That's a wrap.

Last Sunday the girls and I spent Christmas Eve with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona.  After a day of final food prep and gift wrapping, we reached my favorite night of the year.  

After dinner, Fiona was happy to share to some snacks with Mina and Jingle.  Both girls were very gentle with her.  

We spent the evening wrangling a 20 month old and three dogs.  It was a busy and fun evening.  Everyone had gifts to open, and the girls all had special treats to keep them busy. We opened gifts,  watched Christmas movies, and just enjoyed spending time together.  It was so much fun having a youngster around again.  I am really enjoying watching her grow and develop.

All of the girls were good, although Mina was a little crazier than I would have liked.  She was just so excited to have all of her favorite people here.  I was proud of how well Jingle handled all of the craziness and Peaches was an angel all night.  

After Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona left, the girls were very quickly sound asleep.

I was up early Christmas morning and hoped to enjoy some quiet time with the girls before I had to leave for the day.  While I did get a little time with them, I spent most of the morning cleaning up from Christmas Eve and prepping food for Christmas Day at my parents.  We took a quick Christmas morning walk before the girls settled in with a special treat for their day at home and I was off for time with family.

I spent Christmas afternoon at my parent's house.  We had Christmas lunch and gifts.  Overall it was a quiet day with family.  

By the time I made it home it was dark, but I had three girls who were very excited to see me and ready for an adventure.  

The weather this Christmas was unseasonably warm with temperatures in the 50s, even at 7pm, so I decided to make the drive to Holt for a walk around Veterans Memorial Park.   We hadn't been there this year, and I know they always have it festively decorated.

We had a wonderful, peaceful walk around the park and through a couple of neighboring streets.  The girls and I were all pretty happy to be out enjoying our mild weather.

I tried hard to get a good picture with Jingle, but she got distracted by another family who arrived as we were preparing to leave, so she wouldn't look at me.  But my girls did a good job.  We then took a slow drive home enjoying some Christmas lights along the way, and spent a quiet and relaxing evening at home together.  

As is usual for me, I had the week off, and I was glad that I did.  I can't remember a time when I didn't have the week between Christmas and the New Year off from work, and it is always one of my favorite weeks of vacation every year...even if we don't do anything.

We spent a quiet morning at home, but by midday we were all ready to get out for a little fun.  I decided to get out for a little geocaching and check out a trail we hadn't visited before.  We ended up in Dewitt and took a nice walk on the Dewitt High School Cross Country Course.  It is set up nicely for walking dogs with poop bags and trash cans along the route.  Plus it is a nice wide path and was an excellent for three dogs to do a lot of sniffing.  It was a mild day, but by the end of our walk the rain had started to fall, so it was the perfect time for us to head home.

On Wednesday morning, I had to drop Jingle off at the shelter bright and early for her spay surgery.  After leaving her at the shelter, we spent a few quiet hours at home before I had to head back to Mason to take the girls to the vet for a vaccination booster.  It was a quick visit, and afterward, I stopped at the shelter to get some of the shelter dogs out for a walk.  

There were six dogs available to walk for the day, and I decided to get each one of them out for a bit.  I determined that I would do a mile loop with the five bigger dogs, and off I went one by one.  The only picture I took was of Pixie.  After walking the five big dogs, I came back to the shelter to find that Garland, the smaller dog, was out for some fun with another volunteer.  This was the perfect time to finish the afternoon by getting my own girls out for a walk before picking up Jingle and heading home.

I had just about an hour to walk the girls so off we went for a nice fast-paced walk around Mason.  We even found a new spot to check out with this cute gazebo.  We had gotten in about a 2 3/4 mile walk when we arrived back at the car, and with time to spare, I drove to downtown Mason for a treat from the Daily Scoop.  Peaches and Mina each had a coupon for a free pup cup and I got a peanut butter shake.  We then drove back to the shelter to bring Jingle home.  I was even able to get Garland out for a quick walk/potty break outside of the shelter while I waited for the staff to prepare Jingle to come home.  

We were all happy to see Jingle again, and headed home for a relaxing Wednesday evening.  

Thursday morning, we had a lazy morning.  I was trying hard to keep Jingle quiet and calm after her surgery.  She was happy to snuggle in my lap on the bed, but boy did Mina want her to play.  Eventually I had to let them do a little gently playing just to keep myself from going crazy.  We did get out for a rainy day drive and a few errands that afternoon, and we ended the day with a couple of short walks around the neighborhood in the rain.  

