7th Grade: Then and Now

So, it seems that 7th Grade in 2009 is a little different than it was back in the olden days (like, 1982).

Then: Lockers!
Now: Monsterous Backpacks

Then:  Textbooks for every class... and you can put them in your locker!
Now:  3 inch binders for 4 inches of papers and maybe a workbook, if you're lucky.

Then: Computer Lab full of brand new Commodore 64's!
Now: What's a Commodore 64? Technology Lab and every kid carries at least two electronic devices which each hold more information than 100 Commodore 64's.

Now: MySpace
Then: Uh... my locker?

Then: Parachute pants and those 'cool' jackets with the funny flaps on the shoulders. And jeans. Unbelievably, your underwear stayed INSIDE your pants.
Now: Aeropostale anything (or everything) (also, you can't pronounce it properly, no matter how hard you might try).

Then: ET, Tootsie and Rocky III, Star Trek II (The Wrath of Kahn)... for $2,50.
Now: Hannah Montana (the Movie), New Moon, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Up. Also, surprisingly, Land of the Lost, Star Trek, Fame, another Terminator sequel and Transformers. Cost $9.50. At least.

Then: Dukes of Hazzard
Now: iCarly

Then: **insert picture of me looking like a dufus here, when I find it**
Now: Mikayla (when she's not running a 102 degree fever):

Those are a few of the compare/contrast items that came to mind.

I'm not sure what is being taught in health class these days, but I'm pretty sure it's similar to what I went through.  The usual don't smoke, don't do drugs, take a shower, wear deodorant, yadda yadda yadda.  Seems like that is all pretty much common knowledge to kids these days (it's just that a lot of them don't listen).

It could be that the curriculum needs some new material.

Something fresh.

Something exciting.

After spending this afternoon in the doctor's office, I think I have just the thing.

It turns out there IS a wrong way to cut your toenails.  Whoops.

Why don't nail clippers contain warning labels... or at least instructions (in 15 languages)?
Might I suggest something like:
"Do not use near fingers or toes",
"Do not play on or around"
"Not for children under 40"
"Do not use under the influence of alcohol or while operating heavy machinery"
"Use only in a well ventilated area"

Where's my Vicodin?

~E

Another Date Night

Both the kids have ditched us so they could enjoy sleepovers with their BFF's.

That means it's Date Night!

You might recall our previous two date nights: one involved the Library (here) and the other involved Bingo (here).

Before we get to Date Night, I'm compelled to share with you what we did earlier today.

The day started with an exciting soccer game for Alexia and I. The weather was fantastic and the team showed off some of their newly developed skills. The game was much more exciting this week than the previous one. Even the dogs had a good time, so they tell me.

Afterwards, we came home for lunch (& room cleaning and laundry) and Alexia left for her sleepover at about 12:30. Tanya spent the afternoon scrapbooking at home, Mikayla played with the pets and I took a few hours to visit a couple lakes located in the Chuckanut Mountains (here).

Mikayla, her friend and her dog went for a walk to Haggen's grocery store. On their own. Without an adult. Some people were nervous about this... some people weren't nervous about this. Regardless of all that, Mikayla and her friend were excited for such an adventure since such freedom is hard to come by when you are in 7th grade. They reportedly took turns at the store: one would stay with the dog while the other went in to shop and then they would switch.

I didn't actually get a chance to talk to her about their adventure today, but will report back on it (if there is anything you might be interested in).

Shortly after their return, they were picked up and were off to do their overnight.

Our date night started shortly thereafter.

First stop: Dinner in Burlington. Neither of us felt like grilling burgers, so we went out for burgers.

Second stop: Finish the grocery shopping at Fred Meyer (since the new Super W*lmart doesn't seem to carry the stuff we want).
Mid-way through our shopping trip I convinced Tanya that I needed to buy some underwear. This didn't come as a surprise to her because I've been shopping for these for at least a week... without success.

It never dawned on me that my undergarments might some day go out of style.

No, pictures are not forth coming.

You're welcome.

After confirming that Fred Meyer doesn't have what I was looking for, there was no other choice but to accept the fact that something was about to change. Two packs... into the cart.

Back to the grocery section to get the ice cream and then to the checkout lane.

Tanya chose the "About 12 items" express lane.

When you are a Weigel, 20 items qualifies as 'about 12'.

