Destination...

First stop (after a picnic lunch):
Chile

Africa

The Tropics


Best enjoyed in the company of small children (Emily, Jonathan, Toriana and the not-so-small-anymore Tiana) and their mothers! And all with no more than a 20 mile drive -- no passport needed!! For more pictures see here

Then, next stop VERTICAL RANCH

What a wonderful follow-up trip to the Vertical Ranch. You'll remember we visited here over Memorial Day weekend. Now there is no snow and it was just a beautiful, serene, fellowship and friendship filled weekend. Elaine and I took our kids (and an extra friend for Grant) up to the mountains and pretended to be the big ol' mountain women we are!! Hee! Hee! Our young men were AWESOME at starting us some roaring campfires where we tested our cooking skills (not bad!). Our girls did all sorts of beauty-enhancing tricks -- Tiana with lemon juice in the hair for blonde streaks and Victoria in mud baths for skin cleansing! Thursday and Friday we moms just relaxed, did a few crafts -- Elaine did embroidery, I did scrapbooking -- and we took a couple of GREAT hikes! The kids just played, annoyed each other, played some games, read Archie comic books and ate more marshmallows than any one person should enjoy in a lifetime!! :o) It does seem like we all ate LOTS and LOTS, but we worked most of it back off just climbing the mountain to our tents or to the next vista! Our husbands joined us on Friday after work. Saturday we went to the lake and they took the boat out. We went back to the ranch, had lunch and while that was getting ready, they hauled a 75' tree 60' up the hillside. What an impressive feat to watch! Both Gentry's full-size Chevy and Kent's "little" Tacoma got a piece of the action!

Just to share, here is one of the best viewing spots on the whole ranch -- and it's view:

Looky-Loo
Looky (from the) Loo

To feel like you were there with us, go here.

TAG!! You're it!

I was tagged by Katrina and she wants me to share 7 facts about myself! Be thinking -- YOU'RE NEXT!!!

*Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.*

1. I have lived over half of my life away from my parents -- once as a senior in high school when I lived in Germany as an exchange student, and then the rest of the time either as a single young lady trying to make my way in the world, or as a wife and mother! Gee -- I'M OLD!!! ;)
2. I LOVE to cook, but only if it's for lots of other people (they don't complain as much!!) and as a fair warning, I also love to try out new recipes on people!!
3. I used to be a couch potato, but I looked at my "new" driver's license when I got it two years ago and decided SOMETHING had to change!!! Since then, through diet and exercise, I've lost 30 pounds and managed to keep most of it off! I've done a lot of charity walks and am doing my 2nd half-marathon this October!
4. I do rubberstamping and card-making. I'm not a scrapbooker, although I know that I need to get into it because I have TONS of pictures that really need to be in an organized, easy to access and enjoy place. Not sure Kent likes the idea of another place for our money to go!! Hee!Hee!
5. We are looking very forward to a trip to Europe next summer. We need to get the planning a bit more settled soon because two of our tickets will be "free" due to airmiles!
6. Coffee is my vice! But, I'll admit -- I'm a coffee snob! May have something to do with the generous discount I get working at Starbucks?!?!
7. When I grow up I would like to adopt a child from Ethiopia, be a nurse and be especially needed for my sign language skills on the nursing floor!

Alright, let's see, I tag: (I do this because I know you have all the time in the world!! ;) )

Ivona
Elaine
Amy
Anna
Beth
Jane
Ligia

HELP!!! We have a teenager in the house!!

What a wild and crazy ride!! After a very fun, albeit cool and windy, trip to the coast, we celebrated a 13th birthday in the house! That part was VERY low-key, just a day spent with a very good friend and her parents and brother joined us for dinner. That was very nice after a whirlwind trip to pick Tiana up and join the Grandparents at the coast for the weekend. It was really not very nice weather at all, but the relaxation part was WONDERFUL!!! While we were there, I even did a 5K non-competitive walk to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Sadly, I was SMOKED by an old man who was speed-walking! Talk about embarrassing! Next year it would be fun to "compete" because then I'd get to run on the beach itself! Since then we've had the opportunity to go to the mall -- multiple times!!-- in order to spend birthday money and gift cards! I think when we came home from the coast we brought the cool, not-so-July weather with us and now we're all struggling to be motivated to anything! To see our weekend trip click HERE! To see the Birthday Girl on her big day, click HERE!

