::dog trails::

I went to let the dog out back the other day, and noticed that he had made some special Sultan trails all around the yard. He really needs them because the snow was pretty deep and our backyard is always in shadow so it never melts. In fact, the snow just freezes into this big ice block.
So he needs his trails in order to get around and see what's going on outside. And to use the facilities of course.

He hasn't hung out much in the back yard since it got really cold. He basically goes out, sniffs around, does his biz and then comes back and waits by the door to be let back in. He's totally a lazy house dog and just sleeps on his puffy bed all day.

The same day I noted his trails, we went to the zoo. I already told you about that, but I didn't tell you about the African Wild Dogs.
They're so weird. I really like them and they kind of creep me out at the same time.

They look kind of scary and hyena like, but at the same time they're really dog like, so it's a weird combination.

I wonder if they would get along with Sul. I don't think I'd risk trying it out honestly, but maybe they'd be good friends.
Anyway their snow trails reminded me of his.

They had trails all around their habitat, just like his, and all they were doing was trotting around following each other around these trails.
It also reminded me of the little sheltie our family used to have, Mickey. She had worn a trail like that in the yard too, but in the grass and dirt, not in the snow. She liked to chase airplanes and was a little bit crazy.

It's kind of weird that we have wildish animals living in our houses when you think about it, isn't it?
Oh, and I've almost forgiven Sultan for tracking a whole bunch of stinky poop into the house on friday. Almost.

::NYC days 6&7::

zoos and food and hanging out....
On day 6 I decided to take Max to the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn. The park is really close to the place we're staying. The problem that I didn't think about is, the park is HUGE. It's like 585 acres or something. (I learned that off of their website of course).
It took Max a good while to get started in the morning. He wanted to hang out and read books and stuff like that. So we did. We left around lunch time. So the first thing we did was walk up to the park and find a place to eat somewhere on the outskirts. We found this cute little italian pizza joint that was just delicious. Unfortunately we couldn't eat our whole pizza. We ordered a "personal" sized pizza. It was by far the biggest personal pizza I've ever seen. A definite steal for $5. We needed Kris there to help us finish it up.

So now, you guessed it, more eating pictures. Hooray!!!

I'm sorry, but I really think Max makes some of the most hilarious faces when he eats. I don't ever notice them until I take pictures and he's frozen in time.



The above photo is my favorite.

You can't really see the pizza because I had to make Max double it over. It was way too gooey and delicious and was getting ALL over him.

After lunch we headed out to try to find the zoo.
Unfortunately for us, the zoo was completely on the other side of the park. Across in the narrow direction, but still all the way across. And the other bummer which I hadn't realized was that there is a lake in the middle of the park, so we couldn't just walk straight across. So we had to walk down and around the lake.
It was hot. We walked. And walked and walked and walked. At one point Max weaseled out of my grip and tried to jump in a really nasty green portion of the lake, but fell in a pile of sticks and rolled ten times instead. It was pretty funny. Served him right.
The rest of the time I just dragged him along by the hand and kept telling him--we're almost there, we're almost there. I didn't realize we really WEREN'T almost there until we finally got there.
I really should've brought the stroller. But, hindsight, as they say, is always 20-20. And we lived to tell the tale, so it couldn't have been that bad, right?
We finally made it to the zoo after lots and lots of sweaty trudging.
It wasn't the most amazing zoo I've ever been to, that's for sure, but it was fun.

It was definitely geared towards little kids. They had a whole "discovery" area that was pretty fun.
Prairie Dog holes of course.

I was cool with him going in every single one until he decided to hide from me in one of the tunnels. He waited to come out just long enough for me to really think he might be lost. Then popped out. Not so funny, huh?

It was so hot that none of the praire dogs would even come out!

They had a spiderweb for the kids to climb on, and lily pads to walk over the water on.
Max thought the dinosaur egg nest was pretty cool.


Being a turtle was probably the highlight of the whole day though. He loved it.



After this he just basically sprinted from exhibit to exhibit, and nothing seemed to hold his interest except the poison dart frogs. I think they're really cool too.
It was like he was a little too overstimulated from the week--the monkeys didn't even hold his interest.

We took the subway home, which took forEVER and then went out and had some dinner with Kris. It was a long hot day, but fun!

Day seven was great. All Max wanted to do was hang out in the apartment. He wanted to read and watch some movies, so we did that basically all day. We walked to McDonald's for lunch--his special request--which was about a mile away.
So we spent all day just hanging out.

Turns out Kris didn't have to stay for friday classes after all and so we left thursday night. It was a fun day, and nice to go home.

I think we'll be going back with Kris for his third week--taking a week off in between. We're enjoying the New York adventures!!