Tanya kindly plopped down my new garments on the checkout counter first (probably so they wouldn't contaminate her food) and by the time she looked up to see the total cost of our purchases she immediately noticed something wasn't quite right.

For the next three minutes (that felt like three hours) we had to have a discussion with the check out clerk about underwear, the cost of underwear, how long underwear lasts, how long ago did you last buy underwear and whether it's a smart move to bring your spouse along when you are considering an underwear purchase.

I'm positive that if this Fred Meyer Checkout person has their own blog we will probably be featured as the "Customer Of The Day."

We finally get to exit the store to the private confinement of the car.

Third Stop: Michael's Craft Store, so Tanya can use her 40% off coupon on a $5.60 scrapbook.

Fourth Stop: Home... to type up a blog story and Google search for "Customer Of The Day" (which didn't reveal anything useful).

That's it for date night.

Tomorrow we're volunteering at the Skagit County Family Festival of Farms for half the day. Some of us are helping direct cars in the parking lot, some are helping to sell raffle tickets and others get to help in the petting zoo.

Sounds like I'd better charge up the camera battery as this may be interesting.

~E

Happy Birthday at the Fair

What!?!
Another blog post about the fair?

Yep.

By now you might be thinking that all I have to talk about is 1) dogs, 2) the fair and 3) the family.

You'd be right.
Well, at least during August and September.

So, you may recall that we spent Alexia's Birthday at the Puyallup Fair. It just so happened that her birthday coincided with the day that Mikayla was competing in an Agility course with Josie that day. If you missed that post and related video, it's available here (click).

Here are some pics of Alexia, and her numerous visitors, from that day at the fair.

Nana and Poppy:


Alexia opening one of her presents: Her own digital camera.


Aunt Rachel & Uncle Steve:


Grandpa Dave & Grandma Margie:


More Presents (being opened in the dog/horse arena):


Alexia getting ready to enjoy some Roasted Corn:

Not Pictured: Alexia eating a Cow Chip Cookie (note the sticker on her shirt, partially hidden by her coat, announcing she ate a Cow Chip Cookie) and Alexia eating a Carmel Apple.

Family Group (plus Sarah who was part of the family for the day, and Josie is filling in for Tanya)


It was mentioned earlier in this post that Alexia received a digital camera for her birthday. She spent the rest of the day, and numerous days since then, taking pictures of everything (and nothing, at the same time).

In an attempt to keep all of you interested, let's make this into a short game. Let's call this game "Guess Who Took That Photo". Write down your answers on a separate piece of paper. Answers will be revealed at the end of this post (no cheating!!).

Picture #1: A photo of Mikayla and Josie in the Dog Agility Ring


Picture #2: A photo of Josie in the Obedience Ring


Picture #3: A photo of Mikayla and Josie in the Obedience Ring


Did you write down your answers?
Really? Hmmmm.

Here are the answers:
Picture #1: Photo by Tanya
Picture #2: Photo by Tanya
Picture #3: Photo by Tanya

Now, don't get me wrong. We all take bad pictures sometimes and taking pictures in the dog barn is a tricky task. Tanya does take some great pictures and you'll see a few of them in the next post.

The other reason these are all pics by Tanya is because we need more memory for the kids computer before I can download all of Alexia's 4GB of pics and videos onto it. Let's hope that happens in the next week or so. Then we can finish up the Fair blog posts and get back to 'regular' life with the Rolfs.

~E

Team Skagit County (Dog Lovers Only)

This post is intended for:
a) people who love dogs
b) people who like dogs
c) people who have families or kids that like (or love) dogs
d) people who spend 15 hours at the fair and only get to see the dogs
e) people who came to the fair to see dog agility competition but had to leave before it started because they had to pick up their own dog from the dog sitter by closing time.

If you don't like dogs then you should probably browse the links at the left for something a little more interesting. Maybe you should spend some time on this site. Then come back here and see if it's any more interesting.

This post is only here to share some videos that I took of the 4-H Dog Agility competition at the Puyallup Fair on Sept 19, 2009.

This is all video... pics will probably follow in a few days (or weeks).

First off, here is Mikayla and Josie. Mikayla ended up winning a red ribbon for this event.

As a side note, Mikayla also won a red ribbon for Judging and will be back at the Fair on Thursday for more dog competitions.

This next video is a short compilation that shows how things could go wrong, despite all your hard effort and diligent training.

