Saturdays are for relaxing, at our house

...especially now that it's the official start of summer here on Cape Cod.

Cape Cod summers are the pits. Each year it gets more and more congested and I scratch my head at all the people who spend HOURS in their cars to get to a place where they will end up spending their vacation waiting.
Waiting in traffic to get where they are going...most likely the beach. Once they get to the beach, they will spend HOURS in line to get into the parking lot, provided they got there and were already in line by 7 am or else, 'sorry. lot full.' is all they will see of the beach.
Possibly they want a nice dinner out? Well you best have a reservation and if you do, you should plan on waiting for an additional 15-30 minutes for your table because I assure you, the people ahead of you are in no rush to leave.

God forbid it rain any time during their stay!! A family can't possibly stay home and read or play games on vacation!! Better go shopping...or rather, sit in traffic during a downpour to get to a crowded movie or lame mall for souvenirs.

Every year I get more annoyed by the way the Cape tries to make it easier to get more people over the bridges. But what the Cape really needs is to be better set up to accept such high volumes of people. Driving is a nightmare and people come to bike...with their bikes loaded with side packs ...but there is no shoulder, and never a real break in traffic to get around. So the summer speed limit becomes 25mph.

But that is just my little rant about how Cape Cod is a terrible place in the summer. I only wish I still worked a job for tips because the only thing good about tourists is a little extra cash for restaurant workers. Locals rarely get to use the beaches in the summers and we can't take our dogs.

Speaking of dogs!! ;)

Orbit turned ONE YEAR OLD on Monday. And since we celebrated, I was thinking back to when we got him which wasn't even 6 months ago! On top of all improvements so far, he's beginning to learn some more manners. We've gone close to a couple weeks now where his only biting fits come at night when he wants to go to bed but he's not sure. So he bites, we put him in the kitchen, let him out after a couple minutes, and repeat until he realizes it's the biting that's getting him put in isolation. It goes on just a couple times usually but some nights he just can't settle down, poor thing.

Thursday nights I practice with the incoming 'freshmeat' for the local roller derby, just so I can get some skating and exercise in. I don't get home until 9pm. I go right to bed but Orbit wants time with me...he doesn't want to go to sleep. It's the trickiest night to figure out, but it's truly him at his worst now and it's so much better than the days when I would just cry while he barked from his crate!

I've been working on 'gracious greetings' with him when I get home from work, to get him to not jump on people all the time. He is now very polite when I get home. He's a little less polite with Hubs because he is not on the same page with that, so Orbit still tries to get away with as much as possible. We still have a long way to go with other visitors, such as my sister and her husband who were over with their rescue, Smokey, for a playdate on Sunday.

So he's a year old and turning a corner. June 3 marks 6 months since we brought him home. It is hard to believe how far he's come...because I can still vividly remember how rough the first 4 months were!
He's a good boy...becoming a great dog!
Here are some pics from the birthday playdate.

Smokey found Orbit's bone...Orbit was okay with that

Time for cake

If you don't want your cake, I can eat it for you

He loves his new toy from Auntie

But it wasn't long before I was fixing it

It was fun...he's great with others in his space, playing with his toys...but not too happy to share food because he's part pig and Smokey is a grazer. Smokey is also way more aggressive when Orbit gets up in his face and Orbit is always up in everyone's face because he's a brat and he wants everyone to chase him.

Fun day...and now I must cut this post as Orbit is upstairs crying for his breakfast.
Happy Saturday!!