Bermuda, agility and life in general...

Simply put...Bermuda is one of THE most beautiful places on this Earth! When you fly in, you see the white-roofed houses all painted in different colors of pastels. It is so pretty! The water is turquoise blue and oh so inviting. And to think I was headed there with my husband and my dog!! We stayed with friends I had made on a previous trip...Frank and Kathy. They have a 200 year old house with an incredible view of the ocean off their back patio. It was spectacular!

We arrived on a Wednesday and within 3 hours of touch down, my husband was off diving and I was off with my friends practicing agility on their beautiful agility field. Oh, and we had already had a dark 'n stormy or two! :) Five of us traveled from the states to show our dogs, so we enjoyed a lazy afternoon with our dogs and our Bermuda buddies. At night, we had dinner at one of the Bermudian's houses.

Thursday I went shopping in Hamilton and at the Dockyards with agility friends, Darlene and Jane. We had fun "power shopping." We ended up missing two ferry's because my watch was 5 minutes too slow! :) My husband went diving with Frank again, though the water was a bit choppy. That night we had dinner at the Bermuda aquarium. I got to pet a grouper (!) and dance with a skeleton (long story). Many rum swizzles and dark 'n stormies were available.

Friday we woke up to a pancake breakfast cooked by Frank and Kathy. We then headed to the show site (the Botanical Gardens) for the first day of the show! The first day was the Team event. I was on a team with Jane and her dog Tizzy and Rose and her dog Kelly (Rose is from San Diego but has been living in Bermuda with her husband for the past 8 years). After the first two classes (there are 5 total) our team (Two Tollers in a Tizzy) was in last place. By the end of 4 classes, our team was in 1st place!! The last class is Relay in which all three members of the team are running at the same time. All of our dogs ran clean and we ended up winning the gold and qualifying to run in the National competition in Phoenix, AZ!! :) I was elated! :) Friday night we went to Rose and Jonathan's for a wonderful dinner and swizzles!

Saturday we woke up to rain...LOTS and LOTS of rain. It rained all day. Despite that, Jam and I ended up earning 3 of the 7 qualiying scores towards our first USDAA title! She Q'd in Snooker, Jumpers and Pairs. We crashed and burned in the Grand Prix, but that's OK. She is a baby dog after all! Saturday night we were supposed to have a beach party, but the rain prevented us from doing so. We ended up at a Bermudian's house for BBQ chicken, burger and dogs...and more swizzle! :)

Sunday it was misting in the morning, but then cleared up by afternoon. Jam and I earned 2 more Q's towards our title!! We Q'd in Gamblers and Standard. She needs only 2 more Standard legs at the Starters level to earn her Agility Dog (AD) title! :) I couldn't be more proud of my baby dog. She is awesome!! After the show, Jane and I walked the dogs down to a small beach and let them play in the water. Jam barked and bit at the water and had a blast! Sunday night was the big farewell party. More swizzle, stormies, good food and dancing with the skeleton! :)

Throughout the weekend, my husband was diving and eventually earned his Advanced Open Water Scuba certification!! He was thrilled to be able to do so...especially since his cert. card will say he did it in Bermuda! :)

We left, grudgingly, on Monday. We had a nice leisurely morning of sitting on the back patio and taking in the view before departure. Leaving was so hard, but I also missed my girls and was anxious to get back home to them.

We came home (to Wisconsin) when they were asleep. The next morning, Dani opened our bedroom door and her face just lit up! :) Erin was right behind her. It was Erin's 3rd birthday so we had a small celebration with cake and presents. We flew back to Phoenix in the afternoon. My parents were thrilled to be able to spend a birthday with one of their granddaughter's!

All in all, the trip was a HUGE success for everyone. I got to show Jam in her first USDAA show and qualify for Nationals, my husband earned his scuba cert., my girls had a ball in Wisconsin, and my parents got some much-needed/wanted bonding with the girls. We didn't get to go for that romantic walk on the beach, but that's OK...it'll give us another reason to go back!

Holy Smokes!

