Category: Travel

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A Quick Trip to Philadelphia

Hi, everyone!  Life has been quite busy around our house.  Mr. Guy and The Lady are both back at work and the animals and I have been at home during the day.  I thought things were going to be calm and quiet for us, but we have been having lots of landscaping done at our house.  The dogs have spent the days watching intently and barking a little, the cat has slept through it all, and I have been trying to stay out of the way.  despite all of this busy-ness, we got to take a short weekend trip to Philadelphia last weekend.

The Lady is part of a group called NOAH, National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation.  Every other year the adults of NOAH get together for a weekend of fun.  NOAH is for people with albinism.  One of the things that that means is most of them have white fur.  Even though I have blue fur and Mr. Guy has no gray fur, they let us go too.  People with albinism also have difficulty seeing so Mr. Guy and I were able to help them find things in this unfamiliar city.

We got to the airport early, but not as early as when we were flying to Salisbury all those times, on Friday morning, September 11.  We sat down to eat a quick breakfast in the airport.


As we were finishing our meal, there was an announcement about a service of remembrance in the airport chapel.  Mr. Guy and The Lady explained to me that fourteen years ago at exactly that time, a terrible thing happened in our country and  lots of people lost their lives.  As I was listening to what had happened, I got very sad.  Mr. Guy held me tightly and we all said a prayer for all the lives lost and changed forever on September 11, 2001.

So that I wouldn’t be quite so sad, Mr. Guy took me to the candy store and bought me a treat to have on the airplane.  I got grapefruit, watermelon, and peach gummy chews.  Yum!


I must have fallen asleep as soon as we got on the airplane, because I don’t remember the flight at all.  I didn’t even eat any of my candy!  When we got to Philadelphia, we met some of The Lady’s NOAH friends in the airport and then we all rode to the hotel together.  While we were in the car, I realized that it has been quite a long time since I have added any new photos to my 100 People Project.  I hoped that while I was in Philadelphia that maybe I would meet a few people who would be willing to support my project.

As usually, Mr. Guy was carrying me when we walked into the hotel.  Several people called out, “Look!  It’s Blueper B!”  I wasn’t sure who any of these people were or how they knew me.  Mr. Guy said that he bet that they read my blog and that’s how they knew who I was.  I felt kind of like a monster star.  I got to talk to people, shake hands with them, and have my picture taken with them!  The first one is with Joni.  She and The Lady are good friends.  They have lots of things in common like this thing they do where they tie string together with two sticks.  Somehow they make the string turn into objects like hats and socks. They call it knitting.  I think it’s some kind of magic trick.  Maybe they could knit me a magic T-shirt.


The NOAH people said that people are fascinated with their white hair and that sometimes people ask if they can touch it…and sometimes they don’t even ask; they just do it.  I don’t think that that is very polite.  Another friend of Mr. Guy and The lady asked if she could give my fur a new style.  Ms. Cindy worked hard to give me a Mohawk.



What do you think of my new fur-do???


I think Mr. Guy might be a little jealous that he can’t have a cool Mohawk like mine.  

Since I let Ms. Cindy practice her hairstyling skills on my fur, she agreed to have her picture taken with me.


Ms Cindy and I had some interesting conversations.  She lives in Canada and invited us to come visit her some time.  That would be fun; I have never been to another country before.  

On Saturday, we went on a walking tour to see some of the historic buildings in Philadelphia.  Well, I went on a carrying tour; everyone else walked.  We had to take a short ride on a train to get to the starting point of the tour.

We saw lots of old buildings that are important to the history of our country.  Since I don’t go to school, I don’t know very much about history, American or an other kind.  We had an entertaining tour guide whose name was Mr. Jim.  He knew lots of things about all of the historical places in Philadelphia.  Though there is much more that I need to learn, he gave me a good start on learning a few things about my country.

We saw Carpenters’ Hall where the First Continental Congress met.


Independence Hall where the U. S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated.

The U. S. Mint.


We saw the Liberty Bell, but only through a window.  The lines to get into all of these buildings were long.  Mr. Guy and The Lady said that we will go back sometime when we can spend longer looking around.

We saw this interesting sculpture.  The Lady was taking pictures of it when Mr. Guy said that she should take a picture of the reflection so that all of us would be in the picture.  I don’t have many pictures with The Lady because she is always behind the camera.  


I am grateful that Mr. Jim was willing to show us his city.  And, that he was willing to be photographed with me!

Even though it was a quick weekend trip, I had lots of fun in Philadelphia.  Mr. Guy and The Lady have some great friends in NOAH.  One of them in particular made me laugh all the time.  Her name is Becca.  She is very silly and lots of fun!  Becca and I ate donuts together and we had our very first Slurpees together.   I think that will make us friends for life! And her blue eyes make my blue fur really stand out! We also had a Philly Cheesesteak together in the airport.  She said that she might come visit us in Texas sometime.  I hope so! 

