Matt had plans on our Friday off, so I decided to take the boys to daycare and have a "Me" day. I was originally going to go see a movie by myself (which sounded super lame, honestly), but it was such a gorgeous day that I wanted to go spend time outside! I was going to hike Flattop, but then I had a debate with myself about how comfortable I was talking to myself the whole time to not surprise any bears. Which made me think about taking one of the dogs because at least then I was "the girl talking to her dog" and not "the girl talking to herself".
Alas, the dogs are getting older and probably not up for a hike on Flattop. But the thought of hanging out seemed like the best idea I'd had. So I packed up the car at went to the dog park near the University. These two had no idea how much fun a day with momma was about to be!
Natalie caught on pretty quick once she saw the lake - we've only been here once before, but she clearly remembered it! I made one quick stop on the way over to buy tennis balls, so we were set for some ball fetching out of the lake. I even brought the ball flinger to throw them extra far for her. I was surprisingly prepared! :)
Eliza did her usual amnesia act and appeared to forget that she knows how to swim. It happens every time. She will run along the bank at Natalie and bark at her until she finally jumps in and then I have to take turns throwing the balls for them. I throw Natalie's much further - Eliza will give up and turn around if she feels like the water is getting too deep.
She's not the bravest dog...
Though Natalie isn't a perfect retriever either. She kept getting distracted by other dogs jumping in the water and ended up abandoning a ball way out there. For some reason I thought throwing another ball near it would help, but she can't really retrieve both of them. Sigh...
On the next throw I got smart and chunked a rock next to the stranded ball. She happily went and got the "ball" she just saw splash. She doesn't suspect her momma of playing tricks on her. ;)
After lots and lots of barking, Eliza finally got into the ball retrieving!
Trust me when I tell you that as mangy as she looks in this picture, she smells surprisingly like what you would expect. We've been a little behind on giving them baths and even the boys are starting to comment on how stinky Eliza is. Poor girl - luckily for her, I picked up a bottle of dog shampoo at Target while I was grabbing tennis balls. (See? So much thinking ahead today!)
Dogs shaking water will always be funny! Especially when her beard is flying out so majestically... :) I couldn't get Natalie to shake while looking at the camera and from the side it's not quite as funny. Oh well - I'm used to a lack of cooperation on photo taking...
Natalie would probably have been happy to keep fetching floating tennis balls all day, but I eventually called it quits so I didn't completely wear her out. She was getting a little slower on the swimming and I was imagining how sore my muscles would be after such an intense work-out. You'll thank me later for making you stop, Natalie. I promise!
Since they were both sopping wet, I decided to finish off the trail and let them dry off a little before getting back in my car. Plus I wanted to find this sign! I love this sign and how absurd it looks in the middle of summer. I think it's there because a stream feeds into the lake (pond) at this point and would make the ice thinner in the winter.
But not nearly as thin as it is right now. Ha!
There are a ton of ducks in the lake and for the most part, they don't seem to care about the multitude of dogs jumping in the water nearby. This guy was keeping an eye on us as we walked by, but the dogs were tired enough they listened to me when I told them to stay out of the water.
I did not, however, see any of the angry beavers mentioned on a nearby sign. We don't let the girls jump in the lake on that side though - just in case!
Back to the car! Thankfully the blanket prevented them from getting their wet dog smell all over my seats. Oh and Eliza did her usual face plant and roll in the dirt as soon as she was fully wet. She chose to do it on an incline and ending up rolling down the hill to maximize the dirt coverage. A guy nearby started laughing about it and I assured him it was completely normal behavior. (Thus the dog shampoo!)
Overall, they look like they have had the best time ever and nothing could ever make this day not be the most awesome day.
Well...
At least until I gave the baths as soon as we got home. They weren't too excited about that.
All clean and poofy! They both still need a serious brushing, but they don't smell anymore. Yay! Since it was such a nice day outside, I let them hang out on the back porch and dry in the sun.
I had a great time hanging out with these two and hopefully they know I feel bad that they don't get nearly as much fun time as the used to. Poor furry kids have to put up with the human kids taking up so much of their parent's time. I
t's rough being a dog.
Just not today. Today was an awesome day to be a dog. :)