Most importantly, we had to make a stop at Quality Dairy to pick up some ice cream for Jingle's ice cream party because we learned that there was a family interested in meeting her the next morning.  Everyone enjoyed their special treat.

Friday morning we made the drive out to the shelter for Jingle's meeting and it went great.  She went home to a family with 5 kids and a collie to play with and a big fenced in yard.  While she was only with us a week, she was a special little girl who I won't forget.  I'm so glad we were able to help her along her journey.  

To celebrate Jingle's adoption, I promised the girls some adventures.  Our first stop was at the Hayhoe Trail for a rainy 1 1/2 miles.   

Afterward, we headed home to get some things done around the house, but the girls were restless, so I knew I had to get them out of the house for more fun.  The only problem was that it was raining quiet a bit.  So I decided we take a drive to pick up some quick geocaches and see where the day took us. 

Eventually we ended up in Lyons where we got out for a walk in a cute little park along the Grand River.  There was another really nice looking park not far away, but unfortunately, it was closed for the season.  But I was able to capture a nice view of the river. 

The girls were not happy with the number of times I got out of the car without them to pick up a quick geocache, but I think that they still had a fun day.  By the time we started our drive home, it was getting dark so we got to enjoy some Christmas lights on the way home.  Sadly, our Christmas light viewing is quickly coming to an end.  We've definitely made the most of it this year though.

After all of the walking I've done this week, my old knees needed a rest, so I had planned for Saturday to be our rest day.  But with GSPs even a rest day requires some entertainment and exercise.  After days of gloomy, rainy days, the sun decided to peek out a few times today, and I thought we'd take advantage of the weather to get in a good run at Soldan Dog Park.

This is such a fun place to take the girls because they have so much room to run and so many things to explore.  And it's always a nice walk through the woods for me with an opportunity to work on Mina's recall.  She continues to get better and has started checking in with me which is a huge deal.  If I can get her to check in more frequently, there is hope that some day I'll trust her to run leash free in some more fun places.  

We had a wonderful time at the park, took a short walk after leaving the park, and then headed home for the remainder of my day of rest.  I did dishes and a load of laundry, and then I sat down to enjoy the Christmas tree and some Game Show network before the Lions game.  Other than the Lions losing, it was a good night.

Finally we have reached the final Sunday and the final day of the year.  It is hard for me to believe that 2023 is coming to an end.  This year has just gone by so quickly.  I'm happy to say that we made it through the year successfully.   While there were no huge accomplishments or big moments this year, I enjoyed lots of quiet, crazy, fun everyday moments with the girls, with Fiona, and with friends and family.  Overall, 2023 was a good year.

We had a cozy morning, but it went too quickly.  I got the girls out for a quick walk before heading off to my final family Christmas of the year.  We always spend the last Sunday of the year with my mom's family, and today is no different. 

After the party, I made the rainy drive home and I was glad that the rain slowed down enough that I could take the girls for one last walk around downtown this holiday season. 

The the girls and I will quietly ring in the New Year in my pjs and snuggled up, sharing a few special snacks while watching the ball drop, just like I have for so many years before.  I'm looking forward to the quiet night at home.

Happy New Year to you all!  Thank you for continuing to follow along on our journey.  We look forward to sharing lots more fun moments in 2024.

Twas the week before Christmas

Last Sunday Vanessa joined us for some rainy day fun.  We headed East to Swatz Creek for an afternoon of geocaching fun.  We had a pretty successful day of caching and managed to stay dry despite the rain.

Once it got dark, we slowly meandered our way home through some small towns enjoying hot chocolate and Christmas light displays. 

At the end of the evening we made a stop for a walk around the historic village at McCurdy Park before heading home.  

On Monday, the temperatures dropped into the 20s with windchills in the mid-teens.  We haven't experienced any weather like this so far this year and boy did it feel cold!

Despite the cold, the girls needed to get out for our daily walk, so we drove to Charlotte to enjoy the holiday displays in town.  

Luckily the buildings in town blocked the wind for most of our walk so we stayed comfortable and enjoyed the festive decorations and window displays.  

When we came to an open space and had to face the bitter cold wind, Mina was not pleased and made it clear she was done walking for the night.  So after a short walk around the old Courthouse, we headed back to the car.

On the drive home, we made a quick stop for a walk around downtown Porterville.  The wind was blowing wildly across the fields just outside of town, so we didn't stay long, but we enjoyed our stop.

On Tuesday, the sun was shining and it had warmed up a bit, so we took advantage of the sunshine by getting out for a lunchtime walk.

Our first stop was a walk around.the trails at Brattin Woods.   It was our first time exploring this natural area and we really enjoyed it.

