E's Spring Break: Day 3 of 7

Day 3 of 7
Monday @
5:10pm Candy Run to Canada!

6:00pm Explain to Canada Customs agent why I am going to Canada. Ask where the nearest store is.

6:20pm Explain to Canadian Walmart Checkout Lady why I'm buying $67 of candy. They don't have checkout lines at Canadian Walmarts by the way.

6:30pm Explain to US customs agent why I am bringing back $67 of candy from Canada.

6:40pm Couldn't resist. Ate some candy. Next time it will have to go in the trunk.

7:30pm Arrive at home. Dog pee break.

8:00pm Fancy Frozen Pizza dinner.

8:45pm 2 mile Dog Walk in the wind storm. If it was any more windy the dogs would have been like kites.

10:30pm Dogs passed out on the futon.

12:00am Bedtime

6:30am Wake up to rain storm.

8:30am Replace studded tires with regular tires. You can all thank me for the lack of lowland snow this year. It's all because I bought new studded tires five months ago.

8:45am Pick up new grinding wheel at Home Depot for the fence project. Maybe I should have bought an umbrella in case the rain doesn't let up. Off to work.

E's Spring Break: Day 2 of 7

Day 2 of 7
Sunday @
2:30pm Finished a hike to Goose Rock at Deception Pass State Park with the Mount Baker Club (MBC).

3:30pm Enjoyed a Pyramid Longhorn with the MBC co-hikers at the Longhorn Saloon in Edison.

4:30pm Home to play with the dogs and pester the cat. Or was it play with the cat and pester the dogs? I won't tell.

5:30pm Start cutting fence panels for the final portion of the back yard/meadow border.



5:35pm It starts raining. Put tools away.

5:45pm Rain stops.

5:50pm Go outside to secure a top rail to the fence with nails.

5:55pm Rain resumes. Decide it's a good time to be hungry.

6:30pm Annual Spring Break Dinner at Outback.

7:45pm Dog Walk to the Pond

8:15pm Work

12:00am Bed. Dogs are wiped out. hehe Thank you, God.

6:30am Good Morning wind storm!

7:30am Hi ho hi ho, off to work I go.

Dad's Spring Break: Day 1 of 7

The girls left to enjoy Spring Break in Arizona with the In-Laws.

This is the diary of my 7 days anxiously awaiting their return.

Day 1 Saturday
1:30pm: Vacation begins as I drop the three party animals off at the airport... kisses & hugs to all of them. They are flying direct to Las Vegas (I've always wanted to go to Vegas) and then flying onward to Phoenix.

I start my vacation rigging up the ipod to play on the stereo before making my way toward Harstene Island to see my folks (and return their pressure washer). Found myself stuck in traffic but received some excellent advice from a few Harstene Islanders to detour around the delay. Thanks Noni!

3:08pm Receive phone call from Tanya to let me know they just boarded the plane and all is going well.

3:25pm Arrive at Harstene to socialize.

4:15pm Depart Harstene to go party at Aunt Rachel's house in Tacoma.

5:52pm Receive email from Tanya: "I am about to puke"

5:54pm Arrive at Rachel's house and meet all of Steve's friends and all of Rachel's friends. Rachel shows off her garden and her sump pump.

5:59pm Receive email from Tanya (or more likely sent by Mikayla): "we r in las vegas now"

8:30pm Depart Rachel's and head home to take care of the dogs.

10:15pm Arrive home, unload the car, search the house for any dog potty accidents (none found!), medicate dogs and take the dogs out to pee. The dogs keep running around looking for T & the kids. They don't believe I'm the only one home.

11:15pm Somebody peed on the carpet. It wasn't me. Back outside.

1:00am Everybody back outside... pre-bed potty break. Set up dog/baby gate to keep dogs in bedroom with me all night.

1:15am Scrappy dog continues to chase white dog and cat around the bedroom. Go looking for small dog crate from garage. Just in case things don't calm down.

1:25am Things don't calm down. The cat keeps returning to antagonize the dog. Scrappy dog is plucking away at bedspring coils under the bed, recreating the SpongeBob theme song. Get up to look for the second dog crate.

1:35am Continue to coax Scrappy out from under the bed.

1:40am Two dogs in crates. One smug looking cat on the bed. Two dogs whining. Me wishing we had a fenced yard.

2:15am One whining dog. Me wishing airlines hosted a "Dogs Fly Free" promotion.

5:00am Dog Alarm Clock goes off when newspaper gets delivered. Everybody out to pee... in the rain. Get on internet to check weather forecast for hike that starts in about four hours. Get distracted and start this blog entry.

5:30am Trapped both dogs upstairs instead of just confining them to the bedroom, hoping for another two hours of sleep. Looks like it's going to be a short and wet (but dog-free) hike day.

6:10am It's not working.

9:15am Depart for hike with the Mount Baker Club to Goose Rock at Deception Pass State Park. Hey! The rain stopped! :)

~E

And Then There Were Five

News Flash!!

