Baynanza, Bon Jovi and FrankenLUKE!!

And part 3 of 3 commences....

Everyone has gone back home and its just me and the hounds again....

back to our quiet little life...

Our first weekend wasn't so quiet though!!

I started off my weekend with Baynanza 2010!!

This is my second year participating in Baynanza. Baynanza is a county-wide bayside clean up! There are over two dozen locations around the county that you can sign up for. Then you just show up on clean up day, grab your trash bags and do your little part to clean up the beautiful South Florida coast line! It's a fun event and a good opportunity to give back.

(and get a free t-shirt)

Over 8,000 people volunteered this year!!

Last year I was all by my lonesome but this year my friend Jackie volunteered her time too

and we had a blast! We signed up to clean one of the islands in the bay

so we got a boat ride out of the deal!

We got to the island and were just floored with the amount of trash!

But we just dug in and started trash pickin'!

Here is a nice pic of the Miami skyline behind my growing bag of trash....

Picking up trash is hard work! So we did make sure to take time to cool our footsies in the bay!

After a long hot morning, our chariot arrived to take us back to the mainland.

Our good deed was done for the day!

After a day of doing good works, I rewarded myself with a BON JOVI CONCERT!!

Our seats were actually behind the stage....

...but the view was incredible! I have never been so close to a concert stage! We were only 25 rows back and had a great view! We could see his facial expressions!! very cool!! All these pics were taken with my iPhone which makes it look like we were farther back than we were and a little grainy.

The concert was AWESOME! Bon Jovi still has it after all these years! He played all the favorite hits: Livin' on a prayer, You give love a bad name, Wanted, I'll be there for you... plus some of his new stuff that is just as good!

In between my adventures, my poor little greyhound Luke found a way to garner some attention for himself... in the most horrific way...

So off to the vet I go AGAIN! The vet even made comment that it's really nice for her to see me so often but not really nice for me! (or my pocket book!) I left him at the vet for a few stitches and when I picked him up... he had turned into FRANKENLUKE!

22 staples and 6 stitches under the staples.

Whatever he ran into in the yard or house, had actually punctured through to his chest cavity. (I could see his lungs, it was gross.) The vet stitched up the cavity hole and the muscle that was cut through, then stapled everything together on the outside.

Like most males when they are sick, Luke turned into a puddle. He wouldn't lie down, rest or relax unless his head was in my lap. And as a good momma, I let him be babied.

To make sure he didn't bust a staple or another dog didn't help him remove them, he was grounded and sentenced to his own little corner of the house when I was away.

He made it through two weeks of healing and got his staples out today. He healed up real nice and will have a pretty little battle scar to show off to the ladies with tales of how that pit bull in Miami tried to attack his pack and he fought it off.

The Parting Shots:

We had a huge storm here and it flipped over some of the patio furniture! Luckily there was no dogs lying on those beds when it fell!!

Sandy investigates the creature that has taken over her beds...

Jasmine, Sharks and Key West, oh my!

Here is part 2 of 3 of my April adventures!

After our week with the kids, we sent them on their way and Kevin stayed on for another week.

So what would any couple do with a week alone in Miami? Go to Key West of course!

Although its only 120 miles from Miami, Key West can take up to 4-5 hours to drive there. This is due to the mostly two lane roads and 35 mph speed limit.

Fortunately, its a beautiful drive with lots of incredible scenery to keep you moving along.

If you've ever seen the movie True Lies, you know what I'm talking about...

We heard Key West is a dog friendly town so we decided to test it out with our best behaved and mindful hound, Jasmine. On the way down, she refused to be regulated to the back seat, so she somehow made her way to the front.

Since the weather was going to be perfect, we decided to do the camping thing.

Using our MWR privileges, we set up camp on the Key West Naval Air Station.

They have AMAZING campsites all with an awesome view of the Gulf of Mexico.

(and you can have 2 dogs per campsite)

Jasmine hung out on her bed for awhile just taking in everything

and laughing at us trying to put up our tent.

Then she got hot and took a dip in the Gulf of Mexico.

Turns out that Key West is INDEED a VERY dog friendly town. Almost every bar and restaurant allows dogs as well as shops, museums and even the Aquarium!!

We took advantage of all of them and of course, Jasmine drew lots of crowds!

The trip to the Aquarium had to be the best. It was weird going to an aquarium with a dog but apparently in Key West it is an everyday event. It was even weirder when they said watch your dog around the shark tank. huh?

The Key West Aquarium is a small aquarium but one of the neatest ones I have ever been too.

Here is Jasmine and I checking out a huge hermit crab from the touch tank!

Jasmine has never seen turtles before

and was just amazed by these creatures splashing around.

She was also captivated by the eel's and fish swimming in the tanks....

hhhhmmmmmm..... what's in this tank?

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!!

(now we know what they ment by watch your dog around the shark tank!)

Outside they had huge tanks with more sea creatures.

One of the tanks held two huge sharks that we got to see being fed.

Jasmine was just glad to be safely behind Kevin and the fence.

One of the coolest things in the Aquarium was this turtle. He had been rescued from the local waters because a motorboat had slashed up his shell so bad he was dying. The Aquarium took him in and nursed him back to health. However, he developed A LOT of scar tissue in the rear of his shell. Scar tissue apparently is very buoyant. So now you have a turtle with a bubble butt that can't sink!! As you can see, he has learned to swim a little differently than normal...

After the Aquarium, we all were a little hungry and so we headed over the Blue Heaven restaurant for some lunch. Super dog friendly like everywhere else.

They are also rooster friendly.

After filling our tummies, we headed out to find the infamous mile marker zero.

And so here we are....

Me at the beginning...

and Kevin at the end....

We ended our time in Key West by drinking Mai Tai's of course, out of pineapples!

The Parting Shot:

We had a great two weeks together but its never enough time. BUT WAIT!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! For those of you who don't know, I will be moving back to VA in July and will finally be living with my husband! woohoo!!