Instead of the 4th of July...

I went to upstate NY to visit with Justina. This time last year I was picking Mike up at the airport. We then spent the 2 best weeks of our lives doing whatever we wanted- drinking, laughing, talking, cuddling, swimming, playing with dogs, meeting up with old friends, telling stories, seeing our families, taking pictures, vacation to Niagra Falls, and on and on. All our dicsussions had the undertoans of "just wait until February. you'll be back then and we can do whatever we want all the time." I know it was motivation for him to get back here. So a trip was in order, and Justina and Tony were kind enough to invite me to stay with them at the cabin they rent on the St. Lawrence River in NY.

Justina really took the better pictures so there are more to come, but here are some highlights of the trip.

Friday:

Lily and I left for our 6.5hr drive at around 9am and arrived rather uneventfully in Watertown, NY at Tony and Junstina's place at 4pm. This is the exact time we were trying to avoid since they are selling their house and had a showing at 4. So we piled their animals into our Jeep with Lily and I and went to see the house they are buying. We had a Irish terrier, Rickey, a toy Poodle, Bear, and a Parrot, Rocco in the car with Lily and myself, and of course Justina. We were a zoo on wheels! When we got back to the house we all let the pets meet each other- oh and added their hound dog, Ziggy to the mix.

Saturday:


We packed up the Van, Truck, and my Jeep, hitched the boat to the truck and made our way to the cabin. Once we were there it was established that Lily would have a much better time off her leash/tie out and running aorund with the other dogs. I was SO NERVOUS because Lily is known to follow her beagle instincts and not come back but Justina helped me let go and not be such and overbearing puppy parent, and it went better than I could have imagined! She ran around with the pack, rolled in the sandy dirt, dug holes, crawled through the brush- had, in general, the time of her life.

Sunday & Monday




We grilled out and ate fabulous food- and wayyyyy too much of it! Enjoyed beer, and some wine late into the evenings. The dogs played and Lily was exhausted. We went on their motorboat and let Lily come along. She sat up in the front, nose to the wind, big ears flapping loving every minute of it. I just laughed at how well she was doing with everything. Justina and I toured a castle they have on a nearby island and it was a pretty neat thing to see.

Tuesday

It was time to pack up and leave. I got everything into the Jeep and said goodbye to my favorite friend. Lily said by to everyone, even Bear, who didn't say goodbye to her! Thank goodness for good friends who know you need some time away. I loved my little cabin vacation!