Over the weekend my sister Leslie and my niece Athena visited. We did all kinds of  fun stuff including the Zoo and Grant’s Farm. I took so many pictures because Athena is adorable. I felt a little overwhelmed thinking about writing about the visit, but then I realized, whatever, 1) nobody reads here anyway and 2) I can write just a little bit and that’s okay.

It was a fun weekend, though not without stresses. The dog, Mackenzie, had another allergic reaction so we had to take her on an emergency run to the vet. The good news is that she has been diagnosed with Follicular Mucinosis, which is why she’s been losing hair. As far as her red skin/itchiness, that’s mostly because of her allergies. Also she definitely has a thyroid problem, which we are treating. Since she’s gotten the diagnosis, there is also a treatment plan, which we are starting tomorrow. So hopefully she will improve and grow her hair back and be more comfortable. But we were dealing with some of that during the visit! It was also REALLY hot outside, which meant that doing outdoor activities was harder than it needed to be.

At the airport.

Going for a walk. I’m not sure if I was walking funny on purpose or if that’s just how I walk?

I had to go to a meeting one morning so Leslie took Athena to a nearby park. We have one park about 2 blocks away, but this one with the giant lady bug was a little further.

I tried to teach her the violin. As one does.

She was giving me a little side eye. Probably because I was singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while holding her arms.

She quickly learned that dogs will follow your directions more if you are holding part of a granola bar.

Athena really loved the dogs (except for the short period of time Mackenzie was wearing a cone. It was a dark time and luckily it quickly passed. Not quick enough, probably, but the vet had been worried she’d rip her stitches—from the biopsy, from which the vet diagnosed her disease. Sigh.)

This fountain was a lot of fun too.

I love elephants! More of them kept coming over to hang out.

At Grant’s Farm you can buy bottles of goat’s milk to feed the goats. They love it!

And there are camels.

And you can feed the parakeets too.

Unlike in May, this time Athena loved the carousel and requested to go twice.

Some of enjoyed free beers while others looked at pictures on their phone.

It was wonderful to have Leslie and Athena visit. Tomorrow I’m off to my workshop at Indiana University about violin pedagogy. Before that, 3 more students, then basically a week off. Except for all the classes every day!