End of May Already?

Well, it was a really fun 3 day weekend. The weather could not have been more perfect. I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow, but go I must.

It is amazing that it is already the last day of May. I can't believe school is over in 2 1/2 weeks... I am not prepared! I have been telling Scott for a while now that I need to start scanning the girls' school pictures into the computer. So tonight I stopped stalling & did it. Unfortunately I realized I am missing some pictures. Doh! I better get looking.......

While I was searching through the pictures I came across a few that I wanted to make sure got scanned. I can't believe how great it is to have digital photography now. I hardly ever go back & look at the old pictures from my "film" camera. I have photo albums just lying around getting dusty. What a shame! It is so much more convenient to have photos that can be viewed on the computer & printed out any time you want.


Corey & Gabby at our first corn maze at Rutledge Farm.

Gabby at around age 2, Herrin, Illinois.

Scott & the girls, Ankeny, Iowa.

The girls & Gamma on a tour of Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Scott, Corey, Gabby & Jesikah at Tolmie State Park...2005. Wow! Look how small they are!

Westport Video

The girls had fun playing in the water. As I'm standing there videotaping the wave comes in and it was REALLY COLD.

Video Taken at Westport

Corey kept wanting me to video tape the weird fish that she saw. I'm not sure what they were. They were about 2 inches long and burrowed into the sand. They freaked her out a bit.

Westport

Today we went to one of our favorite places on the coast, Westport. We strolled along the boardwalk and saw some wild lupine. I didn't realize they grew on the beach. After that we ate the picnic lunch that we had packed. The girls & Winston had fun running in the water. It was a bit cool on the beach and the water was FREEZING, but Scott still managed to get sun burnt. Oops! It was a great way to spend a Sunday!

The log we ate lunch on.

Wild lupine.

On the boardwalk.

Gabby & Winston in the parking lot.

Having fun in the ocean.

Looking for rocks.

One tired puppy-he slept almost the whole way home.

Spokane Float

All fourth graders at Michael T Simmons have to do a city report and Gabby chose Spokane for hers. Her grandparents live there and we've visited Spokane many times. She learned lots of interesting facts about Spokane. In addition to the report she has to make & decorate a float with items that represent her city. She chose to showcase lilacs (Spokane is the Lilac City), Spokane Falls & the Spokane Clock Tower. I think she did a great job!

Bass Family in Washington

This past week Rozanne, Eric & their family were in Tumwater after spending nearly a week with their own extended family further north in the Port Orchard area. I'm glad they were able to come down to stay for four days with Marti & her family. It was great to see them and it felt like they had never left. It was fun to walk around the neighborhood looking at flowers with Rozanne just like we used to do. We still can't believe the people who bought her house yanked out her lovely yellow rose and replaced it with an ugly bush. What were they thinking?? We enjoyed being able to just hang out with everyone and talk. It was also fun to see how much the kids have grown in just 11 short months. I'm so excited to see them again in just 7 weeks when Gabby & I make our first trip out to Tennessee!

Experience Music Project & Seattle Center

Today was a lot of fun. Rozanne, Nikki, Marti, all the kids and I went up to Seattle to check out the Experience Music Project. It was really cool. Corey, Paige, Emily & Alex made a music video of their band "The Red Hot Rileys" playing & singing along to the Beatles' song "Twist & Shout". Everyone got to play a lot of different instruments in the interactive section of the museum.

My favorite part was the Science Fiction Museum which had original Star Trek memorabilia as well as props & costumes from Star Wars, The Planet of the Apes, The Rocketeer & lots of other science fiction movies. It also included a Jim Henson's "Fantastic World" exhibit with original artwork, photos & movie props. The girls liked playing with the Muppet puppets & put on a puppet show of the characters singing a song.

After that we ate lunch & the kids got to go on some rides at Seattle Center. Corey & Paige braved the roller coaster and all the kids liked the log ride. Gabby, Jesikah & Ally went on the spider-like ride. It was a great way to spend a sunny Friday!


Outside the museum.

All the kids when we arrived.

Going down!

Jesikah, Gabby, McKell & Ally on the log ride.

Sydney & Gabby

A picture of Rozanne!

On the spider ride.

Hanging out on the Muppet Show stoop.

Log ride.

Puppet show. Gabby is controlling the one on the right w/the blue hair.

At Marti's house waiting to take off.

Gabby on the spider.

Gabby after the ride.

Cute girl.

Alex, Paige & Corey on the log ride.

Corey & Paige on the roller coaster.

