The awakening world

After a rather quiet winter in our little world which transitioned into a peaceful beginning to spring, last week felt a little crazy.  I really have enjoyed the more peaceful pace of life to start this year.  It was a very noticeable and welcome difference from the last two springs.  But I have now entered work travel season, and this week was especially busy.

On Monday afternoon, I made the drive to Grand Rapids to meet with the Sales and Catering manager for Meijer Gardens.  We'll be using the meeting space there for an upcoming training and I needed to see the space since we have never used the venue.  Since the weather was mild, the girls rode along with me.

Since I hadn't had a chance for a lunch break prior to my meeting, we stopped at nearby Seidman Park on the way home for a walk on the North Country Trail.  It was sunny when we started our walk, then we experienced snow, wind, and rain as we walked along the trail.   Luckily the snow didn't last long and the rain started near the end of our walk.  Despite the crazy weather, we had a really nice 3.5 mile walk.  Then we had a quiet drive home and a relaxing evening. 

Tuesday was busy as I prepared for Wednesday and Thursday work travel.  The girls were good during my work day and joined me as I ran errands.  Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful day.

I left home early Wednesday to make the drive to drop the girls off at Canine College for their overnight stay.  Then I headed to Livonia for a work meeting. After the meeting in Livonia, I then made the drive to Bay City for an advisor training meeting on Thursday. 

Once I checked in to the hotel, I decided to change and get out for a walk around town.  Downtown Bay City is very walkable, and I enjoyed a nice 3 mile walk around tow, although it is always weird taking a walk withoutthe girls.  I grabbed some takeout for dinner, and then had to make a quick trip to Saginaw to pick up a couple of items for our meeting.

I was back and settled into my room before sunset and had a relaxing evening enjoying my view of the Saginaw River. 

 

Thursday was a busy day with our meeting.  Everything went well, and I was in the car by 5pm to make the drive back to Canine College to get the girls.  I made it in the nick of time to pick them up at 6:30, and then we had a quiet drive home.  It was a very quiet evening with two very sleepy girls.

Finally Friday arrived, and I was so ready for it! The girls were very quiet throughout my work day as they recovered from their two days of doggy daycare.  My day went quickly and I was able to end my day a little early due to all of the extra travel earlier in the week.

We took advantage of the early end to the day and the temperatures in the 50s to get in some more North Country Trail miles.

We drove to Horseshoe Bend Park in Battle Creek for our Friday night hike, and I was not disappointed with this choice. It has probably been three years since we hiked this section of the trail, and we all really enjoyed it.

The best part of this hike was seeing all of the beauty as the spring awakening is beginning in the woods.  

We saw flowers ready to bloom, green grass, and leaves starting to unfurl, and lots of birds and squirrels moving around in preparation for the coming of their young.  It was all of the the things I love about spring.

We had a lovely 4.5 mile hike on the trail.  It was the perfect start to our weekend.

Before leaving, we took a short walk around downtown Battle Creek to check out a few of the sites.

Then we made the drive home, had dinner,and settled in for a quiet night.

Saturday morning, I got the girls out for a quick geocaching event and short walk before feeding them an early lunch.  Then I was off to spend the afternoon with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona.

I was so excited for the day because we would be heading to downtown Detroit to see Riverdance at the Fox Theatre.

Nicol and I have seen Riverdance a number of times over the years and it is a favorite tradition for us.  I was so excited to have Fiona join us for her first time.  She was excited too.

The show was great and Fiona sat on my lap for most of it so she could see better.  It was si special sharing that time with her.  

Afterward, we had dinner downtown before heading back to Nicol's house where I was able to spend a little time playing with Picasso, reading to Fiona, and playing with her for a bit before I had to head home.

The girls were very happy to greet me when I got home.  Tjankgully, after dinner, they were happy to snuggle up for a quiet evening.  We fell asleep early and had a great night's rest.  Just what I needed after my long, busy week.

We had a slow and quiet start to our Sunday.  It is exactly how I had wanted the day to start. 

The girls spent some time outside enjoying the day before lunch.  Then, after lunch, we headed out to run a couple of errands.

While we were out, I decided to make the drive to campus for a walk around the Horticulture Gardens.   It was a beautiful 75 degrees with plenty of sun.

The girls enjoyed the walk, but we kept it shorter than normal since Peaches doesn't handle the heat like she did when she was younger. 

After a beautiful 1.5 miles of wandering around the gardens, we headed back to the car to make the drive home.

The girls spent the rest of the afternoon either wandering around the back yard or napping.  It was the perfect way to spend our Sunday afternoon.   

After the busyness of this week,  I'm happy to have no travel for my week ahead.  With the warmer weather,  it's about time for all of the flowering trees to show us their beauty and I'm hoping to have several nice walks with the girls to enjoy the beauty.   The weather for the week shows lots of storms in the forecast, but I hope we'll get chances to get outside still.  As the world around us blooms, I don't want to miss any of it! The beauty of Spring is upon us!

April showers and springtime fun

As March transitioned to April and much of the world was on Spring Break, we had a quiet and peaceful week around home.  The weather was typical of this time of year with every day bringing something quite different from 30s to 70s and everything in between.   There was sunshine and thunderstorm and maybe even a few snowflakes.      

