Someone turned seven today.

We don't seem to blog a lot about anything/anyone other than Henry. Which is probably the way it should be because he's really the only one with a lot of new/exciting stuff going on in his life. And he's cute. But today I thought I should mention another individual who is a constant in our home.



That is Zoe. She's our golden retriever and if you have visited us within the last seven years the two of you have met. If you aren't/weren't a dog person, sorry she doesn't know the difference. She's easily the most enthusiastic/loving greeter we've ever had in our home.

This is what she looked like a little more than seven years ago:

She's the yellow/white one. Anyway, she's a terrific dog. So this post will be devoted entirely to her.

Above is one of the funniest pictures we've taken of her. It has not been photoshopped, but it sure looks like a smile/grin to me.

This is a picture of an adolescent Zoe and much younger Derek.

For us, one of the best characteristics of Zoe is how well she does with Henry. The above picture was taken when Henry was two weeks old. I laid Henry on the floor for a little floor time and Zoe came over and laid down right beside him to see what he was all about.

One of the best/worst things about a dog is that they force you to get out of the house. Which is nice about 11.5 months of the year but really was a bummer this winter with the number of below zero days we had. It seems that these 'all family walks' are about Zoe's favorite thing in the world.

Next to hanging out with Henry on the floor.

Which is why we celebrated Zoe's birthday today by taking a nice long family walk that included hiking out onto one of the nearby frozen lakes to run off-leash. Frozen lakes by the way, make pretty safe dog parks in the winter since there's very little they can get into. Anyway, I think Zoe had a good time. She came home, drank some water, laid down and hasn't moved since.

Happy Birthday Zoe.