Urban Meadow goes to the country!

We went to visit our friends Judy and Jean-Jacques at their lake house in New Hampshire last weekend. Let me first start by explaining who they are. When Meadow was an itty bitty puppy, there's a rule in NYC that many people follow where puppies should not be walking on the streets until they have had all of their vaccines - about 16 weeks. So I used to look for other ways to socialize Meadow, including waiting in the lobby with her when I was expecting Peter to walk in. A man with a beautiful French accent walked in one evening and said, "oh, you should meet my wife, she'd love to take care of your puppy." So we eventually met Judy and we all hit it off right away. She is the ultimate dog person, always buying treats for Meadow, she'd take her on long walks to the park, Judy was the best! We'd leave Meadow with them for the weekend if we went away. Meadow, literally, would get excited if we took the elevator up from our floor because she knew that Judy's was in the up direction. We were so sad when they moved to New England when I was pregnant with Katie. So Judy and JJ had never met Katie and they were thrilled to host all of us.

If only Meadow was more thrilled to be there...

I didn't mean for Meadow to take the term "Urban Meadow" so seriously. It was a long ride up to NH, the longest we've done with her, and we drove through 2 thunderstorms which made her incredibly unhappy. Meadow generally hates thunderstorms and rain. If it is storming really hard, she won't even go outside, she just crawls under the desk and shakes. She does the same thing for fireworks and firecrackers too. Considering how cramped Meadow was next to Katie's tremendous carseat, Meadow was really good in the car, just shook during the thunderstorms we drove through. But we get to the lake house and it's an old wooden cottage, in the woods, and it's raining, and then the neighbors start setting off firecrackers. And Meadow doesn't want to get out from under the bed.

The weather wasn't much better on Saturday, so we went out for lunch at a country store and then to a local fair. Again, being an Urban Meadow, Mead had her first "I have to stay in the car while you go inside" experience. She couldn't have lunch inside with us, but she didn't complain and seemed comfortable enough. She walked around with JJ at the fair and she did well until someone set off firecrackers. Then we had to leave. Why were there so many firecrackers?

Here's a picture of Katie and Judy hanging out in the house. Judy and JJ loved Katie. Judy's daughter is due with a girl in January so I think it was a nice chance for them to practice grandparenting.


On Sunday, the rain cleared, but no sun. But we did get to take Meadow swimming. Here's a picture of our water dog. She's really a natural in the water, but she didn't stay in as long as she has in the past. And yes, that's a tennis ball in her mouth.


So thanks Judy and Jean-Jacques! It was great to see you and fun to be together after so long.