"This land is Yogi's Land...."

Amanda serenades Yogi on her first day here.
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The Ford's arrive at Ioka

Well, some of the Ford's arrive today for a month's stay at a rental house down the beach. Melissa & Amanda arrived today and Phred and Jasmine and their new dog, Salty, get here tomorrow morning. Yogi is in heaven (or at least while he still thinks he's the only dog in their life).

New Car has arrived!

The new car arrrived today three weeks earlier than expected. We got a call at about 2:00 and it was in the driveway by 5:00.

It's quite cool, once we figure out the fancy technology and special programming!

Early Driver's Ed

Gampa Mickey is training Hailey how to drive the boat so she can pull him around on a ski. She quickly learned how to work the throttle and thought it was great fun to turn the wheel as tight as she could to the right!

The junior water goddess

We had a fun boat ride this afternoon. Hailey was appropriately suited-up, 45 SPF lubed-up and ready for the ride!

The beer cooler & some cool guys heading to the boat

The Hunter

Ten minutes ago, we noticed Stubbs (or, "Tubbs" as he's been renamed by Hailey) stalking a small squirrel. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough at distracting him. THEN he brings it to the front deck, prances around making a ton of noise, and showing off his delicacy. He's now resting and quite content after finishing off his special meal -- Free Range Baby Squirrel.
GROSS!

ioka alien

Saturday's B-R-I-C-K

Saturday's BRICK always starts with a stretch, as the leader is also a Yoga instructor. There is something quite funny to me about this as I look around and see us all doing a 'downward-dog' or 'chair pose'...

Have also included a closeup of the Kitsap TriBabe slogan!

An evening ritual

Even though it's been chilly (note the winter outerwear) and a bit wet, the pots plead for a drink every day or so. I consider it almost a contemplative task to water all the pots around the yard.

You'll see my assistant lurking along the edge. I wish he killed slugs instead of squirrels...

Pre-camp-out barbeque!

Mickey and I went over to Hailey's house for a barbeque before she spent the night outside camping with Mom and Dad. Here we are checking out the accomodations ... wonder if they'll make it to midnight?

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

...or is it another Happy Hailey Day surrounded by her loyal servants?..

Running at Glacial Speed

This was the "run" part of Saturday morning's BRICK -- bike+run+ICK (how you feel when you finish). This doesn't show how busy the path really was yesterday, but it was the clearest photo I took. The leader of this crazy group reported that 89 Kitsap Tri Babes showed up for our Saturday morning fun!
I guess I was running so fast, the digital camera couldn't keep up! :)

Private Oliver

Terry, "The Mole-Man" stops by on a regular basis to check for (and take away) moles in the yard. His business card states that he is THE MOLE COMMANDER. He now has an assistant, Oliver. I asked what rank Oliver might be and he said he'd just been promoted to Private.

Hailey enjoying one of Stephanie's excellent smooveys

The smooveys get a little messy.

Hailey loves the taste.

Yahoo! Time to get dirty.

Hailey in a dress

Hailey got an early birthday present from Grandma Carolyn. She is learning to twirl in her cute dress.















We don't see Hailey in a dress very often. Isn't she cute!!!

Hailey loves the water

Hailey enjoying a dip in her pool in early Spring.

Hailey and daddy waiting for swimming lessons to start.

Hailey and I at her last swimming lesson. She absolutely loves the water.

Hailey in her track suit

I love this outfit!! Hailey and I were waiting for her mother to get back from running, I thought it would be cute for Steph to come home and see Hailey dressed up ready to follow her down the road.

The hat is an optional addition to the track suit.

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes (hopefully)

I staked the tomato plants tonight and am envisioning a summer of tomato recipe options, much like Forrest Gump's vision for his Shrimp catch.....

We'll see.

Roses from the garden

Joe mentioned that I must be very busy at work because I've been a bit slack about the Blog posting. It has nothing to do with work, but more to do with my limited imagination and creativity of web posting and our boring day-to-day activities. We've been busy, we just haven't had the camera with us....

So we don't post another picture of Yogi or Stubbs, here is a shot of some freshly cut roses from the garden. I'm quite proud of them!

To say that we are beginning potty training would insinuate that we have a specific plan. We do not. Hailey, however, is very interested in sitting on the potty and reading her books.

Hailey rushed her dad up to the potty on Sunday. After a few minutes, her dad became impatient and wanted her to put her diaper back on. Hailey refused and wanted to stay on her potty. Apparently she knew better and went big and little potty. What a good girl!

Clearly, this will be a process that takes a lot of patience from mommy and daddy.

Giddy Up,Gampa!

here is my first attempt at a video post....close, but not quite there yet. I'll try to figure out what I did wrong! (BTW...THERE ARE 2 VIDEOS).

It's 7:30 in the morning and THIS is suppose to entice me to get in the water to do laps?

Gampa Mickey's Birthday party!!!

WOOOOOOO-HOOOOO! It was great fun with lots of party favors and streamers and hats and things.

Gamma took a couple of short videos that she will attempt to post soon!

The ferry ride home

Yesterday we went to Seattle for a little birthday shopping and dinner with our friends, Marsha and Rob. We caught the Bainbridge Ferry home and I snapped some sunset pictures from the car deck.

In honor of Mickey's birthday...

I bought some really cool, really expensive shoes! (There's a much longer and better story, but that's the gist of it)!

BRICK = Bike+Run+ICK!

Saturday morning was the start of the group trainings with the Kitsap Tri-Babes. For the next 10 Saturdays at 8:30am, I'll be riding/running the BRICK (see above for definition). Survived this one and actually looking forward to the NEXT one!

A day at Remlinger Farm

Hailey spent the day at Remlinger Farm with her Uncle Mike, cousin Annalise, Grandma Carolyn and of course, her mom. (I don't know why she always has to come...)

The roller coaster went so fast, her mom couldn't snap an action shot but did catch Hailey just as she was saying, "again!" Before it came to a complete stop, she was asking to go for another ride.

She also went on a train, a canoe, flying pumpkins, drove an old fashioned car AND got to pet bunnies, baby goats and a baby cow. To finish off the day, she went to the children's theater and learned several new songs. What a day! Hailey hopes she can bring her East Coast cousins to the farm during their next visit.

Neighborhood baby Eagle

I was working in the loft this morning and looked outside to see this baby Eagle down on the bulkhead at water's edge. I called Mickey in the house and he snapped this shot from the upstairs deck.

This photo doesn't do justice to the size and expanse of this bird. I sometimes think there is much ado about the Eagle, but then I see it fly by or watch it exert it's dominance over other birds or dive for dinner or view it this close and then I begin to understand its true magnificence.

Hmmmm...?...

The weirdest thing is happening with my email these days....I keep getting these strange messages with a photo attachment of the THE CUTEST little red-head!
I'm in love!