Life's a beach

We are back from a great trip at the beach. We had such a good time at Beach Bound Hounds last year, that we decided to make BBH our annual beach vacation. We were not disappointed.

We spent most of our time doing this.

The first day we were there, the weather was nice and the pups got to spend lots of time on the beach with us. Most of the rest of the week was too hot for them to be on the beach for long periods of time. So they spent a lot of time in our hotel room, but we checked on them frequently and took them on the beach as often as we could. Pippi has become so much more comfortable with the water. She played and played in the waves this year, so much so that she sprained one of her toes on her back leg. She is all better now. :)
We went to bed under this sky.
And woke up to this sky.The waves were awesome. The water was warm. We spent hours each day in the ocean riding in the waves. We got to swim with a school of fish. They were like sardine fish and there were millions in the water with us. It was pretty neat. I wish I had a camera I could take in the water. :( We did not get to see a shark, but we saw all the commotion it caused when the lifeguards had to call people out of the ocean two days in a row due to sharks sightings.

Mitch got to ride some good waves in. I did my best, but got knocked on my arse most times. I lost my sunglasses to the ocean floor on Friday when a wave took me out.

Every day we got to enjoy sitting in our beach chairs drinking Sangria's with a cool ocean breeze blowing on us, listening to the sound of waves crashing on the shore and watching Sandpipers scatter all around us. I could get used to being a beach bum very quickly! This is the life!!

Pippi was very intrigued by these little guys.On Friday night we went out to eat at Wild Wing Cafe at Barefoot Landing. They had a great set up with plenty of space for the hounds to stretch out. We were accompanied by 3 more hounds at our table and a packed room of hounds by the middle of our meal. The hounds got lots of attention and the staff loved having all of us. It is awesome to be able to eat at a restaurant with the pups. Quite an experience.




On Friday we got to watch some very special guests demonstrate the important work they do. I did not get any action shots. I was mesmerized by these incredible K9's from the Greensville County Sheriffs department. We watched the demonstration twice on the beach.
We did attend two seminars to hear Dr. James Radcliffe speak. He was amazing. We learned so much about our hounds. Such a valuable experience. He will be back to speak again next year too and we look forward to learning more. :) I will share one interesting tid bit that we did not know. Do you know why greyhounds roach? Because they are comfortable, right? Yes, but why? I never thought about it before, just thought it was something goofy with the breed. But, Dr. Radcliffe explained that it is because when they roach they can expand both lungs with air. When they lay on one side, on of their lungs is not able to be fully expanded. Makes sense! We also participated in the silent auction. I love silent auctions! This year, I won an embroidered greyhound tote bag, greyhound spoon holder and a stained glass running greyhound. Very cool and for a great cause. A win win.

Saturday night we participated in the pizza party. Lots of hounds and people sitting together enjoying good times. =)

Our last day on the beach, we got a group photo taken.


And joined in with our fellow greyhound friends for the blessing of the hounds and beach good byes.The ride home was uneventful. The hounds were worn slam out and slept for most of the ride. We did not even have to stop for a potty break.

We know we are over half way home when we pass this (South of the Border).
We saw lots of pretty wild flowers on the side of the road.
And cotton fields.
The hounds on the ride home did this.
Are we home yet?
BBH 2010 rocked! We can't wait to do it all over again next year!! :) We had a blast but are happy to be back at home and sleeping in our own bed.

Lucky Dog Fundraiser at BOW and Patriotic Hounds

Our September activities continued this weekend. Yesterday we drove up to Northern VA to Barrel Oak Winery for the Lucky Dog Hot Dawg Fundraiser. The weather was so nice. This was our view as we relaxed with the pups, listened to some tunes and enjoyed fantastic wine. I forgot to pack my DSLR (oopsie) so these pictures were taken with my phone. Virginia countryside is so beautiful. It's no rocky mountains, but pretty all the same.


Happy hounds. Cueball wearing Mitch's hat.



We stayed in the sun for as long as we could, but the hounds were getting too hot, so we did eventually found a place with some shade for the rest of our stay.

Pippi was glad the absent minded mommy did not forget to bring the water bowl and water.
Happy humans and beautiful skies. I woke up yesterday morning sneezing, itchy eyes and a runny nose, but the glasses of wine I had in the afternoon seemed to have "cured" me. Just sayin. ;-)Bow is such an awesome, dog friendly winery! We just wish they were a lot closer to us. We will visit again soon, but would like to visit a lot more often. A 4 hour round trip unfortunately limits our visits. :(

Last Saturday we attended the Glen Allen meet and greet. The hounds wore their flag bandannas in honor of 9/11. Here they are at home waiting for me to finish packing the "dog bag" for our trip.


