green lakes state park.

We have been having beautiful, warm weather here in upstate New York, which is very unusual - it has typically snowed at least once by Halloween. When I was younger, almost all of my costumes had to be modified to include some type of long underwear or thermal layer since the temperatures were hovering around or under freezing. Strangely, this past week it has been in the 70s - although I'm not complaining!

Last Saturday, it was perfect weather to go to one of my favorite state parks: Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville, New York.

brown's settlement cemetery.

I really enjoy finding interesting cemeteries to walk around in and look at the gravestones. I truly appreciate both the beauty of the stones and the history and meaning behind them, as well. There are quite a few in the area where I live and most of them have old stones because the cities and towns around here were settled a long time ago. I typically go with my mom, who also likes to visit them, and we are always on the lookout for unique stones, monuments, really old plots, or things we haven't seen before. This beautiful cemetery held wonderful surprises for us!

Brown's Settlement Cemetery was established in 1795 and contains approximately 238 stones. It was named after John Brown, whose farm land was set aside to use for the cemetery. Many of the stones' writing has been worn off, but this is a very well maintained cemetery. Although it has quite a few stones, it is a fairly small area of land and is under trees on a quiet back road. Chris and I discovered it while driving around one day, and I went back with my mom a few weeks later to show her and get a closer look at it.

trip to ocean city.

A little over a month ago, my boyfriend and I decided to take a vacation to Ocean City, Maryland.  We had both been there before and enjoyed it, and it's a short drive from where we live in New York, so the trip isn't too hard on my body.  Our one dog, Zoe, spent the week at a local doggy daycare/boarding facility, but our other dog, Hendrix, isn't always very good with other dogs and had never been to the beach before, so we decided to bring him with us.

Despite cooler weather and a few days with bad bladder flares, we had a pretty nice time.  It's always more difficult traveling now that I am sick, but I just make sure to plan ahead to ensure a seamless trip.  There are a few tips I have learned along the way that make traveling and vacationing a lot easier on me and the whole crew and make for a much happier, less "flared up" trip, and I thought I would share those with you!

the beginning of our adventure.

a weekend on the water.

this past weekend, i was finally feeling good after being cooped up in the house all week with the aftermath of my terrible eye test!  as you all have probably figured out by now, i love being outdoors, so having to spend the week inside with all the windows covered and my sunglasses on to block out any light was torture.  all i wanted to do was frolic in the beautiful sunshine, so that's exactly what i did all weekend long!  :)

a day at the dog park.

i was feeling pretty good when i woke up this morning, and it was beautiful weather outside!  the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky and it was almost 60 -- a delight for new york in april.  so my boyfriend and i decided to take the dogs over to the dog park and hang out for a while.

i have had zoe (my min pin/pug mix) since she was a baby, so she is very well socialized and has a friendly temperament.  she gets along with every human and dog she comes across and is especially fond of babies and small humans (maybe because they are more her size).  she rarely if ever barks at people or dogs, and i don't ever have to worry about having a problem with her at the dog park.  i let her loose in the small dog area -- though she would prefer to be in with the big dogs, because she is convinced she is the size of a labrador! -- and off she goes, running up to everyone to say hi, and running in circles around the penned area.  she is going to be six this year, but you would never guess it by seeing her at the park.  she runs at full speed around and around and around, towards you and then zooming away at the last minute, only to come up behind you and flop down on her back, panting and begging for a belly rub.  she's so adorable and is exhausted by the time we leave.

our other dog, hendrix (the jack russell), is not the same at all.  we adopted him two years ago from a local rescue and he was abused before we got him.  we think he was about two years old when we got him, making him around four, and he isn't your typical jack russell.  he does have the hyperactivity at times and he definitely has the tracking/chasing skills, but for the most part he is a pretty chill, happy-go-lucky little guy.  he blended extremely well with our family and we had no issues with the two dogs bonding.  it was like they had been together all along, and now they are inseparable.  however, we don't know the exact circumstances surrounding his abuse, but because of the way he acts around certain things, we have been able to guess that he was left confined in small spaces for extended amounts of time and that he was allowed to be bullied by other, larger dogs.  because of that, he is pretty scared of other dogs.  he started out being really scared of other people too, but we worked with him and were able to break him of that pretty quickly, and he will now go up to almost anybody with his tail wagging, and lick their hand and say hi without much prompting.  but, we still can't get him to like other dogs that much, no matter what we do.  we take him to the dog park as often as we can tolerate, but we know that it's stressful for him because he gets so upset, and it's not really fair for other people who take their dogs there that do play nice, so it's a difficult situation.  either way, he loves the hiking time afterwards so it ends up being a win-win for zoe to play with the other dogs and for hendrix to enjoy the long hikes and things to sniff afterwards.

we went on some new trails this time and i found some cool things to photograph.  we didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked, and i can't wait to go back the next time the weather is nice again.

i hope you all had a great weekend too!