VACATIONS ROCK!

Last week my chickies and I were on vacation in Sun River, Oregon. We had such a fun time, I'm sure my blog won't even do it justice to how much fun we had. I'm apparently not a great photographer, because we took a total of like 10 pictures all week... LOL But we'll see if I can post some of those up at a later date.

We left Sunday and I was impressed that I made a 6 hour drive in just over 6 1/2 hours. That is fantastic for me as I tend to get lost and have become totally dependent on the greatest invention ever to drive anywhere! Our condo was fabulous - with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a hot tub, and wi-fi.... we were set.

First off we set about to do some grocery shopping for the week at Trader Joes. My first trip ever and I was a little overwhelmed, but have decided $3 Chuck is my new boyfriend! LOL

We settled in Sunday night only to be greeted with a huge thunderstorm that blew out our TV in the living room! We went to the bedroom to watch the news on the TV there and I was a little freaked out when the electricity went out in the news studio and we were left with just a still picture of the news anchors not moving for about 5 minutes! LOL The next morning, the cable was out everywhere as well as the wi-fi and the hot tub. I have to give props to Sun Ray Vacation Rentals because they had all my problems fixed well before noon and were very helpful and pleasant. (Which goes a long, long ways in my book!)

Monday we started off with a trip to Costco for a few more goodies and then went for afternoon to the community pool. It was nice and we got in free with our condo rental. (More yeas for Sunray!) My mini-chicks were a little miffed that every hour, on the hour for 15 minutes anybody under 18 had to vacate the pool for "adult swim". I thought it was a great idea, the kiddos - not so much! LOL Monday night we took our first bike ride to the park and the nice gentlemen and his two sons were nice enough not to laugh when I bit it on a corner!

Tuesday we went to the High Desert Museum which I highly recommend to anybody that's going to be in the area. The animals are awesome, the bat exhibit was cool, and I really liked the pioneer village items. We had a picnic lunch a very different place - Petersen's Rock Garden. There were a lot of rocks, shells, and lily pads! We ate lunch at picnic table with the company of 3 peacocks (which had KK jumping up every 3 seconds proclaiming loudly her vehement dislike of birds! LOL). We stopped on the way back to our condo for some Cold Stone Creamery, making a perfect vacation day!

Wednesday we had sorta a lazy morning, which included another bike ride to the park, a lasagna lunch and then off to do some serious back-to-school shopping. I would say we are at least 95% done, with just a few supplies left and KK still needs a new pair of shoes. We ended our evening by trying out the yummiest little sushi place. Everybody is always impressed when my girls gobble down sushi like we all should eat raw fish everyday!

Thursday was Paulina Plunge Adventure Bike Ride Day. This event should probably have it's very own post... LOL I THOUGHT this sounded like so much fun. When I called to make reservations, I was ASSURED that people 2 to 70 do this all the time. Most of the bike ride is DOWNHILL, coasting, there is "a little" hiking to and from the waterfalls. Umm.ummm.ummm..

We'll start at the beginning - I picked the coldest day of the whole week for this little jaunt (I wouldn't have known that because I made the reservations a month ago), but at any rate - I don't think the temperature ever went over 65 all day. (Remember that - it'll be important later!). I must say, right off the bat that the guides were super nice. Biking riding was okay - not really "coasting", but braking. SS biffed it only about 100 feet into the ride and then again about 100 feet later, but she soon got over her wobblies and made the rest of the ride pretty well. KK made the bike part really well, taking one little spill early on then and then not remembering the most important rule right in the last 20 feet (pull both hand brakes evenly!!!) and took a little handlebar right in the tummy.

So, know lets talk about the waterfalls/hiking adventures. We arrived at the first falls after only biking a bit, on headed on down.down.down to the falls. It involved crossing a creek and I plunged forward like a trooper. We arrived and SS was down to her swimsuit & shorts in 10 seconds flat - only the 2nd person to do the jump (only about 5 of the 15 people did it). KK took a little more coaxing, but finally went for it - only to lose her velcro sneakers! Luckily a guide and a wet little boy were able to retrieve them both and I didn't have to give my sneakers to her for the remainder of the journey!

