Big News!!

I've got two big news to share with you all. First, it's official now that Tagpi is going to be staying with my family. My Lolo is very fond of Tagpi, and even though we had plans to deliver Tagpi to one of our family friends in the states who would have loved to take him in, my Lolo now can't bear to part with him and he's going to stay with us until his family returns from Japan in a couple of years. Tagpi has always been my best pal, but now I can officially call him my brother!

My second big news is that my family and I now have official word that we're moving to Annapolis, Maryland! This is going to be a very big move for my family, because this will be the first time in 27 years that they'll be living stateside. It will be a very fast move and we should be in the states sometime in December so we've all been very busy sorting through our things. I can't wait to see snow for the very first time. Hopefully I can handle the big weather change. My island always stays quite warm year round so I'm excited about getting my first blast of real winter. The only bad thing is that I won't be able to go swimming as often and so late into the year like I do here.

Just three days ago Tagpi and I got to go swimming in Saguiros again. Tagpi's life vest finally came in last week so we were all eager to see him wear it. Mom was really happy about the life vest, because it made swimming so much easier for Tagpi. His legs are so short that he has to work extra hard to keep afloat, but now that he has his own vest he doesn't have to work as hard to swim. Usually when Tagpi swims his bottom half is underwater and the water is all frothed up around him, because he has to move his legs so fast to get anywhere. Now with his vest he glides quite gracefully through the water. He's still not very good about doing water retrieves, but maybe one day he'll get the hang of it.

This is what I'd look like if I had short legs like Tagpi.

Mom threw my toy really far away this time so I got to swim through really deep water.


After all our swimming Tagpi and I shook out the water. Mom and Dad think I look goofier than Tagpi.


After swimming so far for all those water retrieves I felt kind of tired. Mom and Dad could tell, because I sat around for a bit with my eyes kind of half-lidded. Of course, I only felt tired for about two minutes and then I was ready to play!


After Mom and Dad took off our vests, Tagpi and I had a great time playing and drying off. I played soccer.


And Tagpi played tug with his leash.

Mom says that there's a dog beach near where we'll be moving, but I wonder if it will be as fun as my beach and water holes on my island. I'm always ready for an adventure and I have a feeling that this move is going to be a very big one for my family and I.

Today Mom and Dad took Tagpi and I to the beach. We thought we were going to go for a walk on the newly constructed boardwalk, but we were having so much fun playing at the beach that we didn't go for a walk. I didn't mind though as I got to run around and dig in the sand.

Eventually we did go for a walk along the beach.

I chased the waves and Tagpi didn't seem to mind getting his toes wet.

When I realized that it was time to go home I laid down in the sand and used my sad spaniel eyes to win a few extra minutes of play time. Works like a charm.

Sometime last week we did go for a walk on the boardwalk. Usually we go at night, but this last time we went in the late afternoon. This is what Praia da Vitoria looks like. In the picture you can see the beach we walked on today.

At the beginning of the boardwalk there is a big area with a lot of grass and sand dunes. I like to hang out there to dig in the sand and to do some other things that dogs shouldn't do while walking on the boardwalk.

When we walk the boardwalk Mom and Dad usually let us play on one of the smaller beaches. It was sprinkling on and off that day so I got to pose underneath a rainbow.

Tagpi wasn't expecting the wave to come up so high and he tried to save at least one foot from getting wet.

Before going home, Mom made me pose for a picture. Do you like my windblown look?

Happy Howloween!

This Howloween Mom carved a jack-o-lantern for Tagpi and I. Dad could only find one good pumpkin at the store so we had the share the same pumpkin.


This year Lola bought me a demon costume, Tagpi got to wear a Trick or Treat shirt, and Dad dressed up as Jason from Friday the 13th. Both Tagpi and I helped Mom and Dad greet the kids and Tagpi made sure to alert Dad whenever some candy dropped on the ground.



Since my family and all the other Americans living in the Azores are here with the military, Howloween is run a little different than in some other places. On my island the American kids and their families get to trick or treat for the first hour and then the gates to our housing area is opened to allow all the Azorean children in. The first hour was very organized and calm, but once the gates were opened to allow everyone else in we were mobbed by children. Our normally quiet streets were swarmed by crowds of people and everywhere kids and their parents were pressing against each other in search of houses that were participating this year.

