It's been awhile since I been on here as I've sort of migrated over to Facebook. Though I can't write stories and lengthy updates, so I figured I'd come back over to here to do that. The boys started at their new daycare this past Thursday (12/17). It's called the SchoolKids Clubhouse.
http://www.schoolkidsclubhouse.com/skc.html
We just did not feel that the other daycare was a safe environment for the boys to be in so we moved them. It was mutual on the part of the daycare as well as the owner was refusing to take ownership of the problems. The front door had been left open a couple of times (one by an actual teacher that Philip saw) and then the last straw was when a contractor working on the premises left a battery operated power saw outside with the battery still on and it actually worked as Philip turned it on and sure enough the thing came on! We thought if kids were able to freely walk outside on their own and cut their friggen' fingers off, they no longer needed to be there. Anywhoo, this new daycare is working out great so far...it is very different and seems to be a lot more structured all the way around, and since it goes up to 12 years old, the boys will get driven to school and have the availability for before and after daycare and then summer day camps too when they aren't in school! Jordan has made a new little girlfriend already and they told me that on day 1; oh my gosh, what a ladies man!:-) Justin cries when he gets dropped off because its a new place AND his brother isn't with him at the beginning...they go directly into their own classes when they are dropped off at 0700. Before, they stayed together in one room until it got later and more kids came in like around 0730-0800. He doesn't cry forever and by the time I get there to pick him up in the evenings, he's been playing and hanging out like he used to at the old place. I think it'll just take him a smidge longer to get used to it from drop off.
Philip and I are both now on a 3-week break until school starts back up in January. Of course being so busy, we are not at all done Christmas shopping let alone have we even started wrapping presents. Last year I did it Christmas Eve...I'd like to get it done earlier then that this year. Today I got all of the stocking stuffers, so at least that part is all done. I am actually on vacation now until December 29th:-) Monday I'm going to get a glycolic peel/facial...I've heard it hurts like hell, but this was my Birthday present from Philip and I wasn't in the mood for a massage so I went for this. My neighbor Mary Kay has been getting them done pretty regularly so we'll have to talk and compare notes!
On a side note, Jordan has lost his 3rd tooth already...all 3 were on the bottom; those huge teeth that come in push out his little baby teeth! I don't even see the 3rd tooth popping through yet let alone where there is actually room for it to come in....can you say 'braces'?
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Reminder: Amy Roth-Jamison invited you to join Facebook...
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween & Hello to the refrigerator repair man!!!
Justin was a bumblebee and Jordan was the red turbo ranger. Jordan went out trick or treating while Justin stayed home with me and literally gave out candy along side of me. As soon as I put candy in the kids' bag, he was right behind me putting more candy in; oh well, I didn't want any candy left over anyways:-)
At the same time Philip took Jordan out trick or treating in the neighborhood, I was at home handing out candy waiting for the refrigerator repair man to come. Yup, we call this service that is 24/7 and is $54 no matter it it's 0100 on Sunday or 3p on a Thursday. They were also 1/2 the price on this point then Sears was and Sears wasn't even able to come out until the next following Saturday, so basically a week from today. They expected us to live out of ice packed coolers in the garage for the week I guess. Philip and I weren't in the mood to go buy a new refrigerator and it ended up costing us w/tax $246 (this includes the $54 charged just for coming out). You basically pay for the parts. They were at our house on Halloween between 7-8p and were headed to one last call after ours. No rest for the refrigerator repairmen I guess:-)
At the same time Philip took Jordan out trick or treating in the neighborhood, I was at home handing out candy waiting for the refrigerator repair man to come. Yup, we call this service that is 24/7 and is $54 no matter it it's 0100 on Sunday or 3p on a Thursday. They were also 1/2 the price on this point then Sears was and Sears wasn't even able to come out until the next following Saturday, so basically a week from today. They expected us to live out of ice packed coolers in the garage for the week I guess. Philip and I weren't in the mood to go buy a new refrigerator and it ended up costing us w/tax $246 (this includes the $54 charged just for coming out). You basically pay for the parts. They were at our house on Halloween between 7-8p and were headed to one last call after ours. No rest for the refrigerator repairmen I guess:-)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
OMG - 2nd tooth???
Jordan lost his 2nd tooth today; what a friggen surprise...this time it was daycare who called and surprised me. Jordan again brought his teacher his tooth and this time I paniced as I was like OMG all of his teeth are falling out as he's got problems with his gums and/or a disease. AGAIN, the dentist actually called me back to reassure me that this is very normal except that he's just earlier then most kids. I did just look in his mouth and I CAN SEE the tooth coming up on the tooth he lost on Tuesday; as I told Jordan the next thing he's going to be doing is coming home and asking mommy for the keys to the car! He laughed and said no I'm not...again I posted an even bigger gap smile pic to facebook today.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
1st Tooth
Jordan lost his first tooth today...after I discovered on Saturday that there was an extra gap in his teeth while I was brushing them after he brushed them; I then wiggled his tooth and was like holy crap!!!! By Sunday, after all of Jordan's playing with it, it was a whole lot looser that I figured it would be out by the end of the week...well, it didn't even last past today when I got a call from daycare saying Jordan brought his teacher his tooth. They didn't even know his tooth was loose since I didn't remember to tell them. I was all concerned, but the dentist reassured me there was nothing wrong except for the fact that he's earlier then the average kids (5-6 years old) when they lose their teeth. I've taken a picture and posted it out on my facebook page for your viewing pleasure!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
18-month Check up
Justin had his 18-month check up on Friday...hard to believe!
He's 26.8 lbs (55th%) and 34 1/2" long (95th%). What's up with the long and skinny kids?:-) Both him and Jordan share the same kind of stats; tall kids on the slender side...wish I could say that:-)
Other then that he was all healthy! I totally forgot to get Jordan's stats while we were there, so I'll have to get them and come back to post them hopefully tomorrow for the compare.
He's 26.8 lbs (55th%) and 34 1/2" long (95th%). What's up with the long and skinny kids?:-) Both him and Jordan share the same kind of stats; tall kids on the slender side...wish I could say that:-)
Other then that he was all healthy! I totally forgot to get Jordan's stats while we were there, so I'll have to get them and come back to post them hopefully tomorrow for the compare.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Volunteer Lately?
Today the entire finance org at work in Bellevue had a volunteer day where we went out to 3 different areas in groups of 40-50 people to volunteer for the day instead of work. I was at Hopelink in Kirkland and others were at the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle, and the others were at Marymore Park in Redmond (too crappy and cold to choose this place for me)! We sorted 18,000 pounds of food, filled the grocery shelves/pantry to the tune of 4,000 pounds of food in the food bank, stacked and crated this food, and then also bagged oats and rice. Afterwards we had happy hour at the Liquid Lime (a very seedy, surly bar - to me)...it was fun, but definitely lots of hard work lifting and bending...I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow!! I also had a Mike's Hard Lemonade - Pomegranate flavor.............can you say YUMMY:-)
It was a great day and makes you think about what you can do to help those less fortunate and all of the food wasted because we buy it and the stuff expires; don't send it to food banks; do us all a favor and throw it out yourself please!
It was a great day and makes you think about what you can do to help those less fortunate and all of the food wasted because we buy it and the stuff expires; don't send it to food banks; do us all a favor and throw it out yourself please!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
AGAIN!!!
Justin got walking pneumonia while Grandma and Papa were visiting. The doc seems to think this is a 1-2 year thing and then it too shall pass...let's hope! He was significantly better today since he was on antibiotics for about 18 hours, but since I was supposed to go back to work today I ended up having to work from home since I couldn't take a sick kid to daycare. He's only on this antibiotic for 5 days and then we go in next Friday for the re-check and for his 18-month check up...hard to believe that it's here already!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Grandma & Papa's Visit
Since Grandma and Papa arrived this past Tuesday night, we've gone to the Puyallup Fair, Spooner Farms, Cabela's, and watched a livestock auction in Enumclaw...I know what you're thinking, but Grandma & Papa are country folks who like to do country things! Jordan had a great time on the rides at the fair and both of the boys enjoyed looking at all of the animals. It was something like mid 80's this past Thursday when we went to the fair. Today we just spent the day hanging out at the house eating the fish that daddy and Jordan caught during our Banks Lake fishing/camping trip. We also went down to the park with the boys so they could swing and go down the slide. They had a great time! Tomorrow, I think I'm taking everyone down to NW Trek for the last hoorah of the summer since Grandpa has never been there...I think he'll like that. Jordan is excited to go, plus I think Tuesday the rain is supposed to be back and then Grandma and Papa leave on Wednesday which is when I go back to work anyways!
I'll update with photos of their visit and the remaining last few days sometime this week...
I'll update with photos of their visit and the remaining last few days sometime this week...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Banks Lake Fishing Trip - Photos
I already posted a couple weeks back on how the camping/fishing trip went and am just now getting to posting the photos...ENJOY!
