The S Family: Girl meets dog

Recently the girl and I traveled south to Williamsburg. First we were greeted by sun and 55 degree heat. Next we were greeted by some barking and then some exuberant full butt wags followed by a few sloppy kisses. Finally we were reunited with on of our favorite canine pals. The second I opened the door to the back seat the Tink started proclaiming "dog!" to the world with a big grin on her face. She thought she would try to help me get her out of the seat by kicking wildly, Memphis thought she would help by wagging wildly. I got us all out of the car and reunited under the (somewhat) warm Virginia sunshine. Martin remained at the door trying to call Memphis back in the house, but let's face it, Memphis has learned when I am in town, she might try to break the rules just a little. Memphis got to help unpack and bring Sophie inside. Then Memphis had to go to her time out spot for not "obeying" Martin. Tink was not too thrilled that poor Memphis got stuck in her cage. After Memphis served her time, Tink spent a good deal of time figuring out how to latch and unlatch the cage door. I think Tink wanted to be prepared to help Memphis escape in the future. Tink then spotted Memphis' dinnerware. She spent a good deal of time carrying around individual pieces of dog food and trying to get Memphis to eat those. Memphis obliged much of the time. I then introduced her to the dog biscuits. Memphis ate those with gusto. Tink then whipped out her sign language skills for "more" and wildly started signing for "more" and pointing to the see through dog biscuit holder. Interestingly I have to coax my child into signing appropriately on a usual basis, however I noticed if she REALLY wants something she will do it on her own. I saw more use of "more" in sign language in reference to dog treats over the course of our visit than I have in her whole 15 months of life combined. At some point I realized we were over feeding poor Memphis. I think the drooled covered pile of dog treats in the middle of the living room were my first clue. Poor Memphis. I know she has a sensitive stomach so I tried to catch this sooner the next time she was given treats. It was an inverse relationship of happiness. It seemed we either had a stuffed full dog and a slightly bored kid or a very hungry dog and a very happy kid shoving treats in her mouth as quick as she could. It's a very good thing Martin and Eleanor were at work. I am sure I would have been in soooooo much trouble for our feeding antics. Shhhh....don't tell them. I am pretty sure if they catch word of this that Martin will install some biometric facial recognition treat scanner that will only dole out 1 treat per hour to visitors. Martin did show off his 4 bladed helicopter thingy too. I noticed all animals and H2's were not fond of this. All S(H)ummers were fond of it. A good time was had by all. Many sloppy kisses were given, many treats were consumed, Alex still rules the house. I concluded our visit by lobbying for an indoor swimming pool to be added to the amenities/renovations list. I have a feeling I will be seeing a new set of stairs and not swimming in a pool for our next visit. It is always a good time. Until next time folks.........Here's my photo diary.
Cheers to all,
Summer (aka: Hummer or H for short) & Sophie (aka: Tink, the girl, H2)

A side note to my family: I will probably have to delete some old blogs soon. It appears my photo addiction is using up most of the "free" space. I am not going to pay to expand the space.

Right after Memphis' time out, She's checking out the jail cell.

Lover the expressions here, after an over exuberant butt wag Sophie got knocked down so she is a little apprehensive.

Gholdilox and the three animals. If it wasn't bad enough that some strange kid showed up to stuff treats down Memphis' throat, she took her squeaker and her bed too. In addition to leaving her scent all over Alex's and Bu's house.

The first of many.

At this point I should have noticed Memphis' expression. I am pretty sure she is saying "oh geez here we go again"

Memphis has figured out that is just her regular food, although she dutifully ate it.

Happiest I have ever seen that little girl wake up.

One of her favorite spots to try to pet Memphis, she liked being up high.

Memphis being cute

I try not to double post on here and facebook, but I like this one.

New day....New treats

This is part of a progression, the next photo shows how proud she was after each feeding. It was hard to capture both in a row.

She was so pleased each time Memphis took the treat.

She kept doing this when I didn't have the camera. I finally got this shot. She just loved her pal so much!

If Sophie could talk, I am fairly certain she wants one of these of her own. She thought eating and drinking out of here was great fun.

The treat fest continues.

Still treating Memphis

It is very unfortunate that I did not look at my photos sooner. Look at that pathetic face, I am sure Memphis is begging me to stop giving the kid treats (and we did after this photo)

Not giving treats leads to mischief. In this case walking her very first victory lap after getting the dog leash to click closed and then promptly placing it over her head.

As if the leash around the neck were not enough danger, lets contemplate climbing the stairs with the leash on.

I took the leash off, she contemplated putting it back on.

As if giving Memphis her own treats were not enough, she had to try feeding her from her booster seat. Hmmm.. I suppose if Memphis is now begging for food at the dinner table we are going to get in trouble for that too. Please, nobody share this with Martin and Eleanor.

A showdown for the bed. Poor Memphis, poor poor Memphis.

Just showing off Eleanor's taste in children's shoes here.

Another of Memphis looking like she barely wants to eat that tasty Milk bone.

It's a bird, It's a plane, No it's Martin's Toy. Not to be confused with Martin's Meats (Seriously Mike & June?)

Martin's flying toy

I believe these are her first whole blueberries. I have spent countless minutes cutting them and Martin gave them to her whole, turns out she can eat them whole now.

One thing she did not share with Memphis was fruit.

Caught her signing more for the blueberries. Martin and I stood there and fed her about as many blueberries as we fed Memphis treats. I got the fall out (literally) from revenge of the blueberries when we returned home. I am sure Martin plotted that one out in advance.