Campinig With Kids - Jellystone Park at Natural Bridge

On Thursday we packed up and left for Jellystone Park at Natural Bridge. We have been itching to try out our new-to-us pop-up camper, but we've had some reservations about camping with Iraq and The Skink. Dealing with Down syndrome and autism at home is one thing, but managing them at a campground... is another.

We had a BLAST!

Yup - all of us. We knew Broadway would love it, but Iraq was the one who ended up being the hardest to get into the car for the ride home. Sure, we had our hands full keeping up with The Skink, but then... we always have our hands full keeping up with her energy and fun-loving spirit.

We ended up having rather brisk weather this weekend. The air smelled like fresh, damp cedar mixed with undertones of smoke from the campfires. Iraq, The Skink, Brandy Ann and I went down to the playground while the guys set up our camper. It didn't take them long at all, and then we set about finding kindling.

You know? Food just tastes better when cooked over a campfire and eaten at a graying, wood picnic table under trees covered in new spring leaves!

After dinner we had some drinks and played some cards (and made stuff out of Play-Doh).

On Saturday we headed over to see the Natural Bridge. It's pretty amazing in person and quite beautiful. Walking up the path, one's ears are filled with the sound of rushing water. Small waterfalls trickle down the rock walls on either side. The roots of old trees wrap around the rocks. Midway up the path, a replica of a Native American settlement greets visitors with the sights and smells of yesteryear.

We took Brandy Ann along to help out with the kids. She earned her place, both helping me with The Skink while in the large gift shop, and soothing Iraq's rattled nerves when she became overstimulated from all the new sensory input along the path. (Yes - Iraq's medication is making a huge difference with her meltdowns, but she does still have major sensory issues. Her reaction to becoming overstimulated is just different now, and far easier for us to handle.) We even took Brandy into the cafe and she sat just as politely as you please as we ate our lunch. No begging, no wandering, nothing but exemplary behavior and only minimal drooling (hey - she could smell the food, and it smelled good!).

No - that's not drool. Brandy got to enjoy her own taste of nature along the path!

One of the best things about Jellystone Park was the number of other children there. Iraq found herself a large pack of children when ever she went to play or collect caterpillars (ewww).

We spent even more time around the campfire on Saturday evening, knowing the dawn of Sunday morning meant packing up to leave.

 

If you want to see more pictures from our adventure, please enjoy the slide show below!

Adasperdown Camping Trip 04 11 - slideshow dvd

We are already planning our next camping trip, and there is a high likelihood we will be returning to Jellystone park quite soon!

 Enjoy this blog? Let me know by voting on TopMommyBlogs! 

Follow the link and scroll down until you find Adasperdown Town.

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Seasons Change

I had a rough day today so I went in search of fairies. I needed time by myself as moms sometimes do, so I stole away to my own little fairy place.

I found the clearing where they have their gatherings.

 Where trees become rocks and rocks become trees,

And as I walked further, I found the place where the fairies live...

In an old hollow stump, far away from everything.

Shhhh... a fairy!

And in a blink of the eye, she was gone. 

Along my path I found one of their hidden places. 

In the summer it will be covered in green, but winter laid it bare... 

visible to the meandering fairy hunter.

So I simply stood and stared in wonder at the reaching vines that made this lovely fairy dwelling.

I could imagine young boy fairies swinging like Tarzan from vine to vine, then letting go and fluttering down to the leaf-carpeted earth on delicate, translucent fairy wings.

Look! A fairy apartment building!

And after my walk among the fairies, I went back into town for a little retail therapy where I found these...

But I didn't buy any, because I'm too cheap.

You see, today I took the dogs to the vet where I learned that my sweet Brandy Ann has cancer. If we had plenty of money, of course I would have the vet do what they can to lengthen her life. As it is, we don't have extra funds. Brandy has also suffered from terrible allergies her whole life and has had to stay on a steroid called Prednisone. Taken for short periods of time, this medication is a good thing for those who need it, but taking it for years and years... well, after this long it will have damaged Brandy's organs. 

So for now, we'll keep chasing fairies, knowing that sooner or later, all fairies blink out. One never knows how long a fairy will stay, but the memory of seeing a real fairy... well... that lasts forever.

 Artwork by C. Atkinson.

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Brandy the Wonder Dog - On the Bus!

So Brandy is our Olde Victorian Bulldogge and last year I started training her (at age 7) to be a service dog. She shocked us all by picking up the training incredibly fast.
 
You can see some of those posts Here.



Anyway, Brandy wanted to come to the bus stop with us this morning. Normally when its this cold, she prefers to sleep it, but not today. She had her purty pink dog coat, her teal, sparkly collar, and she was ready for a walk in the snow!

She learned last year not to be afraid of the big, noisy bus, and this morning she actually looked eager when the bus pulled up. We've never worked with her ON the bus because we had not planned on her going to school with either of the girls. I can only imagine the reaction of the parents of the other students when they learned that this was one of the class room regulars.

The bus driver hadn't met Brandy before and when the door opened he called to her and she followed Iraq right on to the bus. The thing that amazed me was that she didn't just get on to go mooch attention off the bus driver, but went directly to my daughter's seat and sat just as pretty as you please, ignoring all the doting children.

This dog takes her job seriously. She amazed me once again! Most other dogs, climbing on to a bus fully-loaded with noisy grade-school kids would likely have run from kid to kid, feeding off that childhood-level of excitement.

But I never even trained her under these circumstances! Never trained her where to sit on a bus, never trained her around a hoard of excited children... yet somehow, she just knew.

