I got my birthday present a little late this year, but it was worth the wait.
I am now a year old. My birthday was May 30th, but I got my present today. Mom wouldn't tell us where we were going. All she would say is we are going somewhere for a belated birthday for Ringo. I think Halo knew where we were going though as she just kept doing that whimpering thing she does when she is excited. I should have known too that it was something Halo liked to do, but I never guessed what my present was going to be.
We got up early this morning and got ready to go. Mom put our hiking collars on and we loaded up in the car and were off. We drove for what I thought was a long time. Not as long as going to the Nationals, but still we were excited so to us it seemed like forever. Finally, we turned off of the highway and Belle and Halo knew where we were going. They started getting really excited. For me, it sort of seemed familiar, but not really. Finally, we got to the gate and paid the entrance fee to a really nice lady. That was when I got my first clue. She told mom the dogs had to be on leash except when they were in the water. Swimming, we were going swimming.
After paying we headed into the park and turned off the main road and I saw Lake Travis. We were heading to Pace Bend Park where I had learned to swim almost a year ago. I was excited and a little nervous because I hadn't been in a big lake since I was 4 months old. Mom said I would be fine and not to worry. We went to the exact same spot out on a sandy peninsula. There were some birds around, but I was so excited about the water that I didn't even pay the birds any mind. Well they weren't quail. Anyway, we jumped out of the car and never slowed down until we hit the water. Mom was right behind us with the bright red bumpers. We spent over an hour swimming and retrieving those bumpers. It was a fantastic birthday present.
Here are some pictures. This one is Belle, Halo and me in the back waiting for the throw.
And this is Halo with the bumper (she is still the fastest swimmer) and then me and Belle. Belle and I were doing our best to keep up with Halo. Of course, Halo has an advantage because she is smaller than me and Belle.
And this one is me telling mom to hurry up and throw the bumper, please.
And this is Halo and me goofing around with the bumper.
And this last one, well I was expressing my enthusiasm for my birthday swimming trip.
I had a great day swimming and have been resting since I got home. Mom was smiling all the way home and mumbling something about tired GSPs. You guys probably know what she meant. 
Well I am probably not going to be blogging much at least for the next few weeks as I am going off to bird school tomorrow. Mom is taking be back to spend some time with my trainer. She says she will be coming up on the weekends to work with me. I will miss mom, but Mr. Ronnie has all kinds of birds at his place. I think I will have fun at bird school, and when I get back home sometime in late July or early August I should be all ready to start the fall round of hunt tests and maybe even some field trials.
So, I will try to get a blog with some pictures while I am at bird school, but until then just remember....Got Birds!!!!