old girls who actually act 11, rather than 11 going on 16. Much noise and hilarity ensued as the party got under way.

Speaking of taking the big kids to movies, Peter and I alternate, while the other stays with Stevie. This system meant that I recently got to take Robyn to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, together with her friend, also a Robyn, and her mom (Jeannette my biking friend). I thought HP6 was pretty good, though was a bit surprised at the emphasis on teen love and angst, and a bit disappointed by how much of the plot they left out (figuring out who the half-blood prince actually was, and all the digging into memories of Voldemort's beginnings).

I'm looking forward to Saturday. Jeannette and I are riding what looks to be a gorgeous 25km. When I first got my bike 18 month ago, I didn't really know where we were going to ride, apart from our local bike park. And now, we are riding all over the place. Peter and I have done quite a few rides with the kids, which is wonderful from a family perspective, but it's nice to do the occasional event without the kids, as we can go at a more satisfying pace.