Vote For Jill!

At the surf competition last week we entered Jill into a photo contest. If you have a moment, and would like to vote (you can vote up to 10 times per computer) here is the link. Downtown Dog Lover

Here is the picture they took of her. Pretty cute if you ask me! (Of course it's watermarked here and copy written so this isn't a very good view of it. Plus, I could only get it to show in this tiny format. The picture is courtesy of Julie Edwards from Downtown Dog Lover)

I'm not sure what she would win if she does well, but it's always fun to try!

Fun Stuff and serious stuff too...

Yesterday was a dog gone fun day! We started out with a bit of a lazy morning, and ended with a flurry of fun and activity.

In the early afternoon a group of members from the Golden Group went on another Kayaking adventure. Since Hubby and AJ had been before, we decided to pass this time, and give someone else the chance to have fun. I did go down and introduce myself to some of the new members (this was the first meetup for about 3 families) and took pictures. How many people can say they've been kayaking with their dog, and have people believe them? I wanted to be sure I gave them all proof! Everyone seemed to have fun, and we only had one "jumper" this time. The member (Ashley) was able to get her pup back into the kayak without too much trouble, so no harm done...

After getting home from taking the kayak pictures, we packed up the gang and headed to a meetup call "Leash Your Fitness". It was billed as "A workout for you AND you dog!" Sheesh, they weren't kidding! There was cardio, yoga, agility, swimming and off leash play. I was a total wimp and only did the first few minutes of the cardio - I felt a very uncomfortable twinge down the back of my (still numb) right leg, and that was all the convincing I needed to stop and take it easy. Numb I can handle, shooting pain down the back of my leg again? Not so much. I was jokingly chided a bit about stepping out, but that's ok, better a little embarrassment than a lot of pain. For the most part, I think it's safe to say that everyone had very good time.

Kona seemed to enjoy himself

Pickle was oh so thrilled, can you tell?

Up and over!

Some folks brought the whole family for the fun!

Poor AJ had some extra weight to contend with!

Ready for some pool play!

It was nice and cool and just what the doctor ordered!
Tired boys, ready to head home!

On a serious note...I spoke to my Pops this morning and found out that the defibrillator they put in with his pace maker gave him a jolt at about 12:30am. That means his heart probably stopped and the defibrillator zapped it to get it going again. Pretty scary stuff!!

Date Night

Hubby and I are going on a little date tonight. He was on a business trip in Canada for most of this week, and returned last night. We haven't had much quality time together lately, so I am really looking forward to some "us" time. We'll be grabbing a bite out to eat somewhere, and then going to the Old Globe Theater to see the production of Cyrano De Bergerac. We are both fans of live theater, so this should be really fun.

This weekend will be another busy one...Saturday I'll be going to take pictures of our 3rd round of Golden Group Kayaking, and then I'm off to a meetup called "Leash your Fitness." It's basically exercise and yoga with your pooch...yup, I'm serious. I found this little picture that I wanted to share - it just cracked me up. I'm sure that's NOT what we'll look like!

I'm not sure if this will be "our thing" but I'm willing to give it a try at least once. I'll let you know how it goes!

I hope you are having a good day...TGIF!

Mid Week Get Together

We got together with a few friends last night...
...some members of the Golden group got together for a little romp in the park, and dinner nearby at a food court with a large dog friendly patio.

Nothing like a nice little pack of 30 Goldens to brighten my day!

On a sad note, what a shame it was to hear about the passing of both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, both such huge icons...Farrah, of course, was expected, but it was such a shock to hear about the "King of Pop"...it kind of reminds me of when Princess Diana died so suddenly.

Surf's Ups! (Too bad the sun wasn't!)

As promised, here are some more pictures from last Saturday's Surf Dog Competition -no surf pictures though, just fun ones....most of the surf pictures were from too far away to be able to make anything out.

Jill, getting warmed up!
Some of us from the group getting interviewed by the CW network

Our Golden SurFUR team

Pickle (in yellow with sunglasses) with Jill, being interviewed by another news station

Our little surf diva with Hubby.

