WA, Part 3

Just a continuation on our Washington trip. . .



Fun at the Children's Museum.


Travis and Dillon put this pirate ship model together that GG got Dillon. I guess it was more like Travis put it together and then Dillon got to lightly handle it afterwards. The box said a five year old could put the ship together, but Travis was seriously struggling after a few hours just trying to finish the thing. Dillon loved it, but unfortunately it had to stay behind. I wasn't about transporting that thing back to Ohio.




My best friend, Lana, drove down with her kids and stayed for a few days. We have know each other since birth. We moved from Austin to Seattle together after high school and now, unfortunately, have a lot of distance between us. Molly had her best friend come over for a sleep over and we all had a blast.


Charlie's Safari.



Treasure hunting in the backyard with Papa. Who knew that a metal detector and a handful of change and cars could keep the kids occupied for hours.



Then we took the bus downtown and the kids bought some parachute guys with their treasure hunt findings. We also hit the Farmers Market and sampled some tasty fruit. When we got back home we went to GG's house to out the parachute guys to the test. Lots of fun. It was great getting together with our friends, and always sad when we have to say goodbye. We love you guys! Stay tuned for WA #4, yes, there is still more to come.

Poking Holes

Do you notice anything different about me?

Look a little closer...

a little closer...

you got it, I got my ears pierced. My mom and dad were pretty sad about it but they said when I felt I was ready, I could get them done, and I felt I was ready. Deep down I think they like them OK, they just don't want to except that I am growing up. I, however, LOVE them and am excited for the day when I can add to my collection. My collection of earrings that is, not piercings, my mother has already forbidden that.


Just a cute picture of me and my sister, do you think we look alike?

Hard Times

Well, it finally happened, one of my children broke a bone. I just never thought it would be this child or this bone. It all stared when the Radio Flyer (carrying all my children and pulled by a neighborhood friend) tipped over and a fun trip around the patio went sour. So anyway, after 4 or 5 hours at the Emergency Room we came home with a sling. At least there is no surgery involved. The clavicle bone should heal itself with a little time.


Trust me, she was not always this cheerful.


Her x-ray, if you had problems figuring that out on your own.


The clavicle bone is the long curvy bone that borders the top of the shoulder's and goes under the chin (also known as the collarbone). You can see that her left shoulder (the right side to you) looks lower than than her right shoulder, that is because it snapped.


Now I just have to convince her to wear this sling for a few weeks, we'll see how that goes.
Poor Charlee :(

Home Away From Home

I love Target and probably spend WAY TO MUCH time there. You find when you spend a lot of time at a place you start to experience many things, both good and odd, at such place. Here are a few more recent happenings at the local Target.


Today as I was trying to kill a little time I went to Target to do a return and started to browse when I felt something o my arm. I brushed it off to find a Praying Mantis crawling away from me, no joke, at least 4.5 inches long. I haven't seen one of these in 20 years at least and it completely freaked me out, although not as much as it freaked out the employee that was nearby. She wasn't sure what it was and thought it was some kind of centipede. I told her what it was and assured her it wouldn't fly at her face and attack her. She called someone to take it out and they promised me they wouldn't kill it. It was actually really pretty, but freaky.


I found these cool earrings along with a bunch of other cool stuff in the dollar depot.


Recently I was walking past the bottom of the escalator and heard this REALLY loud crash. When I looked back I saw a very embarrassed lady standing at the top of the escalator. She had pushed her cart down the actual escalator instead of putting in the cart lift part of the escalator. I mean the cart was completely full and the crash sent people all over the store running to view the commotion. I felt bad for her but I had to put my head down and laugh as I walked away. Does that make me mean?

I wonder what will happen at Target today?

Mini-Ike

After we dropped Molly off at school yesterday the kids and I spent some time cleaning up after the windstorm the night before. Lots of branches, glad it wasn't worse.

WA, Part 2

On the way home from the beach we hit the tracks...

the "Slick Willy Tracks" that is.

The competition was tough, but we came out on top, of course,

we had Charlee cheering us on.


Once we got back to Olympia we went to the Pet Parade. There were so many kids with their pets and they had made some pretty impressive floats. They had everything from ferrets to ponies. Charlee was in heaven when she realized that many of the kids walking in the parade were throwing out candy. I thought she was going to be trampled a few times she was running right into the parade trying to get her hands on the sweets that were dropped along the way. That child has some issues when it comes to sugar. Here are some of the kids favorites. . .







It's over, time to take our fake pet and head home. Until part three.

Washington State, Part 1

We had a great time in Washington and did a ton of stuff. It is going to take me a while to get it all down so this is the first of a few posts. . .



The kids with their GG at Latins Cider Mill. We always make it a point to visit there to feed the animals and get fresh apple cider. The kids are crazy about GG, you will never meet a woman more loving and patient than this one, we are so blessed to have her in our lives.



Next we took a trip to the beach with Grandma, Papa, and GG (Travis' parents and grandma). We stayed in this cute house in a great little beach community. The beach was cold but beautiful and the kids had a blast.



These are just a few of my favorite pictures.