Sunday in the Park with Charlie

Last weekend's visit to Nana and Pappy's house in Connecticut with my sister was wonderful, but it broke my heart a bit to miss Charlie's first weekend as part of the family.  Of course he had a good time with Mom and Dad, but I swore I'd make it up to him this weekend.  So yesterday we had our first outing to the neighborhood farmers' market and today Dad and Charlie and I ventured into deepest darkest Rock Creek Park.

We've never let Charlie off the lead in public before because we've only had him for two weeks and we're not sure he knows his name yet, so we have been nervous about releasing him and possibly losing him.  But we were in a safe place and he so desperately wanted to frolic, so we unclipped his leash... and he was off!  It was almost impossible to get a good picture of him because he wasn't still for a second.  He bounded through the creek, up the bank, into the tall grasses, along fallen tree trunks, and back.

His joy was palpable, and it was simply splendid to watch him squeeze every last ounce of freedom from the afternoon.  He didn't always come back to us when we called him, but he always kept us in his sights and oriented his rambles around us.  I did manage to capture him on video - see how glorious!

He is, naturally, now totally passed out.  That much fun is exhausting!  Oof.  There's a bit of room next to him on the couch; maybe I should join him for a nap...