Field Trip Friday: Pets, Mexican, and some trampoline time

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I planned to have big plans for every Friday of the summer. But the best laid plans…

One life lesson I’m trying to teach my son is to go with the flow. It was the primary theme of our camping trip and by the end of the weekend, I think he finally got it.

So when last Friday rolled around, I wasn’t sure how to spend the day. I had been invited by some of the neighborhood moms to meet up with them at 2pm for some jump time at the new trampoline park in town. But needing to be back by 2pm didn’t leave us enough time for an all day adventure.

I considered not telling Evan but knew that social interaction is just as important as Mommy time. So we planned a day that could incorporate jump time and still expose him to a few new things. Namely, homeless cats and dogs.

When we lost my baby girl Emma in March, I didn’t think I’d be ready for another dog for quite some time. Having been a puppy mill survivor saddled with health issues, pet ownership was not the easiest task. But seeing my young dog Roscoe missing her and missing playful interactions in general made me think we needed a new friend in the Nally household.

So I started my obsession quest with finding just the right dog. It would need to come from a shelter, natch, and would preferably be small with no shedding.

We found and visited Tootie. She was a Pekingnese at the local humane society and just the sweetest thing. But she already had two applications for her. We reluctantly applied anyway and were told that Tootie had been adopted already.

When last Friday rolled around, we decided to visit a neighboring county and head out to the Frederick County Animal Control. There were a few dogs that caught our eye online so we knew a trip might be worthwhile.

And then we met Otis.

Isn’t he cute? He was assumed to be part Shih Tzu and part Yorkie. YES PLEASE!

So with all our enthusiasm, we went to the front desk and found out that Otis was being adopted. Good for Otis, sad for us.

As for the field trip side of things, I think it’s an important lesson for Evan to see all the dogs (and cats – we took lots of time visiting the cats) that don’t have homes. They’re not all small and cute but they still need families to love them.

I’m actually really hoping that when Evan is a little bit older, he’ll choose to spend some time volunteering in an animals shelter.

(Incidentally, we have since been back to Frederick and applied for a beautiful young Shih Tzu named Leyda. Although we were the first application, they took four applications because she is considered a puppy and chose what they thought was the best fit. We found out on Wednesday that we were not the first choice. #sad)

After we got over our initial disappointment, we decided that we needed to have a special lunch together so I took Evan to cute and historic downtown Frederick for a little Mexican lunch at a place called La Paz.

I have to admit that I’m loving Evan’s recent desire to try new foods – the spicier, the better. He chowed on what I would call a shredded version of pico de gallo.

He got some cheese enchiladas and I got my fill with the spinach and chicken quesadilla.

We rushed through lunch as we knew we had a 45 minute drive home but took time to view the unique and gorgeous canal that runs through the heart of Frederick, MD.

Then we hightailed it back just in time for Evan to enjoy an hour of trampoline jumping at Stratosphere. I paid for an hour. He jumped for 30 minutes and then sulked. I won’t go into why. But I at least got to spend 30 minutes catching up with the moms in the neighborhood before taking home one very exhausted little boy.

This wasn’t an ordinary field trip day. It was a day of experiences and I hope that Evan will remember the importance of some of them for many years to come.