Thank you everyone for letting me share in the NOAH weekend even though I have blue and orange fur instead of white fur!  You all are lots of fun!!  The Lady just told me that I will get to see you all again next summer in Pittsburgh.  Yay!


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Monster Travels!

 

This is Ms. Megan.  She took care of us while we were at the cabin in Asheville.  I especially like her because she gave The Lady and Mr. Guy laundry soap to wash my shirts (and some of theirs too) so that I would be a clean monster as we travelled home.  I really liked staying at the cabins; there were all kinds of things for little blue and orange furry monsters to do.  Mr. Guy and The Lady seemed very happy there too.

Getting home to Dallas was another story…

We had to check out of our cabin at noon and our airplane did not leave until evening.  We decided to play a few games before we left. 


 The Lady has always liked to play skee ball.  She thought that I might like it too so she showed me how to play.  I liked the orange balls and the game was fun too.  After I practiced a few times, I asked Mr. Guy to play a game with me.


He did pretty well.  Then it was my turn.

I had some beginner’s luck.


I learned about being a good sport.  Even though my number was higher than Mr. Guy’s, he still played well and we both had fun.  And fun is what it is all about!  Next time, Mr. Guy’s number might be bigger than mine.  And that will be OK.  It is just a game.

We both played hard so we needed a little rest before our big travel day.


I sure like cuddling with Mr. Guy.  I’m glad that he did not get mad because my skee ball numbers were bigger than his.  Winning a game is not nearly as important as having someone to nap with in a hammock!  

After our rest, The Lady took one more picture of us before we left the cabins for good.


I hope we get to come back here again!

All of the game playing and picture taking made me hungry.  The Lady said that there was a place in North Carolina that she liked to go when she was in school here.  She told Mr. Guy that it was not the healthiest food, but it would bring back some silly memories for her so he said, “Let’s go.”  So, we went to Hardees for lunch.  The Lady said that she really liked their sausage biscuits, but it was lunchtime when we went so she could not get one.  she said that they also had pretty good hamburgers.

When we walked in the door, I saw this sign.


This was puzzling to a furry monster.  North Carolina is not the southwest. Texas is the southwest.  I like tacos, but I wasn’t so sure about these tacos.  Mr. Guy said you have to be careful about Mexican food when you are not really in the southwest.  We ordered hamburgers.  I decided that I could wait until I get back to Texas to eat tacos.


Even though it was early, after lunch we decided to head to the airport.  That was OK.  I like to sit in airports and watch the people, especially when they stop and talk to me.  We got to the airport and then the real adventure began…

Our first flight from Asheville to Charlotte was delayed by three hours.  That meant we would miss our next flight from Charlotte to Dallas.  Uh oh!  After a lot of pushing buttons on the computer, the airlines lady said that they would just call a driver to take us by van to Charlotte so that we would be there in time to leave for Dallas.  We sat and waited to see if anyone else needed to ride in the van with us.


Then the airplane lady said that they were wrong.  The plane to Charlotte was leaving only one hour late so now we could fly on it rather than ride in the van so she gave us a new ticket.  I felt bad for the van man who came and was waiting there to help people and then we didn’t need him.  Mr. Guy and I told him thank you for his willingness to help us.

After we got our new tickets, we went through the weird place where they make Mr. Guy put me in a bucket and go through the scary tunnel all by myself.  I don’t like that!  They take pictures of me, but they are not like the one’s that The Lady takes.  These pictures make me look black and white instead of blue and orange.  The Lady said that they are looking at my insides.  I don’t know why they are doing that!  I am always so happy when Mr. Guy picks me up at the other end of the tunnel!  Ms. Linda told me that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  So far, she is right!  But the airplane lady was wrong…now our plane was leaving another hour late!  I don’t know how to tell time, but that is not my job.  I think people who make airplane schedules should know how clocks and hours and schedules work!

They told us that we would still get to Charlotte in time to get to the plane home to Dallas.  Our plane left even later because it ran into some birds and they got tangled in the engines.  I did not want to hear anymore about that.  It sounded very yucky to me!  We finally got to Charlotte.  All of the people on the plane with us had to hurry to get to other planes.  We got to ride on one of the funny airport cars.  I didn’t know that they would take us for a ride.  Usually they just honk and nearly run us over!  Even with riding through the airport, we didn’t make it in time to catch our plane.  

Now we had to spend a night in a hotel.  I thought that would be fun, but The Lady said that it would not be because we did not have any PJ’s or clean clothes for the next day.  Uh oh!  Fortunately I had been a neat monster and hadn’t spilled anything on my shirt.  