Sorry -- I've been mopey!

Man, it's been so hard. My sister's not here! I don't feel like eating, I could just lay around all day. I had a great time AGES ago 'cause I got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house and play with Pixie, but then sister stayed behind! I did get a little excited, though, 'cause my bestest friend Jolyn came over last night! Oh, Boy! Oh, Boy! That made me pretty happy! Only thing is, mom keeps telling me I have to be gentle! I'm NEVER gentle with Jolyn! I don't get it! She did have this weird thing on her knee -- maybe that's why! I heard a rumor that she's going to be here this weekend. I wonder if that means Mom and Dad are leaving, too????


Yup, that's exactly what it means! Tiana's been with Grandma and Grandpa this whole week! Sounds like she's had lots of fun, too! It's given us time to get ready for the big 13th birthday comin' up! YIKES!!! We'll head out to the Oregon Coast this afternoon where we will meet up with mom, dad, and Tiana and spend the weekend celebrating her birthday! We're looking very forward to just relaxing! Too bad the weather report isn't so pretty! RAIN isn't in the forecast, though, so hopefully it will at least be pleasant! Before we leave town, though, we'll have lunch at the Bite of Seattle -- our favorite summertime foodie stop! This will be the second Bite ever that Tiana has missed since she decided to "blow our plans" of one last weekend before she'd be born! Poor kid has had to do the Bite every year near her birthday! Guess that's what she gets for being early!! ;o) Have a great weekend!

Fun day behind the camera!

What a GORGEOUS day today! Jill, Toriana, Tiana and I all made a trip to the Japanese Gardens to take a photo or two. Jill had never been there so that was fun to share! Tiana wasn't so excited because it meant it was time for her 13th birthday and pictures. We went to lunch after picture time and then Tiana wanted to try a bit of "modeling" at home. I think we got some kind of fun pictures during that, too! Here are a couple that DIDN'T make the cut, but were nice anyway. For the full album, click here. You'll just have to wait and see what we actually chose!

Happy Fourth of July!

What a fun night we had after I got home from work! We had Tiana and Robert over and grilled fajitas and then we shot off some fireworks of our own until it was time to go to the "Big Show"! Robert had great fun designing his grand ceremonial sparkler and it looked pretty good when he was done, too! Coda would have LOVED to have chased all of the lights, but just didn't seem to understand that they would be too hot to handle! The BOOMS went on until late in the night, or should I say early in the morning? The streets this morning are just full of debris from the neighborhood shows, although I'm proud to report that Kent (and Robert and the Tianas!) were good about cleaning up our mess! This morning we also had a fun time with my friend Kara. We went to the Farmer's Market and even found some Sweet Peas to take to her mommy! We also found a treat that was gluten-free/dairy-free so that made it a VERY awesome morning! Now we've just been cleaning for tomorrow morning's Meeting and winding the day down to be quiet in preparation as well. I will put on a batch of Swedish Oatmeal Pancakes (see May 13th post), though, so we'll have a good breakfast tomorrow. May throw a raspberry or two into mine tomorrow! YUM!

 

 

In Awe!

So we finally get the thunderstorm I was waiting for and I was too tired to even try to get to a place where I could photograph it safely! We had some very awesome, intense, long-lasting rolls of thunder last night. It seems the thunder sometimes preceded the lightning, but maybe we were the thunder for lightning that had happened for someone else further away. I must say, I LOVE a good thunderstorm! The raw power and greatness is such a humbling feeling, although a very exciting one at the same time! I must say, though, Coda wasn't near so excited, as a matter of fact he spent a lot of the time sidled up next to my side of the bed so I could scratch his head and remind him that someone bigger and braver was nearby! No one else seemed to be so excited either, as they all slept through it! As I type this even now, I think I hear some distant rumbles! And tomorrow Man will try to be so awesome with beautiful displays of color and maybe some loud accompanying music. Sorry, but for all of the beauty, it just can't compare to the power of the Thunderstorm!