Day 3 in Florida

Day three we started out our day by going to this awesome pancake house where you cook your own pancakes on a grill on the table!  Serena got to share under the table with Gabriel.  Gabriel thought Serena was very pretty. 

Sarah really excited about the pancakes and OMG were they AMAZING!

The pancake house was at a state park with a natural spring.  It was so pretty!!

Deb was so nice and showed us all around the spring after breakfast.  There was a play park there and Gabriel really likes slides.  Deb took him up and wheeeeee!!

Next was Serena's turn.  She wasn't so sure about this game.  

The Spanish Moss was so pretty:

Gabriel and Serena on their "first date":

After breakfast we went to MAWP for puppy conformation testing.  This woman checked every puppy and told us what she was looking for and what was good and bad about each puppy.  It was very very interesting!

After conformation testing we did temperament testing.  You take one puppy at a time and put it in a strange area and have a person they don't know perform the tests.  My favorite test was opening an umbrella.  You open the umbrella then drop it to see if the puppy run away or if it comes up to inspect it. All the puppies except Crysta came up to inspect it.  Crysta took off across the area and leaped onto the pen and almost succeeded in getting out.  Poor puppy!  She did great on the other tests though :-).  

After temperament testing we had some time so I asked if we could do Serena's Canine Good Citizen test.  It involves things like walking nicely on leash, greeting strangers, walking through a crowd, staying and being called back and handing her leash off to a stranger and leaving Serena for 3 minutes.  Serena passed and got her badge!  Yay!!

After a great lunch Sarah, Serena and I headed back to Deb's.  We changed and Sarah and I went to Daytona beach!  We walked around downtown Daytona and had fun looking at all the palm trees and flowers and green stuff!!

Pretty harbor:

Sarah on a stone bridge in a garden:

In a waterfront gazebo on the phone with Laurel:

After exploring downtown we headed off to the beach!   It was pretty and the water was warm!  We didn't wear swimsuits so we just put our feet in and frolicked in the sand.

On the way home we stopped to see the Daytona International Speedway.  It is freaking huge!!  We just ran around the parking lot and took pictures to say that we had been there.

We went back to DeLand for dinner.  We went to a cute little resaurant and sat on the patio.  After such a busy (but awesome) day Sarah and I had a beer and chilled out.  We each got fish of different varieties and enjoyed the warm weather and watching all the halloween people walk by.  Then it was time for bed!

Day 2 in Florida

We started out super early again on Saturday.  This time we went to a Halloween thing at the Daytona Obedience Club.  There were tons of booths and dogs.  Serena came along with all 5 puppies and Bianca, Riley and Balto.  Part of the event was a costume contest.  I brought some costumes for the puppies because what is cuter than puppy in a costume?  hehehe:

Serena was dressed up as a bumblebee and I had two flower costumes for two of the puppies.

Serena, Bianca and Riley:

Another part of the event was a "best trick" contest.  Serena showed her "bang bang" play dead trick.  She won!  She was given two squeaky toys which she was super happy about.  

What a cute bumblebee:

At the end of the day we started packing up.  The puppies were in a pen. They were so tired we were able to pick up the pen and they didn't even move:

After the event we met up with more MAWP people at Chili's.  We fit Howie, Harley, Copper, Tabs, Serena, Riley and Bianca under the table.  The smallest dog was Serena.  The look on people's faces when we got up to leave and 7 full grown dogs came out.  It was like a clown car!  haha.  

Tabs and Copper really like eachother:

After a nap Sarah, Serena and I were ready to explore downtown DeLand.  It was the day before Halloween so they shut down the main street and all the shops opened for trick or treating.  We had fun looking at everything.  What a cute town.  

We stopped at the Boston Coffeehouse for coffee.  Everyone there loved Serena.  The boss asked if Serena wanted some chicken.  I expected a little piece but nope he gave her a full container of grilled chicken that smelt awesome.  He also made her a balloon dog with "We love you buddy" on one side and "Boston Coffeehouse" on the other.  So cute.  

We walked around town some more with our coffee and looked at all the cute kids and their costumes.  Serena loved walking around with us and wasn't freaked out at all by all the kids in costumes.  One of my favorites was this little boy dressed as a spider.  His parents were super nice and let us take a picture of him with Serena.

After coffee we went over to Chris and Val's house and had an amazing dinner while Serena played around with the pack of dogs.  About halfway through dinner Serena went to say hi to a dog named Tink:

Tink is 4lbs and has 4 teeth.  She went "rawr" at Serena and poor Serena jumped 5 feet backwards, landed on her shoulder and her head and slid across the floor with her butt up.  She got up and looked all upset that we were laughing at her.  Tink wandered off like nothing had happened.  The rest of the trip Serena was petrified of Tink.  What a funny way to end an awesome day!

Day 1 in Florida

We started out right away Friday morning!  Our first two stops were two nursing homes in DeLand.  We took three of the puppies and Serena. The residents loved cuddling with the puppies and Serena really enjoyed showing off her skills.  Serena has never been to a nursing home so I wasn't sure how she would do with the new smells and the walkers and canes.  Of course she proved me wrong and was delightful!

Someone chilling in Val's arms:

Sarah helping a resident hold a puppy:

Serena made lots of new friends:

After the nursing home we went to lunch at this great chicken place.  Serena loved having other dogs there with her!  Then we went back to My Angel With Paws and let everyone run around.  The puppies were so happy to get out and play.

We also got to meet Domino the resident donkey:

Someone got into the mud:

Awwwwwwww:

After hanging out at My Angel With Paws we went for the Friday walk around town.  This is when we take the dogs to places around town and work on service dog commands. I left Serena at MAWP and took Jack instead.  She was not happy about this but after our busy day she was exhausted and Jack was so happy to have someone work with him.  Sarah took Howie, Chris took Tabs and Val took Riley.  It was super fun!  We worked on "step" and "jump on" and just walking around in a good heal and ignoring things.  Jack was so happy to be out and about.  It was very weird working with another dog other than Serena.  Jack is just that much bigger than Serena that maneuvering him around is completely different.  We slowly were starting to figure each other out.   What a great way to start a relationship with him!

Chris and Howie working on a "jump-on" and a "down":

Jack so happy to work!

After the walk around town we all went to a pizza place named Tom's.  MAWP goes there all the time and they are awesome.  We got to meet a bunch of other MAWP volunteers and dogs.  I can't exactly remember how many dogs... about 8 or so.  It never gets looking under the table and seeing a dog pile just sleeping.  Love it!  After a lovely dinner and conversation we headed back.  Sarah and I were exhausted!  Jack was happy to have done his job and Serena was so happy that I came back!  We went to bed and got ready for another awesome day!