We finally got to a hotel and went to sleep.  It was very late and I was very tired!  

Ms. Linda read on Facebook that we were going to be in Charlotte all day so she came and got us and we all went to lunch together.  That was fun and I was a happy monster that I got to see her again!  After lunch, she took us back to the airport.  We had a lot of time to sit and watch the people.


Mr. Guy helped me play games on his phone.


We played together so that we didn’t have to worry about each other’s numbers.


Then we watched more people.


And finally it was time to get on the plane and fly home.  I slept in Mr. Guy’s lap the whole way home. 

 I liked Asheville a lot, but I am a little tired of airports.  I have had a great adventure and met lots of really nice people on this trip!  But, I have to say, it is nice to be home in my very own monster bed!
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The Blue Ridge Parkway

I did not get anything written yesterday because we had a big day and I was tired when we got back to our cabin. Now that I am nice and rested,  I want to tell you about my adventure yesterday. The Lady’s friend, Mr. Rusty came to visit. They went to college together at East Carolina University. Blue and orange furry monsters don’t go to school, so I was not sure what college really meant. The Lady said when humans are growing they go to school to learn stuff. I know The Lady and Mr. Guy both still go to school but now they teach school instead of learn stuff. So do Ms. Linda and Ms. Linda’s Guy! Mr. Rusty is a school librarian so he works in a school too!  He takes care of all the books and teaches the children to love those books! Wow, I guess I don’t need to go to school. I have all these teacher people around me to help me learn about all kinds of new things! 

Mr. Rusty said he would take us for a ride to see part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I didn’t know what that was, but since it was called the “Blue” Ridge Parkway, I was sure that I would like it.. He told me that it is a very long road that goes through North Carolina and into another state called Virginia. We were only going to see a little of it. Mr. Rusty promised me that I  would see real mountains! They are the Blue Ridge Mountains. That seemed like a good name to me. I had already seen some mountains from far away, but Mr. Rusty said we would go up into the mountains and maybe I would get to stand on a mountain!

We left in the morning after breakfast. Mr. Rusty drove. He has lived in North Carolina his whole life, so that seemed like a good idea since he probably knew where he was going. We went a little way from our cabin and then got on the parkway. At first there were lots of trees. I have never seen so many trees in one place! Mr. Rusty said as we went further, there would be places along the way where we could look at the mountains as well as the trees.

We drove a little more and then stopped.  Then I saw them! Great big mountains.  


Wow!  I was confused about one thing though.  There were signs everywhere that talked about how many feet the mountains had.  


Mountains have feet??  The Lady explained that these were not feet to walk on, but were a way to tell how tall the mountains are.  She told me that we could figure out how many feet tall I am too, but we need something to measure me.  That will have to wait until we get home to Dallas.

Anyway, the further we went, the more feet the mountains grew.  It is a good thing that they don’t need socks and shoes for all of their feet!  



The mountain with the most number of feet was Mt. Mitchell. It has 6684 feet and is the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River.  We drove as far as we could…


…and then we walked the rest of the way to the very top.  Mr. Rusty and The Lady went all the way to the very top.  Mr. Guy stopped and said he could not make it that far. The Lady and Mr. Rusty took me to the top and took pictures.   Since Mr. Rusty is my new friend,  I figured the picture of us at the summit would be a good picture of him for my project.  


They were headed back down when Mr. Guy suddenly appeared.  

I also had my picture taken with Mr. Guy because, well, I always have my picture taken with Mr. Guy.  


He always carries me and holds me tight.  He makes me feel safe.




After all the walking, we were very hungry.  On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a place for lunch! The folks there were really nice. Greg took our order and brought us our food.  He had a great smile and seemed like such a happy person.  It makes me happy to see happy people.  He wanted to know all about me.  I then asked him if he would have his picture taken with me and become part of my 100 People Project.  He was excited about that!  


The Lady took my picture with him and then his friend Emily came over too.  She also wanted to be in the picture.  


She has a pretty smile too.  Greg and Emily look like they have fun working together and feeding all of the hungry people. So, I added two people to my project at lunch!

After we ate, Mr. Guy took me outside for a different look at the mountains, but all I saw was clouds.  We were sitting in the clouds!!


I also got another new shirt, one from Mt. Mitchell! YAY!!!  I was a very happy blue and orange furry monster.

After lunch we drove some more and saw some more mountains, but they didn’t have as many feet.  





We were headed to Linville Falls.   This is a place where water falls out of the rocks.  We had to hike to the place to see this falling water.  Mr. Guy went part of the way and then he waited while Mr. Rusty and The Lady went to the top of the falls.  It was kind of scary being up so high.  I found out that Mr. Rusty and The Lady were kind of scared up there too!    The Lady carried me and tried to take a picture of me and the falls.  It didn’t work so well.  I was smiling, but she was nervous.


