Hi everyone,

Yung here. Hope you're having a great summer so far. Well, we're having a contest. I hope you like contests.

This contest will be for a $25.00 gift certificate to DrFosterSmith.com

All members (that are not Mods or Admins) are eligible to play. . Any member from any country may play. If a winner outside the USA wins DrFosterSmith.com will ship to anywhere around the world but for orders outside of the US, the order has to be called in/faxed in because their website does not have information or an option relating to international orders.

Here are the details:

Tell us about your summer (so far). Include pictures, videos if you want. Perhaps you went on a trip? Perhaps, you've been gardening. Perhaps you have found new romance. That's it. Very simple. This one can include your beautiful Chi(s) but it DOES NOT have to.

You only get ONE story. Make it count.

Contest closes on August 27th, 2010 at 4pm EST.

I will be choosing the winner. It's best that I do it because I don't know anyone here aside from the Admin team. If you cannot be a good sport about this, perhaps this contest isn't for you. In the end, we will all have a good time in reading each other's stories about our summer.

Cheers!

Good prize - I like the fact that they will post anywhere in the world for this competition- I like this nesting mat but drfostersmith doesn't usually ship to Europe http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...1&pcatid=18691 - bah humbug I can't enter

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Oops.. I have moved the thread here now because it was brought to my attention that users couldn't post in it before in the other forum area. Please try now.

Summer 2010 by Lisa


This has been a wonderful summer and one that I will always remember. On the 2nd day of summer with the Summer Solstice being on June 21, 2010; I went and picked up my very first Chi from the breeders – I was going to name her Phoebe, however since she was to be a surprise early present for my daughter’s 12th birthday I let her name her and she chose the name Chloe after the leading doggie star in the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I do like the name Chloe though and it does go well with our toy poodles name Colette. I will just save the name Phoebe for a future Chi in my life, because I know Chloe won't be the last! Here is Chloe on the day we brought her home on June 22, 2010:


The day after we brought Chloe home was my daughter’s 6th grade promotion ceremony. It was a beautiful day and I was a very proud Mommy sitting there watching as my baby who was all dressed up and wearing her first pair of high heeled shoes received her promotion certificate along with a perfect attendance certificate. After the ceremony we went to a local pizza/arcade place with several of my daughter’s friends and their parents and with the girls still all dressed up and looking beautiful they were actually hit on by some boys who treated them to games. When they came back and told us what happened and I said “Oh no you had your first boy try and pick you up!” my daughter said naively “They didn’t pick me up!!!!” Okay maybe it wasn’t her being naïve, maybe that’s an old phrase and it’s just me being behind on the times. LOL Anyway, I told the girls from here on out they are only allowed to wear potato sacks and they have to go barefoot (they probably didn’t know what a potato sack was either, but if they didn’t they didn’t let on!) Needless to say all the girls just rolled their eyes at us because we were just being nerdy parents, but hey I was serious!!!!!

We have had lots of fun this summer even though the Orange County weather feels more like spring instead of summer, but we at least have had a few days that were still warm enough for us to be able to go enjoy the local water park where we have season passes to. Floating around the lazy river is one of my favorite ways to relax – I could sit in that inner tube and float around and around from opening to closing!

We have celebrated quite a few momentous occasions as well this summer. I celebrated my 20th anniversary with the company I work for as well as celebrating two full years of freedom from my ex-husband who was a very manipulative and controlling man during our 12 year marriage - I’m so very glad to be out of that relationship! We also just celebrated my great aunt’s 90th birthday as well and had a BBQ with lots of family and friends. Also not to be left out; Chloe is fully housebroken now and very rarely has an accident any more ***knocks on wood*** so we are very proud of her as well.

On July 1st, myself and the other six people in my department at work decided to all go on diets so we all chipped in $10 each and at the end of August who ever has lost the most weight will win the $70! I myself, win or loose am in it for the long haul though because I would love to be able to get back into my size 7 jeans so maybe if next summer is hotter I can actually wear a two piece bathing suit! So far I have lost over 12 pounds and I believe I am in the lead – WooooHooooo! Here at work we even have a mini gym and just last week I started and have been committed to working out in the gym for at least 10 minutes in the morning and sometimes later on 10 more minutes if I can get there during my lunch break. I am hoping to build up my stamina to be able to stay on the elliptical machine for 20 minutes at a time but man that thing is murder on your thighs and knees!

This summer will wind down with my 41st birthday on August 28th and my daughter’s 12th birthday on September 9th. For my daughter’s birthday I am taking her and her BFF to Medieval Times to celebrate and then back to our house for a sleep over – so that should be lots of fun and a really long night with two overly giggly pre-teen girls. LOL

Anyway, that’s been my summer of 2010!

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My summer has been BUSY!!!

This summer we brought home a new baby!!! Jasmine (pictured below) without a doubt completes our family. She is our first Chihuahua, and we love her to pieces.



Let me start by saying that I am s highly organized person, so much so that I drive my husband nuts. I had planned on Jasmine coming home Memorial Day weekend; that was perfect because my son’s baseball season ended the week before. That left me with time to get Jazzy home and adjusted to her new surroundings. Little did I know my scheduling was about to be swept under the rug!!! My son made the All-Star baseball team which meant we were going to be traveling very soon. Jasmine was in for a treat!!!

The first baseball tournament was a Warm-Up Tournament, Blaine (my son) and his team won the tournament undefeated. We expected them to do well, but never expected them to go undefeated. Next we were off to the District Tournament (still local to us), and they placed second in this tournament. Due to their accomplishments, they were invited to compete in the Alabama State Tournament four hours away. Jasmine traveled with us to this tournament as our team mascot. She stole the hearts of many on that trip. I have more faith in my child than you can imagine, but I never expected to be going further than the State Tournament……I was wrong! The children we have all grown to love did the unthinkable and placed 1st. This meant that we would have to fundraise until we could fundraise no more. By this point we had already been fundraising for the prior tournaments, but these children were headed to Manassas, VA (15 hours away) to compete in the South East Regional Tournament – there was a lot of expense involved. For them this tournament was equivalent to the World Series. This was the farthest this age group could go. It was BIG TIME!!!

Through hours upon hours of fundraising and community support we were able to make this once in a lifetime opportunity happen for our children. Did they win it all? No, but they placed 3rd and I was so proud of how well our children did. The outcome of the tournament didn’t matter to us because up until that point we had spent all of our time creating bonds/friendships that will last a lifetime!!!

I do however love to tell people that my son is a 2010 Alabama State Champion!!!


My son: second row, first child. My husband: tallest coach, back middle.

Once all of that transpired we only had two weeks of summer left. We spent that time together as a family; the way things are meant to be!!!

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How come more of you aren't entering the contest?

Coz some of us have had pretty crap summers!! Me being one!!

Mine hasn't been interesting either. Just getting from point A to point B most days so its not interesting to write about But I think the contest is a really fun idea!

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Thank you Jan & Chico!!