Little Red Stroller Adventures

Happy Sunday everyone!  While everything has seemed to happen earlier than normal this year with trees budding and flowers blooming, the temperatures have remained pretty mild until this week.  This has allowed us the ability to continue to take adventures and for the girls to join me for car rides when I would run errands.  This week, however, has been unseasonably hot and dry here in Michigan so we have been sticking close to home a lot and just trying to keep cool.  I have still been taking the girls for some short car rides just because Maddie loves them so much, but most of those rides are very short and they didn't get out of the car as much.  Most of those rides end at a drive-thru, the gas station, or somewhere else where I can spend less than a couple of minutes outside of the car because it is far to hot to leave them in the car right now.   

We are finally experiencing some rain today, but not nearly as much as we need, and, while the temperatures have cooled from the mid-80s earlier in the day, the heat will be back for the next couple of days.  I suspect with this rain and those temperatures, the bugs/mosquitos will start to come out in force around here, but I'm hopeful that maybe that won't happen.  But we've made it two-thirds of the way through Spring with some really nice Spring weather and I have enjoyed it tremendously.  The heat of this week just reminds us that Summer is heading our way.

The heat this week has made it much more difficult to get out for much fun with the girls, not only because Maddie doesn't tolerate the heat as well, but also because Peaches hasn't adjusted to the heat yet either.  Plus temperatures in the mid to upper 80s can be dangerous.  So this has been the perfect week to start using the stroller with Maddie more regularly and to start working with Peaches on walking nicely beside the stroller so that I can take them both out at the same time.  I have really wanted to work on walking them together for awhile, but it seems more important now that it had previously.  Part of the reason is to give me a break from taking multiple walks each day, but a bigger part of the reason is that I don't feel comfortable leaving Maddie home for lengthy periods of time by herself.    

Maddie has always had some minor anxiety issues, but at least she's been able to relax at home.  She has always struggled if I have left for a walk with another dog and left her behind though.  She has major fear of missing out on something fun!  Add to that the fact that I have spent a large part of most days for the last 14 months at home with her and that with her age she can get a little confused, and that makes me nervous to leave her alone.  Most times when I get home from a walk with Peaches, Maddie is awake and pacing the hallway looking for me, and that just makes me feel terrible.  Thankfully, she is much happier and more relaxed when I leave Peaches home with her, so I can still leave for short periods of time for shopping or other errands, but as it gets harder for her to get around on her own, that may change.  Luckily, for now, I don't have to worry about that.  

On Wednesday night, I was excited to take the girls out to watch my youngest niece, Brezlyn, play in her final softball game of the season with her Middle School team.  Maddie enjoyed being somewhere new and she spent a lot of time with my mom.  She also took a really nice walk around the field and got lots of love from complete strangers.  

Peaches has only been to one other softball game in her life, and she didn't care about the game at all, but she sure did love all of the people, the new places to sniff, and the treats that grandma and grandpa both shared with her.  She even climbed into the lap of a complete stranger...oh silly, Peaches!  Luckily that lady was completely fine with Peaches antics.

I wasn't sure how long we'd be able to stay because I wasn't sure how well Maddie would do, but she did great and really enjoyed being there.  I was glad that both girls were well-behaved and settled in to watch the games because the second game of the double-header was pretty exciting and I was glad that I got to stay through the whole game.  Brezlyn plays on a travel softball team too, so I am hoping maybe we'll be able to get out and see her play again over this Summer.  It's always nice to take the girls out to spend time with the family.

Maddie continues to eat well and even gets excited for her meals every day.  She even got to a point earlier this week that she wanted to eat some of her kibble again, first out of her treat ball, and then mixed in with her regular meals every day.   I've also been able to add her medications to her meals again, and she is eating them down with her food just like she used to.  She is really enjoying her new food and the variety of proteins I have been feeding her and eats with enthusiasm every meal, leaving plenty of crumbs around for a scavenger, and Peaches is loving any crumbs or leftovers that she might get to share.  With this desire to eat has come the added bonus of a lot of begging and even some thievery on the part of one sweet old lady.  Stolen hush puppies and a nose nearly touching my plate while I ate tacos are just a couple of her more recent naughty puppy antics.  But I just can't be mad at her because I want nothing more than for her to have a really good appetite.  So I'll let her push the limits a bit and enjoy anything her little old heart desires.

Throughout the week and on Saturday, we have spent a lot of time out in the yard pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, and preparing the garden for planting.  I also spent a lot of time yesterday doing some cleaning and lots of laundry, so today we could get out for a fun walk with friends.  

We were excited to meet up with Katelyn and Arlo on campus for a nice walk this morning.  With two strollers and a crazy Peaches, we headed out to see how far we could go.  Peaches did a really good job walking with the stroller, especially considering this is her first walk with the stroller outside of our neighborhood and there are a lot of distractions on campus.  With the heat of the sun, we were all getting pretty toasty and I think both Maddie and Arlo were ready to get out of their strollers, so we stopped after a nice two mile walk.  I know Peaches would have happily gone further and I am really looking forward to getting out for some more walks like this with friends this Summer.  

While our week wasn't full of fun and adventure, it was still a really good week.  We were able to get out to enjoy some time with family and friends and I'm so glad to see how well that the stroller will work for us to continue to enjoy some adventures throughout the rest of this Spring and Summer.  I don't want to have adventures without my old adventure buddy, and thankfully, this stroller will make sure we don't have to do that.