Happy Birthday Bella!

The day we adopted Bella

It is hard to believe that today our Bella dog turns four.  She has been such a blessing to our little family; acting  as guardian, nanny, play-mate and loyal companion. When we  moved back to Colorado in 2008 we knew we wanted to get  another dog for a variety of reasons. First, was for a  play companion for Wyatt, who is 100% terrier with a ton  of energy. Second, was so we could get a bigger dog for  running, hiking and "big dog activities". We also knew we  wanted to adopt a dog. We visited Max Fund and couple of  other places. It was heartbreaking to see all of those  amazing dogs without families. We fell in love with a lot  of dogs but were extremely concerned for Wyatt's safety  since the majority of them were full grown and Wyatt is  only a 25 lbs. So we left with sad hearts thinking we  would never find a dog to adopt, that is until we stumbled  upon Life-Line Puppy rescue; which is a no-kill rescue  that saves puppies from all around the Mountain Region. We  were able to take Wyatt with us to meet the puppies. We  met a few puppies that took right to us but not to Wyatt;  which was a problem we wanted a puppy that would bond to  all of us. We were about to leave when Jeremy and Wyatt  spotted this little black puppy huddled in the corner with  a small little Daschund puppy. "We have to see her." And  the rest is kind of history. She snuggled right up to  Jeremy and I and most importantly to Wyatt as well.

These two have been inseparable

since the day they met.

We aren't sure exactly what happened to Bella in her first  11-12 weeks on this earth, but it left her a terrified  puppy. She was scared of everything. The first week she  refused to be anywhere but either by Wyatt's side or on my  lap. She was terrified of Jeremy, sudden movement, other  dogs and other people. We began to take her to a weekly  puppy socialization class. Asking people to pet her and  feed her treats. Telling them that it was okay if their  dogs tried to play with her, even if she acted like her  world might end. This training helped her to see what the  world wasn't a terrifying place that she was safe and that  she was bigger and stronger than she thought she was. As  she grew it was almost comical to see her "hide" behind  Wyatt; but eventually she learned to take cues from Wyatt  and she began to love being outside and going to the dog  parks.

Bella is on look-out 

duty in this picture.

Beautiful Bella

It took her about 2 weeks to realize that Jeremy was a  good guy. They have been best of friends ever since. We  jokingly call Bella "Officer Bella". She has taken on a  guardian role for me and Wyatt. She is always on alert,  always clears the apartment first, warns of suspicious  behavior (even when sometimes it isn't that suspicious)  and comes to Wyatt's aid when he needs her. When Jeremy is  home you can almost see her switch to off-duty. If you  could ask her Bella would probably say that she loves  "pack" adventures above any other regular adventure; these  adventures must include Wyatt, Jeremy and I and usually  involve hiking, swimming, ball chasing and more. You can  almost feel her enthusiasm on days that we are all  together. Can't say I blame her, our pack is pretty  special and Bella helps keep it that way.

Take me out to the ballgame...

We were able to catch our first Orioles game today. Camden Yards is a beautiful ballpark and we lucked out with nice weather. We also were able to get great seats we were in Row 3 on the first base side. It was a great day at the ballpark.

Baltimore Harbor

Babe Ruth Statue, he grew up in Baltimore.

Stadium

View from our seats!

Blackberries

Our daily hiking grounds surprised the dogs and I with blackberries! And lots of blackberries. Seriously they are everywhere on the trail. I don't pick them, I rather leave them for all of the furry, forest animals to eat. However, a lot of people do pick them. There is an older couple that braves the ticks and thorns all the way into the thicket to pick the berries. Each to their own I guess.

Blackberries!

You can't tell from the picture but this whole area is blackberry bush.

I remember stealing berries from my parents berry bush garden. I think we had 5-10 bushes, my favorite where the raspberries. My siblings and I were probably around 7 at the time. When you are 7 you think you are the sneakiest person ever to grace the earth... okay well I did anyways. The three of us would sneak in between the bushes and snack away on the berries. I remember my Dad would walk by (surely hearing us all giggle) and say "looks like the little bear cubs got into the berries again." So these blackberries along the trail can't help but to make me smile and remember those "little bear clubs" back in Colorado.