Then we started back up.up.up - at 7000 feet going up. My lungs were going to explode! I was totally gasping for breathe. The guides were so nice, the younger one Chris - with his gaged earlobes and blond spiky hair made my day. He said "All of those other people (meaning the other adventures already at the top) aren't going anywhere until we get there anyway. And we, are walking and talking with you. If you can't talk to us, you are trying to go to fast. Slow down! You are on vacation!" I wanted to hug him and tell him that this chubby 41-year old momma appreciated such consideration. (I did hug him at the end of give him a $20 tip! LOL)

So, the top finally arrived. We were back on the bikes. Off to another waterfall. Another trek down, SS again joyful in the freezing water, another climb up. Finally, the last waterfall. It was nice - I was standing on the some rocks thinking to myself "WOW.. look, the sun is shining over there - I should be over there!". So, I start walking, carefully, slowly across the rocks to the other side. No remember, it is about 60-65 degrees - I'm wearing shorts, long sweats, my swimsuit top, a tank top, and a hoodie. I'm doing okay with my little expedition, I'm about 1/2 ways across. A little boy, about 7 starts out across towards me - we get about a foot way from one another and he says "I WANNA GO ACROSS". Let's just say that my thoughts in my head were not appropriate to be saying to somebody else's 7 year old!

As I was contemplating and how to tell him to turn his hiney around and go back, I wavered ever so slightly and then sure enough, I lost my balance. SPLASH!!!! Yep, me fully clothed, all the way under in about 3 1/2 feet of water. My hair is wet (which if you know me - you know that doesn't make me happy!). I was soaked. Every piece of clothing I brought was no soaking wet. I was freezing! But wait, this adventure is not over. I still had to ride the bike another 3 miles and then ride the bus back to town for at least 45 minutes! By the time I arrived back at the condo, I ran straight through the house, peeling most of the wet clothes off and launched right into that 105 degree hot tub!. awwwwwwwwww........ I stayed there for about 30 minutes never once having the thought "I'm too hot". And that my friends is why next year we will go thunderegg hunting tour!

Friday mostly involved me not being able to move much as my muscles complained about the work out - but we did make it to Sun River's village square to enjoy some of the festivities.

Saturday - our last day we went to see the Lava River Cave and the Lava Lands. If you are into cold, dark walks into scary looking caves, then the lava river caves would just be the thing for you. For us... not so much. I think it was our least favorite "touristy" thing we did. The Lava Lands were cool, with it's visitor center. We didn't take the drive up Lava Butte, but it is something to be considered for next time.

AND there will be a next time. Never have the chickies and I gone away on a vacation where I've come home and said "we have to go back there". I'm usually trying to find the next "new and different" thing to do, but I know we could go back to Sun River right now for another week and never run out of things to do!

I highly, highly recommend it it!

Homecoming Week plus Halloween

Since KK is now a 6th grader and in middle school, we had our first taste of the dress-up days and this year, Halloween was thrown in for good measure!

KK had a handle on the "Crazy Hair Day". She wanted her very own 'fro and I did my best to oblige!

My favorite day was "Super Hero or Teacher Day". KK didn't want to be Supergirl or Wonder Woman, instead she said "I want to be Mrs. C." How cool is that???

Not to be outdone by KK getting all the fun all week long, SS and I dressed up for Halloween.

SS was a terrific "Japanese Girl" and I was really impressed at how well she turned out!


I was a "little girl" - what could be better than wearing your jammies to work??

I Miss Summer

So, to relive those wonderful days when it wasn't almost dark by 4:15 and it wasn't raining for days on end, let's look at our trip to Ocean Shores last August.




Here are my chickies & I all dressed and ready for dinner out. We went to a seafood restaurant and SS scarfed down a whole bucket of clams and KK & I had our first oyster shots. YUM!




Here is the surf the next morning and the chickies after a quick romp. I didn't think they would want to go in since it was so cold, but they were hearty and rolled up the pants and went for it! I guess I'd forgotten that when you are a kid, it really doesn't matter - its the ocean!


We were kinda freaked out this first time we saw these signs!





Let's not forget Daisy! She wore her booties so that she wouldn't get sand on her feet. She was so tired after our weekend away!



One afternoon outside of Westport we ended up at a beach that had the most sand dollars I'd ever seen. They were all whole, and some were even still alive! We gathered them up for this picture. There were also awesome agates and other assorted pretties all over. We had great time hunting for them all.

It was much cooler on the coast then we are use to over here in the desert, but we had a great time. Since I'm such a horrible driver, it did seem like a long drive (5 + hours) but it was definitely worth it! Hopefully, we can do it again!

Summer 2008 - The Recap

Summer seemed to fly by at a break-neck speed this year. Here's a quick recap of some of the highlights.