Jordan couldn't wait to go out and fish, so they just took the paddle boat out as soon as we got to the spot so Jordan could go out and fish...Philip, myself, and Justin are still on shore. This is Philip's co-workers husband, son, and his friend with Jordan.
This was back at the campsite dock that has access to the lake. We were waiting to go to the prime fishing spot by just hanging out here trying to catch something, which of course we didn't!
Justin didn't go out in the boat (yes, we had a motorboat and not just the paddle boat for all of you thinking about that:-))! He's hanging around onshore playing and climbing on the big jagged rock pile! I couldn't keep him off of it!
Jordan with one of his many fish that he caught this day!
Jordan couldn't wait to go out and fish, so they just took the paddle boat out as soon as we got to the spot so Jordan could go out and fish...Philip, myself, and Justin are still on shore. This is Philip's co-workers husband, son, and his friend with Jordan.
This was back at the campsite dock that has access to the lake. We were waiting to go to the prime fishing spot by just hanging out here trying to catch something, which of course we didn't!
Justin didn't go out in the boat (yes, we had a motorboat and not just the paddle boat for all of you thinking about that:-))! He's hanging around onshore playing and climbing on the big jagged rock pile! I couldn't keep him off of it!
Jordan with one of his many fish that he caught this day!
Jordan & Daddy fishing together...daddy's doing all of the dirty work by taking the hook out of the fishes mouth and casting; Jordan was in charge of holding the fishing pole and reeling it in!!! It takes teamwork!!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Woodland Park Zoo - PHOTOS
There are like over 100 photos from the zoo, but I wanted everyone to get a real good look at Philip's pictures that he takes of the animals with his 'obama' camera...it really makes the pictures look professionally done; he's getting good at it!
Woodland Park Zoo
We went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle yesterday. It was our first trip there ever in the 5 1/2 years we've lived here. We decided to go since this weekend was mid-upper 80's and predicted to be the last nice weekend before fall officially starts. Since our Labor Day weekend activities and camping were a bust because we were all sick, we made up for some of it on Saturday by going to the zoo!
http://www.zoo.org/
Of everything they have at the zoo, which seems to be quite a bit since it's on 92 acres...we saw everything except for the mountain goat and the sun bear. We were at the park from 11:30-6p (closing time). I swear we walked like 5 miles...my legs and butt are still friggen' sore today! The boys had a great time...If you ask Jordan what his favorite animals were, he'd tell you the spiders; not sure why he picked them but he was fascinated with the 'bug world' exhibit. He had to go through it 3 different times:-) It was gorgeous weather as I said and we packed sandwiches and snacks so we didn't have to buy anything there and also ended up finding parking right out on the street next to the north end zoo entrance so we got to save the $5 for parking too!! We invited Mary Kay to come with and of course she did...she loved that the boys were having such a great time.
We got to the RAM steakhouse for dinner at about 7p and left there at about 8:20. We ate outside because it was such a wonderful night, PLUS with the party of five we would've had to wait 20-30 minutes for inside seating and instead got seated in 2 minutes:-) We ended up being out of the house from 10a until 8:30p; it was a very long day, but was definitely fun and well worth it! I'll be posting pictures shortly once Philip gets them loaded...(tonight hopefully)!
http://www.zoo.org/
Of everything they have at the zoo, which seems to be quite a bit since it's on 92 acres...we saw everything except for the mountain goat and the sun bear. We were at the park from 11:30-6p (closing time). I swear we walked like 5 miles...my legs and butt are still friggen' sore today! The boys had a great time...If you ask Jordan what his favorite animals were, he'd tell you the spiders; not sure why he picked them but he was fascinated with the 'bug world' exhibit. He had to go through it 3 different times:-) It was gorgeous weather as I said and we packed sandwiches and snacks so we didn't have to buy anything there and also ended up finding parking right out on the street next to the north end zoo entrance so we got to save the $5 for parking too!! We invited Mary Kay to come with and of course she did...she loved that the boys were having such a great time.
We got to the RAM steakhouse for dinner at about 7p and left there at about 8:20. We ate outside because it was such a wonderful night, PLUS with the party of five we would've had to wait 20-30 minutes for inside seating and instead got seated in 2 minutes:-) We ended up being out of the house from 10a until 8:30p; it was a very long day, but was definitely fun and well worth it! I'll be posting pictures shortly once Philip gets them loaded...(tonight hopefully)!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
It's Labor Day...
...and boy do I feel like I've been 'laboring' this weekend!!! I've been laboring 1/2 the weekend cleaning up vomit and washing linen over and over and over and over...(you catch the drift?) Philip and I took Friday off to go camping...that never happened because Justin woke up Friday morning vomiting and into Saturday. Who wants to be stuck in a itty bitty trailer confined with vomit and germs, so we decided to stay home. Jordan picked up the bug and he started vomiting with Justin on Saturday; I then picked up the bug on Sunday and started vomiting, and Philip got a different version of the bug on last night into today......It was the kind of 24-hour bug, thank goodness, but we never got our last long weekend out in the camper before we have to put it away for the winter; well I guess there is always next year.
Jordan and Daddy did get out on Sunday to see the movie Ponyo and get Jordan's haircut...what did I tell you; Philip goes on his own and Jordan's hair is getting shorter and shorter with each visit:-) It looks really nice though as you can see below!
I finally ventured out of the house today (actually Justin & I did)...I hadn't been out since I took Jordan to daycare on Friday morning. It was definitely more of a laid back weekend except for the being sick part of course:-( When Philip went back Friday afternoon to get Jordan, daycare was scrubbing the entire building down...I guess a lot of kids got this bug and either weren't in for the day, had to go home, or were getting sick; hopefully with the long weekend we should all be good to go!
Philip (with Justin's help:-)) was able to put the last piece of new office furniture together this weekend as well. Thank goodness Justin was there to lend daddy a hand cuz I'm not sure he would've been able to do it by himself:-) Justin always has to be in the mix of things!
Jordan and Daddy did get out on Sunday to see the movie Ponyo and get Jordan's haircut...what did I tell you; Philip goes on his own and Jordan's hair is getting shorter and shorter with each visit:-) It looks really nice though as you can see below!
I finally ventured out of the house today (actually Justin & I did)...I hadn't been out since I took Jordan to daycare on Friday morning. It was definitely more of a laid back weekend except for the being sick part of course:-( When Philip went back Friday afternoon to get Jordan, daycare was scrubbing the entire building down...I guess a lot of kids got this bug and either weren't in for the day, had to go home, or were getting sick; hopefully with the long weekend we should all be good to go!
Philip (with Justin's help:-)) was able to put the last piece of new office furniture together this weekend as well. Thank goodness Justin was there to lend daddy a hand cuz I'm not sure he would've been able to do it by himself:-) Justin always has to be in the mix of things!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Out of the path of being sick...
We seem to be over the sickness that the boys have had starting Friday morning...seems to just have been the 24-hour bug. Thank goodness we've still got 2 days left until we go back to work on Tuesday!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Boys on the swings...
Here's a couple of pictures of the boys on the swings last weekend. The temperature was something like 80 degrees and sunny! This weekend, we are barely 70 degrees and there is NO sun:-(
Last weekend of the summer...what a downer!
We didn't get to go camping this weekend because Justin is sick and is throwing up...Jordan actually got sick this morning and now he's throwing up too!!! OMG, when does it ever end? I'm hoping Philip and I don't come down with it too! Philip actually has had a migraine since yesterday afternoon so he's laying down too with the boys. All 3 of them are in the living room lounging around & napping. I couldn't imagine being confined in such the small space with kids barfing everywhere and it being cold and rainy outside too...I guess it happened for the better since this weekend on the WA coast was going to be very cold and rainy!
I spent my vacation day yesterday cleaning up vomit from Justin since he can't use a bucket like Jordan and did he every just walk and puke everywhere!!! I'll need my carpets cleaned AGAIN! I just had them cleaned a couple of weekends ago. Obviously we've got no big plans for the remainder of the long weekend except to relax and get everyone better.
I spent my vacation day yesterday cleaning up vomit from Justin since he can't use a bucket like Jordan and did he every just walk and puke everywhere!!! I'll need my carpets cleaned AGAIN! I just had them cleaned a couple of weekends ago. Obviously we've got no big plans for the remainder of the long weekend except to relax and get everyone better.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Happy 9th Anniversary to us!!!
Today is our 9-year wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe it's been 9 years already! We plan to take a long trip for our 10-year next year before Jordan starts Kindergarten, but we haven't decided where we are going yet. I'm thinking somewhere in Europe or Australia:-) It's going to be a different country; that I'm sure of...it's time for us to get the alone time away from home, work, the kids, and responsibilities. I'll let you know once we've got it planned on exactly where we are going for sure.
We've been together for 15 1/2 years....wow, now that's a long time!...and seems longer when your write it down:-)
We've been together for 15 1/2 years....wow, now that's a long time!...and seems longer when your write it down:-)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Justin - 17 months old today!
