Meet Annie (aka Annie Banana) Simpson! Annie’s family, Matt, Sarah, Nate and Mitchell Simpson, named her after Thomas the Train’s Annie and Clarabel. She is a 9-year-old fox red American Labrador, but she doesn’t let her age stop her from having fun.

“Even at 9, she still gets right in the mix with the boys when they are wrestling,” Sarah says. “They will take her cookie jar and hide in their tent, and she will go in the tent and nudge them around until she finds the cookies. Labs just seem to stay puppies forever.”

She is a large-breed dog and weighs 85 pounds.

“It’s kind of like having a pony in the house,” Sarah says. “One time, we were at the lake and she pulled out a ‘chew stick’ that was absolutely enormous. She worked on it for over an hour."

The Simpsons adopted Annie during a charity gala in Carmel for the National Kidney Foundation. Her favorite thing to do is play with kids.

“Annie loves to be with children and considers all the kids in our neighborhood to be part of her ‘wolf pack,’” Sarah says. “For many years, our house was the bus stop. We called her the ‘official bus stop dog’ because kids would come up on our porch for kisses and snuggles before getting on the bus.”

Annie loves to pose for photos whenever there’s a camera around.

“She almost always lays with her legs crossed and loves to have her picture taken,” Sarah says.

Playing in water during the summer is one of Annie’s favorite pastimes, but she still hates baths.

“In the summer, we will set up a splash pad in our yard, and she will play with the water shooters and in the sprinklers with the kids for hours,” Sarah says. “It is really cute.”

Sarah says that Annie is very spoiled, but her family loves to indulge her.

“When I get home from work, she follows me around until I take her to the ball field,” she says. “She snoozes on the couch, and she goes crazy when she sees me carry in a purple Chewy box.”

When Annie isn’t swimming at the lake or posing for photos with her family, she loves to visit her grandparents’ farm to play ball.

“We used to spell out the words ‘ball,’ ‘farm’ and ‘lake’ to keep from saying those words and getting her all excited, but then she figured out the spelling,” Sarah says. “So we cannot do that anymore!”

The Simpsons are grateful to have Annie in the family, and her energy and playfulness have changed their lives.

“She has brought so much love, joy and comfort to our family that I don’t think I could ever begin to express in words,” Sarah says. “She has been a tremendous blessing to us.”

If you see Annie in the Village, be sure to say hi!