We were all getting tired by the time we left the falls.  We took a different road, a faster one back to our cabin.  Mr. Rusty grilled some steaks for dinner and The Lady made some vegetables.  And then we all went to bed.  Well, I went to bed; I don’t really know what all of the grown-ups did.  I did get to sleep in my new shirt!


That’s all!
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Friends, Roomies, and Crafts(wo)men

So what have I learned lately?  Vacations are fun!  I have been new places, seen new things, and met new people.  All of this has been very exciting for a little blue and orange furry monster!

After our day of painting on Saturday, we had a “cabin day” on Sunday.  We stayed at home and slept a little later, had a relaxed breakfast on the deck, read, colored, played games, went for a walk, and just enjoyed the mountain air.  I thought that I might be a bored little monster, but nope; it was a very peaceful and refreshing day.

Yesterday, The Lady’s college roommate and her husband came to spend the night with us.  The Lady and Ms. Linda have been friends for 36 years.  That is more years than I have monster toes and fingers so it must be a very, very long time!  They had lots to talk about.  Mr. Guy and Ms. Linda’s Guy teach the same stuff to middle school monsters kids, so they had a lot to talk about too.  Ms. Linda had told The Lady that she was excited to meet me.  That made me smile.   The Lady has some really nice friends!

Last night,  Ms. Linda’s Guy went down to the pond to throw a string in the water.  He said that there were critters in the water and that they would bite his string and then he would use the stick that the string was attached to to pull them out of the water.

Ms. Linda’s Guy tried to teach me how to play with the stick and string, but I was not very good at it, so we all just sat and watched while he kept throwing the string in the pond.  I never saw any critters bite it.  That seemed to be okay with him.  We all enjoyed our evening down by the pond.

This morning there was lots of rain and thunder.  We were going to go for a long ride to see the mountains, but plans were changed because of the stormy weather.   We went to the Folk Art Center instead.  I saw lots of things that people made with their hands – furniture, quilts, musical instruments, jewelry, toys, clothing, pottery, all kinds of stuff.  The artists there were very talented.

I met two of the artists, Susan and Debbie.  Debbie makes serigraphs and linoprints.  Her works are very pretty.  Debbie let me hold one of the brushes that she uses for her work.  She also agreed to be part of my 100 People Project.

The Lady and Mr. Guy bought two if her prints.  This one is my favorite because it has lots of blue!

If you would like to see more of Debbie’s beautiful works of art, visit her website.

I also got to talk to Susan.  Susan is a basket weaver.  She had a very cool backpack basket that would have been perfect for Mr. Guy to carry this blue and orange furry monster around, but Mr. Guy and The Lady would not buy it for me.  That made me a little sad, but then I decided that I like it when people carry me in their arms.  Ms. Linda carried me a lot today.  Anyway, Mr. Guy and The Lady decided that they would buy a different basket, but when they went back to get it, it was gone.  Someone else bought it.  The Lady was disappointed, but Susan said that she would make one special for The Lady.  and maybe it could even have some blue in it.  It is very nice of Susan to make a special basket for us.  Once she is done, she will mail it to us in Texas.  A package in the mail!  I like to get packages in the mail.  I promise that I will show you our basket when it gets to Texas.

Susan also had her picture taken with me!

Ms. Linda’s Guy drove us today along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  That was nice of him.  It gave Mr. Guy and The Lady a chance to just look out the windows.  We stopped along the way.  I had to have a picture with Ms. Linda and her Guy.  They may be old friends of The Lady, but they are new friends of me.

I have been a little confused about how to number the people in my project when there are two people in one photo.  The Lady and I have talked about this.  She told me that when people get married, there is something said like “two shall become one.”  It sounds strange to me, but that is what The Lady said and I trust her.  So, I decided that Ms. Linda and her Guy are just one number.  All of this is so confusing for a little monster!  The Lady told me that I just have to trust the process.  I don’t really know what that means, but I said “OK” just to make her feel good.

It was a busy day for me in front of the camera.  Thank you to all of my new friends for helping me with my 100 People Project!

Oh, and Mr. Guy, Ms. Linda, and The Lady worked hard to find me an Asheville T-shirt today while we were out.  It is hard to find orange shirts here so I am getting some new colors.

I am looking forward to more adventures in the next couple of days!

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Blueper B at the Biltmore Estate and 3-5 of My 100 People Project

Today was our first whole day in Asheville.  We all slept a little late.  I guess we were tired from traveling yesterday.  Mr. Guy and The Lady planned for us all to go to the Biltmore Estate.  It is a great big place and we had to park and walk a little way!  