It's hard to believe he's another month older already! Time is sure flying...he now stands up while he walks up and down the stairs, says a few more words (five, nite, bye, hi, mommy, daddy, Jordan, up, down, cup...), AND the big thing is that he now feeds himself with forks and spoons! This just happened over the course of the last week where he really feeds himself everything that is on his plate whilst barely spilling anything:-)
They grow up way too fast!!!
They grow up way too fast!!!
Monday, August 31, 2009
New update on the wild cats...
Mary Kay actually caught a different wild full grown cat then the ones we were originally trying to catch! She heard all this clanging, banging, and growling this past Thursday night outside her kitchen window and she had thought her dog knocked over the trash can (it was about 9:30p); found out it wasn't Coco and that it was coming from the cat trap on our side yard. We were already asleep up on the second story with the a/c on that of course we heard nothing...to make a long story short, this WILD cat was jumping around and trying to get out of the trap that it made its head bloody...the next day she took the cat to the animal rescue shelter where you know this kind of adult cat was going to be put down. It was the most traumatic thing she'd gone through and since she's such and animal lover...she still wasn't over the experience 24 hours later. She ended up taking the cat trap down to our other neighbors house to hopefully catch the kittens there and not end up with some other wild animal; only time will tell after talking with her what she caught this time!!!
Office Space?
Philip painted what is supposed to be our formal living room a pumpkin patch orange it's called, yesterday & Saturday, and put together all but one piece left of our new office furniture. It looks so elegant in the front room now, I'm almost afraid to sit/work in it:-) (It is the Sauder Regency Road collection from Office Max). The kids are now only allowed in the front room to watch TV; we've migrated their toys upstairs to the loft and their rooms respectively. They've each (or will soon for Justin) have their own toy boxes and there's no need to have toys EVERY friggen' where in the house. Philip & I figure we can call the office our own space with our own stuff in it:-) All that's left is for Philip to put together the hutch and for me to find a lamp and window coverings/treatment for the window; currently for those of you who don't know we've only got faux wood blinds on the front window. Oh, and Ms. Mary Kay is going to help us stain our really nice mirror a similar wood finish to match the new furniture wood else we would've just had to get rid of it...it'll still fill the space nice on the large wall!
It was in the mid-high 70's (if not low 80's yesterday) and I took Justin and Jordan down to the park for one last hurrah before summer is over...the rain is due to come back this week and our temperatures get significantly cooler by this coming weekend; I think summer is officially over after this week:-( We are heading out camping on Friday over to Long Beach, WA for the long Labor Day weekend. It'll definitely be cooler, foggier, and rainier I'm sure over there so hopefully we don't again come home with a sick kid....Justin! I will get some pictures posted this week once Philip gets the camera loaded back to the computer since we had to 'gut' the entire room for painting and it's still about only 50% back in order!
It was in the mid-high 70's (if not low 80's yesterday) and I took Justin and Jordan down to the park for one last hurrah before summer is over...the rain is due to come back this week and our temperatures get significantly cooler by this coming weekend; I think summer is officially over after this week:-( We are heading out camping on Friday over to Long Beach, WA for the long Labor Day weekend. It'll definitely be cooler, foggier, and rainier I'm sure over there so hopefully we don't again come home with a sick kid....Justin! I will get some pictures posted this week once Philip gets the camera loaded back to the computer since we had to 'gut' the entire room for painting and it's still about only 50% back in order!
Friday, August 28, 2009
To the doctor AND the dentist!!!
I took Justin to the doctor again this morning for a re-check since he's been coughing for the last 2 weeks...I really thought that he would have pneumonia, BUT he doesn't:-) Actually, his ears, lungs, mouth, and throat all look great. His nose looks like hell and he's got a cough with mucus, but not in the lungs...it's considered bronchitis which he's basically had for 2-weeks; I'm not sure why we can't seem to get rid of it. It's viral, so like anything you just have to wait for it to run its course. There are no antibiotics for it, however, the doctor put him on amoxicillan because he had a small fever yesterday and Wednesday in case it's not something more that he's fighting. The doctor also says through the stethoscope that he actually heard a slight wheeze as well which I can't hear and haven't heard with the naked ear:-) He sure plays and STILL gets into everything like he's not sick. He's been eating like a friggen' cow (i.e., whole hot dogs, buns and all in one sitting), and still playing all the time. He napped at school yesterday from 12-4p and then came home and slept his entire normal bedtime routine!!! I think he's in a serious growth spurt with one of his bottom bicuspid tooth popping through. This might be what's causing the snotty, runny nose...Kids always have issues, but at least it's nothing super serious TODAY:-)
Jordan went to the dentist and had 3 fillings done today as well on his big teeth on the left side of his mouth, two on the bottom, and one on the top. Like I mentioned a couple of months ago, since these are his big teeth that he'll keep until he's like 12, we couldn't let them go knowing that they would fall out soon anyways. He was very nervous in the beginning, but he held my hand and got his teeth drilled and filled (and no he didn't need a needle with anesthesia)! It took me and the dentist & assistant more coaching to get Jordan READY for the fillings then it took to actually do them...we were in the office at 4:30 and out by 5p, with probably only 10 minutes of it spent actually filling the teeth. He goes to Willamette Dental which caters to kids; the dentist did great showing Jordan all of the instruments and letting him touch them. The only one that made him very nervous was the suction tool. I think it had too much of a suction that I think it scared him more then anything!
Jordan went to the dentist and had 3 fillings done today as well on his big teeth on the left side of his mouth, two on the bottom, and one on the top. Like I mentioned a couple of months ago, since these are his big teeth that he'll keep until he's like 12, we couldn't let them go knowing that they would fall out soon anyways. He was very nervous in the beginning, but he held my hand and got his teeth drilled and filled (and no he didn't need a needle with anesthesia)! It took me and the dentist & assistant more coaching to get Jordan READY for the fillings then it took to actually do them...we were in the office at 4:30 and out by 5p, with probably only 10 minutes of it spent actually filling the teeth. He goes to Willamette Dental which caters to kids; the dentist did great showing Jordan all of the instruments and letting him touch them. The only one that made him very nervous was the suction tool. I think it had too much of a suction that I think it scared him more then anything!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Camping - Banks Lake, WA
This past weekend we went to Banks Lake camping & fishing! We stayed at the Coulee Playland Resort. This was our first camping trip we didn't stay at a KOA campsite and you know what, we had a great time!
http://www.couleeplayland.com/
We met a co-worker of Philip's there, Marlena, and her husband and family. We got there Friday at around 3p in the afternoon and we left Sunday at 12:30p to head back home. It is about 250 miles or about a 4.5 hour drive. Philip went out fishing with the men on Friday night, and then the entire families went to this off the wall property that Marlena's dad own about 50 miles away towards Wilbur, WA and fished on this private lake. It was like serious dirt roads the last 15 miles to get there and then an old gate had to be unlocked and we 4-wheeled our way into another 5 miles I believe or so to actually get to the lake. It was low 90's, high 80's for the weekend so that was nice, and I got a lot of sun to show for it:-) This area on the east side of WA has many lakes (Soap, Blue, Sun, Banks, and Moses); it was very nice and warm and it was really great just doing stuff outdoors and 'really' camping, not just visiting museum's and aquarium's!
Jordan caught about 15 fish all by himself! Philip would cast his line for him and then Jordan would hold the pole and reel the fish into the boat, and then of course Philip would have to take the fish off the hook. (I'll get pictures posted once the camera is loaded). I think I caught somewhere around 30 or so fish; they were all crappies...it was the kind of fishing I liked where I didn't have to pay attention and really fish because the fish just got hooked on my line with very little effort; in fact once I was putting sunblock on when one fish bit:-) Philip got to learn how to clean & gut the fish since he had to do some of the work to be able to bring 2 bags of the fish home! We are going to have a fish dinner in a few weeks when my mom and dad come out since my mom knows recipes on how to cook this type of fish...
Justin just hung out with folks around the lake this time. I didn't put him in the boat because I actually wanted to fish and not just hold him, plus he was a little off (sick) which I think he still is and is why I'm taking him back to the doctor on Friday. I think he has pneumonia again:-(
On the way home coming back over Snoqualmie pass on I-90, a vehicle crashed directly next to us in the fast moving lane. We actually saw dirt fly and the truck roll...towing a camper trailer and trying to safely stop is a hard task that Philip handled very well!!! We were lucky that the middle lane we were in and the slow lane didn't have a lot of traffic in it that everyone was able to safely pull off to the shoulder or slow down and stop without being hit. As soon as we stopped, we were directly next to the rolled over truck. All of the contents of the vehicle were all over the freeway, so Philip and other folks kicked the stuff over to the side off the freeway whilst this one lady was on the phone with 911; I'm sure she was in shock and all, but she had no friggen' clue where she was at! She had to ask Philip and myself what freeway she was on...clueless I tell you. To make a very long story short, the truck ended up propped upside down on the jersey barrier and the fast lane of the freeway which was VERY good for one of the passengers since she apparently didn't have her seatbelt on and came falling out the sunroof and end up under the car in the opening that was under the car. Needless to say everything could have been way worse, but of the 3 passengers in the truck, none of them died which is really amazing to me since the truck was pretty mashed up.
