Ancient Lakes and Leashes

Enjoyed a fabulous hike with a great group of people out at Ancient Lakes.  

 This is just really unusual country.

The lighting was not the best for photography . . .

But you can see the amazing landscape.

 We did a little experiment with Missy.

As you can see she is holding a purple leash.

It's the rabbit leash, but we don't walk our rabbits, just our dog and our kids.

Missy really likes hiking,

but she struggles when we go with a group.

She struggles for hours and days afterwards, too.

She's not attached enough to us to be able to handle going from

person to person, 

holding their hands,

monopolizing their attention,

getting as far away from us as possible....

all of which she tries to do

and as vigilant as we try to be, 

she's fast.

 In fact, Missy struggles after attending church, and potluck.

By the time we left potluck and came home to change

Missy was on edge.

Before we were done changing,

she was screaming. 

Then she smashed her finger in the car door,

and the screaming took on a new twist.

and that helped her to forget that she was mad.

*The injury was not really that bad.*

We gave her the purple leash to hold on the hike.

One of us held the other end.

Mostly Steve.

When people questioned the leash I told them it was 

for psychological reasons,

not for physical safety.

She tested the limit, 

hardly at all.

WHICH is TOTALLY AMAZING!!

She was and is 

calm and secure.

No acting out.

PTL.

 

 I've noticed some other things recently about Missy

in handling her emotions and outbursts

that I'll post another day.

It seems like they are just little things

but they make a world of difference for her.

She is very young emotionally.

She needs the kind of restraints and measures taken that you would 

use with a toddler.

At the moment she is playing with the Buddy's toys.

While she plays with his Mega Blocks

he plays with a cup and spoon

and James puts together his whole lego kit all by himself using the instruction booklet.

We finished our day with a picnic.

The food was delish!!!

The wind was wicked!!!!!