Lilly and Ellie (our guinea pigs) have been adopted by one of Mikayla's nice friends from school. He and his dad came by Monday afternoon to pick up the little critters & their supplies and to begin the next exciting adventure of their lives.

I'm not sure what life for Lilly & Ellie will be like in their new place but Mikayla has promised us that they have found a good home.

You might be wondering whether the guinea pigs will be able to further their acting careers with their new family or not. You may remember that they were featured in Alexia's Amazing Animals (Part 1) back in June 2009. The Guinea Pig section starts at about the 0:48 second mark.


Here are a few pictures that I found on the kids cameras of our favorite Guinea Pigs.












Thank you Lilly & Ellie for all the fun times you provided to the kids over the years.

The good news: We're down to five pets.
The bad news: It's Spring Break!

Why is "Spring Break" bad news? Because twice now the family has managed to end up with a new pet at the end of a spring break week.

Anyone caught giving the kids new pet ideas gets to be the official pet-sitter for our next vacation. Consider yourself warned.

Alexia's First Communion

It is common practice in our church for kids to begin participating in communion during third grade.

Alexia has been waiting for this day for quite some time... and after a couple of meetings with our Pastor and a couple other third graders, her day finally arrived this last Sunday (3/21/2010).

During the service Pastor Kevin called the three third graders up to the alter where he spoke to them and the congregation about 'the whats and the whys' before their first communion.







Once that was completed, Alexia returned to sit with us as they started the regular communion procession. You won't be surprised to know that Alexia joined right in with us to do communion again. Pastor Jennifer had to laugh.

After the service we did a couple mandatory photos.




Thanks, Sue & Steve, for coming up for this event. Thanks also for bringing Aleigh up also. She & Alexia apparently had a lot of catching up to do... conveniently done during Sunday School.


~E

First Day of (Round off Backhand)spring

The First Day Of Spring 2010

Mikayla & Tanya spent three hours at the gym for team practice today where Mikayla managed to pull off a Round Off Backhandspring after a bit of practice.

Here is a video Tanya took via phone of the memorable moment.


Meanwhile, across town, Alexia was watching TV as I 'enjoyed' the spring-like weather while power-washing our side of the neighbors vinyl fence.

In this context, 'enjoy' translates to 'thank goodness I only have to do this once a year and at least it isn't windy and cold outside this time'.

Here is the gross "Winter Fence":


Here is Like New "Spring Fence":


Let me tell you how glad I am that only one neighbor has a white vinyl fence. Sheesh.

Later in the day T's parents showed up. Mikayla did a little gymnastics showing off in the back yard while Alexia & Aleigh played games upstairs before we all enjoyed a trouble free dinner at Olive Garden.

Tomorrow is Alexia's First Communion at church. She's excited about that and maybe she'll have something to say about it on the blog tomorrow. Maybe. :)

Here in Skagit County, the Daffodils are out and Tulips are on the way.

~E

Tweets, Gymnastics and Fencing

Tweets:

This is Tweet. Mikayla created this bird out of clay in her art class last quarter. It's currently decorating our kitchen counter.



Gymnastics:

This weekend the girls had another gymnastics meet to attend. They both performed well and, if you are interested, you can watch the short video (3 min, 40 sec) of their performances. One more meet to go... and then 4H Dog season starts up.



Fencing:

Day #2 of the "fence the backyard" project allowed us to cement in the posts and finish the north section of the fence. Now, we just have a panel and a gate to finish off the south end. After that we'll move on to figuring out what kind of fence we want in the front. Hopefully we'll have this whole thing knocked out by Memorial Day.

No... just because we have a fence does not mean we need more pets.
Yes, a horse is a pet.
No, we are not getting a horse.
No, I am not building a barn.

Thanks, Dad, for all the help on this project. It's been invaluable!

~E

Update to the Block Watch Update

It just so happens that we coincidentally received our first restitution check in the mail today!

$14 in 10 months.

At that rate we should be all settled by the year 2022.

;)

~E

Block Watch Update

Block Watch Update

Last we heard, Mr. B was going to get out of jail at the end of February. Who is Mr. B? He's the gentleman who knocked over our tree last May. You can read about it here, if you forgot. Hopefully he'll get on someone's payroll soon & start paying restitution.

This person's identity and whereabouts are still unknown. Her shoulder, elbow and foot left a negative impression on our garage door while trying to allude a police officer (moments after Mr. B. squished the tree). As soon as we find out who she is she'll be getting a bill for a new garage door.

Tonight we had to call 911 to report that the kids up the street were laying themselves across the road. No, not in the ditch.
Across the road.
Four of them... end to end... from one side of the road to the other.
At night.
In the dark.
Wearing dark clothing.
When a car would come down the road they would wait until it was less than two houses away before they would sit up.
This is probably a combination of natural selection in action and an attempt to win a 2010 Darwin Award. At least they weren't doing this.
A short while later a police officer stopped by to get more info about what we witnessed before proceeding up the street to lecture the carefree youth (who were still outside).

End of the Block Watch report.

~E