Fall Break and a Special Weekend

We have been traveling quite a bit during this fall season, and it all came to a head over these past 2 weeks!  The 6 younger kids and I drove back to VA on Tuesday, Oct. 16, for 2 cross country meets.  Bob ended up coming for the weekend, so he bought the 3 littles back to Ohio with him so they wouldn't have to do so much driving at once.  The girls and I drove down to Williamsburg for a meet Tuesday, Oct. 23 (about 6 hours round trip), then we drove back to Ohio the next day (8 hours).  Thursday we attempted to get the house back in order, did a million loads of laundry (the only drawback to staying in our VA house is we don't have a washer and dryer there!), started packing again, baked cookies, etc.  All this activity meant we really got no school done last week at all.  I've never before taken a "fall break" but we did this year!

Friday afternoon we left to drive down to Huntsville, AL, to see Luke.  We left later (2:45) than I wanted to because I just couldn't get everything together.  As a result, we had soooo much traffic in Cincinnati and through Kentucky.  The drive ended up taking 9 hours in a drizzly, depressing rain. 

 It was Luna's first long car trip, so we were very curious to see how she would do.  She was pretty nervous at first, and she sat on the middle seat, in between Caleb and Jonathan.  We stopped for dinner at a McDonald's right off a busy road, and she was so scared of all the cars and trucks whizzing by.  Bob and the kids ordered while I walked her around in the rain, but we ate in the car, so it wasn't a very long stop.  The only other time we stopped was for gas and bathrooms, so the 9 hours was not because of stops!  Anyway, Luna was so thankful to be back in the van after all the noise of the McDonald's parking lot.  The rest of the way she slept on the floor, under the van seats.

When we got down to Huntsville, around 10:30 central time, we drove straight to the house of a family we had never met before!  They had been at WSS this summer and so met Luke there.  Their oldest daughter was at Camp Caleb with Anna, so we had that connection too.  They had just PCS'd down there in June, so when they realized Luke was close by, they had him over several times during the semester, and they told him our whole family was welcome to stay there!  They had a huge, lovely house, with plenty of room for all of us, including Luna, and we had so much fun with them!  Luna bravely met their ancient dog Kodi, and also had tons of fun running around their yard with the kids, and also taking walks around the big lake in the middle of their subdivision. 

We had planned on stopping by the college to see Luke first, but when it got so late, we sadly realized we just couldn't.  But we were so happily surprised when the doorbell rang not long after we got there, and it was Luke!  Everyone was so thrilled to see him!  He ended up staying the night too, which was fun.

 It was actually Family Weekend at Luke's college, so there were a lot of activities planned for Saturday.  After Bob took Luke's car into Costco to deal with a tire issue, we all headed over to campus.

 Verity was especially happy to see Luke.  She has really missed her big brother!

 We stopped by Luke's dorm room, and we met his good friend and workout partner that is his suitemate. 

 Then we headed back over to the student center, where they had bouncy houses, and all sorts of other activities for family members.  Here the kids are stuffing mascots to take home.  Caleb and Anna also made some sand art.

 We got cotton candy, and we also ate lunch at some food trucks.  We had some BBQ pork sandwiches, and we also got a plate of kabobs from a truck called "Highway Kabobbery", which made us laugh. 

 They had facepainting as well, and Drew and Verity picked up some NASA tattoos from the Space Hardware Club booth.

After watching Luke play an intramural game of ultimate frisbee, we headed back over to the B's house for a delicious dinner of chili and pork steaks. 

Then it was time for the hockey game!  We had a bit of a time getting our family weekend passes exchanged for the actual tickets (which we hadn't realized we needed to do, lol), but it all worked out just fine.  Hockey is really a fun game to watch, and I brought tootsie pops for when little people got too antsy, so we had a great time! 

Sunday we met up with Luke at his church.  It's a primitive Baptist church, which means they don't have instruments with their music.  I found it amazingly refreshing.  We sang a ton of beautiful hymns, and everyone just launched out into parts!  I had read an article on facebook talking about how people no longer learn to read music or develop any kind of an ear in churches anymore because the music is usually so loud, and no one looks at hymnals anymore.  You have to be able to hear the people around you if you want to learn how to sing in parts!  I was also amazed at how much more engaged Micah was in the singing because he was actually trying to follow along in the hymnal.  Now that he can read, he is reading a lot!

 After the sermon, it was time for Luke to get baptized.  This was actually the reason that we came down this particular weekend, and I'm so glad we were able to be there.  Luke gave his testimony in front of the church, and it was very special to hear.  I'm so thankful for all the events and people the Lord has used in Luke's life these part years, especially the people at WSS this summer.  Such a blessing!

 His church has an actual permanent baptismal pool!

 After the baptism, everyone filed up and shook his hand or hugged him to welcome him into church membership, which I thought was neat.

Then we went over to the pastor's house for an incredible Sunday dinner of pulled pork, mac and cheese, green beans, sweet potatoes, and salad, with brownies and ice cream for dessert!  It was really great to get to know them better, and we had such a fun time!  In fact, we didn't want to leave to the drive back, lol.  Eventually we knew we'd better get back to our friends' house to collect Luna and our stuff, or else we would never get home!  But first, they took a nice picture of 11/12 of us!

So by the time we got loaded up and actually left, it was almost 4:00 Eastern time.  We knew there would be less traffic on a Sunday, but still--we didn't end up getting back home until after midnight.  We did make a longer stop for dinner, though, stopping at Culvers.  Luna was much friskier on the ride home, trying out several spots, including Bob's lap before we could get her back into the back! 