As we walked from the parking lot, well I didn’t walk, Mr. Guy told me all about this place. A long time ago, a man named Vanderbilt made a lot of money. He wanted a big house, like a palace. So he had this house built. He took the last part of his name and attached the word “more”. Maybe because he “built more house” than anyone. Mr. Guy said Biltmore is the largest house in the whole country. 


When I saw the house for the first time, it looked like a whole city to me!  I have never seen a house that big.  A little blue and orange furry monster could get lost in the place.  It was pretty, but also a little scary.


The reason it looks like a whole city is because there are lots of rooms and shops and restaurants in that building.  When Mr. Guy told me that there were shops, I got excited because I might get a new shirt.  The Lady and Mr. Guy said that we could go look for a shirt before we did anything else.  Yay!  We went into a shop that had lots of shirts for big monsters and people, but the worker said that they didn’t have any small enough for me.  That made me sad.  The Lady said that we could go look in another shop, a toy shop.  Surely a toy shop will have a little shirt for me because toys are for little people.  Nope.  They didn’t have one either.  I was now one really sad little monster.  But, I did have to smile when I saw some of my “family” at the toy shop.


When I saw them, I decided that it was silly for me to be sad.  True, I did not find a new shirt, but I have Mr. Guy and The Lady to take me places and love me, these guys just hung out in the toy shop all day.  I remember what that felt like.  Not good.  So, I became a happy monster again.

It was then time for us to go inside this great big house.  I was still not so sure about it, especially with things like this on the outside!


We talked and became friends.

The Lady had to put her camera away because they do not allow people to take pictures in this place. Oh well..we walked all around, up and down stairs from the basement to the third floor.  I’m glad Mr. Guy was carrying me, because now I know I would have gotten lost.  The rooms were big.  The ceilings were tall, the windows were huge, and the furniture was big.  I felt as tiny as ant in there.  This house was obviously not meant as a home for little blue and orange furry monsters, but it was kind of fun to look around.

Because the people didn’t let us take our own pictures inside, they had a picture taking person of their own who took our picture.  I thought that was very nice of them.  The Lady told me that we would have to buy their picture.  That didn’t seem right.  Th Lady always takes my picture and most of the time she makes me look handsome.  Why couldn’t she take my picture?  Mr. Guy tried to explain something to me about captive audience and consumerism.  I didn’t understand.  All I know is that they gave us a card and told us we could look at our picture at the end.

I liked the picture that they took because The Lady was in it with Mr. Guy and Me.  She is never in the pictures because she always takes them.  I told Mr. Guy that I wanted this picture of the three of us, so he bought it.  Tomorrow we will get it into my blog. 

There were two girls who took his money.  They were very friendly and asked all about me.  Because they were so nice, I asked if they wanted to be part of my Hundred People Project.  They said yes!  I guess because Mr. Guy bought their picture they thought it would be fun to be in our picture.


I am happy that people are helping me with my Hundred People Project.  I just want to show the world that there are nice people everywhere!

We ate lunch at a restaurant here.  It was yummy!  Ribs, pulled pork, chicken, collard greens, polenta, cole slaw, and pickles.  We were all too full to have dessert, so after lunch we went to the confectionery.  The Lady told me that “confectionery” is just a fancy name for candy shop.  The houses and the words are big here!  I have never seen so much candy!


We each got a little treat to have when we got home.  The lady who worked at the confectionery (I like saying that word!) was friendly too.  We talked to her for a long time and found out that she had lived in Texas!  She told us that she bought her wedding dress in Dallas, where we live.  The world is not such a big place after all.  I’m not sure that I can say the same thing about this house, though.  Her name was Amy and she was more than happy to have a picture taken with me!


Look at her smile!  She made me laugh really hard.  I sure like meeting all of these nice people!

Oh, and I finally got to see the mountains.  I like them because they are blue like me.


Mr. Guy said that if we see that at sunrise or sunset they might look blue and orange, even more like me!

I had a good day.  I hope that you did too!  Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses…or in a pinch, the petunias!  Speaking of stops we made another stop on the way back. There was one more shop, (there are lots of shops here). A nice lady in there helped find a shirt for me at another shop! They are keeping it for us until tomorrow.


Tomorrow we are going back to the Biltmore to see the gardens, where they have roses, petunias, and lots more flowers.  And, we will get my new shirt! So watch for Part 2 of my trip to the Biltmore tomorrow!

Until then…

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Adventure to Asheville!

We are going on a vacation!  Mr Guy explained to me that a vacation is a trip where you don’t have to do any work.  That is what makes this trip different from all the times that we went to Delaware.  This is also a special trip because The Lady and Mr. Guy are celebrating their anniversary.   I had to ask what that meant. They told me it is the date they were married 5 years ago, a long time before I came along. 

