Folly Shenanigans

Folly has fit into the family really well.  He loves to be outside and chew on EVERYTHING!  He loves our mulch and sticks.  He is a typical puppy when it comes to chewing on things. 

Unlike when we first got Cali, Folly is able to climb all the stairs.  He does go to fast at times and face plants which is so funny to watch.

He thinks the front stairs as his "safe zone" from Cali.  She just loves to tackle him when they are outside. 

He has also discovered the dishwasher (thanks to Cali).  Instead of just licking the silverware, he tries to take it out and chew on it.  Yes, he has climbed up onto the dishwasher lid already. 

Thanks to Aunt Leigh, he has his favorite toy, "Mr. Dino."  He loves it because it crinkles and squeaks.  Cali loves to steal it from him and they play tug-a-war with it (sorry Mr. Dino).

And his  favorite place to lay in the man cave.  He has made himself at home.  He will sleep here for hours. 

For some reason, Folly is obsessed with my hair.  Any chance he gets, he will get a big bite and pull.  It hurts so bad.  You think he is just giving you kisses one moment and then the next he just goes for the hair.  Not cool!

Summertime= Fishing

As summer is coming to an end, hopefully the beautiful days by the water will not end so soon!

We have had some wonderful and beautiful days on the water! I would not trade any of them for anything! 

One of the highlights was the day we caught the shark!!! This was my first shark and it was pretty fun (but scary when it came up to the boat)!

Cute little 3 ft bonnethead shark!!! 

The next weekend I caught the cutest (smallest) sting ray! I didn't even know he was on my hook! Sneaky little guy!

Q had mastered the total relaxation spot on the boat.  All you need is a beach chair and you are good to go!

Here is to more days on the water and to more beautiful days with my husband.  Doesn't get much better than this!

xoxo

Agility Classes

Cali has been taking agility classes or the past couple weeks and she loves it!!! She is becoming a natural one class at a time.  

She really loved the donut and the peanut.  She has such great balance!! 

I think we are going to have to stick with the agility classes.  They are both fun for her and fun for us!!! We have a natural on our hands!!

xoxo

Cali and Folly

I can't believe how fast time is flying.  I totally missed Folly's 3 month birthday on Monday!!! Next week marks 1 month of having him! How crazy!  We have been very busy around here with guests, work, and I started classes this week (4 days a week :( ).  Here is a little update on these two. 

Needless to say, they are now two peas in a pod!! They play all the time and can't leave each other alone.  That's what dogs do right??  

They are so funny to watch.  They are most rambunctious in the morning (while I'm still in bed and Q is up with them).  Q calls it their WWE time.  

Cali will slam him into the wall or ground but Folly has started to gain some guts as well.  He stalks her so he can pounce on her.  She has learned that if she just rolls on her back he will get on top of her and they just bite each other. 

Then they take naps, then back to rounds 2, 3, or 4. 

They fight over toys CONSTANTLY! Two bones are never good enough, it has to just be one!

But he learns from her so well.  You can see him watching her, trying to figure out what we are saying to what she is doing.  He does sit pretty well.  Q is working on lay down with him... it's going alright! ;) 

They love when Q lays on the floor and plays with them.  He can't control his nipping vs kissing... he struggles.  I love these two and am so glad that Cali has someone to play with full time now. 

xoxo

WELCOME HOME FOLLY

A lot has changed since my last post.  The last time I wrote, I talked about getting a labradoodle but things fell through with that and it couldn't have been at a better time.  We had been waiting before that to hear of a litter of Portuguese Water Dogs but it didn't seem that there were going to be any anytime soon so we looked elsewhere.  Well, within a week of the labradoodle falling through, we got word that there was a litter of PWD in Baltimore, but we were waiting to hear more about them.  So long story short, we got one!!! We picked Folly!!!

 

Folly is a brown, male PWD.  He was born 5/18/14 so he will be 12 weeks tomorrow.  He is very sweet!  He loves to give kisses and chew on his toys!

When we got him 2 weeks ago, he was probably about 11 pounds.  2 weeks later, he is weighing 15.4 pounds!!

He has learned a lot in his short 2 weeks with us.  He is doing well with potty training.  He has never gone potty in his kennel expect the first morning.  He sleeps through the night and does great during the day.

He is Cali's best friend.  She looks for him around the house if she doesn't seem him.  They play all the time.  He started trying to cuddle with her last night on the couch. Too cute! 

Folly is a great addition to our little family and we could not be happier that we got him!  We are excited for many adventures with this guy and can't wait to see him grow!  We love our babies!

xoxo

Another day on the water

After we recovered from Hurricane Arthur that decided to pay us a visit last Thursday night, the weather for the 4th of July holiday was perfect.  Knowing that it was going to be crowded, we decided not to go far in the boat and to just park and sit on a beach somewhere.  

