All posts for the month August, 2013

Fostering dogs

Our family has finally taken the plunge into fostering dogs and so far it has been a wonderful experience. It gives us a taste of living with dogs again, all with none of the financial or long-term responsibility, and while getting to help a great dog rescue.

Our first foster dog was a ~4 year old cocker spaniel/poodle mix who was sweet as could be. Her foster name was Corky and her newly adopted name is Honey (very suiting). Here are some photos of her at her Happy Adoption Party that Lily threw for her with some neighbors.

Our next foster dog is Bean, and what a little bean he is. This 10 week old chihuahua puppy is adorable and exhausting and the size of our pet rats but as fast as a field mouse. When he’s not in his puppy play yard he is zipping from room to room snarfing up all the stuff my vacuum apparently missed like a tiny little Rooma on amphetamines.

But oh, is he cute. So far the adoption process wasn’t too rough on Lily for Corky. I hope the same goes for Bean so we can continue to foster dogs like this without damaging her emotionally. It’s been a great experience though so far, for sure!

Great big camping trip

We camped this past weekend with FOURTEEN families. And the stars aligned and the weather was wonderful and it was just so perfect I can hardly stand it. The days were spent eating, and playing, and eating, and playing, and the nights were spent around various camp fires with family and friends, and it was all just amazing.

And it sure doesn’t hurt that Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan is GORGEOUS. Apparently Michigan’s Lake Michigan really is way better than Illinois’ Lake Michigan because…wow.

Our camper served us so well again and I have thankful that we had a bit of an irresponsible spending streak and just went for it. Our Forester and our popup are going to serve us well for hopefully a very long time, and they have proven to be so well suited for our family.

My parents were able to join us on this great big trip with pretty much all of our friends, and they rented the rustic cabin next to our campsite to accommodate them since their own popup has long since been out of commission. The internet has NO pictures of the inside of this cabin which was a bit of a gamble when booking, but we were all pleasantly surprise and they slept quite comfortably inside for those two nights. It doesn’t hurt that the weather was perfect!

And here are some more photos just because…

Not back to school

Sure, Lily is only 4 and not K age until next fall, but we’re planning on homeschooling until, well…”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So in celebration of NOT going back to school, here are some of the wonderful end-of-summer things we’ve been enjoying. And soon…SOON I will dare attempt public places like the zoo or Legoland again because all the school kids will be tucked away in classrooms so we can enjoy the no-crowds once again, September through May.