Lucy - December 2018

This month, on December 19th, Lucy turned 1 year old! I can't believe our tiny puppy is now this 62 pound pile of love. Yep, that's right - at her one year checkup last week, we learned that our "should be 45 lbs" puppy is actually 62 lbs! And she's not overweight either - just big. I remember the breeder saying that Lucy's dad was about 60 lbs - I can't believe she's that big. We have a monster girl!

My post for November was about all of the new things that Lucy encountered; well, we had one more new thing for her this month: an invisible fence. We have an acre of property, and I really wanted Lucy to be able to go outside with us without us worrying about her going down to the road, or running after bicycles, or up to other dogs (all of which she did during the first couple of weeks). We had it installed in early December, and she learned the boundary so quickly! She's been shocked about 4 times, and now won't go anywhere near the flags that mark the boundary. I love knowing that she is safe when we go outside.

For example, this video was shot before the fence went in. You can see that as she races away from me, it would be VERY hard for me to catch her! With the fence I don't worry about it as much, and she still has tons of room to run around.

In December, Lucy got to enjoy her first big snow storm - 10" of snow we got! She absolutely loved it, although we discovered that the light powdery snow we got, while the ideal snow for us, was terrible with her fur - poor thing was covered in these snow balls! But she loved it so much that I couldn't keep her from playing.

Amazingly, that snow was gone in about 6 days, which meant she was able to be back outside with the ball before too long.

As everyone on the east coast knows, it's been so incredibly rainy that unfortunately our yard has been very muddy for much of the time since we moved in. I'm looking forward to it hopefully drying out soon so we can really make use of the space - I know Lucy will love that!

...not that she really seems to mind chilling on the couch either.

Lucy - November 2018

November made for lots of new adventure for Lucy, as we moved into our new house! Our first big walk was actually the day before we moved into the house, when we stayed at a hotel for a night before our stuff was delivered the next day. The hotel did not allow dogs, so we were planning to have Lucy stay at the house overnight (we had a nice spot all set up for her in her crate!). Before we left her alone in a new, empty house, I wanted to give her some good exercise, so she and I went for a few mile walk along the Corner and through Grounds. Here she is on the steps of the Rotunda for the first time!

While I enjoy walking through Grounds, it isn't always the easiest to get to (mostly due to parking), so Lucy and I have tried a few different places. One of the first we tried is the Rivanna Trail that runs along the parkway by McIntyre Park. It goes a lot further than she and I have done so far; we need to try the whole thing and see if it is similar enough to the W&OD for us!

Lucy also got a new bed - Evan wanted to put one in his office, and while I was at PetSmart one day they had them on mega sale. Lucy absolutely loves it, and actually sleeps in there each night now, not in her crate!

She has a "new" couch to lay on - it's not actually new (it was in our basement previously), but she didn't go on it often. Now it's in my office, so she loves lying on there while I'm working - and I love having her there!

She also got to experience lying in front of an open door, in the sun - our screened in porch allows for this, when it never would have happened at the old house! Too much risk of bugs. It's been too cold to do this more than once or twice, but I know she will love it when it warms up.

Speaking of my office, Lucy also discovered that the wooded area outside of my office is squirrel playground during the day! She loves standing there, watching them run around. And often, she literally sits on my feet (as in the pic on the right, below) and watches. It's adorable and annoying at the same time!

 

And finally, I have to share these two photos because I just love the both of them.

Lucy has been such a trooper through this whole move; she's been so adaptable and I'm really proud of her. We have such a good puppy!

Lucy - October 2018

Looking back at these photos of Lucy from October, it registered that these were some of the last photos of her taken at our old house! It's so nice to look back and see her outside on the patio, which she loved.

And sitting on the trail (we got in as many walks as we could before moving!)

 

On one of our neighborhood walks, she discovered the geese, who were coming back to the pond as it got colder. You can just make them out in the photo above, but trust me - Lucy definitely saw them!

Of course all of that walking and playing makes for a tired puppy.

But then it's time to run around like a lunatic some more, in a fun new game that Henry made up. This had all of us cracking up so much. She really did not like him hiding next to the crate!

September Concert #2: First Aid Kit

In my previous post, I mentioned the Friday night concert I went to in September: Jethro Tull. That one was relatively close by, at Wolf Trap. The following Monday night, Natalie and I headed a bit farther away to see First Aid Kit in Washington DC. She had to miss her dance classes to go, but she loves the band so much and was so excited at the idea of seeing this concert that we agreed it was worth it.

I knew traffic into DC could be pretty bad, so we arrived fairly early in order to find a decent parking space near The Anthem and grab some dinner. Kathy went to the show with us, but due to some very unexpected car trouble she was unable to meet us for dinner (but luckily still made it to the show!). So instead Natalie and I explored the area, including these awesome giant swings before grabbing some seafood for dinner.

Then, it was finally time to head over to the show!

