An Afternoon At The Beach – With Our Dogs!

I think I may have mentioned once or twice that we got our dogs because we really wanted dogs.  But also maybe because I was so freaking broody that it was borderline ridiculous.  Maybe.

Back in the day, Seth and I started our married life in a little flat.  And when I say little flat, I’m not trying to make it sound cute.  It really was a little flat.  36m2 to be exact.  It was a sweet little bachelor flat – so we could watch TV in the lounge from the comfort of our bed and occasionally reach over to the fridge to grab a snack.  Almost.

The problem with said space is that you really weren’t allowed to have animals there.  So when we decided to take over my parents house and build them a flat in the garden, the first thing I thought of, was getting some puppies.  And we weren’t even in our new house yet when our puppies were born to one of my Mom’s friends.  Which meant that for the beginning of their lives, our dogs lived with my parents.

Which is fine really, but by the time we moved into the new house, I was pregnant.

Because having puppies that don’t live with you is not a cure for broodiness.  Nor is it a contraceptive.

Anyway, the result is that the poor dogs got the short end of the stick.  Our focus was on our kids.  Clinging to toilet seats, protecting the baby bump and the overwhelming tiredness that comes with pregnancy just didn’t gel with two boisterous pups.  And just when I thought I could give them a bit more attention, we were pregnant again.  There was a short gap between Riya and Knox when we tried to walk them and take them out but then, well, Knox happened.

The great thing about dogs is that they’re so forgiving.  I’m pretty sure if we’d had cats they would have been outta here ages ago.  Along with Seth who is crazy allergic.

And now that our poor pups have been bearing with us for so long it was time to give them the life they deserved from the beginning.  We took them for their second trip to the beach.  Admittedly I am the Debbie Downer in all these things.  Seth has been wanting to do this forever.  But the thought of lugging nappies, bottles and who even know what else along with children that needed to be carried and then still having to chase after dogs?!  Hell no.  I’m not about that life.

But things have changed.  The kids are older.  They walk on their own for the most part.  Except Knox but that’s also another story.  So we packed our coconut milk hot chocolate (two tins coconut milk, cocoa to taste and honey boiled up on the stove till thick and delicious) and headed to Noordhoek beach.

Guys, I’m pretty sure our dogs were smiling the whole way there!  Just look at our little selfie…

Once we hit the beach we didn’t even have to put the dogs on leads.  The may have run ahead and crapped on every available surface, but they stayed with us.  Spartan even accompanied us on the trip Riya and I had to take to the loo because who even remembers to go to the loo when you need to walk a million steps to reach the coastline.  It’s so much more fun to remember that when you get to said coast and then have to walk all the way back.

Other than that, we chose a bit of an unpredictable day to go to the beach.  It had been raining on and off all day.  So the kids looked like real beach novices in their raincoats haha.  Then Knox accidentally fell in the waves and even though his head never went under, he is adamant that he almost drowned.  Like for real life.  And he was wearing all his warm clothes, so that wasn’t ideal.  However, when wrapped in a towel and drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows in it, he recovered nicely.  Even though he did say he wanted hot chocolate but frozen instead.  You know like a milkshake or something, except absolutely not a milkshake.  Just a frozen hot chocolate thank you very much.

All in all it was a great experience and we’ll definitely be doing it again.  Any advice on other dog friendly beaches in Cape Town?