A Needed Break

Phew!  It's been a busy few weeks.  We installed new yards at the kennels (which left me exhausted and sore), and the change in the kennel has been phenomenal.  The dogs are happier, the staff is happier, the facility is cleaner.  It's wonderful.  However, it's also been a process getting used to everything and all the new changes.  Plus, now that this huge project is done, there are tons of little projects that we're looking at.  If you factor in to that the fact that we're busily preparing for a newborn, we've had very active, tiring lives.  So, we took a break.

Last Thursday, Hans and I left the kennel in the capable hands of our kennel techs, and we drove down to Topsail Island for some much needed r & r.  My dad and his girlfriend, Cindy, also joined us.  Now, many of you may feel that going to the beach in April, when things are still relatively cool and the water is too cold for swimming, may seem illogical, but we don't really go to the beach to swim (although we enjoy that too).  We go to the beach for the dogs.  You see, during the off-season, dogs can be off-leash on the beach.  It's so much fun, we really hate to go any other time.

Honestly, I did expect to spend much more time there sleeping.  I had visions of lounging on the couch for hours at a time, and seeing nothing but the backs of my eyelids for 22 hours a day.  Well, that didn't exactly happen.  Honestly, I'm not quite sure where the time went, but we stayed busy.  It was so wonderful, though.  We stayed busy running errands and enjoying the dogs, and we loved every moment.

I think my two favorite things were our evening walks with the dogs on the beach and taking both Cody and Lollie for their first ever kayak ride across the sound.  We kayaked on over to a little sandbar that's only accessible during low tide, and we let them run and run and run.  The whole time I was amazed at how relaxed Lollie seemed around the water (she actually enjoyed splashing), and I was amused at how much Cody wanted to chase the seagulls.  That boy would actually try to jump in the air to catch them.  It was just perfect.

Look at how happy these guys are!

On Sunday, we came back and jumped right in to work.  Unfortunately, this was made even harder by the fact that I was suffering from some serious sciatica.  Honestly, I could barely walk.  On top of that, in one week I had a kennel tech on vacation, a tech at a funeral, and tech with the stomach flu.  Guess who had to work a lot?  It's only been a few days since we returned, but it already seems like a lifetime ago.  It was so much fun, and we're already planning when we can go back.  Of course, we'll have to wait for a while after Anna's born, but we'll be back as soon as possible.  The dogs are too happy for us to not give them that opportunity.

For now, back to the grind.