They were great in the car and actually seemed to enjoy the ride. We just stopped once half way to let them walk around a bit - which was a helpful for Kayla and me too since we've been getting carsick lately.
The first place we took them was a new trail the homeowner told us about right down the street from the house. You hike down about a quarter mile to an open stream with lots of huge river rocks to climb and sit on. There was only one other person there at the time, so it was perfect to experiment with what the dogs could handle. We knew Lena would be fine off the leash, but we weren't brave enough to let Onno off yet. We were unfamiliar with this trail, so if she ran off we wouldn't even know where to look for her. She didn't bark at all, which made us optimistic.
Tuesday morning I took Lena to Town Lake for a run at the dog park. She was in heaven just like I've always been when I'm there. I loved sharing it with her! Then we jogged on the trails where she had to be on a leash. It's pretty crowded there with joggers, bikers, and other dogs, so she cowered a lot at first and almost caused some accidents. I yelled a lot of "Sorry!" 's to people for the first 5 minutes. But she quickly caught on that if she stayed to my right at the edge of the trail, everyone would pass on our left and she would be both protected by me and out of everyone's way. Then we were back in Nirvana! Everyone always jokes about how dumb Lena is, but she's actually very smart.
We went back home to eat and get the rest of the family that likes to sleep in. Then we ventured to Barton Springs. This was the moment of truth for Onno. No leash. Big dogs. Lots of people.
She was great! Absolutely no barking. She stayed right by us. If she started to get more than a step or two away, we called her and she actually came back to us! She sniffed the other dogs curiously and never once attacked. She was so much better than we had dared to hope for. I still can't believe it!
We were hoping the dogs would take a running leap into the stream and swim their joyful hearts out like all the dogs we've watched here in the past. They did love it there, but it was in spite of the water - not because of it. They were so scared. I guess it makes since because they've never seen more water than what's in their water bowl at home. We tried carrying them in and letting them swim to shore. They did it, but they were scared and had had no desire to do it again. Lena's legs would start swimming in the air the second we picked her up to take her out in the water.
We left them in the house that evening while we went ziplining. I'm sure they slept the whole time.
Ziplining was awesome. Cal and I graduated to the challenge course this time. Once you get to the ropes course, they have 3 paths for you to choose: hard, harder and hardest. Predictably, I chose hard and Cal chose hardest. The guides encouraged me to try parts of the harder courses, but I was enjoying just watching Cal try to navigate the hardest course. He wore himself out, but he did it! It took a lot of courage and strength. I'm very proud of him. I'll take a few trips to work up to it. I think I'll try the harder course next year and the hardest the following year.
Kayla and James did the regular course again - as experts this time. Kayla's confidence and fearlessness helped the family of first-timers with them to relax and enjoy it. James tried to lighten things up with his "That's what she said" humor, but it was lost on them.
Afterward we took the kids to Salt Lick for some awesome barbeque. They didn't have baked potato - saving grace for our little vegetarian - so Kayla didn't like it so much. But the 3 carnivores pigged out and loved it. Kayla ate enough bread and potato salad to tide her over and we ordered pizza when we got home.
Wednesday Lena and I went back to Town Lake. We were experts today and had the routine down. Then it rained all morning, so we all played Phase 10 in the living room. Cal is the new the reigning champion. I'll have to give him the trophy when we get back home.
We went back to Barton Springs with the dogs and fed the birds. They really really wanted to eat them, and Lena wanted to eat the bees even more. She drove herself crazy trying to catch them.
Then we took them to Freddie's for dinner with us. Again - not barking at anyone! Amazing! And very enjoyable!
Thursday we went to New Braunfels to toob the Guadalupe. It was the perfect day for it. The whole week was unseasonably cool - 80's. And the rain had the river at a perfect 250 cps. We did the short and simple 2 hour trip since it was the kids' first time. That was a good decision. Kayla was not a fan. She enjoyed the 5 minutes where we got to watch a deer eat grass on the edge of the river, but this was her mantra during all 4 rapids:
"I hate this!"
"Why are you doing this to me?????!"
We won't discuss what happened when she discovered a bug in her toob with her. Good times. Cal loved it and wanted to keep going and do the longer 4 hour, but we decided not to torture Kayla.
Then since Kayla asked recently how we got engaged, so we took them up to Mount Bonnell. Afterard we went to The Oasis for dinner. I didn't know they let guests ring the big bell for sunset until they came to our table and asked if Kayla would like to do the honors tonight. She was reluctant, so Cal went with her. What a great brother :)
Friday we packed and went for one more outing with the dogs before heading home. When we got to the bottom of the Campbell trail, we realized our cool weather luck had ended in a big way. So we headed right back to the car and to Amy's ice cream to cool off.
Then we went back to Barton Springs since the water is always cold there. We swam this time, too.
We took the dogs to lunch at Shultz's beer garden. Very yummy and relaxing under a big shade tree, and they brought out a big bowl of water for each dog. We're going to have to take the dogs every time now. They made the trip, and I can't imagine enjoying it without them again.