Most were very polite and some even dressed up in costumes. My family thinks it's great that the children here get to experience this holiday, because in their last duty station none of the local nationals were allowed to come on base to trick or treat unless they were someone's guest. We always make sure to get a lot of candy every year, but there are so many people that come that we only ever last about 30 minutes once the Azorean children are allowed in. Here's a sped up video (a little dark & no audio) so you can see how busy our Howloween is. This is about three minutes of kids swarming our front porch so you can imagine how overwhelmed my Mom and Dad were handing out candy to so many kids over a 30 minute period. Tagpi and I were glad that we only had to lie down and look pretty for the kids.

Yesterday Mom and Dad gave Tagpi and I an old volleyball to play with. We went to the basketball court and had a great time with it. Before our evening walk today we went back to the basketball court for more fun time with the volleyball. Here is a video clip of Tagpi and I having fun together:

Tagpi is really great at rolling the ball around to try to keep it away from me. I used my super bark on him, but that didn't seem to work very well so I eventually used my weight advantage to get the ball. Being twice his weight definitely has some advantages. Eventually I let Tagpi have the ball and he went crazy trying to maul the thing to death. We spent about half an hour playing with the ball and were pretty tired after that, but we still had to go on our walk.

We usually go for our walks in a place where there are a lot of open fields so that Tagpi and I are free to roam around and explore. I love all the wide open grassy areas, because it means that I have a lot of places to sniff and roll around in. The big fence in the pictures separates the housing from the Azorean farmland. Every day I get to see and smell the sea,horses, and cows and for the past year I've watched those cows in the picture grow up from tiny calves. Most of them are males so they've probably only got another year before I won't be seeing them anymore... unless it's in my food dish. Tapgi can't wait.

This morning I woke up to clear skies and a peaceful blue ocean and decided that today we should go swimming. Mom and Dad thought it was a wonderful idea and in the afternoon we set out for a swimming adventure in Saguiros. All over my island are water holes carved out of concrete and stone so that people can enjoy the sea with little fear of being dragged out into open water. Today I got to swim in a water hole for the very first time.

Mom would throw out my favorite ring toy with a ball stuffed in the center and I'd swim out to get it back. The water was a little cold, but your body adjusts and the longer we stayed the more the sun warmed the water. Mom and Dad went into the water, but Mom didn't last long after she felt some fish rubbing up against her leg.


Tagpi brought his yellow squeaky ball, but would whine and cry whenever it fell into the water hole. Most of the time he would lean over the edge of the steps and cry for his ball.

Here I am bringing my ring toy back and Tagpi is still whining for his toy.

Eventually he did step into the water to get it.

After a while I took a break from swimming and played chase and fetch with Tagpi.


Then we posed for pictures for my mom.



After two hours playing in Saguiros my Mom and Dad started packing up to leave, but then Tagpi lost his ball to the water again and started to whine and cry. The ball quickly floated too far away for my Mom and Dad to reach so I had to come to the rescue. Tagpi owes me big time.

Yesterday mom and dad took us to Fontinhas to play in the forest. It's not a long drive there from our home and mom was torn about whether we should go to the beach or the forest, but chose Fontinhas since we haven't been there in a while. Here I am still inside the car, but taking in all the smells at the park entrance.

First Tagpi and I went crazy sniffing and marking everything. Then we watched a herd of goats that a farmer had let loose to free feed on the fields. Eventually Tagpi and I ran around in an adjacent field and played fetch. After about half an hour we ended up looking like this:


During my cool down period I also spent a lot of time rolling around in the grass. Here's my attempt at a photo collage like the ones my pals, the Dughallmor Beagles, are so good at making.

We had a great time playing in the forest and I hope it won't be so long before we get to go again!

Last month our very good friend, Stella, nominated one of our photos for photo of the month. About a week ago we found out that our photo won and is now featured on the Dogs with Blogs homepage. Thank you Stella for thinking of us and nominating our photo and thanks to everyone who voted for our picture!

Today we got a package in the mail that mom ordered for us a while ago. I was already pretty excited about the cardboard box so you can imagine how much more excited I was about the beef tendons and beef tracheas inside of the box. Mom split one trachea in half and gave Tagpi and I a piece. Tagpi is a heavy chewer so he gnawed his down in no time, but it took me about 2 hours to finish my piece. I wonder when she's going to let us have a go at the beef tendons?