The Book of Ramblings

After lunch, the kids headed out on a train ride and David and I decided to go out on our own with Dahlia and have a relaxing afternoon. We knew that hiking was going to be a bit much, since Dahlia had had a lot of exercise and little sleep, so we opted to take it easy. We ended up at the Burgess Cemetery. David wanted to take some pictures of the gravestones with his new camera. It turned out that the entire cemetery was enclosed with a stone wall, so we let Dahlia off leash again. She wandered around, managing to get in the way of many of David's shots (I swear she's a camera whore!), and spending a lot of time wandering around where I was. At one point, a woman on a bike came into the cemetery and Dahlia rushed down to see her. The woman said she wasn't sure if she was going to growl or wag her tail. DUH. All you had to do was look at her to realize what she wanted. A pat on the head or back or something. Dahlia's body language always reads "hi come pet me I'll love you forever if you do!"

( A few photos at the cemetery )

We had a nice dinner of hotdogs and hamburgers (ironically not on the grill as David's mother decided that wasn't healthy...sad!). And then we all relaxed for the evening. It was nice and quiet after the kids went to bed!

Sunday morning we wandered up yet again to the playground to play some fetch. The kids all accompanied us this time and got involved in throwing one of her toys (since we couldn't find the baseball or the tennis ball of previous times). She was absolutely adorable carrying the toy up with her. We just handed it to her and she carried it almost the whole way.

( Pic here )

When we got back, David and I decided to take a little break from the kids and head up to Minard's Pond (a man-made pond that's the basis for the town's water supply) and walk in the woods. It was quiet and deserted, so we once again opted to let Dahlia off leash and see how she did. She was AWESOME! She stuck by us and when she wandered away a bit I'd call to her and tell her not to wander too far and she actually would turn to look at me and wait or come back to us. She's a really amazing dog.

( Some pics from our walk )


The kids and David had lunch when we got back (I bowed out because I just don't like ham!) and then we were on the road. Of course, they had to do a few more silly things to poor Dahlia.

( A couple more pics )