Kiddie Parade

Here are the First Place Winners (Pet Catagory) in the Arlington 2008 Kiddie Parade!

Kids with bones in their mouths, waiting to begin.


Porter, patiently sitting in his wagon, also waiting to take off -- or bail out actually.



Porter looking at me as if to say "This is how you repay me for watching over your children and home? Putting me in a top hat and tee shirt?"



"Luckily," he thinks, "I'm wearing shades so none of my homies will know who I am."

Finally new post!

Posting. I just can't seem to sit at the computer to write anything.

Right now, we're (Thomas and I) hard at work to make the yard look nice for Angie's wedding in August. The weather has been rather dismal as of late but has finally turned the corner and we've getting sun again (as we should for summer, eh?)

But here are some pics I thought I would throw in for good measure because I am heading back outside to finished digging holes for a fence.


Robee with one of our GINORMOUS frogs from the pond.









Ditto for Felix.


You know, even though you know they're just toads, they're still a LITTLE intimidating due to their huge size. I was even a little hesitant at first!


Owen holding a sea star from our outing on Camano Beach about the second week of June.












Thomas and Robee and Felix pretending to be strawberries at the final day of Biringer's Strawberry Farm.

This is a sad closing. This farm has been here for years but the owners have decided to scale back and semi-retire. They've given their land back to the Reclamation Department which will flood it to help preserve the wetland area of Everett and the various sloughs surrounding it - which is a great thing really. There are some wonderful walks all over the wetlands where all sorts of animals and birds live.

Luckily, the owners bought another huge plot of land closer to Arlington where they will still have strawberries for picking!

But the cool little barns and pirate roost and slides and trains will all go away. Sigh.



This is Porter all dressed up for the Kiddies Parade. The kids (Robee actually) thought it would be fun to have Porter in the wagon and they would pull him with leashes and have bones in their mouths. Porter was a trooper; he only bailed out of the wagon once. He lost a little dignity but luckily, he was wearing shades and hid his true identity! And he got a Popsicle at the end of the parade!

They won first in the Pets Division. I'm not supposed to mention that there were only two entries in this division and the other one had to leave before he pooped all over the parade route.

Road Trip

We're leaving for Utah tomorrow. Thomas knew I was feeling a little sad about not being able to take a vacation with the kids so he planned a road trip. We were able to find cheap tickets to Vegas and Seattle, so we're flying into Vegas, driving to St. George, staying for a couple of days and then driving to Salt Lake and staying there for a few days and then flying home to Washington.

Felix and Robee are so excited to travel and see St. George again. We spent five years there and grew to love it until "they" (the city council) ruined it and sold it off to the highest bidder. So sad. That's one reason I decided to leave ..... that and the fact that's it is a 120 degrees in June.

It's great to travel but it's always nice to come home. I've only lived here in Washington since the summer of 2004 but I really consider this my home now even though I lived in Utah much longer. Kind of funny.

Since I may not be posting for awhile, I thought I would show you how Owen and I spend our wonderful days together: talking on the phone, yard work, and eating fishy-cracker boxes. We do have a great time!

Mother's Day Dinner

Just some photos from dinner. We ate at Olive Garden since we wanted something not-too-expensive and something we wouldn't have to wait nine hours to sit down since we're a lame-o family and we don't make reservations on the freakin' busiest day of the year!

What? People can't take their mothers out to eat during the rest of the year?

Mother's Day

If you're a lucky step-mom (such as myself), you receive Mother's Day cards like these below. If not, you get the sappy, flowery --- REALLY boring cards. I mean, seriously, have you ever READ a "Happy Mother's Day to my Step-mother" card?? Bleech. Read on:


This is from Jen.

Since the Mother's Day cards didn't quite express her feelings, she chose to modify another. Bravo!

This is from Ben. We have just this kind of relationship. It works for us.

And this is from Angie. And she means it.

AND THIS IS MY GIFT FROM EVERYONE!! NEIL DIAMOND TICKETS!!! WHOO HOO!!



Perfect. Perfect.