Next we made a stop to pick up a geocache and take a quick walk around Newton Road Park.  Boy was it nice to be out in the sunshine!

Since we were able to get out for midday adventures, we enjoyed a quiet evening at home.  It was nice to have a night to just relax and enjoy the Christmas tree.

On Wednesday aftet work, I headed to the shelter to walk some dogs with Vanessa.

We had a great walk with Fudge and Jyri.

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The girls also got out for a walk before we left Mason...and they were complete heathens, dragging me everywhere.  They definitely had fun; I did not.

Before heading home I made a stop at Wamoff Farms to check out the indoor light display.  I didn't stay long because it was packed!  But I was glad I had stopped. 

Then we drove to Williamston for another quick walk around town.

I always love the festive gazebo in town.  After a couple of pictures, we headed back to the car to make the drive home.   

On Thursday, I was excited to join a luminary lit group hike along the North Country Trail at Fireman's Park in Litchfield in celebration of the Winter Solstice. 

The weather was mild and we had a really nice hike.  It was a 3.5 mile round trip hike and with this hike, we finished our 100 miles on the trail this year. A fellow hiker was nice enough to take our picture.  It's Mina's first time completing the Hike 100 challenge and I look forward to finishing many more with her.

After getting some hot chocolate at the end of the hike, we took the quarter mile walk to the middle of town to enjoy the holiday display.

Litchfield did a great job with a very festive display and we enjoyed a walk around this little park before heading back to the car to start our drive home.

I couldn't resist making another quick stop in Homer to check out.their holiday display too.

The girls were so good sitting nicely for pictures.   I made sure they got some extra special treats.   Then they settled in for a nap as I drove the rest of the way home, enjoying lots of Christmas lights along the way.

On Friday we brought home a foster for the holidays.   We made it to the shelter shortly before the shelter closed to meet a couple of dogs and decided that Jingle was going to be the best fit.

We left the shelter and headed right to downtown Lansing for the final Kringle Market of the season. 

We took a walk around downtown and enjoyed the festive holiday spirit that I love about downtown this time of year.  It was sprinkling and I didn't want to get stuck in the rain, so we headed toward the car after a nice walk.

We stopped at the Kringle Market again on our way back to the car to get some popcorn from one of the vendors and I tried to get a picture of the girls, but these were the best I got.  We got our popcorn and headed to the car as the rain really started to fall.  Boy was I happy we got out of there when we did!

After we got home, the girls took some time to get acquainted, and finally they all settled in for the night.  I think Jingle was pretty happy to be out of the shelter. 

She's a pretty cute little girl, and very sweet too.

We started our Saturday with a quiet morning.  I had lots of things I wanted to get done, but the girls were snuggly, so I took advantage of the moment.

Eventually we got up and moving, and my first stop of the day was the shelter to walk Winky and a couple other shelter dogs.  I'm sad that they'll be spending the holiday at the shelter, so I did my small part to make their stay a little better.

Saturday afternoon I got out to run a couple errands and to take the girls for a walk around Old Town.  We ended our walk with a visit to Preuss Pets. The girls got lots of love from everyone there. 

I spent the rest of my afternoon cleaning and doing food prep for my Christmas festivities. 

Mina wasn't pleased that I wasn't giving her more attention and snacks.  Boy was she annoying!  

She and Jingle are trying to figure each other out and have had some short play sessions. It sounds like they are trying to kill each other, but they seem to be having fun.  Mina just wishes Jingle wanted to play longer.

   

Eventually everyone settled in for the evening, although Mina isn't happy that Jingle learned how to get on the couch now because she feels like she's been relegated to the dog bed...or my lap.  She's got a tough life.

Our Sunday morning was spent doing some gift wrapping and more preparations for our Christmas Eve celebration with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona.

We had a nice walk with Vanessa, she even brought the girls a Mc Donald's hashbrown to share.  She loves to spoil them.  With a close to 3.6 mile walk and a little geocaching afterward, we headed home.  I took the girls for a quick  half-mile walk around the neighborhood before heading inside for lunch.  I'm hoping that everyone got enough excercise to keep them happy for the rest of the day.

 

This adorable ornament arrived today from one of my favorite team members and has been added to the tree.  Now were going to watch the Lions game while I finish some final odds and ends to get ready for the arrival of my special guests 

I'm really looking forward to our Christmas Eve fun.  This is my favorite day of the whole year!

Merry Christmas 🎄 🎅.  I hope you all enjoy a wonderful holiday.