Lots to do at Grandpa and Grandma's house

We are 'practicing' for a longer stay in several weeks. so Hailey is spending the night with us. We have fed the dog and cat (several times), listened to the Husky football game with Grandpa (on the radio), sat and watched Yogi eat dinner, rocked out with Grandma with the iPod (to Wizard of Oz, of course), and now we are watching Finding Elmo (while Gandpa is STILL listening to the game).

Las Vegas, Baby!

We spent a few days in Las Vegas celebrating my 50th Birthday with our friends Tina and John. We stayed at a lovely hotel (Bellagio), saw the fabulous new Cirque du Soleil show "Love" (all Beatles music), dined at some incredible restaurants, shopped (but didn't buy) at some VERY high end stores, sunned (it was in the 90's), went to the Liberace Museum (only in Vegas!) and gave several Casinos ALL our money. (The photo with the slot machines in the background is in the AIRPORT!)

It was a total BLAST ... and we are really glad to be home!

Boat is out of the water

Unfortunately, it's time to get the boat out of the water and store it for the winter. This evening at high tide, Yogi and I drove the truck and boat trailer and met up with Mickey and "The Whaler" at the local boat launch. Yogi was quite thrilled to be included in this little excursion and spent the 15 minute car ride with his head on my shoulder. He'd really prefer to be in the front seat...or better yet, on my lap.

I'm cracking myself up taking pictures while I am in the car...(and, yes, yes, I know....).

My Thursday's in town

Almost every Thursday morning at 9am, I have a meeting in downtown Seattle with the company's largest customer -- Nordstrom. I'm up at 4:30 (yes, that's 4:30am), on the 6:20 ferry to Seattle and then finally to our office by @ 10:30am. It's always a really wierd and busy day as I pack in all my office chats and face-to-face meetings into this one work day.

For some reason I had the camera with me today, so I snapped a shot while driving on the I520 bridge (note the grey weather and rain). Then one of the sales guys stopped by for a quick chat.....

A new home project begins

After years of conversation we've decided to ... (dare I say) ... REMODEL THE MASTER BATH. We started the process with a trip to the bookstore to look at the myriad of home improvement and remodeling books, look at the pretty (and often unrealistic) pictures and get some ideas. Today we met with the contractor and the cabinet guy ... more, much more to follow.

NAME THIS BUG!

We had dinner last night with Kaaren and Gary Netwig, and Kaaren mentioned this wierd bug they saw on their beach near the north Shore of Hood Canal.....She sent me the picture this evenng and since it was the most interesting (visual) thing that happened today, I decided it would be the post.

Ideas, anyone?

P.S. It was bugging me (pun intended), so I checked out our Audubon Field Guide and discovered this little critter is a BANDED ALDER BORER (aka Rosalia funebris), part of the beetle family; Habitat: Broadleaf woodlands; Eats dead wood of broadleaf trees.. Season: April-Sept....

Life can move on now that we know.

Changes in the weather

It's been a glorious summer, but it time for a change in our Northwest weather. Today was cooler and cloudy and rain appeared in the late afternoon.

An early evening walk in the woods and a check around the garden shows the Dahlias in their last weeks of bloom. Soon I will dig them all up and pack them away for a winter hibernation.

A new blog link

I received an email from my sister-in-law, Claire announcing a Blog she has just started. It's called "A Seat at the Table" and reflects some of her interests and beliefs as a Feminist, Catholic, and 60-year-old Woman. Some of you will scratch your head and find it a bit 'wierd', a few others that I know check this Blog occasionally may find it quite inetersting and thought provoking. I've added the link in our Link's section on the left. Enjoy ... and, Thank You Claire!

Never to early to start talking about the upcoming ski season

A couple of Mickey's ski buddies (Keith, Fred and Art) came over last night to order their season ski passes for Crystal Mountain, eat some lasagna, drink some beer AND talk a bunch about sking, sking, sking. First things first, Mickey helped them get their ski passes using the online 'early buy' discount.

Yogi was in heaven with five dog lovers at his house. His evening included a tour of the woods, preview of the new well shed, and (I'm sure) some extra dinner.

Mastering the art of chopsticks

For the last evening of Sarah & Lauren's visit to the Northwest, we went once again to Hakata's (Diana's become a regular in her short time here). Hailey loved drinking the Miso soup right from the small lacquer bowl, and Sarah got quite comfortable eating her Sushi with chopsticks (starting with a tasty Cucumber Roll).

No more kisses, Dad. I'm tired.

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Lauren had gleefully accepted an extended period of kisses and hugs and tickling from her Dad while I scrambled to find the camera. By the time it was located and aimed in the right direction, the fun was over and she clearly told us it was time for bed.

Million Dollar Babies

Grandpa Mickey showed the girls a few tricks on the speed bag tonight.

Perhaps we'll see them on the WWF tour someday?

Playing with Grandpa

Mickey worked at engaging the girls in some reading this afternoon and generally distracting them from climbing the stairs or otherwise harmng themselves. We THOUGHT we had a relatively baby-proof home, but Sarah & Lauren have proved us wrong!

Sing Along

We sing with Hailey quite often. One of our favorite songs is Take Me Out To The Ballgame. I particularly liked when she stops and asks where those pesky little girls are (aka: her Cousins Sarah & Lauren). When she finds out they are sleeping, she knows she has Grandpa and Grandma ALL TO HERSELF and proceeds on with the song.


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It's as tough as it looks

We were trying to get a photo with Hailey, Lauren and Sarah together with us. We hadn't planned to have Yogi in the frame.

This gives you a good idea of the chaos.

Dancin' in the street

New Trail in the woods

This morning, three infants, 1-1/2 sets of parents and 1 pair of grandparents took a walk in the woods to check out the new connecting trail that Grandpa and Uncle Joe had put in a couple of days before.

Perfect (wet) Angels!

Mickey and I gave the girls a bath today and what a grand (and wet) time for all! We finished the Spa treatment with a massage, blow dryer on the hair and a couple of drops of aromatheraphy oil on their faces and head. Ahhhhhhh!