Miss Bug decided to stay with us at the hotel the night of her birthday party, so we set up an air mattress for her. Despite the fact that the old dog, Coco, never ever hops up onto anything and is really quite strictly a floor dog, he decided the air mattress was the way to go.

Every opportunity he had he was on that air mattress. Miss Bug decided to stay with her grandparents from that point forward so he did have a good night’s sleep on it. Then, on our return trip I began filling the air mattress at the hotel in Ohio, and he was on that mattress before I was even done filling it. Miss Bug has always wanted Coco to sleep with her, and that night, he did. Sleeping first at the bottom of her bed, but sometimes walking up to lick her face. They really missed each other.

My brother and his wife just moved into a new home in NJ. We were eager to see the home, so we packed everyone up into the van, including our dog, and traveled to see them in NJ.

Nothing of real note was planned for the day except that Mr. Ink and I would make dinner. We ended up playing a round of Munchkin, and taking a walk to a local park. It was quite a relaxing day really.

My 18 month old nephew was really the star of the show. We’d brought this train set that Miss Bug has really outgrown to him in order that he could enjoy it as much as she did. He’s a little young for it. Miss Bug was having a hard time getting rid of it, as she does, technically, still play with it from time to time. But, it was time. Seeing him enjoy it was exactly the motivation she needed to let it go. Even though I was emotional about letting it go as well.

He really was a cutie, that little boy. We enjoyed him immensely. Lots of laughter and no crying whatsoever. He’s so well behaved, and so sweet. And his brain is always working so hard to figure everything out. It’s great fun!

The other fun thing that happened was that my brother saw my spider tattoo for the first time. He lifted up my arm, looked at it, and said “Come outside! Come outside right now!” And sure enough, he had, in his garden, the perfect specimen.

I got this photo in selfie mode, as this spider was facing a fence. She was completely unconcerned with my presence and how close I was getting to her. She’s SO insanely beautiful I can barely stand it.

I grabbed a photo of her underside as well, equally beautiful!

I love how this one shows off her very distinctive orb weaver pattern in her web.

For reference, here’s my arm:

Next up, a day in Philadelphia as the tourist I never got to be.