Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and those of us that wanted one, had a shower. Everyone loaded up and we headed out to get some gas, stop at Target and then get on the road to the Farm. It was about 2 hours away from where we had stayed but the drive was quite scenic.

The first thing the dogs did upon getting there was leap into the pool lol. Mason was in that thing constantly, usually with Wedge as his sidekick.

Here he is with Tractor:

Here he is with Wedge…and Tractor looking on:

Then, everyone set up camp:

The playing field - also where everyone was going to camp:

Before we knew it, more Lab Board people started showing up with their dogs. There were a lot of yellows, plus with it being a hot day, they all wanted to be in the pool:

You can see my boys together in the middle-ish here (distinctive with their collars):

Mason was confused about his color…

It was crazy! And soooo much fun!!!

Yet another group of yellows, Midas is the one with the flipped up ear:

Sometimes there were collisions:

My two seemed to stay together a lot around the pool:

Here is my two with Kim’s two, Cooper and Bailey:

Sometimes we would take a break and dry the dogs off with a brisk game of fetch - which is where Wedge and Mason began to resemble twins lol:

Midas acted like he was going to play, but really, he never moved from that sit position…unless it was to lower to the down position:

Kya got in on the action, but she also liked to stay close to Mom:

Here she is pretending she’s yellow…and a lab

Did I mention that Eric and I had an absolute blast??

There was a delicious pig roasted:

Some adult beverages:

And dessert!

I am so thankful to Whit (and Grant and her wonderful grandparents) for having us out and showing us such a spectacular time!!!!!

I might’ve had some adult beverages too

Whit and Grant tried to help me teach Mason about EV/UV:

He didn’t get it, he either jumped in, straight down into the pool - or he barked…

Although we were trying to train, this Golden kept trying to steal the bumper:

Mason was in and around the pool so much that he wore 4 of his nails down past the quick and two more were almost there. I had to smear on some EMTgel and then bootie him up so they could heal a little - no more swimming for the little dude:

Luckily the booties don’t bother him at all, and he used his injuries to get extra pets from Lisa lol:

Kya even deigned to be petted by a couple of people - especially if they had treats:

One of the best parts of the whole weekend…Midas started jumping like he used to!!!!

Hopefully that will carry over into our next dock jumping competition!

Kya wanted to go in the water really, really badly, but just didn’t manage it, she just tapped around on the top step, tail wagging:

We ended up staying up past almost everyone else and playing some games and chatting…this is the beautiful night sky we had:

One of the most marvelously fun days I’ve had in a really long time, I’m so glad we went! I also was really excited to meet a lot of people, whom before I only ever talked to online. There were many more photographers who were out and took photos, we’re trying to get their photos on the website as well. HERE are where the photos are.

Sunday we woke up fairly early and took our time packing up and heading home. We were exhausted and hit some pretty bad rainstorms on the way (this time I wasn’t out in them), but we finally made it, unloaded the absolute essentials and crashed for the rest of the afternoon. Good times!!!

Last year I joined the Labrador Retriever Forum. Since that time, I’ve made some friends on the board and this year Eric and I decided that we would take a trip down near Chicago, IL for the Labfest in that area. It was an absolute blast!!! Eric wanted to become a little more involved so he made shirts:

And a Chicago Lab Fest website! Which includes photos from past years as well.

FRIDAY

Eric took the day off in anticipation of packing for our trip to Chicago. I worked until noon, and then he picked me up and we were on our way. We made a couple of quick trips and then we were off. On the way, we stopped at a McDonald’s so Eric could grab a bite to eat while I took all three of the dogs (at the same time) out for a potty break. On the way back to the van, we were about 20 ft away, it downpoured. Now just rained, but a heavy, I -can’t-see-the-van, and it’s-too-windy-to-move type of rain. I commanded the boys to drag me, but in turn had to drag a terrified Kya. We were all completely drenched. I had to change into my pajamas for the rest of the trip.

Arrived fairly quickly it seemed anyway. I met Whitney and Grant for the very first time, after reading and following their stories, photos, videos and blogs of their dogs for quite some time. That was pretty neat.

They’re dogs are beautiful!

I was a little apprehensive about Midas meeting a huge number of dogs so we did a one-by-one meet of our three to their three and it went splendidly. Did not have one problem.

Mason did well too:

And Kya…she was curious and interested but really only comfortable with the dogs and I.

Then Lisa (and Steph) showed up with her 4 - that was a lot of dogs in the backyard. It was highly entertaining to watch Tractor play with the sprinkler.

Midas was wondering what was so fantastic about the sprinkler so he came up to take a look:

He wasn’t impressed lol, so Tractor was back at it on his own:

He sure can get air, even when playing by himself!

He’s a funny, sweet, endearing dog .

Karin showed up with Mason’s “brother”, Wedge - in both of these photos, Mason and Wedge are totally focused on the ball or on someone who may potentially throw the ball:

The household total was 11 dogs for the night - and it was completely fine.