We are going to a place called Asheville.  The Lady told me that I will get to see mountains there.  I don’t know what mountains are because she said that there aren’t any near us in Dallas.  She told me that I will just have to wait and be surprised by what they look like.  We get to go on an airplane to get to Asheville!  I like planes. The people on them are always friendly.  I like looking out the window.  We will stop in Charlotte before we get to Asheville.  I have been there before.  

The Lady and Mr Guy said we will be able to work on my 100 People Project while we are on our vacation. I hope to get to meet lots of people. Mr Guy even made a special card for me to give to people if they have a picture with me! 


It tells them where to look for their picture and read about my adventures.  And, the card thanks them for letting us include them in my project  


I think we should always thank people who do nice things. 

To get ready we had to pack lots of things. Well, The Lady and Mr Guy packed lots of things.  They have big bags full of stuff. I am only a little blue and orange monster and I do not need to take much.I looked through my clothes and picked a shirt to wear on the airplane.  



The Lady said that I would get a new shirt, maybe two, in Asheville so I don’t need to take too many with me.  Mr Guy said I needed to take my fancy vest, that weird shirt with no sleeves, and a tie, whatever that is. 


He won’t tell me why I need these strange things. It’s a surprise he said.  It all makes me a little nervous, but I trust him. Oh, I also had to pack my fur brush so that I look like a neat monster.

So I am all ready to go. And I am excited!!!

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Friends, Dirt, and Chocolate Chips

Things have been very busy with my family lately.  Mister Guy and The Lady have made many trips to Delaware because a sad thing happened; The Captain, The Lady’s father died in October.  I was glad that I got to meet him.  He liked me though I think he thought it a little silly that Mister Guy and the Lady took me lots of places with them.   

I have not been able to come on all of the trips.  I understood.  I stayed in Texas with Offspring No. 1 and the other furry members of my family.  I missed Mister Guy and The Lady when they were gone, but I knew that they had lots to do and didn’t have time to pay a lot of attention to a furry blue and orange monster.

I am happy that I got to come with them this week for Thanksgiving.  The Lady and Mister Guy had some business stuff to take care of, but they also had time for some fun things.  I was excited when they told me that we were going to take a trip to Dover and I was going to get to meet Ms. Michele and Ms. Peggy.  I wrote about them earlier.  They are The Lady’s picture-taking friends.  Ms. Michele is my friend too.  She sent me a special package in the mail.  I have wanted to meet her in person for a long time!

Dover is the capital of Delaware so there are lots of important buildings there.  We met them at the library.  (Offspring No. 1 told me that the library is the most important building in any city.  I don’t know if I believe her.  I think maybe she just says that because she is a librarian.)  I didn’t care where we met; I just wanted to meet them.  And I did!  Ms. Michele and Ms. Peggy recognized me.  I felt so important.  They weren’t even embarrassed to walk around the state capital with me.  

We saw lots of old buildings and a nice lady walked around with us and told us about lots of stories about the early history of Delaware.  I learned a lot about the state from which I come.

We all had lunch together, walked around a little more to see the governor’s house, and then we went to have some dessert.  The picture takers were supposed to photograph dessert that day so they were all excited about pie and cookies and scones.

The only bad part of the whole day was that something was wrong with The Lady’s camera that day and none of her pictures came out.  She said that they were all fuzzy like me, but not blue and orange.  It makes me sad to not have any pictures from my day in Dover, but I have lots of happy memories.  Mister Guy and The Lady said that they will take me to see Ms. Michele and Ms. Peggy again and The Lady will do a better job with her camera.   

Fortunately, Ms. Michele sent The Lady a couple pictures from our day.  


The other thing that Ms. Michele did was bring me a new T-shirt!!!  She read my post about going to the playground and brought me a special playground shirt.  I love my new shirt!!!!  And, I am so happy that The Lady and Ms. Michele are friends because that makes it possible for Ms. Michele to be my friend too!


I haven’t had a chance to go to the playground in Lewes yet because yesterday it was cold and rainy and yucky.  I stayed inside where it was warm.  The rain makes my fur feel funny and I don’t have a raincoat.  

I did get to play in the yard today.  


There is a little building in the back yard that The Lady said used to be her playhouse.  She would play inside it when she was here visiting her grandparents.  


There isn’t much in there now, but I bet it was fun when she had toys in there. 

I discovered something new to play with – leaves!  We don’t have a lot of leaves in our yard in Texas, but here you can rake them into a big pile and jump and hide and play in them.  


It was so much fun!  And, I wore my special dirt shirt so The Lady couldn’t get mad at me for getting my shirt dirty.  It hides all the dirt!