Jill showing her stuff for one of the local newspaper photographers

Richochet, one of our team members

There were thousands of people there to watch the competition.

The competition was held at lovely Imperial Beach

This pup thought the water was just a little cool...

Scooter was pooped after a long day of surfing

Kalani, one of our team members, won FIRST PLACE in the "big dog" competition. She's an AWESOME surfer!

"Mom, I'm done!"

"seriously - done!"

Although it was a cool, drizzly day, our pups really shined! It was a blast to see the dogs getting so much attention from news stations and photographers from all over the world. So far we've (and I mean specifically members of the Golden SurFURS) been on 3 locals news stations, in the S.D. Union Tribune, on the Today Show, the NBC Nightly News, and TMZ. At the event we were even filmed by a German News station! Last year Jill's picture showed up on Perez Hilton's Blog...(I'm not sure that's anything to brag about though!)

8 is Enough!

I've been meaning to blog all day, but I've been otherwise occupied...

I'll catch up soon!

It Takes all Kinds

It wasn't only the Goldens that enjoyed the surfing...
some came to watch...
some came to eat...

and others came to hang 20...

But all of them came for the fun!

Golden SurFURS in action!

One of my friends, Judy, who also happens to be an assistant organizer for our Golden Retriever Meetup Group, made this awesome video of the surf competition.

I thought it was just too cool not to share!

Special Days...

The last couple of days have been busy and full of fun.

I did, however, neglect to wish my Mom a "public" Happy Birthday on Friday, but did get to spend a fun evening with her, Pops, Hubby and Bear, enjoying a very nice buffet dinner and some gambling at one of our favorite local casinos. (It would have only been better if one of us would have won a jackpot, but you can't have it all, right?)

Happy Birthday Mom!
Also on Friday, I took Jack for his first visit to the VA Hospital. You may remember that his first ever first visit was a little shaky, with his whining and constant looking for Hubby and Kona. This time we went by ourselves and met up with the visit captain, and another Love on a Leash member, and Jack was much better behaved. He whined very little (only when he thought I was spending too much time chatting with someone and he was ready to move on...) and seemed to be enjoying himself. I was happy with his behavior and will keep working at it with him. Although he's not the "natural" that Kona is, I believe he has good potential.

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the "Loews Coronado Surf Dog Competition" in nearby Imperial Beach. It was a blast, and I have a TON of pictures to post from the day, but for now I will leave you with a tease of things to come. This picture is of Jill and was taken by a photographer for the San Diego Union Tribune, K.C. Alfred. It's one of my favorites ever!

And last, but not least, Happy Father's Day! I hope all of the Dads out there have a wonderful day, full of whatever they want to do! We haven't quite decided what exactly we are going to do today, and we are leaving it up to Hubby's to decide. We started off with a great big family breakfast which we all thoroughly enjoyed, and Hubby, being the awesome guy that he is, decided that today was the only time he had to fix a little leak "issue" in our back bathroom, so...here it is Father's Day, and he is working on putting a new wax ring on our toilet. Yup, exactly what I'm sure every father wants to be doing today. Hubby is leaving for a business trip for a week, and didn't want to leave the "issue" unattended, so he's doing it today. What a guy!

It's been a tradition of ours in the past to spend the day at the Fair on Father's Day, but after our experience on Tuesday, I think we'll pass this year. We might go see a movie, AJ might take Hubby to hit a bucket of golf balls....who knows. Today, whatever Hubby wants, Hubby gets. We'll be spending the evening with my Pops and Mom too, of course. Having a good meal, and spending time together...sounds like the best plan to me. I hope you all enjoy your day!

A Six Pack

left to right - Kona, Lola, Scooter, Harley, Jill(yawning), & Jack.

We had a couple of visitors in the house yesterday for a couple of hours. Scooter and his baby sister, Lola, came for a play date while their Mom had an appointment. Needless to say, the six pack had a blast together!!