Adventures Close to Home

I don't know about you, but for me it seems like the month of September just flew by!  After Imke's visit to the ICU in August, I didn't know what to expect on a daily basis or if we'd even get through the month.  We were just waiting to see how she'd feel every morning.  Thankfully, she woke up most days ready for breakfast and ready to conquer the day.  She's still been eating well, gaining some much needed weight, and staying pretty active.  I am thankful for all of the good days we've been given.

While daily life seemed to be a bit crazy with work, volunteering, and just taking care of my girls, (I've been dealing with a lot of stuff),  I didn't want to forget the important stuff...the stuff that makes life worth it every day.  So to make sure we're still having fun and making good memories, we've spent a lot more time close to home make new memories.  Sometimes a good adventure isn't much farther than your own backyard!

One of our favorite adventures every year is our trip to Sleepy Hollow State Park to visit my parents.  They spend a couple of weeks there every Fall and we make a point to visit them while they are there. It is a great day every Fall and this year we had a perfect sunny day for our visit.  We hiked the trails and the girls took a dip in Lake Ovid to cool off a bit.

After a nice hike, we returned to the campsite for an awesome camp dinner while the girls took some time to relax and just enjoy the day.   You know it's been a good day when Peaches relaxes in the woods!

Another one of my favorite things to do every Fall is to enjoy an occasional bonfire in the backyard.  On a crisp Fall evening, I love to set outside under the stars while the girls spend time sniffing around the yard.

But I especially love when the girls have had enough exploring and finally decide to relax and join me on our favorite blanket.

We've also tried to keep up our daily walks, even though some days they are a bit shorter than others, but when I get out the leashes, no matter how she's been feeling, Imke jumps up to join Peaches and Maddie in the excitement of what is to come.  We try to take a little different route for our walk every day to explore some areas that we haven't been to as much.  The girls really enjoyed walking in the wooded park just down from the house.

There was even one Saturday when Nicol came to take Imke out on an adventure all on her own and I got to spend the day with just Maddie and Peaches.  It is very rare that I spend time without Imke, but it was a nice day and I was so glad she got to spend time with her favorite person.

After a good walk and some time climbing around playground equipment, we went home to relax and watch some college football.  As you can tell, Peaches and Maddie were thrilled with the game!

Imke also had a trip to see the vet for her adequan shot and a check-up.  That's always one of her favorite adventures.  She loves all of the veterinarians and staff!  She's the only dog I have ever known that thinks going to the vet is so exciting.  I swear she likes it as much as she likes being out in the woods.  Such a silly goof!

Of course, we have also continued to work toward our North Country Trail 2018 Hundred mile challenge.  Many of the trails closest to us are paved paths, sidewalks, or even some road walks, but that just makes it easier for Imke to handle.  No matter where we go, all of the girls are excited to get out and explore.  They have gotten really familiar with the trails in Albion and Marshall, since those are the closests to us.  They always get excited as we get close to the parking lots of both of those locations because they know where they are and can't wait to explore!  As of this morning, we only have 11.1 miles remaining until we finish!  If all goes as planned, we are hoping to be done by next weekend.  Pretty excited to complete the challenge for the third year.  

I think one of my favorite little outings we did in September was our visit to Soldan's Pet Store for Barktober fest.  This event offered dog pretzels, schnitzel roll, and Bowser Beer for the dogs, and German Chocolate cupcakes for the humans.  There were festive decorations and props for pictures and a yodelling contest. The girls each went in individually for the experience and seemed to have fun.  Maddie made a friend, Peaches just wanted to eat the hamsters, and Imke was the only one who was interested in the beer.  I love spending individual time with them to see their personalities really shine.  They are all so much fun!

We even went to Grand Rapids to visit our friend Mike and his Corgi, Doug, so we could walk around Art Prize...but there are no pictures because Peaches really isn't good with other dogs when she's on leash and couldn't handle being too close to Doug.  But we still had a good time and it is always nice to see Mike and Doug!

With our trip to Grand Rapids, September came to an end.  We had reached Fall and the first day of October.  October, the month when the leaves begin to change color and fall from the trees and the temperatures steadily begin to drop as we inch closer to Winter.  Imke has developed a cough and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure earlier in the week, but she's on medication and we're hoping to continue to get some good quality time with her still. 

I'll be honest that some mornings are rough and some nights we don't get as much sleep as we could.  I don't ever know what she'll be up for on a daily basis, but she is still happy and enjoying her life most of the time.  So we journey on together.  We still have plenty of adventures planned as long as she's feeling ok and we already had one big event happen(an important birthday milestone for my special girl), but that story will need to wait until later because today we have plans to go out and enjoy life, visit friends, make more memories, and make the most of the minutes we have.  Every single one is precious.

For now, I'll leave you with this...the happy, albeit arthritic, tail of a happy old German girl who is still living her life to the fullest.  Enjoying the moments!