Chesapeake Bay

One of our favorite Pack Adventures is the visit to the Chesapeake Bay. There is a free little dog beach right  past the Bay Bridge. It is truly a treasure. It was one of  the first places we visited when we first moved here and  we stumbled upon it as it is kind of a "locals only" type  of spot. The dogs get to be off leash, swim and be their crazy selves. This summer the water has been nice for swimming... or has it?

San Francisco Bay (A) vs Chesapeake Bay (B)

First, a short introduction to the mightily Chesapeake Bay. The  Bay is almost 3 times the size of the San Francisco Bay,  and trust me it is hard to believe until you see it. It is  a nice mix of lake meets ocean. The salinity (salt  content) of the bay is a unique mix and thus makes the  perfect place for crabs and other creatures. In some parts  of the bay (for example our little beach) the water quite  shallow, almost waist deep for miles; making it perfect  for swimming, sailing, kayaking, wind-surfing and more.

Now to my confession. I am scared of fish, yes all fish.  Scared probably isn't the right word they just give me the  ibby-jibbies... creepy little non-mammals. I don't mind  seeing fish, I think they are actually quite beautiful but  touching them or being in the same water as them gives me  goose bumps (seriously I have goose bumps!) Well the Bay  happens to be home for quite a few creepy little critters  (can you call fish a critter?). Of course you have the  Maryland Blue Crabs, you also have something called  horseshoe crab. It looks like it came out of the Mesozoic  Era. They wash up on the beach right around October... and  our dogs LOVE them. Roll on them, eat them... EWE. In the  summer you have bait fish that wash up on shore. The dogs  find them a special delicacy. There is also washed up sea  weed which really feels like slime. Unfortunately, there  is also some trash. But that isn't all. On Monday Jeremy  went to the Bay and discovered it also holds Jellyfish.  Most of the Jellyfish will result in a minor sting, much  like a bee sting. However in the winter there are Lion  Mane jellyfish, and they can be deadly.

Washed up Horseshoe Crab

Stinger Jellyfish

Lion's Mane Jellyfish

So as you can imagine on most of our pack adventures I am  the ball-thrower or the ear-scratcher who happily stays on  the beach. Every once in the while I will summon up my  courage, close my eyes and go for a quick little dip...  but not for long. I can only deny reality for so long. All of this being said, it is hard to beat a day on the beach.

Where you can usually find me on our little beach.

The Conroys go to Washington DC

United States Capitol

Back in December Jeremy and I made our first trip down to DC. It has been one of many surreal trips that I have taken since moving to Maryland. I never thought I would visit Washington DC. It wasn't that I didn't want to visit it, it just wasn't high on my priority list and I figured I would never make it there. So after exiting the train station and walking a couple of blocks we saw our first glimpse of the United States Capitol; it was kind of a shock. "Oh we are really in DC." We walked the entire National Mall that day and saw pretty much all of the monuments, even though it was a cold day. My top two favorites, which if you know me shouldn't come as a surprise, were the Library of Congress buildings and the Roosevelt Monument. Of course the Lincoln Monument was amazing as well and the War Memorials definitely made you stop and think. The Korean War Memorial had me in tears. Being the Nation's Capital everything is beautiful. One other highlight of this trip was seeing the Declaration of Independence, we had a hard time finding where it was housed... but it was worth all of the effort to see the original. Since this trip we have been working on visiting the museums in detail. Though they are huge! It took us almost 4 hours to go through half of 1 floor of the National Museum of American History! Luckily the museums don't charge admission, we will definitely be visiting them again soon.

Korean War Memorial

To ceiling of one of the Library of Congress buildings

Lincoln Memorial

My guy with the Washington Monument in the background. 

White House

Roosevelt Memorial. This sculpture reminded us of
Wyatt so I had to get a picture with him.

San Diego!

In April my sister and I took a girl's weekend to San Diego. We had a blast! We visitied the Gas Lamp District the first night and had some super yummy Mexican food. Baltimore, much like most of the east coast, is a little bit of a Mexican food wasteland... so it was nice to have a taste of home.