But eventually she settled down back on the floor.  By the time we got close to home, she had decided the best place was on top of backpacks and our snack tub in the middle of the driver and passenger seats.  It looked a bit uncomfortable to me, but she was completely racked out!  She was sooo happy when we got home though.  Yesterday she had the most energy she's ever had, racing happily around the yard and frolicking around the kitchen!  She is definitely a homebody.

But unfortunately for her, we are not, lol.  She's going to be taking a trip to VA this coming weekend for the girls' last cross country meet!  At least she travels well and doesn't get carsick! 

Introducing Luna!

We got a puppy on Saturday!  This seemingly sudden decision was actually a really long time in the making.  The kids have been asking for a dog for a long time now--years, for sure!  I have always said, "Not until I am all done potty training!", and that kept things at bay for quite some time, lol.  But Verity was potty-trained last summer, thus ending over 20 years of diapers, so that criteria was done.

At that point, however, we were contemplating taking a space-a trip over to Germany to visit our friends the C's in February, and I knew we did not want to have to deal with what to do with a dog, especially since we had no idea how much time it would take us to get out or get back.  We did end up making the trip, which was amazing, and I was indeed relieved that we weren't worrying about a dog.  It was bad enough worrying about our bunny Mocha!

By then, however, we knew we were moving to Ohio in the summer, since Bob had actually started working out here in January.  And who wants to deal with a new dog *and* a move??  Not me!  So again, we put it off.  But the thought of getting a dog was a big incentive for the kids to want to move, especially since we ended up giving away Mocha (to a wonderful fellow homeschooling family who are taking fabulous care of him!).  So we have been praying for God to bring the right dog into our life for a long time!

Bob had joined a local area "pet classifieds" facebook group this summer, and he had noticed that someone local was selling a litter of 10 Newfoundland puppies who had been born on July 15.  We talked about it, but we didn't move on it right away.  The girls and I had to go back to VA for a meet, and it just didn't seem like the right timing.  But then last week the guy posted that he still had 3 puppies left, and so Bob and I decided to go see them.  We've always liked big dogs--when we were stationed in Colorado, we had a lab/malamute cross as well as a Great Pyrenees--and we had actually tried to adopt a Newfie from the pound before we got them, but someone else was ahead of us.  I knew that Newfies tend to have a really steady temperament  and are really good with kids, which obviously was important to us. 

So Bob and I went over to this guy's house Friday night without any kids.  The puppies were so cute, and the parents were really nice.  The dad wasn't as big as the Newf that friends of ours in VA have, and neither parent was very barky or jumpy.  The mom didn't bark at all, even when we rang the doorbell and she saw us looking in a window!  We decided to take the plunge, so we came home to order a ton of dog-related stuff on Amazon.  We came back the next day, Saturday, Oct. 6, and we picked out a gray female we named Luna!

She looks black here, but she really is a little lighter than that.  The hair on her head is really neat--it's almost frosted a lighter shade at the tips.  I've never seen anything like it, and I don't know if it will stay that way, but it's really pretty!  She also has a white blaze on her front, and on the front of her 2 back paws.

This girl is about the most chill puppy you can imagine!  She is not the stereotypical "inquisitive puppy looking for mischief and getting into everything" at all.  We haven't let her into the carpeted areas of the house, which means she just stays in our kitchen/dining room area.  We have 2 sets of 70's-era doors that close off this area from the rest of the main level, but even if they aren't closed, she just sticks around in the dining room, mainly.  She's very happy napping under our big table, and so far she has only tried to chew on Micah's croc!

She doesn't jump all over you or nip or anything.  She's been great for Verity, who was definitely the most scared of dogs in general, especially dogs who jump up on her.  The family we got her from had several kids, so she is very used to kids, which is good, lol.  She occasionally will mouth your hand or arm as you pet her, but we're working on that, and she's really gentle.

The only problem so far (other than house training, which she is improving in, but we can't wait until she can go through the night, and she doesn't have any more day time accidents, lol) is that she really is not a fan of walks. She loves our yard and will romp around there quite happily with the kids--but she has no desire to leave it ever!  When we try to walk her around the park behind our house, she is so reluctant.  She pulls backward on her leash, and tries to just flop down and not move.  We've started giving her those little training treats to get her to walk at all!  I've never seen a less curious dog! 

When we actually get to the playground, which is at the opposite end of the park from our house, she enjoys seeing people there and being petted.  But after a little bit, she is pulling on the leash to go back to our house.  She has like a built-in compass, and she always knows which way to go to get to our house!  We've taken her out to the street in front of our house, and she dislikes that even more because of the occasional car.  So far we've made it all the way to the end of our next-door neighbor's house, lol.  I was really looking forward to walks with a dog, so hopefully she will get over this quickly!  Now it is just an exercise in frustration because it takes forever for us to make just one lap around the park (which is only 1/3 mile!)! 

I think part of the problem is that the breeder guy was a little overwhelmed with all the puppies.  He told Bob they weren't expecting to have puppies, although I mean, he had a male and a female, so you'd think he would not have been shocked, lol.  But anyway, they didn't *do* anything with them (other than handle them, which is definitely super important!), like take them anywhere or even take them on any walks or anything.  So I think that is contributing to her timidity in new places.   Also, she's now 12 weeks old, so we did miss a good part of the window where she is open to new experiences.  We are trying to remedy that by doing a lot, like not giving up on walks!  We've also visited Petsmart, and tonight we took her to Sonic with us while we ate.  If you are local and want to meet her, stop by!  Or we'll come visit you, lol.  New experiences!!

So Luna is settling into our family quite well, and the kids are thrilled with her!  She really is such a sweetheart, and I am so glad for a quiet, calm puppy.  Now if we can just get her to like walks . . .