7/3/11: Bow Wow Beach

Stow has a nice little park called Bow Wow Beach.  It's basically a park/lake strictly for dogs. It had been a while since we'd taken the dogs there and it was really hot so we packed everyone (but the cats) in the car and headed there for the afternoon. Of course the dogs went crazy for the first 5 minutes we were there, chasing the other dogs, and being rather annoying.  After they got acclimated they had an awesome time.

Ace is a full lab and we know Kalie is at least part lab but we aren't sure what else.  You would assume those lab swimming skills would kick in for her though, right?  Well you would be wrong.  It is so funny everytime we take her.  She literally swims doggy-style but straight up in the air with her tail above water.  She desperately paddles with her front paws (and that is it) to try to stay above the water. You can see her doing just that in the very first picture.

The people that were near us with their dogs were nice enough to let us borrow their doggy life vest.  It sounds ridiculous, but to be honest it helped her figure it out while not having to panic to get back to where she could touch the ground.  She kept it on for a while and when we took it off she was actually swimming like a normal lab, minus not using her tail like she should.

Morgan had a great time chatting with all the other dog owners and telling them her life story while throwing the tennis ball to the dogs. Rylee spent her afternoon digging around in my purse and laughing at the doggies. All in all a nice little Sunday that ended with 2 tired kids and 2 exhausted dogs.

6/11/11: Carl the Crab and Sydney the Stingray

Let's start here.  Meet Carl. Carl the Crab. The water that day was definitely warmer and a large sandbar had formed.  The section of water between the sandbar and the beach had tons of crabs everywhere.  Lots of kids had nets trying to catch them and some of them had actually caught some big ones!  Paul decided to join them with Morgan's pink bucket and finally got Carl.

It was touch and go for a while with Carl after we set him free.  He sat for a long time without moving and I was sure Paul was a crab killer.  He eventually got spooked by something and took off.  All is well.

Then we saw these. Greg had gone out past the sandbar to boogie board.  At one point he thought he saw a sting ray and called it a day in the water.  A little while later Corey, Ashley, Morgan, and I had been walking down collecting seashells when someone came running down to warn their friend that something was coming her way.  It was a sting ray or maybe two.  It was also in the part between the beach and the sandbar so super close to where everyone was.  Paul again, decided he needed a closer look so he chased the damn thing all over the water to get a picture. I will admit he got a good one but he almost killed himself in the process.  At one point he was extremely close and finally the sting ray noticed and starting flapping around and swimming at him.   That was enough pictures for us!

The rest of the day we spend the time enjoying our last full day in North Carolina.

We got some incredible and I mean INCREDIBLE food and service at La Dolce Vita over in Timbuck II.  It was so freaking good.  It was hands down the best spinach artichoke dip I've ever had.

Than to finish off the night Morgan and Mackenzie rode the go carts with their Daddies!