Celebrating with friends in the Albany area (May 27-30)

I usually join former Knoxville, TN teammates for a weekend soccer tournament in Charleston, SC for the Memorial Day holiday.  This year, however, Colin was a groomsman in his good friend's wedding.  Our travels for the long weekend instead brought us to upstate New York for a wedding!

Enjoying the wedding atmosphere!

From late April until mid-May, we unsuccessfully bid for cheap flights on Priceline.com.  We jumped on a (non-Priceline) $149 roundtrip ticket to Providence, RI, hoping the airline would overbook the flight on Friday evening so we could fly directly to Albany on Saturday morning.  Failing that, we'd still get to spend extra time with my family, resulting in a win-win situation.

The addition to our family posed some challenges.  Because we now had a puppy to think about, we gave serious consideration to driving up to New York for the 3-day weekend.  If you've ever driven in long weekend traffic, you probably know that was not tops on our list.

The planets aligned for us that weekend.  The first wonderful thing that happened was our roommate graciously agreeing to watch our little guy all weekend.  The other wonderful thing was that Darwin stayed in his crate all night without any accidents while we were away!  It set the precedent for keeping him in his crate in the living room overnight - which led to more restful nights when we returned!

Our travel plans worked out just fine.  While our flight was delayed 2 hours out of Raleigh, it was not overbooked and we still made it to Providence, RI almost on time.  Nothing like making up the time "in the air."  We also had some smooth riding for the three hour drive from Rhode Island to Albany.  My family was nice enough to drive us to western Massachusetts for the first part of the trip and Colin's parents were nice enough to pick us up and drive us the rest of the way to Albany.  It was also really helpful that Colin's parents let us drive their second car all weekend!!

After freshening up and a quick snack, we were off to the afternoon wedding rehearsal, which was followed by cocktails and a catered meal in the garden of the house of the groom's mom.  The weather complied with a perfect 80 degrees and even felt quite hot in the mid-day sun.  Apparently we brought Raleigh with us, and the airline didn’t charge for extra luggage!  It was great to catch up with Colin's friends, whom we only see a few times a year.  Thankfully, most still live in the Albany area, so it's easy to see them when we visit Colin's family.

The big wedding day arrived on Sunday.  In my typical "fashionably late" way, my late arrival resulted in not getting the best seat in the church.  But I was grateful to sit in the back near the open door when I realized how hot it was in the church!  I would call 80+ degrees in upstate New York in May, "unseasonably warm."  Most people didn't have to worry about overheating though, because the church service was among the quickest I have attended.  I'm sure the groom was grateful, considering how nervous he looked the whole time.

Mr. & Mrs. Paul and Lynn Hoffman

Partying with the Albany crew is almost always a good time.  After a few drinks, most everyone is on the dance floor.

Even Colin gets out there to cut a jib on occasion.  The food and cake were delicious, the conversation enjoyable, the bride and groom looked fantastic. Overall everyone seemed to have a great time.  I would consider it a great success!

A group photo with the Bride and Groom

Friends over 15 years

It was nice to have Monday off as another travel day to get back to Rhode Island to then head back to Raleigh. Colin's friends who live in Boston were able to take us most of the way, which made it easier on my family.  While our time was short in Rhode Island, we enjoyed a nice Memorial Day barbecue.

Coming back to Raleigh was exhausting.  With all the excitement and adrenaline of traveling and a wedding behind us, the lack of sleep hit us when we returned.  Thankfully, the memories of a good time made it all worth it. 

How often do you get to see friends who live far away?
Do you find yourself only getting together for major events, like weddings?

The Millers Experience Big Changes

The month of May brought so many new and exciting changes for the Millers.  On May 1st, we adopted an almost 4 month old Beagador (Beagle/Lab mix).  He is the cutest thing and has brought us so much joy!  From the photo, you can see that he looks like a black lab, but he's howls like a beagle once in awhile.  Some people have said his face resembles a Pitbull when he smiles and is panting.  Colin and I would agree.  His name is "Sir" Charles Darwin, named after the famous naturalist because of his preference for chewing sticks and pine cones over dog-approved toys.  We also thought it was appropriate since Charles Darwin did his research on the USS Beagle.  While the naturalist is not knighted, we expect our Darwin to do great things!

 

"Sir" Charles DARWIN at 4 months

Darwin was a good luck charm from the get-go.  After having him for just 4 days, the offer we made on the house we loved was accepted!  And just a few short days later, our roommate was offered a really amazing job.  We credit the new puppy, but I think it was also a matter of perseverance.  We had made an offer on this same house back in April, but it was rejected.  After a month on the market, the seller's agent was more willing to negotiate.

We spent the month of May taking care of the things that needed to get done.  Our first few weeks as parents were exhausting.  Darwin slept in a crate in our room and every time he would whine or paw at the crate, we'd wake up to take him out to the bathroom.  Needless to say we were exhausted for most of the month.

With a new puppy and working out what we needed to do to close on our house, we didn't spend much time traveling.  It didn't matter though because we had fun exploring all the Triangle had to offer with Darwin.  The first day we had him, we enjoyed a day at Falls Lake Recreation Area, and subsequently took a few hikes in Eno River and Umstead State Parks.  While none of these areas can compare to the Appalachian, Catskill, or Green Mountains, they are all nice and convenient spots to hike.

Thankfully, our puppy has been excellent in the car, the house, and on trails.  He learned a bunch from his roommate Phoenix (the Golden Doodle), and has learned that not all dogs want to play from his other roommate Gadget (the Lhasa Apso).  There were a fair amount of peeing accidents in the apartment the first few weeks, but thankfully he seems to have learned to communicate his need to go with us.

Darwin's favorite spot in the car - resting his head on the center console

Learning valuable lessons from his roommates

 

 Hiking with his best bud, Phoenix

Darwin's stash of his favorite toys - sticks and pine cones

Neither Colin nor I knew much about home buying, so we depended on our real estate agent for most of the process.  Thankfully, she did not lead us astray.  With 5 weeks scheduled from accepting the offer to closing, we were able to do everything necessary to close on time.  We had to get a mortgage (which we had already been discussing with various lenders) and homeowners insurance, and schedule and pay for an appraisal and all the inspections.  We also decided to do a survey.  Surprisingly, the most stressful piece was trying to get our down payment transferred to a local bank so we could get a bank check for closing.

Our new house

 

Colin and Darwin relishing in the moment of buying our first home!

The Millers do not plan to stop traveling now that we have a puppy and a house.  There will likely be challenges to taking Darwin with us, but that will not stop us from going where we want to go.  In addition, while a house affords us an opportunity to enjoy the space where we live, we still very much enjoy "being on the road."  It is certainly true that apartment living, no pets, and no children allowed us to live more spontaneously, but we will continue to seek opportunities to travel with our new situation.  I'm looking forward to some day and weekend trips to local areas and possibly some bigger trips in the late summer and fall!