We survived the 4th of July fireworks just fine this year I am happy to say. As with children, if you predict one thing the exact opposite will almost always occur. Surprisingly the fireworks did not upset Harley as much this year. Don’t get it twisted, he didn’t ENJOY them, but he didn’t have that “I need valium” look once the street lights came on either. If Harley is a praying dog I believe the heavens helped out a little because over the weekend we experienced very hot humid days which resulted in evening thunderstorms, so the pyrotechnic light shows were not even close in comparison to last year. Leo, the 76 pound pup (yes, he’s still growing), who has been sighted running from his own shadow – slept through most of it. When there was the occasional loud burst of blazing lights streaming across the sky, he would look up rather annoyed at the disturbance. So all in all it was pretty uneventful. Now let me get to the good part: Saturday we decided to take the boys to National Harbor and walk around like tourist, check out the boats, see the new shops, catch the weekend vendors, you know, have a nice leisure afternoon in the sun, and get some fresh air. Whenever and wherever we take the boys, we have to be well rested, in excellent moods, understand and accept the fact that we are going to be bombarded at every other street corner. We are now conditioned to embrace this as a way of life, so to help – I actually created business cards (yes I did!) with their blog web address so people can learn more about them. Here’s a small “shout out to the couple of dozen new friends that took cards from us on Saturday and logged onto the site over the weekend.”

A new doodle lover – wants to get her very own now

Would you think I was crazy if I told you Harley could read? Okay, I’m pulling your leg now – however, after walking through two city blocks of vendors, Harley stopped and looked at me as if he wanted me to turn around, and when I did, there it was – the mecca of all signs “BEN & JERRY’S”, one of his favorite hot spots, so of course we got some ice cream, and of course he drew a crowd. Amazes me that he never drops any off the spoon (and no, the other spoon in the cup is for LEO not LEE!).

Now to make  you chuckle: Do you remember the old yellow candy coated covered marshmallow chicken with the beady little black eyes that came in your childhood Easter basket?

Well it’s back, taking young parents money by storm. I’m talking about “Peeps”. Now they have stores and seem to be doing quite well selling all sorts of Peeps candy, tee shirts, hats, games, watches, etc… There is now a Peeps store at National Harbor.

While standing on the sidewalk I never saw the yellow chicken come up behind me, neither did Lee or Leo, but Harley was definitely watching, and when that bird walked over and squatted down to pet him, the fat lady started singing and Harley pulled a disappearing act that would have rivaled Houdini and David Copperfield.

Next think we knew, Harley slipped out of his collar, left my husband holding a leash with no dog on the end. I looked around in just enough time to see Harley’s tail vanish into a boutique! The dog pranced right into the store! Naturally I looked at Leo ( who I was holding) and then at Lee as if to say “hey, I’ve got mine, you go get yours.” They took forever to come out… and you wanna know why? Because everyone in the store stopped shopping to pet, hug, and love on Harley! I chased the chicken away, before he came back out, and we slowly started our return to the car.

There was one more jewelry item I just had to see, and as I shopped, I looked to make sure Lee had two dogs on two leashes, and just then I saw this beautiful little girl from out of nowhere walk over and sit down on the sidewalk to pet the dogs and I thought “wow, what a perfect ending to a perfect day.”

So with that we left – plus we were all out of cards…. Sunday and Monday we stayed home. Have a great week everyone – and thanks for reading.