And when I tried to get her back off the bus? She refused to leave Iraq. I had to pretty much drag her away from Iraq's side, and you should have seen the look of concern on Brandy's face! Her expression clearly said, "We can't just leave her here! I need to stay with her!"

She begrudgingly obeyed my command to "unload," and stared longingly after the bus as it pulled away from the curb.

Sitting like a dog - FAIL!

Are dogs awesome or what?

 "OK... Merry Christmas already. Now will you please take this dumb hat off me?"

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Edit: Just had to add the link to this article in the WSJ today:

The Doctor's Dog Will See You Now

 Have a great day, all! 

Fun Filled Family Friday

I read the most wonderful blog this morning about a mom who took her daughter to the beach and had a glorious time! It was beautifully written, beautifully illustrated and it inspired me to gather my flock and take them on my own adventure. I haven't been grocery shopping in a while, so we stopped at KFC to make sure we had the makings of a delightful picnic.

With the car smelling of  hot chicken and fries, we wound though the mountain roads of the Blue Ridge Turnpike to find the perfect picnic spot. As we rounded a curve, we came to a construction area where we had to stop and wait behind a line of cars for about half an hour. What a FUN way to start our magical adventure! "Moooooom... how much loooooongeeeeeeerrrrrrrr?" "Why aren't we gooooooooinnnnnngg?"

With the car smelling of slightly colder chicken, fries and diesel fumes, we stopped at the first "scenic overlook" we came to and, starving, jumped out of the car and set up our picnic. We had to wonder why it was called a scenic overlook... it was a field surrounded by trees and we couldn't even see the mountains from it, but it seemed a nice place to set up before we all keeled over from starvation.

We put out our colorful blanket and within about 2 minutes Iraq succeeded in spilling her drink on it. The Skink ran off in one direction and Brandy started drooling on Broadway's arm at the smell of all the food. I stuffed a few pieces of chicken into my mouth and ran off after the Skink after Broadway warned me she might get chigger bites sitting in the long grass. The moment I got The Skink back to the blanket, she ran off again. In the mean time, Broadway and Iraq had a bet going with me as to whether the animals in the adjoining field were horses, or as I thought, mules - so they headed off hoping to prove me wrong as I went running after The Skink.

Brandy was left guarding all the food by her little lonesome... instead of eating it as I was afraid she might, she decided to head off after Iraq and Broadway. What a GREAT dog!!

Yup... mules! Really sweet ones, too :o)

Smart dog - she found some shade!

Yummy strawberry-leopard... My favorite!

Run, Medusa! RUN! The mules want to eat your snakes!
(I did try to brush her hair this morning, but she was not interested!)

So, with the sun beating down on us and the coarse grass tickling our legs, we packed up the food and the blanket, retreated back to the air-conditioned van and drove back down the mountain.

So... it was nowhere near as romantic and magical as that blog I read this morning... but we DID have fun... in a scratchy, sweaty, chigger-bitten sort of way. And if you want to read a romantic, magical blog, you are seriously misled if you think you're going to find it here, so click here instead --- > Enjoying the Small Things

Enjoy!

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CapaBull - Training My Service Dog Blog

**Update (01/08/2012) Was I successful in training a bulldog to be a service dog? You bet! Brandy has been everywhere with us and has proved to be a priceless asset to our family - especially my middle child who is in the autism spectrum. Here is a link with a few pictures of Brandy in action.**

Original Post:

Who would have thought my big, silly-looking bulldog would do this well in Service Dog training? I suppose if I had thought it, I might have tried training her a long time ago. Bulldogs simply aren't known for their trainability or their intelligence, but then again, Brandy is an Olde Victorian Bulldogge (OVB)... not sure if that is really supposed to make a big difference.

OVBs were created combining English Bulldog, American Bulldog, German Boxer, Staffordshire Terrier and Olde Bulldogges - perhaps Brandy's surprising trainability comes from the influence of fine, German engineering? This far down the autobahn, we can only speculate. 

So to date, the biggest hurdle we've had is the "down" command. She sits, she stays, she takes one step at a time, she ignores lawnmowers and strangers, but she does not like to lay down. It's understandable, really. Who wants to be told to lay down on a filthy sidewalk? That, and having a sore shoulder doesn't help. 


I've added glucosamine to her diet, and I may have to add some aspirin or something just to help out a bit. I mean... the poor dog is 7! Not exactly a spring chicken. It's like telling Grandma to just make herself comfortable on the concrete between the green glob of gum and the bird crap.


At any rate, I took Brandy out today, worked her for a bit, and then gave her the "down" command. She made a face (she can make the funniest faces when she isn't really happy about something) and then lay down! I praised her, I gave her treats... and then I learned what her true currency is! Belly Rubs!!


After I gave her some hearty belly rubs, she lay down for me consistently for the rest of the training. Of course when giving belly rubs, it is imperative to rub briskly and firmly while saying "Who's da bestest puppy in da whoooooooooooollle world? Who? Who is it? YOU da bestest doggie! You is! Oh yes you IS!" Brandy got so excited each time, she wiggled back and forth on her back with her upper lips thrown back, exposing the pink underside of her face and her giant, bully teeth. SO CUTE! 


Of course after reviewing what I just wrote, I'm starting to think I should keep an eye out for Brandy's blog... "How To Train Your Human." If I find it, I'll be sure to pass along the link!


At this point I have the Service Dog patches, harness and other fun stuff, but I haven't quite gotten around to sewing the patches ON to the harness... which would allow Brandy to go pretty much anywhere with us. Where did I put those stupid sewing needles??  


Oh, LOOK! Super Glue!

Update - 01/08/2012:

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