It was still a little cold outside so we didn’t stay outside too long.  Plus, The Lady needed to go inside and make something called pie to take to The Aunt’s house for the Thanksgiving meal.  The Lady told me that most people have pumpkin pie with their Thanksgiving meal.  That sounded like a good idea to me because pumpkins are orange and I like anything that is orange.  Then she said that she wasn’t making pumpkin pie.  That made me a little sad until she said that The Cousin was making pumpkin pie so she was going to make a different kind, pecan chocolate chip.  That sounded interesting, but not orange.  I asked if I could help and the Lady said yes.  She told me that I could measure out the chocolate chips.  I have never had chocolate chips before so I didn’t know if I would like to measure them or eat them.  



Chocolate chips are kind of funny looking.  They look more like drips than chips to me and they are not the right color for food.  I decided to brave and try one anyway.  Much to my surprise, they tasted pretty good.  I tried another one.  And another one.  As I held them in my furry paws, the chocolate chips went from chips, to drips, to…mush.  I had a mess on my paws.  I looked for something to wipe them on.  Then I noticed…my dirt shirt was also chocolate colored!  I could wipe my paws on my shirt and The Lady wouldn’t even notice.  I found a perfect solution to my chocolate covered paw problem!


The Lady let me help her take the pie out of the oven.  


I have not had any yet because I was too full after eating my dinner.  I liked the sweet potatoes best because they were orange, but the turkey, dressing, green beans, and dumplings were really good too.  I will try a piece of pie tomorrow.

This week I have learned what it means to be thankful.  I am thankful for The Lady and Mister Guy, for my friends Ms. Michele and Ms. Peggy, and for my extended family.  I missed being in Texas with Offspring No. 1 and Offspring No. 2, but I will get to spend Christmas with them.  

I am one lucky furry blue and orange monster.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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To Philadelphia and Beyond

So today was adventure day.  We got up early so that I could pack all of my T-shirts.  Well, the Lady packed them in her camera bag.  She said she is going to have to get a new camera bag for all of my shirts.  I think that is just her excuse to get a new bag.

I slept in the car on the way to the airport.  There wasn’t much to see but corn fields, a chicken processing plant, and a few old buildings.  I wanted to be wide awake when it came time for the ride on the airplane.

The one thing I don’t like about airports is going through security.  That is scary for a little blue and orange monster because they won’t let Mister Guy or the Lady carry me.  I have to go through the scanner tunnel.  Today was different.  The TSA people in Salisbury were the nicest agents I have ever met.  They smiled and talked to me.  They knew I was scared so they made sure I was nice and safe in my bin.  


See…I told you they were super nice.


When it was time to board the plane, Mister Guy carried me.  I was still a little tired.  



Sometimes I wonder what people think when they see him carrying me around.  I don’t warn people to laugh at him or make fun of him. Mister Guy told me not to worry about that.  People can say whatever they want.  It won’t change how he feels about me.



On the little plane from Salisbury to Philadelphia, we sat in the Exit row.  The airplane lady said that that was a very important place to be seated because we might have to help in an emergency.  She asked each of us if we were willing to perform such duties.  I said, “Yes!” And offered to show her that I could pull the levers and through the window out.  


She assured me that that was not necessary. So, I just looked out the window.


We had a long wait in Philadelphia before our flight to Dallas so we had lunch.  Then I asked the question.  “Can I have a new T-shirt?”  The Mister a guy wasn’t sure because I didn’t really visit Philadelphia; the airport didn’t really count, but the Lady said she thought getting a shirt would be OK.  I stayed with Mister Guy and the bags because I could not be left unattended.  The voice in the airport sky said that.  The Lady got me a special T-shirt.



While we were in Delaware, Mister Guy and the Captain, the Lady’s dad, watched a lot of something that they called baseball. That explains the special shirt I  got. The Captain is a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies. I could tell by the way The Captain and Mister Guy talked, that the Phillies are not too good at this baseball, but sometimes they seemed to do it right.  Last night they had to play a really long time to beat another team called the Youstin Astros, or something like that.  The Astros live in Texas, but I like the Captain’s team best because I got to watch the Phillies with him.



When it was time for us to leave Philadelphia, the plane had too many people on it so we had to wait for the next one.  Mister Guy said that was OK because we got to fly first class.  I didn’t know what that meant.  He said that I would have my own place to sit and we would get food.  That sounded good to me.  It also meant that we would get home to Dallas very late, way past a little blue and orange monster’s bedtime.

Because I was so excited to tell the story of my airplane adventures, Mister Guy and the Lady helped me write this post on the airplane. 



 I kept getting distracted because I wanted to look out the window at all the pretty clouds.  



