11 weeks & 1 day

Okay, so I know it's been a while since there's been an update on here, but I've been pretty busy and not knowing what to write about. It's been the same old around here... Rene working, me looking for work and hanging out with our dog. Before I went to Washington, Rene and I went the Indianapolis Zoo for the first time. It's something we've been wanting to do since we got here (we love zoos!). Here are some of the pics from our visit (and yes, I know there are a lot... like I said, we like zoos)
Here's Rene petting a SHARK!!! I know, cool, huh?!! They were so awesome. The skin feels like the softest velvet.... I could've petted them ALL day. :)

Then there was this walrus who just decided to stand up in his tank. There were two more walrus' swimming around him but he was just hanging out standing up. We've never seen a walrus do that!

This was cool.... I love turtles and here was this HUGE desert turtle. This pic doesn't depict just how big he was but believe you me, he was enormous!

So on the zoos 'calendar' you can visit certain animals during feeding time and even pay to feed them. They were charging $1 for a piece of sweet potato to feed the giraffe, but we decided it was cool enough to just be standing so close to them and watching others do it. Now, if we had little kids with us we most likely would have paid, but it was just us so no reason. But still, super neat to be so close. Oh, and their tongues.... they really are black and SUPER long.

The elephant show... Neither Rene nor I have ever seen one before and it was fun to see this huge guy do tricks.

This is one thing I've been waiting to see... the Botanical/Butterfly gardens! Anyone who knows me knows I love butterflies. I was getting so frustrated though when they wouldn't stay still for just a couple seconds for me to get a picture!! They just kept fluttering all around me and teasing me. :( However, I did get this one of an older moth (I think).

And here, I did get a picture of one getting some nectar! :)

I know those were a lot of pictures from the zoo, but really, it's nothing compared to what I have :) Other than the zoo, me going to Spokane, and Rene working not too much else is going on.... exceeeeeppt, we bought our tickets home to ALASKA!!!!!!!!! We are so excited!! Can you tell? I've been keeping a count-down in my head, 11 weeks and 1 day from today we will be in Alaska. It'll be about 1.5 years for me since I've been home and a little over 2 years for Rene. We'll be there for a week before Christmas. I wish it could be longer but it's better than nothing. I cannot wait to see my family and Rene's as well.

Oh, so a little bit of news.... our dog, Ash, bit me Wednesday night. :( A few weeks ago he snapped at Rene and we figure it's because Rene was petting too close to his behind (he's pretty sensitive about that area and his tail) so we were just like, okay - no touching his backside area. There haven't been any incidents since then till the other night. It was the day after I got back from Spokane, things were going well. We were watching some TV or something and Ash was on my chest (I was laying down). He went to sniff my phone so was half on and half off of me... I went to pick him up behind his front paws to place him back on my chest. It was something I've done tons before. So, he's back on my chest just standing there and then he snaps. Luckily, he only went for my hand. In hindsight, it could've been so much worse since my face was right there next to him. Thanks to Rene though, he threw Ash off of me so nothing else would happen and put him outside. Unfortunately for me, Ash got me pretty well.... he broke the skin with one tooth and irritated the muscles/veins in my hand. Because neither of us have ever been bitten, we went to an Urgent care place.... my hand was hurting really bad, burning/throbbing and sending sharp pains up my arm. Oh, and one of my veins had swollen up. It hurt to barely touch my hand/wrist/arm. But after an hour at the Urgent care, we finally saw a Doctor and he said everything was fine and wanted to put me on antibiotics just in case. But since the incident, I've been afraid of Ash. I know he didn't mean to hurt me and this may be some trauma thing from his past owners, but I just don't know when I can trust him. I get paranoid having him lay with me or even we play or he's in Rene's lap and too close to me. I thought he was 'closer' to me and I was just doing something I'd done tons before, but for some reason he snapped at me. :( I hate not being able to trust our little guy.... I love him but I just don't trust him anymore. We're going to look into some doggie training classes or something. I would hate for this to happen again, or goodness, someone else. Does anyone have any suggestions/tips??