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!