We also celebrated two Gotcha Days this week. Maggie's 4th Gotcha Day was on the 14th and Cueball's 3rd Gotcha Day was on the 18th. Stay tuned, our September activities continue, and to those heading to SC for the Beach Bound Hounds event, we hope to see you!!

Wild hair

Cueball must have had a wild hair up his arse Thursday night. We awoke from a deep sleep at 3:30 a.m. to a shrill bark. I jumped out of bed and immediately took him downstairs and out the back door to go potty. He piddled around outside for about 10 minutes sniffing around, but no potty. So back upstairs and back to bed we went. Just as I was about to fall back to sleep, he started zooming around the bedroom. Bowing down, barking and leaving his claw marks in the carpet. The others found this rather annoying, as did I. In the midst of all his running around, he found Maggie's mallard duck toy (she always brings one up with her to bed, but never plays with it, so we allow it) and then proceeded to go wild. This continued for what felt like forever, but in reality was probably only 15 minutes, all the while ignoring our commands to go lay down. He eventually wore himself out did lay down and cock roached. I am sure he had sweet dreams.

Meanwhile I tossed and turned checking the alarm clock every so often and telling my brain I must fall asleep. I finally did fall asleep at 5:30 a.m. and got another hour of sleep. It could not have been a worse night for him to do this, as I had been running all day on fumes from having to get up at 5 a.m. the previous day for an early meeting at work and of course could not go to bed early Wed. night as my body had not adjusted and was running on my usual schedule, so I really needed to get a good night's sleep.

Still not sure what got into him. He always goes to bed when we do. Maggie is the one who usually takes a while to settle in. She has to find just the right spot on our bed, under the drift of the fan, in the most cushy spot of the mattress and on the softest spot of the comforter. We are puzzled by his actions, especially that late at night. He had done his zoomies around the yard that afternoon. This alone usually zonks him out for the night. He somehow got a second wind or new burst of energy or maybe a wild hair up his arse. Not sure. But we are hoping for peaceful sleep from now on.

Any of your fur kids do this in the middle of the night?

A visit to Dorey Park

Today we took the kids to Dorey Park for nice walk. The park is about 20 minutes from our house. We can get there using back country roads, so it is great for weekend trips since we get to avoid the interstates. It is nice to have a park this close by when you live out in the country. Our road is not suitable for walking. A big drawback of not living in a neighborhood.

It was another beautiful day out today. The kids were very happy to be out and about. They love to travel.

The park was not too crowded. A few people walking, fishing and several picnicking. It was a lovely day for a cookout. We walked the loop that goes around the lake twice. Of course, we got stopped numerous times to answer questions and let the pups get pets. They never get tired of this.


Booyah was very fascinated by the geese. They are so used to people and dogs he did not really phase them.
I don't mess with them. I have heard stories of these geese chasing people to get their food. Getting goosed doesn't sound like too much fun to me. ;-)

After a nice long walk, we hung out in the shade under a willow tree right by the water. So lovely.
Even after being so tired from the walk no one wanted to lay down in the cool grass except Pippi.Maybe they were just too excited by all the smells, sounds and sights. They have napped well all afternoon. We wore them out. Amazing how little activity wears these guys out.
Best for them to get their rest, we have a very busy September planned.

An evening on the deck

Nothing but blue sky this weekend in Virginia. And after the blazing summer we have had, we virginian's deserve it. =) Mitch and I spent the majority of the day yesterday outside enjoying the lovely weather. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. On our way there, I snapped this pic with my phone.

Dinner was fabulous. We brought home a 6 inch strawberry cheesecake. I had my second piece this morning for breakfast. Yummy! When we got back home we opened up a bottle of Zin and hung out on the deck with the pups while listening to the UVA v Richmond football game. So happy football is back!

I bought these wine glasses (yep, that is a greyhound on the glass) about a year ago. I love them and they were the perfect choice for last evening.


The rare shot of Mitch and I. He hates his picture being taken, but he amused me long enough to get a good shot.Miss snuggle bunny herself getting some love.

4 hounds hanging out on our new deck. Thanks to the fabulous job Mitch did, we have a beautiful maintenance free deck. =) One of the many DIY projects we have been working on over the last several weeks. They have been couped up all summer because of the heat. It is so nice to be able to sit outside with them.


Cueball says "this is nice."
Pippi says "did you hear that?"Maggie says "I heard it too."
Booyah says "leave me alone bugs!"

It was a nice relaxing Saturday evening. We have another one planned for tonight and a fun trip planned for the pups on Monday. ;-)


In other news, I saw this lovely butterfly in the driveway last weekend. Took the pic with the cell phone. Love the colors.And last but not least, one of my photos made it in to the 2011 Celebrating Greyhounds wall calendar. This was taken last year at the Beach Bound Hounds event.

We are very happy! You can get a copy of the wall and desk calendar here.

We hope you will stay tuned, we have some fun activities lined up for the month of September.