Fun at Sakura Dog Run

Today Shin took the car in for its 6 month service and then drove us to Sakura Dog Run in Chiba. Jazz and Dixie really enjoy themselves at this dog run and today was no exception. It was a bit hot today so I soaked their cooling t-shirts in cool water and that made a big difference. There weren't many people there today so we basically had the back dog run to ourselves to play ball and sit in the shade with the girls.

We have been tagged by our beagle buddies over at Dughallmor Beagles so we thought we'd join in. We still have another tag to play about our sleeping positions and will post once we work out how to make a collage for the sleeping pics we have.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Copy the image, rules and questionnaire.

3. Post in your blog.

4. Answer the four questions.

5. Pick 7 friends to share with.

6. Come back to BLoGGiSTaiNFoCoRNeR and leave the URL of your post in order for your blog to be added to the master list.

7. Have fun.

Questions and answers:

1. The person who tagged you? Dughallmor Beagles

2. His or her site title and URL? Dughallmor Beagles

3. Date you were tagged? May 21, 2009

4. Persons you tagged? Cinnamon&Cookie, Noah, River, AO4 and Kess.

Happy 6th Birthday Jazz

Today Jazz celebrated her 6th birthday. I can't believe that its five and half years ago that we brought her home as a cute little puppy to our old apartment that did not allow pets! We moved shortly after getting Jazz and have been happily living with her and Dixie in our current apartment across from the park. The weather wasn't very good today so between rain showers I took the girls for a walk over to Jiyugaoka to the Three Dogs Bakery to buy Jazz a Birthday cake. They told me that the cake I wanted would take about 6 hours to thaw so I decided to go for chicken meat loaf and a smaller fresh cake instead. So for dinner Jazz and Dixie scoffed meat loaf and birthday cake!

Last Weekend

Yes a whole week has past since I meant to post these pictures! This week was super busy with report writing and parent teacher conferences but now that its all over for the year and there are only 3.5 weeks to go I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and can look forward to summer holidays! Anyway last weekend Shin found a new dog run about 2 hours out of Tokyo in a beautiful part of Nikko. This place is a Pet Resort where "animals always come first" and is set in a forest. Some parts have been cleared to make several dog runs. The grass was in need of a mow but we had the whole place to ourselves and the weather was beautiful (29 degrees). We had a picnic lunch and lay in the shade of some big trees. What a great discovery!

Family Reunion Third Day

The 5th of May was Children's Day in Japan, Dixie's Birthday and our last day of our great little weekend reunion! We had a great time catching up with everyone as we missed last year's reunion.

Carp windsocks are flown for Children's day.

Nana at breakfast in the pension.

Jazz and Dixie at breakfast in the pension.

Momo dressed as a bear.

All the beagles at Akarenga Pension from left to right; Poki, Beat, Momo, Momo, Bel, Piero, Veronique ,Cookie, Milk, Dixie (pink) Jazz (blue), Gonta and Nana.

Family Reunion Second Day

After breakfast the second morning we set out early to another nearby dairy farm so as beat the crowds lining up for icecreams. At 10am in the morning we were able to secure a delicious soft serve ice cream each. Jazz and Dixie also enjoyed a taste. Jazz and Dixie enjoyed running around like crazy with me in tow through the lush green grass. As last time Jazz freaked out when she saw the cows. She is so curious but can't bring herself to go near them and starts to spin around in circles!

Shin and I both nearly lost our whole icecreams to Jazz whose favourite food in the whole world is icecream!

It was safe to hand my icecream over to Dixie who just licked her share nicely.

Jazz's uncle Gonta and aunty Momo.

Momo, Milk and Cookie all waiting patiently for their icecream.


Jazz and Beat

For lunch we went to a soba noodle cafe with outdoor seating just perfect for our doggy companions. We were joined by two more beagles here, Piero and his new sister, Veronique.

Jazz eyeing the soba noodles

Jazz and Dixie sharing a soba noodle.

Piero

Piero's little sister Veronique and Bel

Jazz and Dixie looking not too pleased with all the posing for photos.

After lunch we drove to a near by lake and walked all around it with all 13 beagles! There were many "how cute" comments and many people asking if they were family etc. The beagles enjoyed all the attention and the good smells around the lake. After that we drove up into the mountains hoping to catch a glimpse of a still snow covered Mt Fuji but it was too cloudy! We stopped in a a souvenir place and bought some fresh milk for the girls. Then we headed down the mountain and back to the pension were after dinner we celebrated Dixie's 3rd Birthday and Poki and his sister Cookie's 2nd Birthday.

Trying to get a group shot with Dixie not really cooperating!
View across the lake to the mountains in the distance.

A beagle walk along the board walk.

Family Reunion First Day

Wow already a week has gone by and I am just now posting the pics from Jazz and Dixie's family reunion. Last Sunday we set out to early as we knew there would be a lot of holiday traffic. Surprisingly we made good time and arrived in time to have lunch with Beat (Jazz's brother), Momo and Poki, Bel, Momo and Milk and Cookie. After lunch we visited a local farm hoping to have an icecream made from farm fresh milk. Well everyone else had the same idea so we decided not to wait in the long long line but went to buy some other farm produce. After that we went for coffee at a cafe by a local lake before heading on to the pension we were staying at. They have a dog run out the back so Jazz and Dixie could play with some of their beagle relatives in there. We all rested before dinner in the pension dining room complete with all the beagles!

Momo, Beat and Poki

Momo, Bel, Dixie, Jazz, Momo, Beat and Poki.
Jazz and her brother Beat.

Poki and Beat at lake side cafe

Happy Birthday Dixie!

We just got back from a great weekend away for our Beagle Family Reunion and I have many photos to sort through before writing about what a great time we had and all the things we did. But I just had to do this post quickly as it is a very special day today - our little Dixie turned 3 today! We celebrated her birthday at the restaurant in our pension with 11 other beagles, a black lab and a papillion. Beat, Jazz's brother's mum ordered a cake for Dixie, her youngest beagle, Poki and his sister Cookie. We sang happy birthday and then the cake was cut and shared amongst all the guests. Being beagles the cake was gone in seconds!