On a side note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister who turns 34 years-old today!
http://www.couleeplayland.com/
We met a co-worker of Philip's there, Marlena, and her husband and family. We got there Friday at around 3p in the afternoon and we left Sunday at 12:30p to head back home. It is about 250 miles or about a 4.5 hour drive. Philip went out fishing with the men on Friday night, and then the entire families went to this off the wall property that Marlena's dad own about 50 miles away towards Wilbur, WA and fished on this private lake. It was like serious dirt roads the last 15 miles to get there and then an old gate had to be unlocked and we 4-wheeled our way into another 5 miles I believe or so to actually get to the lake. It was low 90's, high 80's for the weekend so that was nice, and I got a lot of sun to show for it:-) This area on the east side of WA has many lakes (Soap, Blue, Sun, Banks, and Moses); it was very nice and warm and it was really great just doing stuff outdoors and 'really' camping, not just visiting museum's and aquarium's!
Jordan caught about 15 fish all by himself! Philip would cast his line for him and then Jordan would hold the pole and reel the fish into the boat, and then of course Philip would have to take the fish off the hook. (I'll get pictures posted once the camera is loaded). I think I caught somewhere around 30 or so fish; they were all crappies...it was the kind of fishing I liked where I didn't have to pay attention and really fish because the fish just got hooked on my line with very little effort; in fact once I was putting sunblock on when one fish bit:-) Philip got to learn how to clean & gut the fish since he had to do some of the work to be able to bring 2 bags of the fish home! We are going to have a fish dinner in a few weeks when my mom and dad come out since my mom knows recipes on how to cook this type of fish...
Justin just hung out with folks around the lake this time. I didn't put him in the boat because I actually wanted to fish and not just hold him, plus he was a little off (sick) which I think he still is and is why I'm taking him back to the doctor on Friday. I think he has pneumonia again:-(
On the way home coming back over Snoqualmie pass on I-90, a vehicle crashed directly next to us in the fast moving lane. We actually saw dirt fly and the truck roll...towing a camper trailer and trying to safely stop is a hard task that Philip handled very well!!! We were lucky that the middle lane we were in and the slow lane didn't have a lot of traffic in it that everyone was able to safely pull off to the shoulder or slow down and stop without being hit. As soon as we stopped, we were directly next to the rolled over truck. All of the contents of the vehicle were all over the freeway, so Philip and other folks kicked the stuff over to the side off the freeway whilst this one lady was on the phone with 911; I'm sure she was in shock and all, but she had no friggen' clue where she was at! She had to ask Philip and myself what freeway she was on...clueless I tell you. To make a very long story short, the truck ended up propped upside down on the jersey barrier and the fast lane of the freeway which was VERY good for one of the passengers since she apparently didn't have her seatbelt on and came falling out the sunroof and end up under the car in the opening that was under the car. Needless to say everything could have been way worse, but of the 3 passengers in the truck, none of them died which is really amazing to me since the truck was pretty mashed up.
On a side note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister who turns 34 years-old today!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
MADD (as Hell)!
I'm a Mother and (hell) yes I'm Against Drunk Driving!!!
Yesterday on my way home from the park and ride to get the boys from daycare, I was in front of this blue car and in looking through my rear view mirror as I usually do, I saw the lady passenger drink Jose Cuervo Gold from the bottle...and yes, if you're asking I could read the bottle and knew exactly what she was drinking. It was about 1/2 gone. I was shocked to say the least as this is the middle of the day at 5p rush hour traffic. I started to slow down so I could try and get license plates numbers but backwards through the rear view mirror is hard to do, so I slowed down and then watched her pass the bottle to the male driver who then drank as well...what the hell!!! Are people so careless and unconcerned about their fellow drivers that they risk their lives and everyone else around them! They couldn't have been but in their 40's, maybe 50's and they didn't even try to hide what they were drinking...in broad daylight they were drinking from a quart of tequila.
I took action and got into the left turn lane hoping they would continue straight which they did. I wrote their license plate down and called 911. As I was sitting at the traffic light waiting to turn left, I gave the dispatcher on the phone who in turn patched me over to the right area/district to handle the call the car color make and model and then gave them the license plate number...as I was still on the phone telling the dispatcher they were heading west on 112th towards Canyon, a Pierce County Sheriff car with its lights and sirens blaring came blazing right past me so I knew they had them since the a--es were heading into some heavy traffic they wouldn't get far. The dispatcher had asked me if they were weaving all over the road and I said not really that I could notice, but I was only in front of them a couple few blocks and we were only going about 30 miles an hour but I said I know they are drinking Jose Cuervo Gold and the quart bottle was about 1/2 gone...she said nice attention to details!
It just amazes me how asinine folks can be! I would hope that other folks would do the same if they saw someone right in front of them drinking and driving...
Yesterday on my way home from the park and ride to get the boys from daycare, I was in front of this blue car and in looking through my rear view mirror as I usually do, I saw the lady passenger drink Jose Cuervo Gold from the bottle...and yes, if you're asking I could read the bottle and knew exactly what she was drinking. It was about 1/2 gone. I was shocked to say the least as this is the middle of the day at 5p rush hour traffic. I started to slow down so I could try and get license plates numbers but backwards through the rear view mirror is hard to do, so I slowed down and then watched her pass the bottle to the male driver who then drank as well...what the hell!!! Are people so careless and unconcerned about their fellow drivers that they risk their lives and everyone else around them! They couldn't have been but in their 40's, maybe 50's and they didn't even try to hide what they were drinking...in broad daylight they were drinking from a quart of tequila.
I took action and got into the left turn lane hoping they would continue straight which they did. I wrote their license plate down and called 911. As I was sitting at the traffic light waiting to turn left, I gave the dispatcher on the phone who in turn patched me over to the right area/district to handle the call the car color make and model and then gave them the license plate number...as I was still on the phone telling the dispatcher they were heading west on 112th towards Canyon, a Pierce County Sheriff car with its lights and sirens blaring came blazing right past me so I knew they had them since the a--es were heading into some heavy traffic they wouldn't get far. The dispatcher had asked me if they were weaving all over the road and I said not really that I could notice, but I was only in front of them a couple few blocks and we were only going about 30 miles an hour but I said I know they are drinking Jose Cuervo Gold and the quart bottle was about 1/2 gone...she said nice attention to details!
It just amazes me how asinine folks can be! I would hope that other folks would do the same if they saw someone right in front of them drinking and driving...
Monday, August 17, 2009
Update on the (wild) cats!
We tried to catch the cats last weekend and do you know they are like ferocious bobcats!!! I've never heard hissing, meowing, scratching, and carrying on like I did when we tried to catch them. They all scattered...come to find out, one got in the garage. We saw it yesterday and between Philip shining a flashlight and me using a broom handle to push at the kitten, we were able to shimmy it towards the open garage door and it ran out. We are unclear where it actually went, but we really don't care as long as it's not in the garage. There is no way in hell someone would be able to pick one of those kittens up without getting their arms and whatever else it grabs torn to shreds!!! Those cats hate people and I'm not sure how anyone would be able to go about adopting them since they need to be domesticated. Mary Kay is going to work to trap them and see if she can't get them to the Humane Society of Pierce County...if I were a little girl looking for my first kitten, these for sure in the hell wouldn't be it!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
It's winter time in WA...(and other stuff)
...NOT really, but sure feels like it!!! I'm sick with a very bad cold (runny nose, sore throat, head hurts, blahblahblah), it's rainy outside and barely 70 degrees today, AND Justin too has a really bad runny nose! Have I died and woke up in Alaska? I'm hoping Justin's is due to him cutting his last of his two fang teeth (the upper right one) and that he isn't sick like I actually am. Mine only started yesterday and I think it's because we went from summer weather to down right winter weather overnight and I didn't dress accordingly...I should know by now in the NW you layer it on to take it off:-) I've lived here long enough to know that!!! The good news is that this weekend we are supposed to be back up into the 80's which is great since we have my Annual company summer picnic at Vasa Park in Redmond. We were supposed to go last year figuring Jordan was old enough to finally have some fun, but with all the summer activities they had going on it ended up raining and was very cold so we didn't go...I'm really hoping to go this Sunday since Justin now too can enjoy some of the fun as well!!!
