Esmé and Mommy

Walking!

So long, pirate crawl!

Dock Dogs

Is there a better way to celebrate the birth of our nation than by watching dogs jump as far as they can into a swimming pool? We decided there was not, so we spent our 4th of July weekend in downtown Houston watching these talented pups do just that. Dock Dogs is a national championship of dog jumping that takes place every year. The dogs are led onto a raised platform, then their master tosses a toy into the pool and the dog eagerly (or not so eagerly) goes galloping after it and belly flops in the pool. Whoever jumps the farthest wins. Meanwhile the crowd cheers and says 'ahhhhh' to the especially spectacular or especially pathetic jumps.

The park was full of dogs and dog lovers--one of whom is our little Esmé. She smiled and pointed at all the puppies and even pet a few of them.

{photo from here}

{photo from here}

Maybe you can't tell from the pictures, but on this particular day it was hotter than the surface of the sun. It took a lot of self-restraint to keep from belly flopping into that giant pool myself, it was so sweltering! Look at poor baby Esmé's red, sweaty face:
Thankfully there was a fountain at the park where we could play and cool down--sort of. By the time we were all so wet that we couldn't tell if it was from the fountain or from our own sweat, we knew it was time to call it a day. We bid farewell to the wet dogs and took our wet selves home to sprawl out under the A/C.

It was a good day.