 

mmmm... Mexican Food

My beautiful Sister being silly in the Gas Lamp District

  

The second day we went to SeaWorld. We watched pretty much all of the shows. Of course we saw the Orcas, Sea Lions and Dolphins (which by the way are much bigger than I thought they would be, kind of creepy)... but we also saw a Bulga Whale. It was like watching an angel in the water. Now I see why Sailors thought they were Mermaids, they are utterly enchanting (unlike the aforementioned Dolphins).

Beautiful Orca

Me waiting for the One Ocean show to start. 

Angelic Bulga Whale

The third day we went to the San Diego Zoo. EVERYONE says that you need two days to see it because it is soooo big. We saw all of it in a day. It was a nice zoo, but I like Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado better.

Entrance to San Diego Zoo

Secretary bird. He is 3ft tall... SO awesome!

Since the zoo didn't take a full day we had an extra day on our hands. So we went on a Harbor Tour in which we saw "real" sea lions, the Navy Base, a bunch of Navy ships (which we already know I nothing about, but they were cool) and more. We also toured USS Midway which is a retired air-craft carrier. Our Grandfather served in the Navy in WWII and he would have been in this type of ship. It was neat to see all of it and imagine what it would have been like to be him back when he served.

View of the Navy Base from the Harbor Tour, that is a Navy Patrol boat.

"Real" Sea Lions hanging out on the bait traps

Deck of the USS Midway

The Brig on the USS Midway. My Grandpa was quite the trouble
maker in his youth and ended up in the brig at least once.

Even though our feet hurt we still had some time left so we went to Balboa Park; which was beautiful and what I always envisioned California looking like.

Balboa Park

Very intricate architecture elements... breathtaking. 

To me, this is what I always assumed sunny California looked like.

In the end it was an AMAZING vacation and it was wonderful to spend it with my best-friend and sister!

Flying!

Back in April I had the opportunity to take a vacation with my Sister in San Diego, CA. We had a blast visiting the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and Balboa Park, I will have to write a separate post about that. As this post is dedicated to how I got there, FLYING!

When I was a little girl I was TERRIFIED of heights, and a long laundry list of other things. I would plead with my parents to not go over 16 road hill,  which is truly just a hill, as I knew my parents would  lose control and send us off the "edge" to our doom. I remember my telling my parents "two hands on the wheel...  TWO HANDS ON THE WHEEL!" I loved (still love) camping in the mountains but I am surprised my family didn't leave me on the roadside with my over-dramatic fear of crashing off  the edge. I can remember almost exactly when I overcame my fear of heights. Camp Red Cloud, eighth-grade, repelling.  I was terrified, we hiked up what seemed like a mountain and then were calmly told that we were going to repel down it. I am sure the instructors saw my terrified eyes searching for the quickest route to the trail and back to safety... and thus I was called to go first. Shaking and near-tears. I reluctantly hung myself over the edge and climbed over the lip. At first I was super tentative, then  I had to get over an indent in the cliff at which I had to  jump a little. This resulted in having me land face-first into the wall of the cliff. At first I thought I was going to die, right there hung up there like a Christmas ornament. But then the adrenaline kicked in and the rest of the repel went much too fast. I was hooked.

My plane! Yes, I was the crazy
lady taking pictures in the airport.

Since about that time I have wanted to fly, both literally and in a plane, but hadn't had the opportunity. Jeremy had always planned on flying with me. But that wasn't in the cards and thus I made my first trip solo. I was more than excited about the idea. I was also nervous I would miss the flight, but it turned out I was super early and had time to be bored and wander the BWI airport. I sat next to a lovely older couple who were flying to San Diego for a 2 week long Hawaiian cruise. The woman was originally from Russia; her first flight was more than 12 hours long. My first flight was 5 1/2 hours long and it felt like it would never end. We hit quite a bit of turbulence, flying over and through clouds. I was giddy staring out the window. Needless to say it was a fun experience. However it is true, the second time you fly (aka the flight home) doesn't hold the same novelty. Regardless it was wonderful to check flying off my list of things to do.