A few side notes/tidbits:
1. Philip made a bomb a-- meatloaf (actually 2 of them - different ingredients in each) on Sunday from scratch...I think Jordan has a new favorite meal if you can believe it:-) He was SO excited for leftovers yesterday; I said meatloaf was for dinner and he said the flat meat with ketchup...I LOVE meatloaf!!! When do you know a kid to love meatloaf...at least Jordan my most finickiest eater:-)
2. We didn't do much this past weekend. We just hung around the house and got some spring cleaning done; well, not all of it but 1/2 day worth was enough for me...I need a maid!
3. I made the Amish friendship bread that was passed to me from Ms. Mary Kay...It actually turned out pretty good (not as good as Mary Kay's though, not sure what I did differently except I used a bundt cake pan which you could use and MK used the loaf type pans). If your not sure what it is, it's kind of like a coffee cake tasting thing is what Philip and I said.
4. We found a couple of kittens (couldn't be more then 6-8 weeks old) peeking out from our raised flower beds in the back yard and when we went out Saturday to look, it was actually 3 kittens and a mom cat. We bet that she had the kittens in our flowerbeds and have been there ever since. We've never noticed, because if you know our backyard we've got very large bushes, plants, and shrubs that make an excellent hiding place for the new mom and her litter. We are currently working to feed them so we can catch them and take them to the humane society so they can be adopted. It's sad the folks just up and leave their animals:-(
5. Philip is next door to Mary Kay's house for the quarterly home owners association meeting. He is in fact the VP and all...MK is the President. There seems to be lots of issues over on the other street; I'm very glad we live on the street we do cuz we've got such great neighbors around us! They were having a cop or somebody come to go over how you would go about setting up a neighborhood watch...what do I need watched? I've got my friend Kareena across the street watching my side and Ms. MK next to us watching Kareena's side of the street:-) They both work from/stay at home all day! I'm guessing the price is expensive to set up, but I mean get real nobody even shows up to the HOA quarterly meetings...I think the neighborhood watch would end up being a total flop...SORRY for being the pessimist of the group to all my neighbor readers. Everyone would be gung ho at the beginning and then it would slowly peeter off...I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
6. Justin ate his dinner and then ate a WHOLE banana tonight...yes, the whole thing by himself without so much as a nibble was I or Jordan allowed; Jordan & I actually had to share a banana! I'm gonna have one stopped up boy in the 'poop' department:-)
A few side notes/tidbits:
1. Philip made a bomb a-- meatloaf (actually 2 of them - different ingredients in each) on Sunday from scratch...I think Jordan has a new favorite meal if you can believe it:-) He was SO excited for leftovers yesterday; I said meatloaf was for dinner and he said the flat meat with ketchup...I LOVE meatloaf!!! When do you know a kid to love meatloaf...at least Jordan my most finickiest eater:-)
2. We didn't do much this past weekend. We just hung around the house and got some spring cleaning done; well, not all of it but 1/2 day worth was enough for me...I need a maid!
3. I made the Amish friendship bread that was passed to me from Ms. Mary Kay...It actually turned out pretty good (not as good as Mary Kay's though, not sure what I did differently except I used a bundt cake pan which you could use and MK used the loaf type pans). If your not sure what it is, it's kind of like a coffee cake tasting thing is what Philip and I said.
4. We found a couple of kittens (couldn't be more then 6-8 weeks old) peeking out from our raised flower beds in the back yard and when we went out Saturday to look, it was actually 3 kittens and a mom cat. We bet that she had the kittens in our flowerbeds and have been there ever since. We've never noticed, because if you know our backyard we've got very large bushes, plants, and shrubs that make an excellent hiding place for the new mom and her litter. We are currently working to feed them so we can catch them and take them to the humane society so they can be adopted. It's sad the folks just up and leave their animals:-(
5. Philip is next door to Mary Kay's house for the quarterly home owners association meeting. He is in fact the VP and all...MK is the President. There seems to be lots of issues over on the other street; I'm very glad we live on the street we do cuz we've got such great neighbors around us! They were having a cop or somebody come to go over how you would go about setting up a neighborhood watch...what do I need watched? I've got my friend Kareena across the street watching my side and Ms. MK next to us watching Kareena's side of the street:-) They both work from/stay at home all day! I'm guessing the price is expensive to set up, but I mean get real nobody even shows up to the HOA quarterly meetings...I think the neighborhood watch would end up being a total flop...SORRY for being the pessimist of the group to all my neighbor readers. Everyone would be gung ho at the beginning and then it would slowly peeter off...I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
6. Justin ate his dinner and then ate a WHOLE banana tonight...yes, the whole thing by himself without so much as a nibble was I or Jordan allowed; Jordan & I actually had to share a banana! I'm gonna have one stopped up boy in the 'poop' department:-)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Justin's New Trick...
Justin went down the stairs all by himself beginning on Saturday. First he took a step or two down from the top of the stairs (standing on two feet mind you) and I about had a heart attack racing and tripping over my own two feet to get him before he fell; instead he sat on his butt and slid down a few steps and then must've made the realization that there has to be a faster way to get down the stairs so he turned over onto his belly and came racing down all of the stairs. After that, it was over, all he wanted to do was hang around on the steps going up and down...he was driving me nuts:-) After I finally told him to make up his mind about up or down, he came down; I put the gate up and he had a HUGE fit! Like a total meltdown because he now wanted to go back up the stairs. I got him sidetracked soon enough and he was able to move onto something else pretty quickly:-)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
More random tidbits...
Philip will be home tomorrow before we go to bed; he actually thought he got home later then he actually does, which is good since there are a few things I want to do around the house on Saturday:-) A good nights rest will do Philip good!
On a side note, I've been getting Jordan to bed no later then 8:15p and he's not procrastinated like he usually does...I'm thinking it's because his alone time with Daddy is spent getting ready for bed, so of course he draaaaaaaags it out as long as possible...makes sense! I'll have to see if my theory holds water starting tomorrow night.
I think this weekend is going to be spent getting things done around the house, i.e., cleaning stuff I haven't cleaned it what seems like ages (blinds, our shower...). The weather here is actually supposed to be pretty crappy with rain making its way back sometime this weekend. Today it didn't even reach 70 degrees; it capped out at 69, which is a BIG drop from the very hot weather we had been experiencing up until now.
Justin has started talking a lot more...yesterday he point to a dog and said 'puppy'! He also is having a lot more nightmares which are common his pediatrician said when we were there last month for his 15-month check up. The nightmares seem to have really started this week and I'm wondering if it's because he's dreaming about still tubing down the Wenatchee River:-)
On a side note, I've been getting Jordan to bed no later then 8:15p and he's not procrastinated like he usually does...I'm thinking it's because his alone time with Daddy is spent getting ready for bed, so of course he draaaaaaaags it out as long as possible...makes sense! I'll have to see if my theory holds water starting tomorrow night.
I think this weekend is going to be spent getting things done around the house, i.e., cleaning stuff I haven't cleaned it what seems like ages (blinds, our shower...). The weather here is actually supposed to be pretty crappy with rain making its way back sometime this weekend. Today it didn't even reach 70 degrees; it capped out at 69, which is a BIG drop from the very hot weather we had been experiencing up until now.
Justin has started talking a lot more...yesterday he point to a dog and said 'puppy'! He also is having a lot more nightmares which are common his pediatrician said when we were there last month for his 15-month check up. The nightmares seem to have really started this week and I'm wondering if it's because he's dreaming about still tubing down the Wenatchee River:-)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Seaside, OR (July 4th Weekend)
OK, not so bad for this trip seeing as it was only a month ago:-) Below is a slide show from our trip to Seaside, OR for the 4th of July weekend. Jordan got to ride bumper cars, jump on a huge inflatable 'pillow', and visit the Seaside Aquarium (I know another aquarium, but Jordan & Justin really like fish & stuff). At this aquarium, we got to get close up to the seals as other folks fed them...we didn't want to get to close and get wet, plus pay for food seemed to be a waste as well! Justin tried to do the jumper thing, but was just too small...We again went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and we bought about $50 worth of merchandise; not the ice cream/cheese/etc. since we get that here in WA, but more of the items specific to only being at the cheese factory like the large cheddar curds and fudge. Justin got up real close and personal with a new best friend during the visit!!! There are like hundreds and hundreds of people visiting there and for the price of 'stuff', I can't imagine how much they make in a day; it kinds of seems astronomical when you think about it.
http://www.tillamookcheese.com/VisitorsCenter/
http://www.seasideaquarium.com/index.php
The weather was OR coast weather for this time of the year and not at all warm and actually started to rain the very last night we were there, so we did luck out in the rain department for the entire 4 days we were there. Justin ended up getting sick again on this trip as well as he did when we went to Lincoln City over Memorial weekend...I think the coast weather and not being warm plays a big part! We did a lot more sight-seeing this time around then we did when we were there two years ago (Jordan was 2 and we rented our RV for our first camping trip). I hope you all enjoy the pictures; we had a great time!!!
http://www.tillamookcheese.com/VisitorsCenter/
http://www.seasideaquarium.com/index.php
The weather was OR coast weather for this time of the year and not at all warm and actually started to rain the very last night we were there, so we did luck out in the rain department for the entire 4 days we were there. Justin ended up getting sick again on this trip as well as he did when we went to Lincoln City over Memorial weekend...I think the coast weather and not being warm plays a big part! We did a lot more sight-seeing this time around then we did when we were there two years ago (Jordan was 2 and we rented our RV for our first camping trip). I hope you all enjoy the pictures; we had a great time!!!