Paige, Gabby & Corey with art sculptures.

Everyone in front of the Space Needle.

Corey, Gabby & Paige

Birthday Wishes

Double Happy Birthday wishes go out today to Savannah Forbes (who turns 10) and Trevor Fourtner (who turns 7). Hope your birthdays are FABULOUS!

Track Meet

Today I braved the blistering heat to watch Corey perform at her track meet against Marshall Middle School. Corey didn't run at the last track meet, but this time I got to see her run the 400 meter. She ran it in 1:58...not too shabby. She also had a personal best on her shot put, at 16'8" which was a foot further than last time. Way to go Corey!

Corey & her track buddies Ha-Yoon, Madi & Riley.

At the start of the 400 m.

Running.

Run Corey!

The finish line.

Plant of the Week #9

The Colorado Blue Columbine

Another great spring flower is the Columbine. They are very beautiful and appear quite delicate, but in fact they're very hardy. I have one in my back yard under my Ginko Biloba tree and it loves it there. The top two pictures are from my columbine plant. Every year it comes back bigger & bigger and I always look forward to its lovely blooms.

• Columbine flowers come in many colors & some are even bi-colored. Colors include red, yellow, white, blue, pink or purple.
• They have clover-like foliage & can reach up to 2 feet high (taller when in full bloom).
• Columbine plants bloom in late spring to early summer & self-seed quite readily.
• Columbine enjoy "partial shade" though they will grow in full sun. They like well-drained soil.
• The genus is Aquilegia which derives from the Latin word for eagle.
• The Colorado Blue Columbine was designated as the Colorado state flower in April, 1899.
• Native Americans used infusions from different parts of the columbine plant to treat a variety of illnesses ranging from heart disease to fever. It can also be used to help relieve the pain of poison ivy.
• The only insect that is particularly fond of the columbine are leaf-miners who tunnel in the leaves producing random trace patterns but do not harm the plant.
• The common name columbine comes from the Latin word columba which means dove. When the blossom is flipped over some people say they see a ring of doves drinking at a fountain.

Memorial Day Adventure

We weren't sure what we were going to do today. The girls begged us to drive up to Pt. Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. After a bit of a late start, we drove up to Tacoma and ate lunch at T.G.I. Friday's before making our way to the zoo. Unfortunately by the time we got there, around 1pm, it was packed. There was no parking to be found and people were parking haphazardly pretty much anywhere they could squeeze their car into. So we had to ditch the zoo (to Gabby's lament). As we were driving out we noticed the sign for the Rhododendron Garden. We spotted an opening so we decided to park and view the gardens. Well, we didn't get to see many of the rhodys as the girls got separated from us and we spent most of our time trying to find them. And we saw a SNAKE...just your common garter snake...but still, I screamed and pretty much did not want to go any further. Luckily some guy walked by and I asked him to scare the snake away so I could pass by which he did. Although he picked up the snake and it looked like he was going to come towards me with it when his wife said something to him and he backed off. NOT NICE! We finally found the girls and then headed down the road. Owen Beach on the 5 mile drive was packed so we decided to just head home. I think we will stay home on holidays from now on.

Beautiful view of Puget Sound

Gabby & Scott

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Happy Corey

Birthday Wishes

Birthday Wishes go out to Nikki Park today. Hope your day is super fun!

Priest Point Park

Today we were supposed to head up to North Bend and hike at the Twin Falls Park. But we got kind of a late start to the day so we decided to stay in town. I read that there was going to be really low tide all weekend so we headed out to Priest Point Park in Olympia. We had hoped to do the long, hilly hike down to the water, but the bridge was closed so we tried out some new trails. They were pretty, but didn't give us quite the work out we were hoping for. We did see some pretty Rhododendrons. On the beach Gabby got spit on by a clam and the girls & dog managed to get really muddy. I also managed to get stung by some Stinging Nettles...yeah, not quite so much fun. When we got back the girls ran through the sprinklers then poor Winston had another bath. Well, if we keep bathing him maybe one day he'll stop shedding so much, but I highly doubt that!


Gabby & yellow rhody.

By a little stream.

Capitol in the background.

Stinging Nettle bumps on my arm.

Many shells.

On the trail.

There were lots of these swings throughout the park.

On the beach.

This is usually covered with water, now it's just mud.

Got mud?

Climbing a tree.

Same tree.

Gabby on a rhody bush.

Gabby on the beach.

Tree roots.

Corey found a cave under a tree.

Corey

That tree fell over and is still growing...there is that cave by the roots.