Riley's Time

Time's been flying by, and most of it has been spent on Riley. He is now in agility class and is doing great, thanks in large part to the help from our neighbor Tom and his dog. We missed the first class, but Riley has caught up quickly. He has now been through all the obstacles and likes them all. He was hesitant for a few of the obstacles but after going through them once, he now loves them. We go once a week and are learning as much as Riley. Agility school requires a lot of direction from the handlers, and we're learning how best to direct Riley as he goes through the obstacle course. Kevin worked out a deal with the instructor- he takes pictures for her website and also offers picture packages for those students going through the classes. In exchange she gave us a class for free. Kevin has decided to start his own photography business because of all the attention he's getting. He received another request for one of his photos for a brochure produced by the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon. He's hoping to have a small photography business on the side called KM Photography. Hopefully he'll get things going soon. He's also been asked to act in a local commercial directed by a coworker. Kevin may end up as the next movie star!

Riley also went swimming for the first time with his second family (the Young's and their dogs). We hoped Riley would learn how to swim by following after Kelsey and Molly (it was also nice to have a police escort through the Notre Dame security gates). Riley jumped right in at first, then freaked out a bit and tried to get out of the water by leaping up and down. Eventually he wanted to play with Kelsey and Molly more than his fear of the water and jumped in. He never stayed in long, but he did swim for a minute. I think the next time we go he'll jump right in.

We also had visitors last Thursday-Friday. Our friends the Behling's stayed with us overnight while Garrett had some work here in South Bend. They brought their four month old Jack Russel terrier named Anya. Anya weighs eight pounds and Riley weighs around eighty. Despite that, they played great together. It was fun watching how careful Riley was with Anya.

Kevin finally has Sundays off. Last Sunday we spent our first whole day together since the first of the year. It makes the day last a lot longer and it's more relaxing. Plus he can help with Riley and the house. He can now go to our ward too.

Also, congratulations to the Janetski's on the birth of their baby boy Jonah Dean. He was born on my birthday! He's a cute little guy, although a bit colicky. It'll be fun watching him grow while we're here in South Bend.

Not much else is going on around here. I'm really tired of school work, but fall break is next week. I'm really boring compared to Kevin and Riley. Oh, well. My boys are keeping me busy enough!