We Love Fredericton!

What a great weekend! Saturday morning began with clouds and drizzle, but the Fredericton Newcomers Club BBQ went on as planned. Within an hour the skies cleared and we had a gorgeous afternoon at Mactaquac. 7YO spent some time casting at the lake, played with other kids, and was introducted to a game of modified cricket. A majority, though not all, of the "newcomers" are from the UK. We chatted with a woman, A, whose son will be six in September and exchanged numbers. And, we met a woman whose 15YO is interested in babysitting. Score!

This morning A called and 7YO and I went to their place for lunch, followed by an afternoon at the Kingswood Family Entertainment Center. The boys played in the "climber," used up their tokens in the arcade, and played a line of candlepin. 7YO had an absolutely fabulous weekend which, after spending the past six weeks with his moms and grandma was just terrific! We also lined up the aforementioned babysitter so that the three grown-ups can go out to dinner before 77YO heads back to Arizona.

I also heard from one of the guys I met at the conference in May. He and his partner just arrived from Montreal, closed on their house, and are getting settled. And, he's finding himself surprised at how much he's liking Fredericton. We hope to get together with them later this week. So, this has been a great weekend for getting settled and meeting folks.

I've been meaning to post about our great kennel search. A few weeks back we spent the afternoon visiting kennels. The first one, unfortunately the closest to our house, was kind of scary. Very, very, very noisy and not all the cages - and they were cages - were connected to runs. Ugh. Then we stopped at a place that, in addition to being a vet's office, had a sign, "Pet Boarding." The [very nice] woman at the desk said, "Oh, they don't do that any more." On to the third stop. We really liked the owner and the fact that she can take only four dogs at a time, but she - not surprisingly - had no space for the weekend we needed.

We had heard about two women who were opening a kennel, but didn't have their names, etc. So, I contacted our realtor and she tracked down their information. Long story short. Although it's 9-10 km farther and $5/day more than the likable place, above, it's just terrific - especially for our sensitive guy.

Check out Foster's Home for Dogs here and here. This was the proprietor's dream. She and her partner bought the property so that they could do just this. They remodeled the garage into 8 separate "hotel rooms." Each room has a toddler bed and sleeping rug. Sounds a little over the top, I'm sure. But, it's great! There's a window in the front wall of each room where C can check on the "guest" without opening the door and unnecessarily exciting him/her. I wasn't so sure about the walled room v. the open wire, but I think it works. They get so much time playing outside that I don't think they end up feeling isolated.

When we went for a pre-board visit, C spent some time getting to know our pup, Boz. She took him for a walk and spent some time getting a sense of his personality, etc. We dropped him off the next morning and he spent two days there. When we returned to pick him up they gave us a montage of photos from his stay. What a hoot!

So, that's it. Tomorrow is Monday. We'll see what happens with the build. They're calling for clouds and showers all week. Fingers crossed, as always.