Monday, June 3, 2013

Birthday at Doggie Disneyland

Can you guess where Athena likes to visit more than any place in the world?  It's not the park, and it's not doggie daycare either.  Athena LOVES the beach!  Of course, she didn't like it the very first time that we visited eight months ago, but now she's obsessed and loves to go to the beach.  So, we spent the past four days in Lincoln City, Oregon relaxing and celebrating a very special girl's second birthday.


We actually don't know Athena's official birthday because she was originally admitted into the shelter as a stray, but when we write her birthdate on official documents, we always say that she was born on June 1st.  It was only fitting that we turned our weekend beach getaway into Athena's Birthday Celebration at Doggie Disneyland!

The gremlin didn't particularly enjoy the party hat as much as we did...

Flyball freestyle:

Over the weekend we made it a point to bring Athena down to the beach as often as possible to do what she loves best.  Each day we played fetch at least three times (morning, afternoon, and evening...yes, she's spoiled).  Athena turned the beach into her personal flyball practice course using the washed up logs as her hurdles and the water as her spring loaded box.




Personal cabana:

This time we finally brought the appropriate equipment for hanging out on the beach, complete with a sport tent and chairs.  Athena treated the tent like her personal cabana and expected us to dote on her every need...like when she barfed in the tent four times because of how much sand she inhaled during the flyball session and we had to clean it up...four times.

Pre-barf...


Dining & shopping:

A birthday weekend wouldn't be complete without some good food and some decent shopping.  Athena partook in both throughout the weekend.  She particularly enjoyed our trip to Newport where she was able to dine with us outside at Rogue Brewery and make googly eyes at the other four dogs who were also dinning on the patio with their humans.

Dining at Rogue

We also spent some time paroozing the shops in Depoe Bay (one of which let Athena inside to check out the Vera Bradley selection!).

Mother-daughter time in Depoe Bay!

Athena also shopped with us at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Lincoln City where many stores allowed her inside (much like our favorite Woodburn Outlets!).  When she wasn't allowed inside of certain stores because she's too big to fit in my purse, Athena got in some good people watching (and new Vera Bradley modeling).

Future Vera Bradley model

Meeting 'Doggie Friends' in Old Navy

Napping is for wimps:

Surprisingly, Athena rarely napped during the birthday celebrations.  She played and played and played some more and lived it up just like any two year old would do while at doggie Disneyland!  Here are some other pictures from our weekend that show just how much fun Athena had:







Here's to the terrible twos (let's hope that the doggie twos are different than the human twos)!

Happy (pretend) Birthday, Bean =)

26 comments:

  1. Great pictures and a happy occasion. Happy Birthday, Miss Athena!

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  2. Looks like all of you had a total blast. I seriously love going to Rogue with the dogs (they promised that next time, when their camera isn't broken, my dogs can get their own Rogue I.D. cards!), and always try to get them something off the doggie menu. It seriously looks like Athena had about the best birthday any dog could want!

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    1. They have a doggie menu?! I can't believe I missed that!

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  3. Looks like she had an AMAZING weekend! Love the shots of her flying over the logs in particular, but she's beautiful in all of them. Happy Birthday Athena! Keep up the good work!

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  4. Happy birthday Athena!!! So glad you had such an awesome time. In the shopping pics, did your mama's bag turn into a pad for you to pose on?

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    1. That special mat that Athena is posing on is actually the Park It Mat from Peach Industries =) We are going to do a review of how fabulous it is next week!

      http://www.peachindustries.com/park-it-mats/

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  5. Happy Birthday! Love the jumping over the log photos, and the birthday hat is too much. It's so tall!

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  6. Happy 2nd Birthday Athena!!! Oh my gosh, what a wonderful birthday you had, too. You look like you're in heaven running around and playing fetch on the beach :) Oh Athena, I am so glad you got such a wonderful family!

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  7. Fabulous photos! A big happy birthday to Athena! (and it may be a pretend birthday, but in my book it's as real as it gets. Celebrate away! We don't know our girls "real" birthday either, but figure they will be two in October)

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  8. I would love to do this with my dog, but I am afraid he will become to distracted by everything and won't come back when we call him. Any tips?

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    1. If your dog is still working on coming when called, I would keep him on a long training lead while at the beach. That way he can have a bit of freedom while still keeping him connected to you. Athena isn't the type of dog who likes to go out exploring without her people, so luckily she sticks close to our side on the beach.

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    2. Thanks we will try! Love you blog!!

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  9. Happy Birthday Athena, how different your life could have been if Mom and Dad hadn't found you. I'm just astonding at how athletic you are and Mom should be sending some of these pictures to an acting agent, I think you have star quality and the very least you should be in calendars. I'd buy an Athena calendar!!

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  10. Love it! She looks like she had the best birthday ever!

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  11. Interesting...Kaya & Norman seem to have met the same dog at Old Navy in California a few weeks ago:/ Anyways...happy birthday to Athena! Kaya just turned 2 also and she celebrated with a session at the beach with her ball also! Athena is so athletic, looks like those flyball classes have been paying off, her jumps look awesome!

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  12. Awwww! First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THEAN! Secondly, those photos are amazeballs. Third, in my next life I want to come back as one of your dogs! ;)

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  13. Aw... what great pictures and a great celebration, she really loves her o-shin. Happy Birthday Athena!

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