Houdini Needs a Bath

I'll let the title, pictures and videos speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Some Picture Updates

Obviously, we've been slacking for a the last couple months. Hopefully, we'll do better now that warm weather is arriving. I find that we don't take nearly as many pictures during the bleary winter months. I'll cut to the chase and share some pictures. They include pictures of Buddy in our huge amounts of snow, my Valentine's day piece de resistance, and a wonderful visit from Nancy and Linda.

It was impossible to capture just how much snow there actually was, but our backyard looked like this for much of the winter.


See how deep Buddy is!! He loved it. He would leap and bound around the yard and make himself absolutely exhausted.


I wish he would learn how to take out the trash, rather than simply chew on the lid that was already broken.


Yes, this is my masterpiece! Ok, so I know I have a long way to go, but I thought it was a pretty good first attempt!


This is the view of the city and the Art Museum from Vesper Boat Club's balcony.


Is it just coincidence that they are standing identically, or is it in the blood?!?


Reverse view, from the Art Museum towards Boathouse Row.


After much persuasion, they finally joined in for the obligatory Rocky picture.


I think the picture says it all!


It's pretty much guaranteed that if you visit us, we are visiting the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I have to say though, if you don't visit us in the first year (before July), then you may not get to go with us because I think we have nearly reached our max!!!


One of Buddy's favorite ways to sit. I call it the wheelbarrow.


Bud sends his love. He is moments away from giving kisses!

Snow Here, Snow There, Snow Everywhere

We left Chicago expecting to enjoy a milder winter, and, in truth, it is milder. However, the snow has been unbelievable this winter. Philly certainly is warmer and less windy than Chicago, but the amount of snow that we have received at one time has been unparalleled to anything we saw while in Chicago. In December, when mom and Emily were visiting, the city got 24 inches of snow in a little over 24 hours. This past weekend, we got 28 inches (though not quite that much at our house). Tonight and tomorrow the weather gurus are expecting that we will get another 12-18 inches. I've never seen anything like it. We certainly never had this kind of snow while I was growing up! We love the snow, and we would love it even more if we had a driveway. Parallel parking is even more obnoxious when you have to fight over parking spaces. Everyone in the neighborhood has been using chairs and the like to save parking spots (hopefully I'll get some pictures to share). Someone had the nerve to move our cardboard boxes today. Obviously they didn't read the news article about people getting killed for moving "dibs" articles! Not that I'd go that far, but I did think about printing out the article to put on their windshield.

Buddy is definitely a huge fan of the snow. He plows through it, and digs his head in. We still can't figure out why he burrows his head in the snow. He jumps and leaps and runs in circles. He doesn't know what to do with himself because he is having so much fun.

Here are some pictures from various snowfalls this winter:

Buddy loves to leave his mark, and the footprints demonstrate how much he loves to explore.

Who needs a milk mustache when you can have a snow mustache!

As you'll be able to see below as well, Buddy loves to play chase, especially in the snow.

Frosty the SnowBud

Winters here in Philadelphia are a big change (for the better) from Chicago. I have yet to have the cold bring instantaneous tears to my eyes that then immediately froze. It's kinda nice. The winter has been mild so far, and for that I am thankful. For those of you who don't know, our parked Olds got hit by a drunk driver and is currently out of commission (or possibly permanently out of commission). So now I channel my inner 12 year old and bike to my babysitting job. Needless to say, I am glad I don't live in Chicago right now. Though I do miss the public transportation system.

It has snowed once this winter. The snow experience here is much more comparable to Nashville than Chicago. Super wet snow that melts fairly quickly, and a city that's not particularly ready to deal with it. That said, it is still always nice to see a few flakes.

Buddy wasn't quite sure what to make of the snow. He definitely was not excited to go outside in it.

Once he did go outside in the snow, he couldn't stop sniffing it. He even tried chasing a few flakes. Hopefully, he gets to see it a few more times this winter.

Growing a Green Thumb

We've been busy - so many projects with our new (old) home. Having a yard for the first time is certainly a new challenge. One of the reasons that we loved this house was because of the backyard. We really wanted to have a little patch of grass, which is really what it is. Thankfully though it is no bigger - we'd probably be out of our league.

We still need to finish clearing all of the poisonous stuff, but luckily our neighbor helped us identify some of it. We also need to clear out some metal trash that someone decided to pile behind our yard. Eventually, we want to add more plants to create some privacy, buy a patio set so that we can eat outside, and a fire pit and a water feature are also on our eventual wish list. Hopefully, we might be able to find a fire pit soon so that we can enjoy it during the fall. We just haven't found one yet that fits our space well. Matt's parents bought us a couple chairs for our brick patio and have really enjoyed them.

Here's the backyard for now:

Using our sprinkler for the first time so that the little grass that we have doesn't all die. We are going to have to plant some seed in the fall, but for now, we'll try to save what we have.

Our new chairs that we love. They are super comfortable and we eat many meals out here in the evenings. Hopefully there will be a fire pit here in the future!

View of the backyard from our comfy chairs on the patio.