After some fun traffic yesterday in Connecticut, the Noah family has returned to big city life. Fun times were had, despite the best efforts by the local bugs. I tell ya, New York mosquitoes will bite you and leave you alone, but those New England deer flies will dive-bomb you, trying desperately to fly into your ears no matter what you do. There were visits with family and friends (thanks for driving up, Uri, and Jess!), fireworks, and a whole of barbequing. We also headed into Boston for a day, and I got the full tour, including getting to see the world famous Boston Pops live and in person (pictured above). The week away did the three of us some good: I got to get some solid relaxation time in on the hammock, Courtney got in some shopping at the outlets in Maine, and Sherlock got to explore a place full of interesting new sniffs.

Actually, Sherlock had a very exciting week. In addition to his usual routine of chasing squirrels, he also got to go after ducks and chipmunks while off in the woods. He celebrated his fifth birthday, when he got a lot of people food, a tasty treat, a fire hydrant toy, and a brand new collar that’s sure to drive all the bitches crazy. And he even finally got over his fear of going for a swim. Sort of… See, previous trips to beaches and pools have always ended the same: Sherlock sniffs around the water, contemplates going in, and then decides against it. On this vacation, I decided he needed a little nudge, figuring that he’d love going for a nice doggie-paddle once he got past his initial fear. The below video shows the results of that experiment. (Before you watch, the stuff on my shoulders that looks like back hair is um, uh, just some dirt on the camera lens.)

Yeah, so he was not too happy with me, but hey, he dried off.