I went to the vet last night to get Jam's International Health Certificate. I had called on Monday to be sure they had it. After some searching, they assured me that all was well and they did have it.

I got there last night and the first thing we noticed was that Jam's microchip may be of the wrong type. On the instructions I had, the microchips listed did not include Home Again, which is Jam's microchip. We had maybe a little panic, but I was pretty sure it would be OK.

The vet then brought in the health cert. and said that this was a state cert., that they didn't have the International certs. I FREAKED! I told her that I had called before coming in and was assured that they did indeed have the cert. I needed. She said she'd go look for it, but I didn't have a high degree of confidence. I called another vet that I had frequented before and they told me they did have what I needed and I could walk in last night...to a tune of $132 JUST to walk through the door!

Meanwhile, my vet came through the door and said "we found it!" Thank goodness! We got it all filled out and faxed to the Bermuda government. They sent me on my way 1.5 hours later. I called Bermuda this morning to be sure all was in order, and thankfully, everything is good and I should have my import cert. to get Jam into the country by today! :)

But wow...talk about a rollercoaster!!!

Prepping for our Bermuda trip!

Getting a dog into Bermuda is no easy task! Humans need only a passport...dogs need:

• an import certificate
• an international health certificate
• a rebies vaccine given more than 30 days ago, but within a year
• a microchip
• a tick/flea treatment from the vet (not from the owner)

It's crazy!! Luckily a friend of mine has been through this process a couple times and gave me all the information I need to safely transport Jam into the country!

Now...I've got to get Jam ready for competition! Today she "comes of age" for USDAA-style agility. Dogs have to be 18 months old in order to compete...Jam's 18 month birthday is today! Our training is sporadic at best. I have limited equipment to train on in my backyard and I have 2 kids to work around! We head to class once a week, but as any agility enthusiast knows, you need more than once a week practices before competing so you won't be laughed off the course! :) She's competed successfully in a few trials now, so there is hope!

The girls are anxiously awaiting their airplane trip to Wisconsin. Every day they ask if it's time to go on the plane...and when they're going to Build-a-Bear with Grandma and Grandpa! They've already packed their backpacks (Dani has a Dora pack, Erin has a Hello Kitty pack) with breakfast bars and raisins for Grandma and Grandpa...oh, and a few toys too! They can't wait to get on the plane and have it go fast, fast, FAST into the sky!

Jeff is researching dive sites in Bermuda and I'm looking forward to simply having fun! As a friend said, this is the ultimate vacation...agility, kid-free, beaches, tropical drinks...all in a romantic setting...couldn't ask for any better!

Lots going on

Seems like time passes so quickly. Since my first post, Jam was in two more shows, though I was unable to compete in both days of the AKC show as I came down with pneumonia the second day of the trial. Regardless, Jam once again did awesome in both shows and came away with some great ring experience and a few Q's!

Meanwhile, the girls are getting bigger and cuter. Erin's personality is really starting to shine! She can be so cute one minute, then full of the devil the next! She turns 3 in a month. We'll be in Wisconsin the morning of her birthday, then on a plane headed back to Arizona that evening. Dani is amazing us with her academic skills! The Nanny has her doing addition and subtraction in her head! She LOVES this stuff and is soaking it in like a sponge.

Our trip to Bermuda is fast approaching! We leave May 15 to drop the girls off in Wisconsin, then Jam, Jeff and I board a plane for Bermuda. While there, Jeff will dive and I will show Jam in a USDAA-style show! We'll also do some site-seeing and party with the ever-friendly Bermudians. We are so looking forward to it! The Bermudians are fabulous people who really know how to have a good time.

Jeff had double hernia sugery on Friday the 13th (April) of all days! The surgery went well and he is almost completely recovered. He still has some minor issues, but for the most part, he's doing well.

We also found out that Erin needs to have her adnoids and tonsils removed! We've scheduled the surgery for the week after we return from Bermuda (the day after Memorial Day actually).

I'm hoping to keep this updated fairly regularily, so sit back, relax and enjoy!