Jazz's 4th Birthday!

Jazz celebrated her fourth Birthday today at Dog Inc with friends and at home with mum, dad and little sister Dixie. She shared her birthday cake and presents with Dixie. They both made short work of the yummy little doggie cake, even licking up every last crumb from the floor! I can't believe we have already had Jazz for 3.5 years. The time has really flown.

Double Tummy Tag!

We were Tummy Taged by our friends from the AO4 so here are our pics. We tag Nugget, Girasol and Frankie.

Sunday Fleamarket

Every second Sunday in the park there is a fleamarket. It is usually a small market with people from around the area selling toys, books, clothes and other odds an ends. However the weather was great and I guess a lot of people had things to sell so it was quite big this month. One stall that had a swarm of people around it was selling pet stuff, old stock from a pet shop! Well when I finally got near it I managed to pick up a few toys for the girls. Jazz and Dixie like different things to play with and chew. Jazz prefers soft toys with squeakers and white stuffing inside while Dixie prefers something hard such as wooden chew toys. I found the perfect thing for each of them. Jazz was very protective of her new soft squeaky toy while Dixie really sank her teeth into her new chew stick.

Afternoon in the Dog Run with Fei

On the way back from lunch I checked my phone to find that Eve and Fei had called to say that they were in the park so we stopped by the dog run to play with Fei. Jazz and Dixie now both know Fei and count her as one of their friends. Dixie and Fei played around a lot as they are both full of energy. Jazz joined in a few times but preferred to sit by mum and just keep a look out. Our place is right near the dog run so Fei and Eve popped in to say hello to Shin who was busy with his new computer! It down loads and slide shows photos a lot faster than mum's computer. Great for blogging too but I doubt we will get on that computer.

Lunch at a Friend's Place.

We came home after our morning out and had a little rest before setting off again for lunch at a friend's place.
Jazz and Dixie were also invited so I dressed them in their new T-shirts that they received for their Birthdays from Beat and Momo's mama. Before leaving I had been reading AO4's post about the "Bento Box" quilt design their mum had made. You can imagine my surprise when I arrived for lunch to find our host had prepared a lovely home made "bento" for us. Lunch was delicious and Jazz and Dixie were treated to many yummy snacks.

A Morning in the Park with Mum and Dad

The past few days have been very windy and therefore all the pollution has been blown away leaving clear blue skies and a very lovely day today. We both took the girls on their morning walk in the park which ended with a play in the dog run. There were two other beagles there thismorning so we had a mini beagle pack going for a while.

May 5th - Kodomo no Hi (Children's Day)

May 5th was Dixie's 1st Birthday but also Children's Day (previously known as Boys' Day ) here in Japan. It is a national holiday to celebrate the happiness of all children and to express gratitude toward mothers. Families raise carp shaped "Koinobori"flags, one for each boy (or child), and display the traditional Japanese military helmet, Kabuto. It is still very much a celebration for boys but we celebrated with our "children". Dixie is lucky because as long as we are in Japan her birthday will always be a holiday and neither of us will have to work. Jazz's Birthday is coming up next week and she will be at school for her birthday with all her DogInc. friends.

Jazz,Dixie and Fei Play!

Jazz and Dixie were back at Dog INC. today after a week off and were very excited to play with all their friends. Fei was at school today and by the look of these photos, Dixie had a great time playing with her.

Golden Week Adventure - Day 1 - May 2nd

The day of our long awaited Golden Week holiday finally came and we packed our girls into a hire car and started out on our little adventure! The girls travel well in the car in their pet shuttles. Our first stop was at our favourite dog run "Dog Field" which they had completely to themselves! It is a huge space by Japan standards and when released from their leads they really ran rings around each other!
After really tiring the girls out we continued on down to Nagoya where we stayed the night in a downtown business hotel. Surprisingly enough they accepted dogs and even though they had a few rules such as dog and crate weighing 10kgs! and keeping the dogs in their crate at all times we managed to bend them all a little and have an enjoyable evening. The girls and I went in and out of the hotel for toilet breaks undetected as we used the basement/carpark exit. We left today and drove as far as Nagoya so we would be able to make it time for the next days beagle event!

Day 2 - May 3rd - Lake Biwa Beagle Picnic!

We left Nagoya early and headed down to Lake Biwa where we had once picniced with Jazz when she first met her brother, Beat a few years back.
We arrived around 11am to find many of Jazz's friends and relatives already seeting up camp on the green grass beneath the trees looking out across Lake Biwa. Jazz was very excited to be reunited with Beat and Dixie was happy to meet him for the first time. There were so many other beagle friends for Jazz and Dixie to talk and play with. All in all 19 beagles attended a wonderful picnic in great weather! Well that was until we decided to go for a walk along the lake shore and a big thunder storm moved in! Some of the beagles were scared of the thunder, Jazz was not very impressed with the rain. The storm was short lived and cleared up to fine weather again. After we said our goodbyes we headed off to "Pension Sheep" where a few of us were staying for the night. We had dinner with beagles and friends in a dinning area that was attached to a dog run. After dinner we let Jazz and Dixie have a quick run in the dark in the dog run.

Day 3 - May 4th - Tokushima Dog Run

Dixie woke us all bright and early (5.30am) as she wanted to go back and check out the dog run she and Jazz had discovered last night! They chased each other around for a while and then went in for breakfast after which we all went back to bed!! At 8am breakfast was served in the eating area looking out onto the dog run. It was here that I took a pic of a statement the jist of which I really agree with - " Life with a dog all the time. Our wish." All of my life so far has been shared with dogs and it is my wish that they be with me always.



After breakfast we headed off for Shikoku to meet Shin's brother and girlfriend and their two beagles in a very lush dog run. A trip that should have taken us about 4 hours ended up taking 9!!!! due to some very bad traffic jams! Anyway we finally made it and Jazz and Dixie could meet their new friends Rocky and Bobby. Jazz met Rocky for a few days while we looked after him when he was a puppy but neither had met Bobby. Jazz wasn't too keen on either of the boys but Dixie had great fun chasing and being chased by Bobby. We then headed for Shin's home town where we got the girls settled into their temporary home before going out for dinner.

Day 4 - May 5th - Dixie's 1st Birthday

Today our little Dixie turned 1! We started her day with a nice walk among the rice fields surrounding Grandma's house and then we bundled Jazz, Dixie, Rocky and Bobby into the car and took them to play at Rocky and Bobby's place. We celebrated with champange, a nice lunch that Daddy made and snacks for the puppies. After lunch we took all four beagles to a park that was kinda like a dog run! They had fun chasing each other around like mad.
After the bipeds came back from their dinner out, there was cake for everyone!! Daddy had bought Dixie a wonderful doggy cake from Three Dogs Bakery which was divided up among the four guests!

The next day dad drove us all the way home to Tokyo in the pouring rain! The trip took 12 hours!! But waiting for Dixie when she arrived home was a wonderful present from her friend Fei. Dixie just loved the carob dipped rollovers! Fei told her to share with her big sis but they were just too good! Thanks Fei! Dixie also received a very cute T-shirt from Jazz's brother Beat snd his sister Momo. We will model them in a future post.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

The weather was beautiful on Sunday so mum decided we should go and have lunch in the park. Lots of other people had the same idea! Anyway we found our spot on a park bench and daddy went off the buy our "bento" (Japanese lunchbox). We enjoyed our lunch and then continued on walking around enjoying the great outdoors! Speaking of which, we are off on a five day adventure from tomorrow. We will take lots of pics and have lots of news when we get back.