Visiting Gma and Gpa in Delaware

This past weekend we took a trip down to Delaware to visit David's grandparents (Jim and Annetta), who we only are able to see about once a year. It was a fun and relaxing pre-Thanksgiving trip!
As usual, David drove the entire way. I was the happy copilot, trying to think of interesting conversation topics to keep the driver entertained. David says I wasn't always the "happy copilot" and that a couple of times I was the "sleeping copilot". I did my best to stay awake, but something about the drone of a car always does me in... It took us about 6 hours to get down there on Saturday, and 5.5 hours to come back today.

The focused driver

The "happy" copilot

The dogs rode in the back seat. After thinking carefully about the safety implications of having the dogs ride in the front seat on our laps, we invested in a nice soft seat cover for the back (in this picture there is a dog bed in view as well) and two safety harnesses to buckle them in. They didn't seem to mind being tethered, and napped for the majority of the trip. On the ride down we did have one mishap when Ash got car sick (as he often does), but nothing that a few towels and some water couldn't fix. We just threw the seat cover in the washing machine once we arrived at David's grandparents house.

The backseat passengers

David's grandparents had met Ash and Coal last year on our trip down, but Pepper was new to them. His grandmother quite enjoyed snuggling with Pepper, and Pepper was happy to have a lap to sit on and someone to pet him. Pepper also quite liked David's grandfather, and would jump up whenever his lap was available. Per his usual routine, Ash spent the first two days watching from afar or hiding under our bed. By the last day, he was more boldly exploring the house and saying hello to everyone.

Pepper with David's grandmother

Pepper with David's grandfather 

We spent most of the weekend sitting around the table chatting about things going on in each of our lives and hearing many great stories from David's grandfather. Jim and Annetta were unfortunately unable to make it to our wedding, so we spent some time talking them through the event and sharing pictures. We cooked a chicken and veggie stir fry on Saturday night and then steak, broccoli, and mashed potatoes on Sunday night. David's grandfather did the grocery shopping and we did the cooking, which is always fun for us. I share a love of Walker's shortbread cookies with David's grandmother, so these were definitely on our dessert menu each night :) David's aunt, uncle, and cousin joined us for the Sunday dinner - it was nice to be able to spend some time with them as well.

One particularly fun thing from the weekend was the ability to let Ash and Pepper off leash in the big back yard that David's grandparents have. The yard isn't fenced in, but they are located on a very quiet street and there is enough space to run around that we were pretty sure Ash nor Pepper would stay within the perimeter. Pepper, as usual, was very well behaved and stayed right by us. We are training Ash to safely be off leash, so only let him run around with his leash dragging. This helps us catch him if he gets too excited and starts to wander (or run) off. Ash was great though! He responded well to commands (and came running for treats) and wanted to spend most of his time playing fetch with a ball and/or a stick. Sadly, we were so focused on watching the dogs (and staying warm) we forgot to take pictures...

Thanks to David's grandparents for a wonderful weekend - we look forward to when we are able to visit again!

I'm 4-ish years old and I get to eat pizza!

Last week we celebrated the second year anniversary of Ash joining our family, and our estimation of Ash's fourth birthday. To celebrate his special day, we threw a "pizza party" for him and invited David's sister to join us. We made homemade pizzas for ourselves and two small homemade pizzas with bacon and sausage toppings for Ash and Pepper. We cut the pizzas up small and put them on a plate for each of them. Ash was a little apprehensive about this new food and delivery system but before long he realized it was a delicious treat and happily ate it right up. He spent the rest of the night curled up next to us on the couch while we watched a movie, and we made sure to give him some extra attention. Pepper spent the rest of the night trying to acquire more pizza :)

Sausage pizza for the dogs

 Ash checking out his dinner

 Looking back on things, it is sometimes hard to remember how far Ash has come in the last two years. I still remember Ash standing on his hind legs with his front paws on the window sill, watching as his foster parents drove away. He then nervously explored the unfamiliar house and started to decide whether or not he could trust David and I. For the first week or so, putting the leash on Ash was a chore because he was scared whenever we approached him. The futon became his "safe zone" and we were able to use that as a space to gain his trust - petting him, giving him treats, putting the leash on him, etc. Over time Ash learned and became willing to play with toys, to play with us, to enjoy walks, to chase balls, to swim, to cuddle, and to meet new people and dogs. Some of these daily tasks came easily to him, others did not. We are so proud of Ash's progress and couldn't be happier to have him as part of our family. He is a joy to wake up to in the morning and the way he bats at toys, balls, treats, and hands with his paws when he is excited always puts a smile on our faces.

For more pizza party fun, check out this video of Ash enjoying his birthday treat:

P.S. We have discovered that posting to our blog on Friday is difficult to do now that we are both working outside of the house. I think we will try to get back to the once a week blog posts, but will aim to post on Monday's instead! 

Halloween fun! And a furry pumpkin & pig.

We hope everyone had a great Halloween night! One of the things we have loved (myself in particular) about living in Somerville is that we actually get lots of tricker treaters on Halloween! I grew up in a pretty rural area of Vermont and we were lucky to get a few neighborhood kids visiting, if that. So last night I cooked dinner and David and I carved pumpkins when he got home from work. We roasted the pumpkins seeds too!

Our tenants upstairs were even more into the holiday spirit than we were! They had lots of decorations up inside their apartment, a pumpkin for each of them, and one of them was wearing a pumpkin sweatshirt while opening the door. The decorations on our door were made by my cousins Ella and Olivia.

Katie came over just as we were finishing our pumpkin masterpieces, and the three of us took turns answering the doors for all of the kids in the neighborhood. Katie brought some masks and hats for us to wear while we answered the door, but we only did this a couple of times because we were never prepared when the tricker treaters knocked! Ash and Pepper were dressed for the occasion though, thanks to some costumes Harvie and Susan found at a garage sale.

While eating dinner we decided to watch "Corpse Bride." When I was a kid we often would watch the "Nightmare Before Christmas" on Halloween so I had gone looking for a similar movie to watch that I hadn't seen a bajillion times. It was entertaining! We of course made sure to gorge ourselves on Halloween candy while we watched. We finished off the night with a family photo.