This is one of the best things about summers on the NC coast, the water.  This time of year the water is perfect temp and (usually) clear.  Honestly if you don't have some sort of boat, kayak, paddle board, canoe, something then I can see why people don't enjoy being stationed here (especially people our age).

We love going out on the water.  Even if you just troll around and don't catch anything and don't get out of the boat, it is still fun.  Our favorite spots are around Beaufort, NC.  These photos were taken at Carrot Island.

I am so glad that we have a water dog.  She knows that when the boat is in the driveway, she better be coming with us.  She gets so excited the whole way to the ramp. Then she is non-stop moving the entire time in the boat and off.  But she has so much fun!  She is so entertaining to us as well.  We have been teaching her to jump off the boat to get her toy and she just loves it!

Love the summer time!  Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo

We are expecting!

Before everyone freaks out, we are expecting another puppy!!!

We are getting a labradoodle this coming Friday.  It all happened so quickly.  We have only been talking about this for about a week.  We have gone back and forth for a while now on what we want, especially what breed.  With Q being so up in the air with his job and what he is doing next, we decided that now was a better time than any to get one.  I have been wanting another guy for a long while now.  I know it will be hard with two dogs but we are up to the challenge.  I think it is going to be difficult if Q deploys again but having Cali was great so I'm sure two will be even better.  We are still debating on a name but here are the few pictures we do have of him. We are currently waiting to hear back from the breeder to see if he has more pictures of him.

He is almost 8 weeks old.  He was born on May 15th, so now all my family will have May birthdays! 

He is a chocolate labradoodle.  His mom is the poodle and the father is the chocolate lab.  He looks to have more lab hair but he still is going to be low shedding (hopefully not too much)!

He is going to be much bigger than Cali but it's just what we wanted.  We were looking for a larger dog and kept seeing labs on boats around here and on the beach and I have always wanted a lab.  

So Cali is going to be a big (but little in size) sister!  We think she is going to be great with a puppy.  I hope that they love each other as much as we love them.  We are so excited to welcome him to our family!!

St Lucia Vacation 2014

I can't believe that we have been married 2 years now.  Sometimes it seems like it has been a lot longer than that, but on the other hand those 2 years have flown by.  We decided a long time ago that we wanted to go to St Lucia for our next big vacation.  With Q deploying and a lot going on here, we decided that it was a good time to go and just get away and it totally lived up to those expectations.  We went to the Sandals La Toc Resort.  

This vacation was great because it was just us and we got to spend some much needed time together outside of work, chores, cell phones, tv, etc that we have at home.  We enjoy our life very much, but it can become too much and you don't even realize it until you go somewhere with no cell phone service, no tv, nothing!!! It was so great!!!!  

Dinner on the beach for our anniversary night 

View from our balcony.

One really great thing about our relationship that we always cherish is our desire to do similar things.  Q had never been on a horse, and when I was growing up I was exposed to horses a couple of different times and have always loved riding them.  So what better way for Q to ride one for the first time but on vacation.

 The amazing thing about this excursion was that you ride the horses bareback into the ocean.  This was so cool.  We kept saying, "how many people can say they have done this?!"

The food was great in some locations and not so much in others.  We loved almost all of our dinners; the view and the atmosphere makes up for any disappointment in the food.  The one thing I LOVED when we were there was the fresh fruit that they have.  Since they grown most fruits, we were obsessed with their mangos and their bananas!!! You just can't get anything better! I have never eaten so many mangos, bananas, and olives (for some reason I really wanted olives the whole trip). 

One of the main things we did was take a day trip on a catamaran.  This was another thing Q had never done before.  Catamarans are fun because you can lounge the whole time and it is a nice cruise to your location. We took the catamaran to the Pitons which are the famous mountains that St Lucia is known for. 

We rode the catamaran to the town of Soufriere which is where we got a taxi to the hotel that grows their own cocoa trees to make chocolate. 

At Hotel Chocolat

Hotel Chocolat.  Very eco friendly and makes all food with chocolate 

In order to make the chocolate, there was a ton of grinding on the cocoa nibs.  This took a long time and it was SOO hot because there wasn't much of an ocean breeze.  

The cocoa pod that contains all ingredients to make the chocolate. 

Then you spread the chocolate mixture into the molds to make the bars.

You just couldn't beat the view of the Pitons.  They were just amazing jetting out of the water.  No wonder celebrities come here to get away.  It is the perfect place to get away from it all.

 Next up was the mud bath.  The pre-mud bath was a 100 degree tub that you soak in so that your pores open up for the mud minerals to penetrate and really get into your skin.

This part was quite fun.  Q was very thorough on his mud application skills and he took way longer than any other male there.  That's what I get for marrying a very technique based guy :)

Then it was off to snorkeling.  This was very cool because it was at Sugar Beach Bay, which is the same bay that Oprah stays at and where Matt Damon re-did his vows with his wife not too long ago. 

The sunset cruise back to our resort was amazing.  Such an amazing sunset and experience.