Ellijay in Repeat

A couple weekends ago, DW and I went on our (now) annual trip to Ellijay, GA, to the Blue Ridge mountains. Last year we came across some pet-friendly cabins and so our dog loving friends, Daniel and Krista, went with us and brought their two pups. I didn't take near as many pictures this year because my camera is broken, but got a few cute ones worth sharing from the trip. We found some great trails, saw beautiful scenery, played some fierce games of monopoly, and mostly just enjoyed letting our dogs go wide open for a few days while we relaxed.

Apparently, we lost our minds and thought it would be a good idea to try to get a picture of all five dogs together since last year we managed to get the four of them to take a pretty cute picture. It took a lot of begging and commanding to "STAY" but we did it. Well, almost...

Dusty trying to make Samson (the baby of the group) stay:

My favorite part of the previous picture is how ticked off Tucker looks in that first picture. He is the oldest of the group and, I think, probably the most human. Tell me, have you ever seen a dog manage to look more annoyed? We finally got everyone to assume the correct positions, except Samson was a little too focused on DW (who was just out of the picture and ready to grab him and put him back in position).

Not perfect but pretty dang commendable!

After we got the dogs all set, DW's inner redneck mentioned that it had been a long time since he had "ridden a tree down". I have had the pleasure of seeing this feat known as "riding a tree down" a few years ago with his best friend from back home...however, I had a pretty good laugh at the faces of Daniel and Krista as they both asked, incredulously, "What the heck is riding a tree down." Well, let me explain:

First, you find some young trees that are strong enough to hold you but pliable enough to bend. Like so:
Then, you find someone who is willing to climb up high enough that the tree starts bending backwards because of your body weight.

"Kid" went first and got up pretty high but wasn't quite sure about the next steps:

...so DW channeled his inner-redneck and said, "Here, let me show you how it's done!"
When he got high enough, he held on with his upper body and let his legs hang back, causing his body weight to allow him to "ride the tree down". Apparently, teens in small towns do things like this for entertainment. Or so DW assures me. Ha! I just have to sit back and enjoy watching a 31 year old man shimmy up a tree.

Samson checking to make sure DW was ok:
Samson didn't recieve the same courtesy from DW however. Although most all labs love the water, Samson does not. He doesn't mind running to the edge and splashing around but he was definitely not interested in going in far enough where he had to swim. Not the case with Cooper and Tucker...so DW thought he would just give Samson a "little help" and then he'd magically love it. I had to bite my tongue when Dusty took Samson out into the water and gave him a little swimming lesson by leaving him out there to swim back.

I about cried as the poor guy swam back to the bank...

...and latched on for dear life!

Good thing the water wasn't deep at all or DW would have been in BIG trouble, mister! Samson was rescued within seconds by the culprit that threw him in and shows no current signs of trauma! ha!

After several days of running, playing, hiking, climbing, and swimming everyone came home tired and happy. Can't wait until next year...and let me just state now...publicly and on record...that we will NOT be adding another family member to the mix this year!!! Well, unless it's a fur-less, two legged one. ;)