Dogs, houses and other fun stuff!

My footprints in the sand.

I know I say this all the time but where does the time go????! Good grief, it's Wednesday already and I still haven't gotten my other Miami post going. Will try to do that this morning before I head up to the stable to see Lil' Bud. I keep one horse up there all the time so that I can ride with my friend Ann who has her horse there. It would be hard trailering him back and forth all the time plus he picks on the ponies. At some point I want him home too and will use two different pastures as I miss having someone here to ride. I used to ride Buddy every night after supper and really enjoyed that.

The ponies have settled in nicely. It's so wonderful to look out my kitchen window and see them contentedly grazing in the pasture. They come running when I give a holler to them knowing I will have a carrot or apple waiting for them. T and D have been doing some riding which is so good for my little fatty Kipper. T is enjoying cantering this summer, I still hold my breath when she is but she is learning more all the time. Mr. D is content to just walk with Daddy walking beside him and Grampie leading Kip, he is more timid about it and we don't push him, he's only five.

When I was getting caught up on Pio*neer Wo*man's blog yesterday and saw the post where her five year old was riding a full size horse out in a huge field and the horse was getting away from him I almost fell off my chair. The poor little kiddo was crying as his horse wanted to catch up with all the other horses and was not acting quiet and gentle like he usually does evidently. Yikes! Thankfully someone came to his rescue before the horse took off at a run. I guess I am just too much of a worry wart for that.

Anywho back to Miami. The first night there we had a function to go to and OF COURSE I forgot my camera while rushing to get ready. DUH! They had characters dressed up in Cuban costumes that were just beautiful. They were mingling with the crowd talking with us as their character would and it was great fun.

The next night they took us down the intercoastal waterway for a dinner cruise. It was a lovely evening so we went to the top so that we could be outside. There were beautiful homes to look at and we were told the prices on them were in the millions. Here are just a few of them.

We went through several draw bridges on our way. If you look closely at the second picture you can see the cars waiting while the bridge is up.

One thing that I really enjoyed while at the convention was a demonstration by some of the top Frisbee dogs in the country. After morning classes they had us assemble at one of the back lawns to see these super athletic dogs. It was so much fun and we were all cheering them on.

On the way out at 5 am the morning we left I had to snap a couple of pictures of the famous Fountainblue lobby with the gold chandeliers and the bow tie tile floor. In it's heyday it used to be the hang out for many famous celebrities like the Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason and a host of others. They have refurbished it recently with a cost in the millions and it showed. Everything was lovely and the staff couldn't have been more pleasant to us. It's kind of fun to come back to your room each night and have the bed turned down and some kind of a small gift on the pillow. Again I must say how blessed I feel to be able to go to these places even though we do a lot of work while there building relationships and making business connections. It's also very nice to be home! :o)

I am way behind catching up with all of you since I got back so will try to get around as fast as I can. I have been super busy with a number of things and it hasn't left much time for blogging. Have a couple of happy ending stories for you next time!! xoxo

PS Have been trying to get around to see everyone and for some reason blogger won't let me open most of your blogs. It just says that it is aborted and then closes the blog. This has happened over and over to most that I have tried to read! Don't know what is up with that but hopefully it will right itself soon!