We had seats way up high in the second balcony. I chose those because we were quite near the stage (even if up high), and I thought they would make for a pretty good view of everything. Natalie liked being up so high, but I think she would have liked to be down one level. Those seats would have been great, but they were definitely more expensive! Without zooming in, this was our view of the stage (photo taken of the opening act - she was pretty good).

Then, finally, it was time for the sisters! This is the 4th time I've seen them, and they continue to put on a great show! I really like their latest album, Ruins, so I had no problem seeing them so soon again after seeing them earlier this year. Plus, it's so much fun to share an event like this with Natalie.

I'm really loving the live version of "Hem of her dress" that they do at their shows. It's off the latest album, and the acoustic + trombone is just fantastic. Hearing it live actually made me like the song on the album more!

September Concert #1: Jethro Tull

The second weekend in September was a big one, even though the two events weren't actually on the weekend. I started off with a concert on Friday night at Wolf Trap: Ian Anderson presents 50 Years of Jethro Tull. I had seen the tickets for sale, and asked my parents if they wanted to go as my dad has always been a huge Jethro Tull fan. I've been a fan since I was younger - who doesn't love a good rock flute? This former floutist certainly does!

There was a big storm called for that evening; that's why I always spring for seats! Plus, I'm too dang old to sit on the lawn. As we walked around some before the show, we saw the clouds amassing...

and during the show they broke open and it POURED. Luckily we stayed dry under the ceiling!

Going into the show, we weren't totally sure what to expect. Would it be just Ian Anderson? Would it be Jethro Tull songs? A mix? Turns out that it was a Jethro Tull retrospective, as advertised. The first 6-7 songs or so were ones that I had not heard (but again, I'm not a super fan!), but my parents knew them.

The set was really cool; excellent integration of old video footage from their previous concerts and performances while playing live on stage.

And damn, at over 70, the man can still dance around a stage and play the flute. For two hours!

Harmonica too.

Thick as a brick - a definite audience favorite!

As was this one...

And of course you cannot have a 50 years of Jethro Tull concert without Aqualung!

I give Ian Anderson a ton of credit - he was aware of what he could/couldn't do in terms of singing, and used the audio in the pre-recorded video sections judiciously, not trying to hit notes that he can't any more.

There have been 38 different members of Jethro Tull over the years...they showed interview clips with previous members, and other bands/artists who were inspired by them. It was a really fantastic couple of hours - very glad we got to go!

OBX: Wrap-up

While I would say the biggest excursion we did during our quick OBX trip this summer was our day at the aquarium, we did a few other things as well!

First, we went all the way up to Duck to go to the Sanderling Inn pool, as my aunt has a membership there due to owning property in the area. Waterproof camera for the win!

We went to lunch afterwards at a cafe in Duck and got some delicious desserts after lunch!

Second, I took the kids one afternoon to a trampoline center in Manteo to burn off some energy. Pretty fun place, and it worked to get rid of that energy!

Henry wasn't ever able to knock Natalie off of this joust, so it wasn't his favorite thing, but this video is pretty cute (this was before he got upset).

We tried this first climbing area multiple times - we called it the ninja warrior course because it was really hard! Natalie made it up onto the first of those thin, red climbing pieces and didn't get any farther. Henry was unfortunately too short to reach from one part to another for much of it, but I give the kids a lot of credit for not giving up and keeping trying (while we all laughed a lot at their failed attempts).

Third, on our last morning there (before heading home later that day), we finally hit the beach! The kids and I got up very early for sunrise donuts on the beach, some seashell hunting, sand digging, and ocean swimming. Advantage to going to the beach at that time of day, in far south Nags Head - the beach was empty!

While I wish we could have spent more time at the OBX this year, I think that we got a lot out of our 3 days there!

OBX: Aquarium

We spent a big chunk of our first day at the OBX in August at the NC Aquarium. We'd been there quite a few times with my parents, but with Linda living in Manteo, the drive was only about 10 minutes! Can't beat that. Plus, since I had been there in a few years, it was fun to see some of the changes they'd made.

We really enjoyed this when you walk in - sharks and other sea creatures swimming around us on a monitor up near the ceiling.

Of course I took tons of photos of the animals in the aquarium; here's a collage I put together of some of my favorite ones.

And, another favorite shot of a jellyfish. There was a whole room with these guys in cylindrical tanks, lit up. I didn't have my actual camera with me, just my phone, and I think it came out pretty well even for that!

There is a touch tank with rays and small sharks; we happened to show up at right as they were starting a session to tell us about the rays.

And we finally made our way around to the giant shark tank. This is definitely one of the coolest things that this aquarium has. The window in is as large as the room is tall, and there are some giant sharks to watch swimming around!

It's always great when divers enter the tank too; getting to watch their interactions with the sharks.

Linda, Henry, and Natalie in front of the shark tank!

The sharks can even swim some overhead; I love this shot!

Outside of the aquarium is a big dinosaur exhibit! They move and make noise. Pretty cool! I've got pics and videos of each, but the T-rex was definitely the biggest hit.

Another big hit was the souvenir Henry picked out. I have to say, I love this shirt. Yay for puns!