He's on the move....AGAIN!
Philip is traveling again this week to Kentucky and Chicago.he'll be home late Friday night...He got up at 0230 yesterday morning for a flight out at 0610 which ended up getting significantly delayed due to mechanical problems. I got an e-mail message from him around 12:15p with the subject line: Still in Seattle. He was due to leave out instead at 1p or so and arrive in KY at 11p when he was originally due in at 3:30p for an evening appt. over dinner with a vendor and other folks that were down there from Seattle. That was an obvious miss:-) He was upset that he could've slept in longer and I was upset because I could've made yesterday a normal work day for me!!! Mary Kay is picking up the boys for us this week and yesterday when I got home, they were outside watching the neighborhood bunny two houses down for our house (on the other side of MK's house)...Jordan was so excited that he had to show me once I pulled up in the driveway and then of course Justin had to show me too in his finger-pointing/grunting way that he does:-) Today they are going to try to feed the bunny carrots...I'm sure it will be kind of comical:-)
Justin & Jordan just love Mary Kay that you can see it now when she leaves; they both have to give her hugs & kisses and say 'bye'! It's SO cute!!!
Justin & Jordan just love Mary Kay that you can see it now when she leaves; they both have to give her hugs & kisses and say 'bye'! It's SO cute!!!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Leavenworth, WA - Camping Trip
OK, so this past weekend we went camping over to Leavenworth, WA (not the military base Ft. Leavenworth, KS) and we had a great time! We left Friday (7/31) and came home yesterday afternoon. The temperature over there on the east side of WA was high 90's - low 100's which is not unusual for this time of year...however, since the weather was cooling off here at home, it was kind of unnerving to know that we were going camping to somewhere where it was still really hot!!! Of course, the trailer has A/C...I couldn't imagine a trip like that without it:-) We are going to definitely make another trip over there since as we were 7 or so miles from the house, I asked Philip if he grabbed the camera, he said no thinking I grabbed it when in fact no one grabbed it! We didn't have anything really planned for this trip, so we kind of basically hung out at the campground, though we did make it into town to Leavenworth (it's a Bavarian town like Frankenmuth, MI for all my MI readers) and spent a couple of hours early morning after having breakfast at Sandy's waffle house. They were having a weekend music and art festival this past weekend so we got to enjoy that as well, but I'll have to say the BEST part of this trip was that the entire family went tubing down the Wenatchee River!!! Yes, the ENTIRE family to include Justin & Jordan!!!
It was a 2 mile stretch from the KOA campground down to where you got out of the river and the KOA van met and shuttled you back. Philip and Jordan were on one tube and Justin and I were in another tube...during most of the trip, Philip and I stayed connected by holding each others handles of the tubes; other parts of the river we were fending for ourselves since we had to protect our butts from the rocks in the river; actually more like boulders! Philip and I kept trying to dodge these rocks, but of course most of the time we didn't and our butts drug over and every once in awhile we got stuck on top of the rock with the tube and had to shimmy ourselves loose:-) At the very beginning of the ride, was the most rapid, choppy part of the river that threw water up onto us and right of way I was thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into with a 16-month old; I need to turn around somehow and get off and go back to camp, but of course after that was pretty much smooth sailing except for a few fast rapids (without the throwing up of water)...basically we had the boys in our laps between our legs. Justin basically sunned himself and enjoyed the entire ride, though when it was all over I asked him if he liked tubing down the river and he said 'no'! I'll tell you 'no' is his new favorite word which he basically says to everything you ask him, but it was cute...Jordan liked it, though I think he was unsure if he wanted to do it again either! Jordan was talking, laughing, and having a great time the entire ride...we saw a few animals along the river as well as fish in the river; all in all it was ANOTHER great adventure for our memory book!!!
Jordan also got to go swimming for the first time in the big pool at the campground...he floated (not too far out:-)) on his own and didn't seem at all too afraid of the water; I think I'm going to put him into swimming classes starting this fall, but first I've got to look around and get the logistics...I don't want them to be afraid of water, and I definitely want them to be able to swim on their own if the need should ever arise! Right now they wouldn't be able to save themselves out of a wet paper bag:-)
For all those of you keeping track, our next camping adventure is in a couple weeks back over to eastern WA towards Moses Lake for some fishing. We've got our poles (Jordan included) and can't wait to see who can catch the biggest one!
It was a 2 mile stretch from the KOA campground down to where you got out of the river and the KOA van met and shuttled you back. Philip and Jordan were on one tube and Justin and I were in another tube...during most of the trip, Philip and I stayed connected by holding each others handles of the tubes; other parts of the river we were fending for ourselves since we had to protect our butts from the rocks in the river; actually more like boulders! Philip and I kept trying to dodge these rocks, but of course most of the time we didn't and our butts drug over and every once in awhile we got stuck on top of the rock with the tube and had to shimmy ourselves loose:-) At the very beginning of the ride, was the most rapid, choppy part of the river that threw water up onto us and right of way I was thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into with a 16-month old; I need to turn around somehow and get off and go back to camp, but of course after that was pretty much smooth sailing except for a few fast rapids (without the throwing up of water)...basically we had the boys in our laps between our legs. Justin basically sunned himself and enjoyed the entire ride, though when it was all over I asked him if he liked tubing down the river and he said 'no'! I'll tell you 'no' is his new favorite word which he basically says to everything you ask him, but it was cute...Jordan liked it, though I think he was unsure if he wanted to do it again either! Jordan was talking, laughing, and having a great time the entire ride...we saw a few animals along the river as well as fish in the river; all in all it was ANOTHER great adventure for our memory book!!!
Jordan also got to go swimming for the first time in the big pool at the campground...he floated (not too far out:-)) on his own and didn't seem at all too afraid of the water; I think I'm going to put him into swimming classes starting this fall, but first I've got to look around and get the logistics...I don't want them to be afraid of water, and I definitely want them to be able to swim on their own if the need should ever arise! Right now they wouldn't be able to save themselves out of a wet paper bag:-)
For all those of you keeping track, our next camping adventure is in a couple weeks back over to eastern WA towards Moses Lake for some fishing. We've got our poles (Jordan included) and can't wait to see who can catch the biggest one!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Justin is 16 months old today!!!
Isn't he just the cutest!!! These pictures were actually taken 5 days ago, but close enough...
Look at ALL my teeth...it's not hard to make me smile:-) I love to put on my funny face & make mommy and daddy laugh, BUT....
I can also be serious.:-)
Look at ALL my teeth...it's not hard to make me smile:-) I love to put on my funny face & make mommy and daddy laugh, BUT....
I can also be serious.:-)
Friday, July 31, 2009
Better late then never I always say:-)
Below are a few pictures from the boys' birthday party 4 months ago (April)...I want to make sure I post these before they are another year older! The pictures all go down the left hand side, but my comments are on the right side...you'll just have to read and scroll:-)
Jordan got this big remote control hummer from Nana that he runs outside and he just loves it. As you can see the box was almost bigger then him:-) We had the backyard patio decorated with balloons, streamers, and other things Diego. You would've thought it was Christmas with all of the presents they got, but I guess you can say this only happens once a year!
Doesn't Ms. Mary Kay just look happy holding Justin???
I'm not so sure next year Justin will let Jordan take ownership and lead of the party...I'm almost certain we'll have to have two parties! Jordan was able to blow out both candles on the cake whilst Justin was worried about getting him some frosting:-)
Jordan got this big remote control hummer from Nana that he runs outside and he just loves it. As you can see the box was almost bigger then him:-) We had the backyard patio decorated with balloons, streamers, and other things Diego. You would've thought it was Christmas with all of the presents they got, but I guess you can say this only happens once a year!
We had a big jumper at the house (one of those delivered and set up for you) and the funny thing is that the company dropped it off early (something like 11 instead of 1) because they had more to drop off in Seattle and said they'd be back at 4 to pick up and then ended up not picking it up until something like 8p. We paid for 4 hours and had it for like 9!!! So, even the grownups got to get in it and jump around:-) That's me, Justin, Steve and his youngest Emily (well youngest at this time since I waited so long to post, Scotty has since come along in May, so now she's the middle 'kid':0)).
Doesn't Ms. Mary Kay just look happy holding Justin???