It was too nice not to take advantage of the weather on Monday evening, so I decided to take the girls to Marshall for some NCT miles.  We had a really nice walk and were able to add 2.5 miles toward our 100 for the year. 

On Tuesday we had the most beautiful day of the week.  It was 74 and sunny on my lunch, and I decided to take the girls out for a fun mid-day break.  Peaches wasn't thrilled about the warmer temperatures.  She doesn't handle the heat as well as she did when she was younger, but she was still happy to be out enjoying the day.

As we headed home, clouds started to move into the area and soon we had a rainy afternoon.  Thanks to the lunchtime excursion, the girls were happy to nap the rest of my work day.  It was also a rainy, stormy evening so we spent a quiet night at home.  

Cooler temperatures moved in over night, leading to a much colder Wednesday.  When I decided to run down to the Speedway on my lunch, Peaches was excited to join me while Mina refused to leave the comfort of her cozy cave.  I decided to take advantage of the one on one time with Peaches to take her for a solo walk.  I think we both loved it.  We only went a mile, but it was nice just letting Peaches do Peaches' things.

After our walk, it was back home to finish my workday before heading to the shelter for our Wednesday night dog walk.

We were able to walk five dogs, four of them younger than 8 months old and lots of fun.  It was a good walk.

While I was walking shelter dogs, Peaches and Mina were patiently waiting in the car.  I hadn't planned to take them a long for the ride, but they insisted on joining me, and I just couldn't tell them no.  This allowed me to get them out for a walk along our dog walking route before heading home.  It really had worked out perfectly. 

Thursday arrived and my fairly quiet but productive week of work came to an end.  I had an appointment in Eaton Rapids at the end of my day, and the girls rode along.  My appointment ended quickly, and we were basically half way to Albion already, so I decided we would drive the rest of the way for our evening walk.

I love being able to combine our evening walk with a walk on the North Country Trail.  It was about 50 degrees when we got to Albion, which is great walking weather.

We started our walk in Victory Park and then followed it through town along the Albion River Trail.  Peaches was doing great, so we were able to walk 3.75 miles.  That's a really good walk for her and I was really happy with it.

I was excited to have the day off on Friday.  I decided to start my long weekend with a quiet day around home.

We had a lazy morning before heading out to Mason for Peaches appointment for her monthly Liberela injection.  Mina once again decided she didn't want to leave her cozy cave to join us.

When Peaches and I got home from her appointment, we all had lunch. Then we had a quiet afternoon while I read and the girls napped until we had to leave home to attend the Preuss Pets Dog Easter Egg Hunt. 

The girls were excited for their special adventure and were very well-behaved.

They enjoyed their walk around Old Town collecting eggs, a visit inside Preuss Pets, and some time outside making friends.  

It was such a fun event for all of us and a great start to our weekend. 

Saturday we had plans for a fun day of geocaching adventures with Vanessa.  Earlier in the week, we had discussed where to go and had decided to head south into Indiana.  The forecast called for rain, but we weren't going to let that stop us.

We had a nice drive in the rain to the Goshen area and then we were able to find several geocaches that we were able to drive right up to.  We dodged some sprinkles as we found a few caches north of town before heading to lunch.

After lunch we continued our drive on back country roads as we continued to pick up geocaches along the way.  Eventually the rain stopped, but the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped.

As we began our trek toward home, we stopped in the cute town of Nappinee for a little treat.  We stopped at a local ice cream shop and we all got a sweet treat, then we got the girls out for a walk around town.

The Amish population is prevalent in the area, so we saw several horse and buggies.  I was proud of the girls for being really good around the horses.

The girls had dinner in the parking lot in town before I got them back into the car to continue our drive home.  I had to stop at this interesting looking gas station as we drove past.

It was a quiet drive home.  We ended our day watching the Michigan vs. Arizona final four game.

Sunday was Easter, and I drove to Chesaning for the annual Johnston family Easter potluck.   It was nice to spend time with my mom, aunts and uncles, and some extended family that I don't see often.

I got home around dinner time.  I made myself a quick dinner and fed the girls, and then headed out the door to give them a little Easter adventure. I knew I had to get them out for a walk after they had been home all day and hadn't gotten out much on our rainy Saturday. 

I had planned on taking them to Marshall for a nice sunset walk.  It was a beautiful, cool early Spring evening and I enjoyed seeing all of the trees beginning to bud, some tiny Spring flowers, and everything really starting to turn green. 

 

We finished our 3.3 mile walk on the Marshall Riverwalk just after sunset.  It was peaceful and beautiful and the perfect way to end our weekend.

Then, as we left town, we made a quick stop to visit the Marshall holiday house all decorated for Easter.

I really love that this house is decorated for all of the holidays. 

We made good progress over the week on our NCT miles and are now over halfway done with our 100 miles this year.  I'm really pushing to get done before the weather gets too hot for Peaches because I want her to be able to join all of the fun.  I guess we'll see where we get. We will adjust as needed, and she'll join us as long as possible.  If we can get to 75 miles by the end of April, I'll be happy. Then we can take the last 25 miles slow and easy.

My week ahead will be busy at work and contains a lot of travel.  I hope it isn't too crazy.  

Now I'm off to watch Michigan vs UConn in the NCAA championship game.  Go Blue!