MACINTOSH MONDAY

Our fifth wedding anniversary was this past Friday and we decided to take a day trip, with Macintosh, up to Kernville which is on the Kern River. We thought we'd do a bit of hiking and spend some time playing about in the river. It was so beautiful up there and its definitely somewhere we want to go again. 

With all the time playing about in the river we managed to get a curious Macintosh to swim! You see Macintosh doesn't mind splashing about in water but as soon as it touches his tummy he gets really freaked out and usually runs away from the water. He loves going to the beach but will only paddle so far into the water. 

He's a beagle so they aren't designed to love water but I was concerned that he couldn't swim as its something he'd never tried. I just didn't want a situation where he fell into the water and panicked and drowned. I know thats the worst case scenario but thats what I always end up thinking! So with the opportunity for us to play in the river too, we decided to see if Mac could in fact swim.

What we discovered was that with my persuasion/force he could!

He got so confident/desperate to get out of the water that at times he was stretching the extent of his lead! Andrew couldn't walk as fast as Mac was swimming and the water wasn't deep enough for him to be swimming too.

By the end of the day Macintosh had thoroughly proved to us that if he ever fell into a river he would be fine and he had also proved that swimming was not his favourite thing to do. He looked beyond fed up by the end of it. He was even pulling away from the river in the hopes that we wouldn't make him swim again!

Still I'm a happy dog mummy knowing my boy can swim! 
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BIG BEAR LAKE

At the beginning of this week Andrew and I escaped to Big Bear Lake for two days of hiking. It was a last minute trip (hence no Macintosh Monday post) and we enjoyed every second of it. The lake itself is about two and a half hours south-east of us and is situated high up in the San Bernardino mountains. In the summer time its filled with families enjoying water sports and chilling by the lake and in the winter its filled with skiers or snowboarders. This means that when we were there the place was relatively quiet which was perfect for us. 

We did two shorter walks each day, both by the lake and two longer hikes. The first hike consisted of us scrambling up what will be a ski slope once the snow appears. It was a designated hiking route and we did see some other hikers but it did feel a bit extreme. Here Macintosh had his first encounter with a chipmunk and he the subsequently spent the rest of the time there hunting for another! The second hike we went on the Cougar Crest trail which linked up Big Bear Lake to the Pacific Crest trail. It gave us amazing views and was a nice rocky route. We saw lots more hikers here including some in interesting attire!

We stayed overnight in a Motel 6 which is not a classy place at all, however it was cheap and allowed us to crash out with Mac which was ideal. The second half of day two we did meet up with one of Andrew's lads from work and his girlfriend. It was great to get to know them better and we really enjoyed hanging out with them. 

Here are a few pictures of our time at the lake.

MACINTOSH MONDAY

Macintosh is a beagle. Beagles typically do not enjoy water and do not like things such as beaches. However Macintosh defies this beagle norm (as he does many others!). He absolutely loves the beach. This past week we went to Ventura and went to Habor Cove beach. Yes I spelt it the American way, its shocking I know. Whilst on the beach Macintosh had so much fun. He spent a lot of time in the water with his buddy, my Dad. He loved running from the waves as they came crashing in, but then would go straight back out to smell their surf before having to run in from the next wave. It was hilarious to watch! He would then chill out on the beach after his water capers. He seemed to get covered in sand, including in and around his mouth but that didn't appear to bother him. 

Here's a few pictures showing him enjoying life at the beach. 
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FAST BOAT

The previous week some of the guys had an opportunity to do the state boat safety course so we could hire boats out. This saturday a group of us hired a boat to got for a little spin around Chocowatchee Bay, especially as the weather was perfect for it. 

The Bay has some quite shallow sandbanks around the side so was perfect for anchoring up and going for a dip. The water was very cold but crystal clear so managed to avoid the jelly fish! We had a small fly past from some vintage warplanes who were heading east along the coast.

I had a short go at the wheel, and thoroughly enjoyed it as you can see from my silly smile!

Thankfully you don't see the rather funky shorts I am wearing. lol. I love the feeling at the end of the day of a glowing face from the wind and sun after being on an adventurous day. We finished the day with a home-cooked pasta meal laughing at the photos and videos we had taken.

Here are a few snaps.

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