Ocean City "Sunfest"

We went up to Ocean City last weekend to visit my dad. It was also the weekend of their annual Sunfest celebration. Sunfest is a great event to visit. Lots of vendors, food and good fun! Below is the kite show that was going when we arrived.... it was so neat! Those are all kites, no balloons!

We of course took the hounds. We found us a good dog friendly hotel. That's my sister, Kevin and my sister's boyfriend John. (and of course the hounds)

We got up early on Sunday to watch the sunrise and give the dogs a taste of the beach.

This was their first honest to goodness real ocean water beach! We actually had some surprising results!

The first surprise was that Sandy LOVED it! Once we showed her that the waves wouldn't hurt her, she just got right in!

Here's a great pic of her watching the sunrise........

Jasmine on the other hand.... our water dog would have NOTHING to do with that water that kept chasing her.....

And Luke... well.... no surprise there.....

The kids did enjoy the nice soft sand in their toes..... and the seagulls drove them crazy!!

They even made a friend......

Internet Access and Beach Bums....

HOORAY FOR VERIZON!

So we signed up for that wireless PC broadband service from Verizon.... now our Mango is connected to the WWW!!! It is so nice to have Internet service in the comfort of our own boat. We get great reception even inside! It was getting pretty tiresome going to McDonald's and Starbucks to get connected! and then spending 2 hours there doing everything we needed to do! We do EVERYTHING online so we have felt so lost... for so long.... BUT LOST WE ARE NO MORE!!! I love technology!

Now for the Beach Bums!!!

We are lucky in the fact that there is a dog park and dog BEACH just minutes from the boat. We have taken the kids to the dog park quite often but we finally ventured down to the dog beach.... and oh my my! It was like a bunch of kids playing down there!! All the dogs were just running and splashing and chasing each other and swimming! It was really awesome to see!

(my lens got smudged and I did not have anything to clean it with so bear with me on the foggy pics!)

Jasmine jumped right in, of course. She LOVES the water!

And it wasn't too long before she made some friends and started a game of tag with the little white dog. She chased this little white dog the whole time and that little dog loved it! Jasmine loves playing with little dogs! and she plays so nice and gentle with them! It's really cute to watch.

Sandy wasn't so sure about this whole, open water beach thing.




Wha? Did you see that? It was an Alligator!! Alligator's eat greyhounds you know!

She finally calmed down and decided to go for a swim...

She even laid down for a bit....

Luke wasn't so sure about this beach thing either.... He just stood and took in his surroundings for awhile....

....but being the loner and adventurer he is... he went off on his own walkabout through the bush...

While on his walkabout, he got too close to the edge of the marsh..... slip slided down a mud hill and plop! into the water! Now this was his first time ever being totally immersed in water! Kevin had been following him to make sure he did not wander too far and was happy to see that Luke came up swimming! Luke was pretty panicked at first! but then you could see his mind working and realized that hey! " I'm not sinking! and when I move my legs like this..... I move!" So Luke swam himself back to shore like a pro! Here he is with Kevin after his adventure!

Meanwhile........ Sandy decided she had enough and went back up on land to hang out with my sister and my Dad.

Jasmine finally slowed down (for a second) and I got a good pic of her looking out over the Bay.

I tried to coax Luke back into the water but after his previous swim he was not having that!

All I got was a snuggle and a pathetic "please momma! Don't make me go back in there!" look...

At least we don't have to worry about Luke jumping off the boat! HA!

(Jasmine on the other hand...)

....And here the kids are.... all nice and tired.....walking home after a long day at the beach....

Welcome, Aboard!

Home at last! A Internet connection is not as easy to find as one would think! We are going to be trying out the PC card for wireless Internet from Verizon. So hopefully it will work out and we can get back on-line!! I miss the Internet!

Here is our new vessel slipped up at our new home in Annapolis!

We got the dogs on and they are adjusting well! Jasmine jumped right on and you would think she has lived on a boat all her life! Sandy took a little TLC but she got on and settled in. Luke... well our boy Luke took a little bit of time. He was shaking so bad he could hardly stand up! But after some patience and time, he jumped on. That's our Luke though. Everything is easy does it with him!

But we got them all on and here they are lounging in the cockpit getting used to the movements of the boat in the water.

After awhile, Jasmine and Luke ventured out to the deck......

Here is a great pic of Sandy looking oh so pretty in the cockpit!

Getting them on the boat was one thing. Getting them down into the cabin was another. They fared well and we got a few good shots of them lounging around in the cabins!

Here is my favorite pic! After an adventurous first day on the boat... the hounds took over our bed and snuggled up together for a good nights sleep!