mini reunion

So I dragged myself out of bed this morning bright and early, against my better judgement. Not quite enough sleep. Drunken teenagers having fun in the park next door at 2:30am. Full moon shining through the window. But I managed to get up and out anyway because I had made plans to go visiting.

The long weekend snuck up on me. Suddenly it was Thursday and there we were staring 4 whole days off in the face and no plans. Hurrah! So I made some plans and by 10am we were heading up the M5 in the warm sunshine with the rest of the demented holiday traffic.

We went to Kate's house to visit Taika and her neighbour, Maija's sister - formerly known as Sulo - Kaija. (Don't even go there - you can imagine the calls echoing through the woods when we all went walking together and the girls would run off: 'My-ah, Ky-ah, Tyke-ah, Neek-ah!')

But what a great day we had. After a mad game in Kate's puppy-fied back garden, we all went to a local pub and had lunch on picnic tables in the sun. From there to the aforementioned woods for a long walk.

Photos were pretty tricky to get, as one might imagine. But I got a few.

Family portrait

L-R: Maija, Taika, Neka, Keskiyo, Kaija









So, who does Kaija resemble most? Not Neka, not Keskiyo, but her sister Maija. But for their different coloured front legs, they were almost indistinguishable.



















How funny! Although similar, they didn't look quite so much alike as small puppies. Having said that, when the girls were all running ahead together, no one could tell which was which between Neka and her 2 babies. Taika, of course, was a bit easier.

Taika and Kaija, being neighbours, are great buddies.




































Neka was too busy nosing around the perimeter of the garden - and through the house - to pay much attention to the sisters playing together, but Maija joined right in...


















... and proceeded to steal and guard all the bones.


















What fun we all had, and it was a very muddy and tired, happy bunch of dogs who slept all the way back to Devon. Best news, Jane has agreed to enter Kaija in the Bath dog show so I get to see a bunch of the puppies all together. It should be a fun day, and I'm really looking forward to it already. Joe now has the task of teaching Kaija to stand still and well. And, of course, she will have to trot nicely on her lead too.







Looks like there's still a way to go on that one.