I'm not so sure next year Justin will let Jordan take ownership and lead of the party...I'm almost certain we'll have to have two parties! Jordan was able to blow out both candles on the cake whilst Justin was worried about getting him some frosting:-)
The theme of the party was Diego and obviously I had to go and find a great cake since I wouldn't have any idea what I was doing. Here's a picture of the cake that cost me $20 from Fred Meyer. They did an excellent job and I was able to pick it up just before the party. I'll probably go there again next year, but will have to buy TWO cakes instead of one:-)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Lincoln City, OR - Camping Slideshow (Memorial Weekend 2009)
OK, so I've finally posted quite a few pictures (hence the slide show) below from our camping trip to Lincoln City, OR over the Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time...If you take the time to read the captions, you'll see what and where we are. We went to the OR coast aquarium, the beach/ocean, and then hung out at the campsite. Enjoy!!!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Procrastination...It's Jordan's new middle name!
Getting Jordan to sleep has just turned into one of the longest drawn out events in history! For example, this evening, he had to see my IPOD and turn it on, then had to see Philip's, then had to have Philip rub his back and read him a book, then his fingers were sticky so he had to quickly wash them, then mommy had to rub his back, then he needed a drink of water, then he had to let me know/tell me that we were supposed to go over to Samantha's house (Kareena, we might pop over tomorrow:-)), then he needed socks put on his feet, and then finally he needed to be covered up...all in all this took 45 minutes. It's now 9p and I can still hear him upstairs (in his bed mind you) doing who knows what! I'm not exactly sure besides tying him directly to his bed at 8p (No, I wouldn't really do this), how I would get him to go to bed and not lolly gag for almost an hour. I know the staying light out later hasn't helped, but it is now actually getting darker earlier again...I really think he does this to try my/our patience (which we already have little to begin with) and push our buttons, and do you know it works:-) We've worked to start the process earlier, but then instead of 45 minutes, it might be the 45 minutes plus the entire time added on for getting him started on the process earlier! I almost think it's a no win situation and I've just got to live with the fact that 4-year olds do this and eventually he'll grow out of this and when he gets older and does his own thing, I'll think back on this and wish we could go back:-) How I love being a mom!!!
It's FRIGGEN' HOT!!!
For me to say it's friggen' hot is surely something to those of you that know me...! Today our temperature broke a record set back in 1891 of 100 degrees; we reached 104 degrees today and some areas even got hotter! We are 30 degrees above our normal averages for the year and obviously we are smack in the middle of a 100 year-old event. Not sure, but I think Vegas was only forecasting 107 degrees...we were actually hotter here in the NW then Texas and Tuscon, AZ which for all of you not familiar with geography is the desert:-) Don't get me wrong; I love the heat and the sun, but I've acclimated to the NW weather enough now to not wanting to be outside doing anything with the boys in the heat! If I were in Vegas, the difference is that I would be floating in a pool constantly wetting myself....LOVE IT!
Tomorrow we are supposed to be 100 degrees or just a smidge cooler or warmer depending on what area (south/north) you are in. This would make day #5 in a row of over the 90 degrees and again we would be breaking some really old record of the 4 days in a row.
This is so one of the many reasons we had A/C put in the house back in the spring of 2007. The true/real pacific north westerners who have lived their whole life in WA say, but you don't need the A/C but a few days a year....let me talk to them now and I'm sure these are the few days of the year that they wish they had A/C:-) It just makes sleeping a whole lot easier when you are more comfortable instead of the house being in the mid 80's. Not sure, but we'll definitely keep the maintenance agreement up on the A/C unit so we always know it's working and in mint condition for when these 100-year events happen and seem to happen more regularly each and every year.
Tomorrow we are supposed to be 100 degrees or just a smidge cooler or warmer depending on what area (south/north) you are in. This would make day #5 in a row of over the 90 degrees and again we would be breaking some really old record of the 4 days in a row.
This is so one of the many reasons we had A/C put in the house back in the spring of 2007. The true/real pacific north westerners who have lived their whole life in WA say, but you don't need the A/C but a few days a year....let me talk to them now and I'm sure these are the few days of the year that they wish they had A/C:-) It just makes sleeping a whole lot easier when you are more comfortable instead of the house being in the mid 80's. Not sure, but we'll definitely keep the maintenance agreement up on the A/C unit so we always know it's working and in mint condition for when these 100-year events happen and seem to happen more regularly each and every year.
Monday, July 27, 2009
What's another name for a 'hotbox' on wheels?
.....can you say, my bus on the ride home this afternoon!!! The temperature today got to be 94 degrees (it's still reading 87 degrees as I write this) outside and it's only going to get warmer as the days go on and potentially into the end of next week! It's been since 1981 where we've broken the record for 5 consecutive days over 90 degrees and they think we are going to easily break that this week.
My bus that picked us up in Bellevue this afternoon was 7 minutes late because it had over-heated on it's way to get us. The good thing about ST buses is that they have AC where the King County Metro buses don't, anyways, the ST bus that picked us up was broken/over-heating so it didn't have AC, then we had to get off in Renton and transfer to another bus for the rest of the ride home which of course ended up being a King County Metro bus with no AC...I swear that the temperature in that bus had to have been at least 100 degrees since it was well over 90 degrees outside; folks were walking off the bus with wet hair! I was sweating my butt off that I thought that I'd get home and weigh myself since I'm sure I had sweated off a few pounds during the ride home:-) It was the most uncomfortable bus ride I've taken since I started riding buses this past Nov.
I'm really hoping that tomorrow brings a better bus ride home since it's suppose to even be hotter tomorrow...close to the upper 90's!
My bus that picked us up in Bellevue this afternoon was 7 minutes late because it had over-heated on it's way to get us. The good thing about ST buses is that they have AC where the King County Metro buses don't, anyways, the ST bus that picked us up was broken/over-heating so it didn't have AC, then we had to get off in Renton and transfer to another bus for the rest of the ride home which of course ended up being a King County Metro bus with no AC...I swear that the temperature in that bus had to have been at least 100 degrees since it was well over 90 degrees outside; folks were walking off the bus with wet hair! I was sweating my butt off that I thought that I'd get home and weigh myself since I'm sure I had sweated off a few pounds during the ride home:-) It was the most uncomfortable bus ride I've taken since I started riding buses this past Nov.
I'm really hoping that tomorrow brings a better bus ride home since it's suppose to even be hotter tomorrow...close to the upper 90's!
Weekend activities...
We went to NW Trek this past Saturday as we do usually every year and we had a great time! Justin was pointing to the animals as well this time around, though he did end up falling asleep on the tram ride through the park. He was exhausted, let alone, the weather on Saturday was close to 90 degrees out!! After there we drove down to Cabela's so Philip could get a rubber mat (i.e., liner) for his truck...I guess you can never line/protect it to much. The dealership did the spray in bed liner, but this mat he got was more of a hard floor mat to protect the actual bed of the truck; heaven forbid we actually have to haul something in the truck and it gets dirty:-)
Philip did wash both (yes, both) vehicles on Saturday as well...he started with his truck first at something like 0800 in the morning, and do you know it still got really hot out really fast. If you want to get anything done, you've got to start at basically 0500! The vehicles look great, and since my Jeep hasn't been washed since the last time Philip washed it, it actually looks like a brand new vehicle with shiny silver paint and tires!
I took Jordan on Sunday over to our neighbors house so he could play with Samantha & Emily in their little pool they had up in the backyard, while I played a little game of badminton with Steve (Philip at this time was washing my car:-) I just love him!!!) Anywhoo, we weren't keeping score, but who knew you could work up a sweat hitting a little birdie around; I, in fact, walloped the one little birdie over the fence to their neighbors house...Justin, again hadn't slept all day so he was sleeping at this exact same time and missing out on fun again just like on Saturday at NW Trek (I'll post pics as soon as I get them loaded from the camera). All in all, it was a great weekend that obviously went by too fast!
Philip did wash both (yes, both) vehicles on Saturday as well...he started with his truck first at something like 0800 in the morning, and do you know it still got really hot out really fast. If you want to get anything done, you've got to start at basically 0500! The vehicles look great, and since my Jeep hasn't been washed since the last time Philip washed it, it actually looks like a brand new vehicle with shiny silver paint and tires!
I took Jordan on Sunday over to our neighbors house so he could play with Samantha & Emily in their little pool they had up in the backyard, while I played a little game of badminton with Steve (Philip at this time was washing my car:-) I just love him!!!) Anywhoo, we weren't keeping score, but who knew you could work up a sweat hitting a little birdie around; I, in fact, walloped the one little birdie over the fence to their neighbors house...Justin, again hadn't slept all day so he was sleeping at this exact same time and missing out on fun again just like on Saturday at NW Trek (I'll post pics as soon as I get them loaded from the camera). All in all, it was a great weekend that obviously went by too fast!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
News & Tidbits...
