Emma's Catastrophic Day at the Beach

My poor Emma. First she gets spayed, which means no running, jumping, or swimming for two weeks! Finally, Friday she was allowed out in the lake. I was so worried that she would have forgotten all about fetching, as she had just figured it out the week before her operation. But no, she remembered everything, and even challenged Izzy a few times to swim out an fetch their Wubba Kong. I was so proud!

Saturday we returned to camp, as the weather looked promising. Iz and Em romped all over the shore as the Mothership and I cleaned up around camp. Then I took a break to get some sun out on the dock, and Emma joined me. I looked up a few minutes later and she was laying in a pool of blood. I kind of freaked out a bit. Heaven help me should I ever have a child who's been injured. I called up our poor vet, who is about the most awesome doctor on EARTH, and she told us to bring poor Emma right in. She had almost severed one of her toes on something sharp! They had to knock her out and stitch up her poor little foot, and now she's stuck in a green bandage bootie, and isn't allowed to swim again!

The green bandage matches her eyes in person.

I'll admit, I'm kind of sad because she won't be able to swim when we're on vacation. And she's so pitiful, she can't use that foot to get up on the couch, and she doesn't want to play with Izzy or knaw on poor Henry. But she's so cute, I can't hardly stand it. How did I end up with four such brutally attractive pets? Really, such good looks should be spread out a bit more!

Seriously, I have the cutest dogs ever...look at that face!

Bathing Beauties

I have to say, I think I have the two most amazing dogs in town, and the people that pull over in their cars when we're out on our morning walks all seem to agree. But they really surpassed themselves at the lake today. Emma finally learned to swim. I know, I know, what kind of lab doesn't know how to swim? And it's true, she was once able to swim, but something must have happened because the dog hasn't actually swam since late April. She'll go out neck deep, even sit and lay in the water, but will not paddle around. She's always been kind of a strange little dog.

Regardless off Emma's oddities, yesterday I carried her out a few times and then set her in the water so she could swim back to shore. It didn't seem to scare her, since she let me do it over and over, but she still refused to swim out herself. Well, not so today! The Mothership and I were out floating, and out paddled Emma to see us:

"Look, Mom, I'm swimming without floaties!"

I know I'm turning into some weird animal person, but I was so proud of her I almost cried. I'm kind of afraid I'll be one of those crazy mothers that attends all of my children's games in t-shirts with their pictures on them. So I think maybe I'll reconsider the whole child thing for now...

So, onto Izzy...Izzy has been swimming nonstop all summer. She'll come out with us while we're floating, and swim around for a while, rest on shore for a bit, and then swim some more. I guess she must have gotten sick of all the paddling around, because as I was shooting Emma's first real swim, Izzy decided to steal my SmartFloat. My first thought was "please don't pop the SmartFloat" because, well, SmartFloats are about the best inflatable water toy ever, and I didn't want to have to trek all the way down to Target to get another one. But then I realized that my dog had actually climbed onto a raft by herself, and was chillin in the water with the Mothership. You have to admit, it's impressive!

"Oh, a puppy's life is so tiresome, sometimes I need to kick back and float the day away..."

Nature

The past few days have been absolutely lovely at camp. Bright and sunny, and the water is so clear. At least until the puppies start tearing around the shore!

The view from the green camp's deck. It's better in real life.

The Mothership and I also found this when we were on the deck - a bird built it on a branch hanging over the door.

Then we visited the red camp and found some tiny baby robins.


The click of my camera must have reminded them of their mother, because they popped right up looking for food.


Not really a nature picture, but I couldn't help taking it because the people being towed are riding one of those banana inflatables that are nearly impossible to stay on. I was impressed!

Izzy, Emma, and Sarah Take a Mini-Vacation

Today was such a beautiful day. It was sunny, and warm, and dry, and gorgeous. What better day to go camp? I can't think of one, unless it's all of the above combined with a heat wave. (I seriously hope that doesn't happen!) Anyhow, I mentioned to the Grandmother that camp might be nice to visit today, turned around and saw Izzy and Emma perked right up at the word "camp." Very cute.

"Please, please, please can we go to camp???"

So, being the good dog-mother that I am, of course we went to camp! When we arrived, the girls didn't even stop to greet the Mothership...they ran straight down the stairs to jump in the lake.

"Emma, wait for me!"

We decided to test out the new Bubba Kong for Water that we bought at PetCo last week. I have to say it works great. Izzy can grab onto it while she's swimming, and she chases it every time.

BubbaKong is almost as big as Izzy's head. I think it helps her float, though.

Emma on the other hand, is content to wait on the shore until Izzy gets back to where she can walk in.

I guess if someone else was willing to fetch things for me, I'd sit back and let them, too!

Then she pounces and tries to get BubbaKong away from poor Izzy, who had to do all the work. Cheater!

"Get away from me Emma, I swam halfway across the lake for this!"

And that was our day at camp. Nothing too exciting happened, except Emma trying to roll on a dead fish, but I am ecstatic to say that she has learned "leave it" and walked away when I told her too. I'm so proud! (Puppy kindergarten really did work!)

"Gee, that was fun, think we can convince her to bring us back everyday?"

Izzy and Emma Learn to Swim

Today was such a beautiful day, sunny and 70 degrees, that I decided to pack the puppies up and go to camp. Since coming to live with me, the girls had never seen water, and despite their Labrador genetics, we weren't sure what they would do! It turns out that Izzy and Emma love the water! They aren't exceptional fetchers, but they loved splashing and chasing each other all around the shore. We let them off their leads for the whole day, and they were awesome about staying right with us. Hope you enjoy our recap of the day, although we wish you could have shared it with us!

Izzy and Emma's Big Day at the Lake

Izzy was unsure what the large mass of water was for.

She decided that jumping in might be fun and persuaded her sister Emma to join her.

Sarah decided to throw a stick to see if anyone would fetch it. There were no takers.

Oh, wait, Emma decided to jump right in!

Naturally, Izzy had to follow.

A brief scuffle over ownership of the stick ensued.

Fortunately, Aunt Paula intervened, and no one was injured!

Sadly, all days at the lake must end, and Sarah instructed the girls to shake themselves off and head for the car.

Izzy decided she didn't want to leave, and made an attempt at escaping up the hill towards camp.

Seeing that her family was leaving without her and worried that she might not get dinner that night, Izzy ran after them. Everyone made it home safely for supper, and then Izzy and Emma settled in for a nice nap. What a great day at the lake!

MIssing the Lake

Since the weather has gotten so nice, I've been missing the lake more and more...I can't hardly wait to get down there, even if it means raking an entire forest full of leaves when I do! Since I was feeling a little homesick for it, I decided to make a few online scrapbook pages about camp, my favorite place in the whole world...

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Hope everyone can visit me this summer, when the residents of Seward Ave move south! Oh, and if you want to make an online scrapbook of your own, check out Smilebox 'cause it's free! I did!