When it got dark, I finished writing and now am going to go to sleep in Mister’s lap.  Goodnight!


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And Now Ships…

Yesterday the weather was cloudy, but there wasn’t any rain. So the Lady and Mister Guy took me out with them. We went to the Cape Henlopen State Park.  The first thing I saw was this sign.


Were they talking about me?  Am I a pet?  I wasn’t so sure I liked this place.  The Mister Guy assured me that I was not a pet; he said that I was family.  That made me feel good. 


The Lady wanted to get pictures of something called a lighthouse. At first I wondered if this was the opposite of a heavy house. When we got there and I saw it. I must be right! The house was in the middle of the water so must be light to float, right? 



It sure looked tall…and it was round! Did someone live there?
The Lady and Mister Guy explained that it was really a big tower with a light on top to help big ships find their way through the breakwaters without hitting the land. Someone might live on the bottom of the lighthouse to make sure the light went on at the right time. And, it is so tall so the light shines a long way!  I think that’s cool.
We got to see the beach too. I had already been to a beach. But there were not any belly dancers at this one! I took a second to sit on this bench. It is nice that someone put the bench here to help remember another person.  It is so peaceful here.  I bet the people who donated this bench come here where it is quiet and beautiful and think about the person they love and miss.
Then we went to the park shop and I got another shirt! Yay!  I love new shirts from the places I’ve been! This one is blue. Not MY blue, but blue. We went out to the woods and took some pictures.



 I got to play in a tree. 



Mister Guy showed me a pine cone and explained how the tree I was playing in came from a pine cone just like the one I was holding. 



It made me wonder if blue furry monsters come from blue fur tree cones.  The Mister Guy explained that I had my “I’s” and “you’s” mixed up…something about fir and fur confused.  He talked about phoning home or home phones…I didn’t quite catch it all.  That was too much for a furry blue and orange monster to think about on a Sunday afternoon in the park.
After that we saw another tower. This one was not a lighthouse. It was big and heavy and we could walk right up to it. 



We could even climb up inside it, up to the tippy top. Mr Guy read that there were a bunch of these towers in Delaware. They were built to let people watch out for the enemy in a war. He said it was called World War II. I asked what war was and he said it was when people got so mad that they started killing each other. He said that there have been two times that so many people were mad at each other that almost the whole world was fighting. These times are called World Wars.  There had been many smaller wars. In fact people are fighting each other right now in places far away.
That sounds bad to me, even if it is far away. Blue and orange furry monsters like everyone.   I then got scared and asked if people here could start killing each other. The Lady said sometimes they do. I did not like hearing that.
To take my mind of or fighting, we decided to climb up the tower.  I could see a long way. 



I understood how this tower was used. I was glad to hear it help keep fighting from happening here, but the idea of people killing each other still made me sad. Then I looked down I saw this message and it made me happy.  



There must be some people who are not angry.

We climbed back down…well, actually the Mister guy carried me all the way up and all the way down. 



Then we went to a place on the water that was not a beach. There was a place for ships to stop. It’s called a dock. And wow!  What a ship was docked there!  It was a cool looking ship with an anchor and port holes, and ladders…a ran right to it!


The Mister Guy smiled at me and then told me to turn around and look the other direction.

OH WOW!  This ship was much cooler.  It had a bigger anchor, more port holes, longer ladders, and great big sails!




I was told that this ship is a copy of a ship that existed a long time ago, one that brought people from far away to Delaware. But, they did not call it Delaware back then. Those people wanted to get somewhere they could live happily ever after…just like me.  I liked hearing that last part of the story. 

So, I had a very good day! It was fun, a little sad, but good over all.

And I got a new shirt!


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Back In Lewes

We are back in Delaware, where I met my people. I haven’t been out and about much this trip, but that is okay.: it is nice to just stay at the house where it is not too hot and where it is pretty quiet except when there are surprise parties, but that is another story! 
Yesterday Mister Guy and the Lady went to a place called Fort Delaware. The Lady had some picture taking friends that met them there. I was disappointed that I did not get to go because I heard one of them, named Michele, asked about me. I like meeting new people and thought it was not nice of the Mister Guy and Lady to leave me behind. 
But when they came home, they were all wet! While they were on Pea Patch Island, it rained a whole bunch and they were caught out in it without any kind of jackets to keep their fur dry. Mister Guy even showed me a picture from the boat that showed all the rain at the Fort.

Getting all wet would not be good for my fur. So I guess the adult people, Mister Guy and the Lady, were right not to take me.  Sometimes it makes me upset when the adult people are right. But, yesterday would not have been a good day for a blue furry monster like me to have been out and about in the rain.  You wouldn’t believe what my fur looks like when it is soggy…not a pretty sight!