Lifegroup Camping

Here are a few pictures from the camping trip Toby and I went on over Easter weekend with some of the people in my lifegroup.  Group shot at the end of our trip (everyone gets a plate "award".  Mine was the "bring your dog to camp" award and Toby's was the "who needs water shoes?" award, if you were wondering).

We went to Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas (about 4.5 hours drive).  The weather was beautiful until Sunday morning, when it poured.  But overall, the trip was great.  There are some really nice hiking trails.  Toby absolutely loved being outside so much, especially when he didn't have to be on the leash.  He was very good about keeping track of where "mom" was, but he also wanted to be in the lead, so he got twice as much exercise as the rest of us going back and forth.  He was worn out by the end of our day hike on Saturday, but dog happy.
We had a few water crossings on our hike.  The water was cold too.  But we were prepared with water shoes, and it didn't seem to faze Toby any.
 A couple of pictures of my and my bud.  I took the second one when we were laying on a rock, which is why the angle is weird.

Chicago Bound

I see another month has gone by, so time for an update to the blog.  Earlier this month, I flew up to Chicago to visit my cousin Megan, who works at the Marriott downtown.

I had a really good time catching up with her and seeing some more of the sights in the Windy City.  We went to the zoo, the Chicago History Museum, and saw the broadway show Jersey Boys, which was really good.  We ate lots of delicious food, too, so it's good we did a lot of walking! 
Her cat loved my suitcase.  She was pretty much camped out there the whole weekend, unless it was time to eat.  Then she was camped out in front of her automatic feeder waiting for it to dispense some food.  Can you tell she likes to eat?  

Megan lives in a studio apartment (very small but she has done a great job organizing/decorating it) and this is a picture looking out her window at Lake Michigan. 


I've been to Chicago a few times before, but I had never made it to "the Bean".  It is a kidney bean-shaped, reflective statue (actually called Cloud Gate) in Millenium Park.  Of course it was raining the day we went there, so I was trying to snap pictures quick, and none turned out all that great.  It was also VERY cold most of the time I was there.  It even snowed one night.  I had fun, but I was happy to come back to the warmth of Dallas.