Ashley's drowning puppy

On the last night of our vacation in Florida we went to John’s Pass in Madeira Beach to have some dinner and go on a sunset dolphin cruise. Before the cruise we went shopping with the girls so they could spend “their” money. Aiti and Papa (my parents) had given each of the girls $20 to buy something in Florida. Ashley was very stingy with her money! Every time she saw something she wanted and asked for it I would ask if she was going to spend her money. Every time said she didn’t want it that bad. Since it was the last night of our trip she was finally ready to spend her money. She bought a little basset hound webkinz and was thrilled. (For those of you that don’t have little kids, a Webkinz is a stuffed animal with a code that allows you to adopt them online. Once adopted you have to take care of your new pet by feeding it, taking it to the vet, playing with it, etc. or it will get sick)

After making her purchase we went out on the pier to wait for the cruise. There were several pelicans in the water by the pier and Ashley had lean over to get a better look. When she did, the new little webkinz puppy fell in the water. To say she was horrified would be an understatement!!! First the pelicans thought it was food and they tried to eat it while she yelled at them to stop eating her dog. The pier was about 5 feet above the water so we couldn’t reach the water to save the dog. Poor little Ashley was devastated and crying her eyes out and I knew this would ruin the last night of our trip for her. About 20 yards away there was another boat that had just docked with deep sea fisherman. I asked them if they had a net and they asked me what I had lost. I explained what happened and they took one look at Ashley’s big crocodile tears and decided they had to come to the rescue.

The dog had floated under the pier and it took 5-6 men about 5 minutes to get it out from under the pier and then out of the water. It became quite a spectacle of Ashley crying, the men all attempting to rescue the silly dog while reassuring Ashley that they would get it by yelling, “Princess, we will get your puppy” and “Sweetheart, don’t worry, we won’t let him drown.” A crowd was starting to form and as new people walked up they thought a real dog was trapped under the pier. When they found out it was a stuffed animal they all laughed and joined in with the rest of the crowd cheering on the fishermen.

Finally, the dog was rescued and the crowd all cheered the heroic fisherman. Ashley hugged it close even though it was soaking wet and thanked each of her saviors. She hadn’t named it when it fell in the water but she decided that an appropriate name would be Splash. Two weeks later she is still carrying Splash around with her wherever she goes. God Bless the Fisherman who saved our last night of vacation from total disaster!