Balls rule at the dog park

The pups love chasing the rubber balls around the dog park!  Bolts usually steals them and loves to play keep away from the big labs.  He won't relinquish until he gets distracted by some funky smell :)

Flash Back Friday - mustache!

Chris had a mustache early in our relationship!    (I'm glad he doesn't have it anymore :))

Turtles & squirrels!

 Turtles are quite popular in the ponds in our area  And squirrels are popular in the trees.  Bolts loves it when a squirrel shows up at the dog park.  This time he followed it - right up the tree!

 Luckily there are picnic tables that I can stand on to get him down.  Crazy pup!

Boca Grande

 We took a drive and checked out a nearby island - Gasparilla

 Temps were in the low 80's - it was a perfect day

 Lots of people bicycling on the bike path

 and riding in golf carts

 The one beach we checked out was lovely, and dogs were allowed!!

 'downtown' was pretty busy, but we did find a yummy lunch place

 All the blue water is so inviting!!

Dinner with friends & family

 We were headed to dinner with my mom's friend and walked through the ending of an art festival

 We still saw some pretty interesting pieces

 and dinner with Sandy was fun :)

 It was a full moon!

 Another evening we met my cousins for dinner

Before dinner, we walked around 'restaurant row' near the UTC mall

 We haven't seen Jill & Steve much as they have been so busy so I'm glad we were able to find a date meet for dinner

Hiking the celery fields

 The old celery fields are just down the street from my mom's villa.  It's a beautiful place to walk, and a big hill to climb too!

 When they stopped harvesting celery here, they turned the area into a beautiful park.

 It was a little windy the day we went.  Bolts had fun with all the smells.

Board meeting for the villa

 I attended a board meeting with my mom.  They were doing a presentation on redoing their sidewalks.  It was a full house!

Flash Back Friday - Chris' Land Cruiser

Chris has always liked cars and trucks.  This was a Toyota Land Cruiser that he had right after high school.   - in the late 80's.

Shell Show!

 My mom's neighbor is an art teacher and loves to dabble with shells.  She was in charge of the shell show this year, so we went to support her.  It's amazing what they can do with shells!

Flowers

 Shells for sale

 Shell art to be judged

 Beautiful shell bird

 Picasso painting done in shells

 Tshirt and shorts

 Vase decorated with shells

 Trunk covered in shells (in the background, an artist did a copper swimsuit in shells)

 A good turnout - and a fun and interesting afternoon.