June was full of many activities - Hot Shots basketball camp, Vacation Bible School, Mrs. S's 40th birthday bash and my adjusting to working full-time again after having so many months of a much slower (if somewhat poorer - LOL) life.

Once July hit, it seemed to have whizzed by much too quickly. The highlight was the girls week long trip to Camp Zanika Leche. They were so excited and so grown-up. I did expect SS to have a little bit of trouble (i.e. tears) but she started saying "Bye Mom" the minute we arrived!

I had BIG plans of what I would accomplish and get to do with a whole week without my "mom duties", but it turned out much differently than I was thinking. The Monday I had a wisdom tooth removed and by the time I felt better on Wednesday and I missing them so terribly I couldn't even gather up enough gumption to do anything fun. We have been apart before, but never have we had a "no contact" order. Although, in an emergency I could have gotten a hold of the girls (and vice versa) the camp thinks contact is best kept to letters. I understand the reason, but boy did it make my week long!

But, soon enough I did get my little munchkins back and I was so happy to see them I decided to make a day of of touristy activities closer to home that we never take the time to go to.

We started with a stop at Smallwoods Harvest. Be sure and check out the "cow train" in the farm fun section! I even rode it - it is basically grampa pulling everybody all over the farm with the John Deere Gator. At $2 a head, I think they are making a killing! I even rode and I must say it was fun - especially when he drove through the sprinklers! This is also where I we went on a tasting frenzy - they little tastings set up of lots of things in the mercantile.... pickled things, butters, jams, hot sauces. KK even suckered me into buying her a jar of pumpkin butter even though I was sure I could make me own!

Next we stopped at the The Cashmere Pioneer Village and Museum. It was pretty cool, we all enjoyed it quite a lot. They had extensive collections of both kinds of artifacts. They gave the girls little papers with a list of things they could see if they could find. It made it fun - and they were really looking at all the things.

Next stop was the Aplets and Cotlets Factory Tour. That was mostly the gift shop since the factory was closed since it is Saturday, but we did see the equipment and enjoy the free samples. We couldn't resist buying some too.

Next it was lunch/early dinner at a cool 50's dinner called Studebakers. It was next to the biggest antique stores I've ever been into. KK exclaimed "it is as big as a Wal-mart!".

Finally we rounded out our day with a stop at a fruit stand that makes the but handmade fresh-fruit milkshakes. It was the only place we went I couldn't find online! LOL It was still a terrific raspberry milkshake!

Summer went to fast this year. Here's to next year!!

What a Spring It's Been

Whew! So much has happened in the past 6 weeks: the girls started Little League, had their year-end recital in clogging, had the grand performance of Alice of Wonderland, KK's 5-grade field trip, and many other year-end activities! In the midst of all that, I started my new job at our school district as the payroll officer, but more about that later - this post is all about pictures from the last 6 weeks!

Back in May we attended a party where The Smith Family were also in attendance.


Here we have KK & Mrs. Smith's 2nd daughter, Carley. Carley & KK are only 3 weeks apart in age and we also have pictures of them rolling on the floor as tiny-tiny babies!
Here is what I thought was a super nice pic of Mrs. S. I love it when she smiles like that!
Here I am - looking less than thrilled to get my picture taken while I was scarfing down the best potato salad! I've been on a quest ever since to duplicate this masterpiece of simplicity!
Here is SS at the party hamming it up. Notice she is wearing my dad's Timex. It was the one thing of his she wanted and she wears it all the time.

Next we are off to KK's 5th grade field trip to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma. It was sorta of a long bus ride, but at least I had Mrs. S. to entertain me!

Here is KK with the jelly fish. I was under strict instructions all the time "take a picture"!
Those were hungry little goats! I think he would have jumped out of the pen if she hadn't given him the pellet the minute I snapped this picture!You are never too old or too cool to ride the carousel and wave at your Mom!

Now we will begin the series of events that was the whirlwind from Memorial Day to the last day of school!SS dressed for the Clogging recital. I love it when she let's me "poof" her hair. She always says "Mom, are you going to make me look like poodle?" LOL
KK dressed for her "Fabulous" routine to High School Musical. I am sad I didn't get a pic of the Kung Fu Fighting outfit - she looked awesome!
Here they are making funny faces for me. Such little hams!
Here is SS during her performance. I know it isn't a great photo - but she put her little all into that dance. She did that arm roll, shook those maracas, and sung the song the whole time - I was so proud!
Here is KK watching her feet during rehearsal. Watching them makes them do the moves correctly, didn't you know that?

