On Saturday October 17th 2009 I took you to the Parque de Atracciones in Casa De Campo on the western edge of town. After a long ride on the metro we stopped in for some mediocre Chinese food and then hit the park.
I have more photos which I will post later but for now I just want to post my candidate for movie of the year. Your first “Free Fall”.
As you rode up it was clear to me that you didn’t quite grasp, while watching from the ground, what you had signed up for…on the initial drop I could see signs of the whole thing going very wrong very quickly but you quickly found your feet, so to speak, and had a blast…so much so that on the way out it wouldn’t do but you had to ride it one more time (luckily for me, we made it on line just before they shut it down!).
(The whole thing is great but my favorite bits are the little wave before you got going and your “bravery” at the very end).
After 2 years talking about it and 3 months actively looking we have finally gotten you a dog to call your own. Her name, for now, is Gidget and she is, according to the shelter, a 14 month old Pit/Pointer mix. She came to live with us yesterday, Monday March 30th, and so far so good. Your preferred name for her so far has been Butter Bean but your mom isn’t so sure that it fits so there is no consensus as yet.
While she is very much a puppy she is mostly housebroken and doesn’t seem to be to scarred from the 4 months she spent in the shelter. She was picked up by Bridgeport Animal control in December and from there, thankfully, made her way to paws here in Norwalk.
You two have made fast friends and she has been, so far, very conscientious or how small you are and hasn’t pounced you, though I wish the same could be said of your mom and I. As your mom tells me that this afternoon you two spent the day playing fetch and you, of course, were beside yourself with joy.
While we are only 2 days into getting to know our new friend, we all agree that we seem to have made a good choice.
Alright kid, first of all you have been a bear for the past month (since the day you turned 3 actually), completely un-cooperative, refusing to sleep, and temper tantrums galore.
Today, however, you were back to your old self full of cheer and ready rock-n-roll when I got home. As is the the habit of late, I had to assume the role of pooh bear as soon as I got home and, apparently, you were Eeyore. Made clear by your crawling around on the floor while complaining, with the proper amount of melancholy in your voice, about the impending rain.
Eventually we made our way over to your blocks and after building your castle 4 blocks tall you declared, with much enthusiasm, it to be “normous”, it doesn’t sound as cute in print as it did in person but I promise you it was quite cute. In fact I coaxed you into repeating several times to my own delight.
It was about this time that you decided you were the “Bad Wolf” and immediately knocked over the tower.
So last weekend, Lilah, we went back to the Madrid Zoo to catch the Dolphin show and…well that was about it. As expected you enjoyed the show quite a bit, so much so, in fact, that we caught both the early and late show. Since there is nothing like the artists death to reignite the fanbase, Micheal Jackson provided the soundtrack for the event. You and mom also got your picture taken with a dolphin to go with your pictures of the seal and Sea Lions.
Before we left you also rode your first carousel which you enjoyed very much after having your fill of slushy and ice cream treats.
Other than revisiting the Monkey’s and Elephants we didn’t really tread new ground. Although you did manage build up your courage to let the Flamingos eat from your hand! You were tickled.
This Sunday marks our second outing into the Sierra de Guadarrama range which separates Madrid from Segovia. This time we went to the Parque Natural de Peñalara for a relatively easy hike to the Peñalara Laguna Grande. Which is a rather small glacial lake located ~2K meters above sea level. Other than the first 15 minutes, which were pretty steep, the hike was quite easy (as noted by the number of grandmothers we passed) unfortunately being a nature preserve there was no swimming allowed, in fact a cable barrier kept you from getting any closer than a 100m to the lake (rather pond) itself.
Though that hardly bothered you, as your main focus on the day was in climbing rocks! And in that there was no stopping you (at least not without the threat of tears). As typical you were a bit apprehensive at first but by the time we were leaving you would get to the top, of even the smallest rock, and demand that we take your picture.
Your second focus on the day was pointing out the cow poop along the trail, of which there was no shortage as the park is apparently home to herds of free roaming cattle. Thankfully your mom was able to find us a suitable picnic spot amongst the rocks and cow poop while you and I took our sweet time (thanks to the rock climbing) covering the last 300 meters or so.
This setting also, finally, provided you with a chance to get in some good “echos”, of which you have been entranced with ever since the first reading of “Little Beaver and the Echo“. And despite the large number of other people enjoying the day by the lake we couldn’t help but allow you to get in some good “ECHO!!”s, though we did manage to get you to only do 2 or 3 at a time and put some time in between each set.
After a couple of hours we made our way back down the mountain, slowed only by your unsurprising desire to go bouldering. At one point you just sat down and randomly started making faces, starting off with both forefingers stretching the corners of your mouth, then a few “blow-fish” looks, then just as quickly on your way again. Your mom wasn’t quick enough to get the former but she got a good one of the latter.
Towards the bottom of the trail we found a mountain spring where you happily washed your face and hand with the cold water and helped mommy to refill our water bottle.
Today, Lilah, we made our way out to Parque Regional Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Which is about a 30 minute drive just north east of Madrid, where you participated on your official first hike. The weather was perfect, a nice breeze and enough clouds to keep the temperature bearable.
The park was free to enter and a lovely drive up to the trail head. You probably walked a good 40% of the time all on your own, mostly the flat and downhill portions, the rest of the time you were either on my back (the way up) or your Mom’s back (the way down) talking about any and everything that popped into your little head. As is your habit of late, you were most concerned with what any and everything was saying (what’s that Rock saying daddy? What’s the ground saying mommy?) as well as hunting down your echo, luckily we eventually found her towards the end of the trail, not so sure the rest of the park was equally pleased with your discovery, and certainly not with the hunt.
You found and commandeered a hiking stick about 5 minutes after being let out of the backpack which stayed with you through the end of the day (actually it might still be in the Premacy) along with the requisite bird feather. Around the halfway point we stopped for some oranges, apples, and sesame seed treats. A wrong turn kept us from making it to the summit, but that should provide enough of an excuse for us to go back (along with the swimming hole).
As we neared the end of the hike you pointed out that you had dropped your hat….about 500 yards UP the trail, I guess it could have been worse…. One guess who had the pleasure to back and retrieve it….
And of course no hike is complete without a stop by a cold mountain stream to cool off and relax, and today was no exception. You were not to keen on the whole idea at first but eventually you warmed up to the idea as you can see in the pictures below.
On our way out of the park we stopped by the village below for a bite to eat and a look at the local castle as well, needless to say your were OUT like a light by the time we got home (well after your first roadside poop).
