Weekend Getaway

I've been attempting to round-up pictures from this past weekend's adventure before I posted about it and I think I have finally collected the ones I want.

Since last weekend was a long one for us (and it also just happened to be our 6 month anniversary), Ryan and I decided to go up to Bushkill Falls, PA for a little getaway. As a kid during our New Jersey summers, Dad, Carl and I would occasionally make the trip to the Delaware Water Gap for some hiking but I think we always were on the New Jersey side. Bushkill Falls is on the other side of the water gap, technically in the Poconos. I honestly had never heard of it, but during his research, Ryan found it and discovered it is considered the "Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania". It's only about a three hour trip from here so we hit the road early Sunday morning and spent the rest of the weekend there.

We spent Sunday drinking white Sangria at a local winery, kayaking on the Delaware water gap (which neither of us had ever done), checking out the local attractions, and wandering aimlessly around looking for a place to have dinner. It was GREAT! Monday morning we went to the actual Bushkill Falls area and made the ~ 2 hour hike to see the eight waterfalls in the area. It was a perfect mix of a relaxing weekend with some fun outdoor activities and beautiful scenery thrown in.

Here are some pictures of our adventures..

Kayaking on the river

One of the falls.

A little rapids action.

On the trail.

One of the smaller falls.

A strange little gator farm that we hit on our way out of town.

Cuteness Quotient

I think I have met my cuteness quotient for the week.

The first is due to my adorable puppy who had me bent over in laughter the other day. During my lunch hour Irie and I often go across the street to the park to play fetch and let her blow off some pent up energy. On this particular day we were doing our thing when a young boy and his dad showed up, waiting for baseball practice to start. The boy got a little bored and headed over to home-plate to practice his swing. Irie was instantaneously intrigued. She stood and watched him from a safe distance for a bit and then slowly worked her way over to a few feet in front of him. Each time he swung the bat (at nothing mind you), she'd take off running as if he'd just hit a ball for her to go fetch. It was hands down one of the cutest interactions I've seen in a long time. Before long I wandered over and begin pitching Irie's fetch ball to the boy who would gleefully hit it into the field for Irie to go retrieve. Absolutely adorable.

The second happened this evening when I received a call from Carl saying that Lily wanted to talk to me. Apparently she was requesting that she go to Baltimore so she could dance with me. When he put her on the phone, my heart just melted. There's something about this little voice saying "baldemore" that does it for me, I guess. :-) I asked her about the new house which she assured me she liked and gave me a run down on some of the new toys she's acquired. I also asked how Terra was enjoying the backyard. In true Lily fashion she told me that "Yes, Terra likes it. She likes to pee out there. And poop." Well, of course she does. Nothing compares to a two-year-old requesting a visit. I just want to give her a big squeeze and kiss.

I'm definitely starting Lily withdrawal this week, I think. I knew I'd miss all of them, and of course her in particular, but I wasn't sure how it was really going to go. But I think now that I'm on day 11, I know it's not going to be an easy transition. I guess I should have known that - considering I had to make a trip out to Baltimore at least every other month to see her prior to moving here. I'm still enjoying Baltimore, but every day I'm a little more anxious to get back to the midwest. I can't wait for Ryan and my roadtrip back next month!

Doctor Doctor

Well, after all these years, Carl finally graduated from med school. And because that wasn't enough activity for one weekend, Carl and Kathleen decided that they should move to St. Louis at the same time. Needless to say it was a bit of a whirlwind weekend, but we all survived.

Last Thursday the moving truck (a huge semi) showed up at the house to load everything up. Carl had an awards ceremony that morning, so I came over to babysit and over see the moving process while he and Kathleen were gone. Lily and I had a great time watching all their stuff get loaded in. We watched the guys carry four huge boxes on their backs, move furniture and stack everything carefully in the truck. Amazingly everything in the entire house fit in the first quarter of the truck. Lily and I had a picnic on the sidewalk and when she got tired she opted for laying down on furniture pads outside so she could still keep her eyes on the activity.

Thursday night Mom, Dad and Zander arrived in Baltimore and Friday morning kicked off the big graduation day. We were up and cruising downtown Baltimore for parking by 7:30am. The med school hooding ceremony was first and other than being a little long, it was actually pretty neat. Then we had a few hours to kill until the actual graduation ceremony so we grabbed lunch at a local indian restaurant and then came back to my place to walk the dogs and try to get Lily to nap. That didn't exactly happen. Lily was much more interested in jumping on my bed than sleeping on it. Needless to say, by halfway through the graduation ceremony, Lily was done with sitting around listening to speakers, so we spent the last 1/2 out in the hallway running and playing on the payphone.

Saturday morning Dad, Zander and I took Lily to the great and amazing IKEA. It's one of Zander's favorite stores and we only had a little time to kill anyway. Lily was particularly impressed with everything IKEA had. She loved running from chair to couch to bed announcing how "Comfy!" each one was. I was impressed with how into it she seemed until I remembered she didn't have any furniture at the house. I think she was just totally psyched to have so many places to sit and lay.

Then in the afternoon, Mom and I took Lily to the park while Carl and Kathleen tried to finish up cleaning the house. Lily was quite the little daredevil and very impressed with her own skills.

We stopped at Target for a quick dinner (and gummies) and then headed back to the house. An hour later Carl, Kathleen, Lily and Terra were on the road to St. Louis. There were a few tears on mom and my parts, but all in all, it went fine and now, a week later, we are all in our appropriate locations.

I miss them already and can't wait for next month's roadtrip to get to see them again! It's certainly odd to not have family in the area, but I keep myself pretty busy and have a lot to do and see this summer so I'm sure that will help.

Bark Busters to the rescue

Many of you who know Irie, know that she has a few... neuroses. I know I'm biased, but I really do think she's a good dog - she just has some bad habits. In an effort to get some help breaking these habits, I hired a trainer from Bark Busters.

Bark Busters is a world-wide company that travels to your home and helps you with your specific problems. Their services are guaranteed for the life of the dog, regardless of where you live, and they just keep coming back until you're satisfied with the results.

I won't say that the results have been utterly magical (as they appear to be for some people) and it's definitely taking a lot of work on my (and Irie's) parts, but we're certainly making progress. She's MUCH better in the house and we're making big strides outside. There's still the occassional lunge at dogs walking by (especially if they're barking or being crazy), but she's much better around cars, people and squirrels. I think it will probably take another few months before she's really got it and understands that it's never ok to do these things, but she's definitely better. Meanwhile, I'm still having trouble juggling the sports bottle I'm supposed to use to squirt her if she starts to get aggressive, holding the leash properly, walking with a purpose, growling and praising appropriately, etc.

I've definitely run across my fair share of people that most likely think I'm crazy - and that I'm undoubtly mean to my dog. And it's certainly embarassing to be growling at my dog and squirting her with water - but I guess it's an improvement over having her lunge at them!

It's a process, but one that I think will really pay off in the long-run.

Here's a picture of Irie in utter bliss playing with my roommate's friend's dog, Lou. Isn't it funny how much they look alike?