Before we leaving the clogging performance, I've just have to say how proud I was of both this year. They both have been in clogging since they were 4 and I have to say for both of them this was the year where I could see so much improvement in their skill levels. It makes it worth the money I've paid out all these years! LOL

Next was the drama club performance of "Alice in Wonderland" after months of practice the big day finally arrived. They had two shows - one for the whole school and another for the parents/friends.

SS aka The Catepillar was less then thrilled to have had her face painted green for the better part of a whole day. KK aka The Mad Hatter was a little happier. I don't have any other good pics from the performance - I was having trouble with my new camera in the dimly light gym. I'll figure it out soon!

Lastly, but certainly not least we got all gussied up for the Spring Music Concert. As a 5th grader KK played the recorder and SS, as usual, sung her little heart out.

Aren't they just so pretty???? I love it when they turn out so cute!
KK looking at me like "Mom, I'm smiling because you are making me for this stupid picture you are making me stand here for. Don't you have a million pictures of me standing like this for every concert I've ever been in??" Or something like that. She is about to be 11 - who knows what she really thinks in the devious/genius little mind of hers.

SS looking just slightly less devious than her sister. And yes, she said "Why do you make me look like a poodle??!!?"

So, their you have it - what we've been doing in the Spring '08. Stay tuned for Summer '08!

Pet Pictures

KK has been on a pet picture taking adventure today (along with the mold growing on her science project - ewww!). Here is a sampling of the pets, I'll spare you the mold. LOL
This is Daisy, the Shi Tzu - we just thought it looked particularly cute in BW, with the soft edges. Her life around here is just so rough she is too exhausted to hold open her big blue eyes!
Here she is wearing her "Love at First Bark" dress. She wears clothes most of the winter. She is very tolerant of playing dress-up!

This is Mimzy - he is the "baby" kitty. He came to us last October at less than 12 oz. I'm not sure what he weighs now, but his very lion-like, in my opinion! He is also a huge klutz. I'm actually surprised he is balancing on the back of that chair, as it moves. He is always, always knocking over things!
This is Sunshine - AKA "Fat Cat". She has been here longer than both the dog and other cat. She will have been here 4 years on May 05 - she was already grown up when we got her from the animal shelter. I picked her because she struck her paw out of the cage she was in and touched my arm. I knew she was suppose to be mine right then. She is quite the huntress and unlike her fellow feline, is quite a delicate little jumper. She goes pretty much any where she wants and rarely knocks stuff over. I have a big ol' soft spot in my heart for this kitty-cat.

The Players

Because we are on the web, and we can only be so careful these days – I probably will only tell you my name (see the other post for my issues with that!). All the other people running around in my life we'll have cute little nicknames for this blog purpose. So here goes:

DD#1 – KK She is 10, in 5^th grade and a hand full by any stretch of the imagination! She is very social and loves nothing more than talking on the phone to her friends and bugging her little sister. She is a clogger, a budding cello-ist, and loves softball. Well, okay she loves anything that lets her go hang out with her friends.

DD#2 – SS She is 8 and in 3^rd grade. A much different little girl than her sister and we love that she lives her life on her own beat. She likes Digimon, Power Rangers, and Pokemon. She goes to clogging, but just because she doesn't want her sister to get something she doesn't.

The Pets – Well, okay – I'll tell you their real names! LOL Daisy is your doggy. She is a shi tzu princess and rules the household. Sunshine is our calico and is a nice friendly loving kitty. She makes me happy with her loving rubs and fat cat attitude. Mimzy is the new guy on the block. He is a tabby and still a baby even though he is starting to look like a lion! He is a klutz, where as Sunshine can jump and climb with ease and never knocks anything over – he is an accident waiting to happen.

BFF – We'll call her Mrs. S. I don't know how she'll feel about that – LOL, but, heck it is my blog! I've had her in my life since I was 10 and there are many times that I'm grateful for the fact she decided I'd be a good friend on that day in 5^th grade.

My best friend who is not my BFF – Let me tell you something about my little Gem: she rocks my world. Seriously. She is the person I know that if I can turn to if I need help. Everything from the lost keys in the garbage to taking my kids for 5 days while I'm gone to a convention – she is always there to help me. I was blessed that day 9 years ago she entered my life.

The ex – hmmmm…. We'll just call him LMS and leave it at that.

I'll probably update this occasionally as I talk about others and what to explain who they are!