Strut Your Mutt

On Sunday September 9, 2012 we participated in our 4th Strut Your Mutt to benefit the Animal Welfare Society's "Sadie Fund."  As you may recall, this is the animal shelter in Kennebunk from which we adopted Hunter and this fund is used to cover extraordinary medical expenses of animals that are brought to the shelter.

Last year I was 7 months pregnant when we participated in the walk and this year Conor was 8 months old!  What a difference one year can make :).

Hunter did really well this year walking - he walked about 1.5 of the 2 miles and he walked with a good strong stride.

 

Getting ready to start our walk!

1/2 mile marker with my boys!  I spy Grandma Janet in this picture too!

We made it 1 mile!!!

Conor was worn for the majority of the walk because it was nap time and he naps better in his Kinderpack than in the stroller.  Also, he has developed a fear of animals and since there were going to be a lot of dogs and he would be riding low to the ground I didn't want to overwhelm him.  He fell asleep shortly before the 1 mile mark and stayed asleep until we were almost at the end - so it was a good 30 minute nap!  Hunter rode in his stroller bassinet when he didn't walk to rest his legs and this was at the end of the walk and here for this picture.

We love our stroller - it has so many options for me to keep both my boys comfortable though I don't think we really needed it this year and it was a little bit more of a hindrance since I wore Conor and Hunter didn't need it.  It will depend on the boys next year but I might consider not using it since the sidewalk gets pretty congested with all the people and dogs.

Before the walk there were a few 'characters' present and one of them was Clifford the Big Red Dog.  Knowing how Conor had reacted to Curious George at Story Land I wanted to introduce him to Clifford in a way that might be less stressful.  So I wore him over to meet with Cliff and had Cliff stretch out his paw for Conor to touch.  Once Conor was ok with that Cliff patted him on the head. Conor did not have any type of adverse reaction to this exchange and so I think Josh and I will need to be prepared to keep exposing Conor to characters when we can in a non-threatening way (and we hope things go better with Santa!).

Conor meeting Clifford

I was very proud of my whole family for their commitment to the walk this year and I hope next year we are able to participate once more and raise a lot of money for the shelter!

xoxo
Erin