The joy of Spring Flowers

Happy Sunday and Happy Mother's day everyone!

We had a rainy start to the week, but after a long Monday of work, I was determined to get the girls out for a walk.  I decided we'd get in the car and take a drive to some dog-friendly stores.  First, we made our way to Frandor Shopping Center for a visit to Petco.  We don't go there often, so I figured they'd enjoy the change of pace.  After spending some time in the store and picking up some treats, we started walking outside under the covered walkway, and before I knew it we had walked a mile.  It was going so well, that we just continued to walk back and forth in the area until we'd gone nearly 2 1/2 miles.  It wasn't the most exciting walk we've ever taken, but it wasn't a bad option for a rainy day.

Tuesday, the sun came out and the weather was perfect for a good evening walk.  I wanted to find a good spot to enjoy some of the beautiful flowering trees of Spring, and with Lilac season upon us, I knew we had to head to the Horticulture Gardens on campus.  

As soon as I got out of the car in the parking lot, I could smell the lilacs.  I love that smell!  

The flowering trees were spectacular and the smell of the flowers filled the air all around us.  

The Red Buds were stunning as well.  They are one of my favorite Spring flowering trees.  I especially loved seeing them in three different colors.

The girls were so excited to be on our walk.  There were lots of squirrels, rabbits, and birds to keep things extra exciting for all of us.  

 

I think the best part of the evening was finding this quiet grassy spot where we took a break from our walk.  Both girls loved rolling in the grass, and Mina zoomed around trying to get Peaches to play.  I think we'll have to come back to this spot again over the Summer, maybe we could even have a little picnic dinner here.  

We finally had to continue on our walk and return to the car so we could get home.  It was such a wonderful evening!

Wednesday night was Dog Walking night.  I walked Pyxis who was a sweet little Shiba Inu.  Cassiopeia also joined the walk.  She was a really nice girl too.  It was a great night for a dog walk.

Thursday morning Mina had her final Canine Good Citizen class and it was test day!  We arrived early so I could get her focused and we could practice before class started.  She has such a good stay when she's focused!

I was very nervous about how she'd do on her test.  It is especially challenging because during the test, there are no treats or petting allowed.  It was definitely challenging, but she really did an outstanding job and in the end, she passed!  She officially has a title on her AKC record now.  I'm proud of her, but our work doesn't stop here.  We will continue to keep working to make her an even better little doggy citizen.

After our big success passing our test Thursday morning, I decided we'd enjoy another walk around campus on Thursday evening.  Campus is so big and there are so many areas to explore that we could walk there almost every night and never take the same walk.  We visited South campus and enjoyed more beautiful flowering trees.  At the end of our walk, I realized I hadn't gotten any pictures, so I made the girls stop and pose in front of Case Hall...the best dorm on campus in my opinion!

Friday's forecast once again showed the potential for rain in the early evening, but when I finished my workday, the rain hadn't started so I decided we'd head out for our evening walk and just deal with any rain that came our way.

Most of our walk was spent walking around the Beal Botanical Gardens.  There were some occasional rain drops, but it was still a really nice evening for a walk.  

Surprisingly, the girls let me get some pictures with the tulips despite the fact that there were ducks and squirrels nearby.  

The tulips are past their prime, but they still looked beautiful.  Spring just doesn't last long enough!

Before we headed home for the night I enjoyed some more beautiful flowering trees.

And some beautiful blooms found their way home with me so I could enjoy them a little longer.

Saturday morning started gray, cloudy, and humid, but it was cool enough that I knew I could bring the girls along while I ran errands.  We started the morning with our first trip of the year to Felzke Farms.  This farm is my go-to spot for Strawberries in the Summer, but they offer other items throughout the year, and they advertised their fresh, homemade doughnuts being available for the weekend, and I can't resist those doughnuts!  I looked around the greenhouse and picked up a few plants and some parsnips along with my doughnuts.  It was a great start to the day.

I ran a few other errands before stopping by campus for an afternoon walk.  We had a good long walk with some light rain and made it back to the car before the rain picked up.  It was another great walk on the beautiful campus in Spring and we'd gotten in some good miles.  I made a couple more quick stops before heading home for the day.  We'd had plenty of adventures, so I knew it would be quiet for the rest of my day.  

For our Mother's Day, I had plans to visit my parents.  Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona would be joining us as well.  I left home around 9am for the drive to Chesaning.  Peaches and Mina were so excited to get to the country to spend time running around and exploring.  Peaches had lots of off-leash adventures.  She has three favorite spots in the yard to spend exploring, and she had a wonderful time doing just that.  Mina got lots of exploration time too, and we got lots of practice using her long line.  We've got some work to do with her focus when she's in exciting places, but eventually she settled down and listened better.

We had a nice lunch before Nicol and Tyler headed home with Fiona, and I left shortly after.  It was a great morning spent with family.  

I made a little detour on the way home to do some geocaching...imagine my surprise when I found a billboard advertising geocaching on my way to find a geocache!

I was also pretty excited to see these adorable lambs on our drive home.  Baby farm animals are another favorite part of Spring.

Overall we had a great week enjoying all of the beauty that Spring has to offer.  The weather over the next week gives me hope for plenty more Spring fun!