I don't think any of those people were from Skagit County, but the following two videos are of friends who are part of the 4-H club we belong to: Kids-n-K-9's.
This is Brianna and Sparkles:

Finally, here is Kayleen and Kona:


Everyone held up well, despite the fact that it was a very long day.
Mikayla, Tanya and Sarah were dealing with dogs at the fair, all day, from 8:00am until 11:45pm.

Alexia and I played three soccer games at home before coming down to join in the fair festivities. Since it was Alexia's birthday, Nana, Poppy, Grandpa Dave, Grandma Margie, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Steve all came to the Fair to wish her a wonderful Happy 9th Birthday. She ended up opening presents on the bleachers while the dogs were running the agility course. She was excited to get her own digital camera, so you can expect to see some images fro her in the near future.

Thank you to everyone who came to see us at the fair. We really do appreciate it.

That's all for now.
More to come, as time allows.

~E

Rolfs' Got Talent

Let's hear a little Kudo's for the Rolfs' family.

Alexia is starting Choir twice a week.

Mikayla earned a spot on the Concert Choir Group.

Eric has some pics being used by the American Alpine Institute on their snowshoeing web page.

Tanya was nominated to be included in the prestigious Who's Who Teacher Directory (although a google search just taught me that it's no longer in publication).

Well, regardless of that, everyone knows that Tanya is the glue that keeps our family on track and able to do all that we do.  The fact that I caught her singing rounds of 'The Drunken Sailor' earlier this evening don't have me too concerned... we'll just pretend she's practicing for Talk Like A Pirate day.

Despite the aforementioned singing, Tanya deserves to be nominated Mom of the Year (click here for link).

Although she might be just as happy with Volunteer of the Month.

~E

PS: Don't forget Alexia's Birthday is the same day as Talk Like A Pirate Day. We'll be at the Puyallup Fair that day... stop by and see us!

Early Birthday #9

This weekend Alexia celebrated her 9th Birthday.

Her actual birthday isn't until this coming weekend, but I worry that it will always be overshadowed by Talk Like A Pirate Day (TLAP), so we celebrated a week early, lest we be landlubbers forced to walk ye plank.  You too can talk like a pirate on TLAP day (Sept 19th)... learn how on the web!

Plus, we'll be at the Puyallup Fair on her actual birthday.
Much like last year. 
Speaking of last year, if you have a few minutes, you may want to revisit these two posts from last year:  Dog Shows and Whirling Dervishes since this year looks like it may be pretty similar.

As I was saying, we celebrated Alexia's birthday a week early.

Our day started out with three soccer games in Burlington as part of the season kickoff jamboree.
Tanya has been nominated as the Team Photographer since I'm too busy coaching to get any photos.
Here are a few of my favorites from the day:





Mikayla spent the morning in Mount Vernon, volunteering with her 4H group at the Dog's Life Festival where she was thrilled to win a number of raffles and ended up with a new favorite shirt:


Finally, guests arrive for the birthday party.


We pile into vehicles and end up at the local Build-A-Bear store where everyone got to make their own bear (or dog or cat).



For those of you who haven't been to a Build-A-Bear store, you get to pick out a stuffed animal 'skin', they fill it with stuffing and you get to pick out a heart to stick inside before they sew it up.


Here Alexia is rubbing the heart on her head before putting it into her stuffed dog.  Either she's trying to make sure her dog is smart... or she's making sure it smells like soccer sweat.

Just kidding of course.

Girls don't sweat.

Since this was a birthday party, all the guests get to pick out an extra heart and they all go inside the birthday girl's animal.


On the way back we made a detour to McDonalds to let the kids burn off more energy before returning home.  Here they are, ready to enjoy a gourmet fast food meal.

So far so good.
No dramatic Rolfs' stories.
Relieved?
Bored?
Oh wait... someone is crying.
Here comes Alexia with reports that she's been bitten.
Here comes the birthday crew... all witnesses to the incident.
Some "stinky ole boy" bit her on the back and was reportedly pulling on other kids clothing and generally acting in a manner that doesn't meet Ronald McDonald standards.

Tanya promptly went over there and dealt with the rabid child, the apologetic father and the 'are you sure it was him' mother in denial.
They promptly left the scene.

We left a short while later to enjoy cake and ice cream at the house, followed by opening presents, watching a movie and then, eventually, sleep.


Thank you, everyone, (except Mr. Rabid Boy) for making this such an enjoyable weekend.

Happy early Birthday Alexia!