South End Birthday Adventure!

Well on June 10th I had officially been on this earth for a quarter of a century...gross!  As unhappy as I was to be acknowledging that, I was happy that I was smart enough to take the day off of work.  So I planned an outing for our little trio to the South End!  The weather was overcast but still nice, so after I slept in for a bit that morning, courtesy of Kevin (thank you!) we headed off to Castle Island.  I had never been here in all my years of living in this city. I was nice, very pretty, definitely lots of activities for kids.  The only downside is the strict leash laws and the beach ban for dogs.  We made due though.  We spread our little blanket down, laid out some toys for Dolce and tethered her to the cooler and just chilled!

I read some books on my Kindle and Kevin slept.  After I ate some sandwich from our makeshift little picnic I took the dog for a stroll around the island and made friends with some very cute little toddlers and their mothers. I couldn't help but wonder why the leash laws were so strict considering how many people were out with their dogs walking, running whatever.  At the very least why not fence off an area and make a mini dog park?  But I digress.  After a while when we'd had enough we packed up and headed back to the car, only to find that I had left my lights on! Aaaand my battery was dead.  Long story short, people are terrible and rude and it took us forever to get someone to finally give us a jump!  And even then after much coercing!  Once on the road again we headed down the street to get a little birthday treat for Miss Dolce!

So we headed off to Polka Dog Bakery, on 256 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, MA 02118.

http://www.polkadog.com/

This place was adorable and I loved it!  The staff was very friendly and also very helpful.  I decided to bring her here to find some alternatives to rawhide, which Dolce had and loved, and almost choked on.  The man at the counter was very helpful in directing us to different types of bones that would suit Dolce best as well as towards some treats which might be good for her considering she has a bit of a "sensitive" stomach. The selection of treats and cookies from both their "bar" and packaged options were too numerous to count.  Their case of baked goods with adorable iced cookies were not only beautiful but also looked pretty delicious. AND they had great natural food options as well as doggy birthday cakes in their refrigerated section. They also had a basement level that was all doggy toys and bed, but Kevin and I opted not to even go down there as she is already quite spoiled and probably has too many toys as it is.  I do have to say it was a bit pricey, we bought two large bones a meaty stick and a bag of treats and it costs us just under $20. But I think we end up paying for the location and the novelty of it all but I loved it so I can't complain.  And they do offer free samples and when I was at the counter the man told me to take as many as I wanted! Definitely generous.  I would definitely go back here again!  In fact, it has actually inspired me to look into starting my own doggy bakery in the area as this one and another in Wesborough were the only two I could find online.  I think the Metrowest area may be in need of a pet bakery! Getting back to the point, all in all I loved it and it was a pretty great day!  And I think Dolce might have enjoyed herself too!