Living European with Dogs: Old-fashioned Toys in Parks, Inspiration from Paris

 One of the best things we learned from our summer travels, was that even though it is fun to get away, we can still recreate some of our favorite aspects of our trip on an everyday level. And include the pooches. Our trip helped us recognize the importance of slowing down, and one of our favorite things to do in Paris was sit in the Luxembourg Gardens surrounded by gorgeous flowers, cheese and baguettes, and children playing with old-fashioned toy boats in the duck pond.

 They rented the boats by the hour and used a wooden stick to help it set sail. The excitement was being able to run to the other side to catch the boat and launch it again.

 We spent several hours enjoying the gorgeous park scenery and the nostalgia of the old-fashioned toy boats.

So we decided to try it at home. Even though we don't have cute little toy boats, we remembered the nostalgia of flying kites. So we picked up a brightly-colored kite from World Market and headed out with the pooches to the park.

The dogs were enamored with the kite, especially the tail. And it was fun watching their expressions whenever the kite came near them. Another fun part, the kite attracted a group of children who came to play with us and meet the pooches. The kids had fun playing with the kite and letting Miss M give them smooches, and our outing became a 'community' event.