PICTURES!!! Part 1

I think it's been over two weeks since I could attach photos to my blog posts (which totally zapped my blogging energy) but we're back in bidness! Here is a random recap of what we've been up to:

Brady and I played catch during our surprise campout at Deception Pass.
What an arm on my boy!
I forgot jackets, but somehow remembered to pack robes, so my children walked around the state park lookin' real high class.

Katie's first camping trip (and she's 10!)

Apparently a beach full of stones can't compare to his own personal worry stone.

Making his mom nervous (have you SEEN the current here?)

Deception Pass.

One of two homemade teeter-totters on the beach.

The Sunset after the storm at Boulevard park.
Hippie-girl dancing to Yogoman in the rain.

Huddled under our SUNbrella during the lightning storm at Boulevard park.

Sunset from my deck.

Elizabeth Park.

Brady was injured in the war and now walks with a cane. Because he's 80.

The Skyhoundz Frisbee competition at Lake Padden.

Brady isn't enthralled with the frisbee-dog action, he's ignoring me.

It would be a rare event if Natalie ever ignored a camera!

Seattle and Solitude

Yesterday morning my co-workers and I headed south to tour one of our favorite optical labs. They treated us to lunch at Bahama Breeze (I had black bean soup and Caesar salad, with a mango/pineapple mojito. That was too much alcohol for lunch, but it was gooood!). The tour itself was like walking through and episode of How It's Made, not very glamorous but very interesting.
Then we did a marathon trip through IKEA (I bought Larry some Muesli and got myself a couple of cutting boards), and then we had dinner at Buca di Beppo where Larry joined us before heading to the game. And I just have to say here that "Are you effing kidding me that you expect me to pay $25 for parking when I am parallel to the SODO building?!"
We didn't get our Griffey bobbleheads (apparently there were 15,000 people in line at 2:00 to get them) and the game started off a little ho-hum until the bottom of the 7th when Griffey hit a homer, then things kind of fell apart again until Ichiro tied things up. But it all came down to the last count in the 11th inning (at 11:00pm) one guy on 2nd, 2 outs, 2 strikes and 3 walks. Home-run! Shame on you people who left early! It was so awesome, the bullpen rushed the field just like they had one the AL West championship!
We got home after 1:00, fell quickly asleep and this morning I woke up whenever I felt like it. It was nice. And it's 10:00 and I haven't moved from the couch. Nice. The kids are with Grandma Honey until this evening since Larry and I have a wedding to attend today. It's really nice to have a day that I have no "duties".

Last post without pics?

Larry is putting the finishing touches on the computer and hopefully I can begin deluging you with all my photos! Except on our camping trip I couldn't get my little point-and-shoot to turn on... so there may not be pictures from my adventure today.
I am heading down to Seattle with my co-workers to go tour one of our optical labs that grind the lenses for us. Should be very interesting and it will be nice to place faces with the voices that we talk to every day. They are also buying us lunch ;)
Then we're off to shop at IKEA, then dinner at Buca di Bepo before the game tonight!

Computer.Almost.Fixed

It's been a couple of weeks. Toss in Larry being on vacation and relying on a co-worker for some recovery disks had really delayed the repair of our old desktop.
Once I have that back and can upload pictures, I'll be back to my old blogging ways. I feel that pictures help make my posts more bearable :)
So for now, here are my two new favorite clean jokes:

How come Anteaters never get sick?
Because they're full of Antibodies!

How do you say "Holla!" in Hawaiian?
Mahalo-halo!

I'm sorry. I really need pictures.

Pinewood derby

Yesterday Julie, the kids and I headed up to Blaine loaded up with baked goodies and flowers to surprise my mom on her last day. All of her co-workers were so nice and all of them expressed how much they were going to miss her, and wouldn't she just come back on Monday and stop this retirement nonsense. But she has big plans now that she is free!
The kids also got to go to the movies with Grandma Honey yesterday. She took them to see G-force (Guinea pigs that are spies or something). I was so grateful that she called and wanted to take them, because I really didn't want to see this movie and of course Brady was dying to see it. They had a great time and they got to pick out a toy at Tuesday Morning too. Brady picked out a remote control airplane that does nothing but divebomb the earth at full speed. Natalie picked out a real gem of a toy: NASCAR Barbie. She is in a White mini-dress and has a black tank top underneath that says "I {heart} #8". I think that's Dale Earnhardt or something. It doesn't really matter who it is, it's still White Trash Barbie!
Today we headed to the Pinewood Derby which was really fun to watch (once it finally got going. The track was very late arriving.) But my kids' derby cars were definitely "kid made" where 99% of the others were "parent made". Except for the raw brick of pinewood with wheels on it, my kids' cars were the simplest. And they were way too light, so I taped a bunch of pennies to the top of them to get some weight on them. Have you seen that commercial with the kid and the ugly pinewood car that wins? That was my kids... minus the winning part. Natalie tied in the second heat race off, and Brady came in 3rd. But now we know the nuances of racing, I think next year will be much more successful.
We wandered on down to the farmers market afterwards and picked up a couple of Hawaiian Shave Ice's and some produce and bumped into the Food Fest, where my children spent their food tickets on pizza and donut holes. Such connoisseurs of fine cuisine.
Brady fell asleep at 6:00 tonight, the ONLY reason he ever falls asleep that early (or naps) is because he doesn't feel well. Camping might not be in our future after all...

Mom's Big Day

Today is my mom's last day as a working stiff! She officially retires from the United States Post Office after too many years. She has endured spider nests in rural mailboxes, delivering mail in snow and ice, nasty Napoleon-complex co-workers, served famous people like Grethe Cammermeyer(famed National Guard Colonel and gay rights activist), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed from Rocky), and who can forget Cat Man?
After working with the "general public" for so many years (the stupidity of the human race never ceases to amaze me), my mom is taking off for a two week cruise through Alaska with her new fella. I think it's a wonderful way to decompress and celebrate this new adventure in her life.
The kids asked me what Grandma was going to do now that she won't work anymore. I told them she was going to "Sit around on her rump" which made them giggle with glee and they can't wait to ask her how her rump-sitting is going!
A quote for my mom:
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted."
Love you mom, a million congratulations!

Me and my white trash A/C

I don't care how ghetto I am, I'm hot as hell and am willing to try anything to get some relief on the cheap.
So I've got our big fan blowing full blast with a bucket full of ice water in front of it. I googled it. This form of po' mans air conditioning even has it's on Wikipedia page!
Otherwise we've been out and about this week seeking different forms of cool: We went and stood in the river at Hovander Homesead, we slipped and slided at the neighbors house, we went up to Semiahmoo and played in the pool for a few hours (and I have to say, I've never seen so many "perky" boobs on so many women over 50... that's what having disposable income gets you I suppose), and today my kids played at a pool while their friend did his hippotherapy (I got to work in an air conditioned office which made working so much more pleasurable).