Grandma & Papa are coming out in September for a visit. They are arriving on 9/15 and leaving like 10 days later! Philip & I will be working some of that time since of those 10 days, there is only one weekend involved...it was cheaper to fly out on a Tuesday and go back the following Thursday. They are looking very forward to the visit since it will have been one year exactly since they last saw the kids. We were back in MI last year September (I think it would be that exact week if I were to check the calendar); it's hard to believe a year has already come and gone! Another reason they are coming this specific time is that my dad wants to go to the Puyallup Fair. For those of you that know him, this is definitely his cup of tea:-) We don't have any further plans then that, but I am contemplating going up to the Woodland Zoo in Seattle since we've not been there either. We always go to NW Trek every year (potentially this Saturday) and then to the zoo in Tacoma usually at least once a year as well.
http://www.pdza.org/
Justin's newest word is 'outside'! Yeah, I wrote that right...I about pooped my pants on Sunday; he went over to the back patio door slider, put his face and hands on the window, and clear as day said 'outside'. He's such a little sponge and absorbs SO much now! In fact, he said it again today while he was in his high chair eating dinner; only this time he pointed to the back patio door and said it. I swear, soon enough he'll be asking to bum the keys to the car:-) He's doing great and is always smiling to see me when I pick them up from daycare everyday!
Jordan is having the most difficult time going to sleep at night...I'm not sure if it's because it's daylight out, if he gets extra sleep during nap time at school (yes, he still has nap time!), or if he plan just thinks he's going to miss out on something, but it about drives me bonkers when I end up going to bed (sleep) before he does. Don't get me wrong, he gets into bed, but he talks to himself, needs water, needs to go potty....everything else but go to sleep! When do they ever just go to sleep when they are supposed to:-) He can write all of his letters now on his doodle by copying them; I guess he's prepping himself for Kindergarten next year!
Philip is traveling again the week of 8/3 to Hopkinsville, KY and Chicago. It's me, the boys, AND Mary Kay!!! The boys just love her and we do too!!!
http://www.pdza.org/
Justin's newest word is 'outside'! Yeah, I wrote that right...I about pooped my pants on Sunday; he went over to the back patio door slider, put his face and hands on the window, and clear as day said 'outside'. He's such a little sponge and absorbs SO much now! In fact, he said it again today while he was in his high chair eating dinner; only this time he pointed to the back patio door and said it. I swear, soon enough he'll be asking to bum the keys to the car:-) He's doing great and is always smiling to see me when I pick them up from daycare everyday!
Jordan is having the most difficult time going to sleep at night...I'm not sure if it's because it's daylight out, if he gets extra sleep during nap time at school (yes, he still has nap time!), or if he plan just thinks he's going to miss out on something, but it about drives me bonkers when I end up going to bed (sleep) before he does. Don't get me wrong, he gets into bed, but he talks to himself, needs water, needs to go potty....everything else but go to sleep! When do they ever just go to sleep when they are supposed to:-) He can write all of his letters now on his doodle by copying them; I guess he's prepping himself for Kindergarten next year!
Philip is traveling again the week of 8/3 to Hopkinsville, KY and Chicago. It's me, the boys, AND Mary Kay!!! The boys just love her and we do too!!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Home with a sick kid again today!!!
Justin ran a 101.5 temp yesterday at school and of course I was called at 4:40p when the day was technically over and I picked him up 30 minutes later...he couldn't return to school today, so I had to work from home. I ran him to the doctor anyways since he's been symptomatic for getting pneumonia but his lungs and ears were both clear:-) Thank goodness for that...his pediatrician figures the spike in the fever out of the blue was due to his measles vaccination he got 10 days ago, in fact, I specifically remember the doctor saying that but for some reason I was thinking 4 days and not 10 days. 4 days is for the chickenpox vaccine. I'm just glad he's SEEMS to be doing OK, with seems being the key word!!
You would've thought that a full-term baby wouldn't be as sick as a preemie one, but I'm learning that that isn't necessarily the case...Justin seems to be one sick kid as compared to his older brother!
You would've thought that a full-term baby wouldn't be as sick as a preemie one, but I'm learning that that isn't necessarily the case...Justin seems to be one sick kid as compared to his older brother!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Smooth & pretty feet!
Nothing spectacular happened this weekend...Philip came home from San Francisco very late Friday night, so we didn't have any real big plans. I however, did get out on Saturday morning to get a pedicure at Gene Juarez at 0800...it had been a REALLY long time since I had one and my feet now look wonderful:-) It was a 1 hour 15 minute signature pedicure, which means I got a reflexology massage, a paraffin dip, and other stuff! I finally got to use my $50 gift card I got as a baby shower gift back in Mar08 for Justin...it was definitely well worth the wait!!!
The weather was gorgeous all weekend and looks to be in the mid-high 80's and even 90's all week and through next weekend! Summer is finally here!
The weather was gorgeous all weekend and looks to be in the mid-high 80's and even 90's all week and through next weekend! Summer is finally here!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Day out with Thomas (July 11, 2009)
Here are a few pictures of the 'Day out with Thomas' that we did this past Saturday up in Snoqualmie. People were actually stopping on the road to take pictures of the train going by...I guess if I saw Thomas going by I'm sure we'd be doing the same thing. So Thomas was actually the one pulling the rail cars that we were in; there were a total of about 4 or so cars I think. I can't really remember since it was SO hot!!!
http://www.trainmuseum.org/
It REALLY is Thomas taking us for a ride!!!!
Mommy & Jordan touring a train engine...we got to play with all of the knobs and controls.
Looking down into the Snoqualmie river...the falls are off to the right of this picture. You can't see, but the little specks in the water are people kayaking and rafters...there were also people walking along the rocks next to the water as well. We were VERY high up over the falls.
Justin and his close up!!! Just hanging out with the family!
Jordan getting a tattoo "like Mommy" he said. Well, his is actually a tattoo of James the tank engine, not his astrological sign:-)
Mommy & Justin waiting for the ride to start. Justin kept trying to hang his hands and head out the windows...No Fear I tell you!
http://www.trainmuseum.org/
It REALLY is Thomas taking us for a ride!!!!
Mommy & Jordan touring a train engine...we got to play with all of the knobs and controls.
Looking down into the Snoqualmie river...the falls are off to the right of this picture. You can't see, but the little specks in the water are people kayaking and rafters...there were also people walking along the rocks next to the water as well. We were VERY high up over the falls.
Justin and his close up!!! Just hanging out with the family!
Jordan getting a tattoo "like Mommy" he said. Well, his is actually a tattoo of James the tank engine, not his astrological sign:-)
The boys on the train getting ready for the ride to start!
Mommy & Justin waiting for the ride to start. Justin kept trying to hang his hands and head out the windows...No Fear I tell you!
Monday, July 13, 2009
It Really Sucks (IRS)
To make a long story short...the day before we were leaving to go camping for the 4th of July weekend, we got a letter in the mail from the IRS! Needless to say, I was thinking about it all weekend since they were saying we basically owe them $7K for our 2007 taxes...not chump change! After further review on my own end, I knew it had something to do with how I recorded the stock options on the schedule K since I had exercised stock during this period. Anywhoo, I basically put the cost basis down completely wrong which in the end made it look like we had a capital gain of $26K when we really only had a capital gain of $152! I ended up taking everything to this great little accounting firm down the street that has been in business since 1973...$180 later ($60/hr); drum roll please........the IRS OWES us $540. Since I had grossed up our income to a higher tax bracket, we would've actually had more money coming back to us! It's a great day! I never want to have to go through that again...it's very worry some; I figure if I get anything out of the ordinary I'm going into to this same firm and having it done right the first time (lesson learned at the age of 35)!:-)
The San Francisco Treat?
Philip is heading out tomorrow afternoon for the remainder of the week for training down in San Francisco...It'll be just me and the boys with help from our bestest friend and neighbor Mary Kay! I told him that he'd better bring back the family a treat and it had better NOT be Rice-a-roni either:-)
It sounds like Philip is going to go back to school this fall to get is Bachelor's Degree. I'm not sure exactly what in, but it will help him to prepare him for the next level at work...so he'll be in school as well as I'll be in school. That'll make for some real busy times around here! He'll be going to the same place that I'm currently going; City University of Seattle. I wonder if we can get some sort of discount...I'm doubtful:-)
http://www.cityu.edu/
I'm off to bed as I barely got any sleep last night...maybe a total of 5 hours if I was lucky; not sure why, just couldn't sleep! Jordan got up too talking about I'm thirsty at 0100 in the morning.
It sounds like Philip is going to go back to school this fall to get is Bachelor's Degree. I'm not sure exactly what in, but it will help him to prepare him for the next level at work...so he'll be in school as well as I'll be in school. That'll make for some real busy times around here! He'll be going to the same place that I'm currently going; City University of Seattle. I wonder if we can get some sort of discount...I'm doubtful:-)
http://www.cityu.edu/
I'm off to bed as I barely got any sleep last night...maybe a total of 5 hours if I was lucky; not sure why, just couldn't sleep! Jordan got up too talking about I'm thirsty at 0100 in the morning.
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