Gallery Update!
You guys just weren’t clicking on the photos fast enough, so I just added … let’s see … 95 new images to the photo gallery. These were taken with my cell phone, so they’re even worse quality than the ones my digital camera takes. Let’s just say I wouldn’t try to print any of them if I were you. These range from June 30 - July 16.
Swimming!
Friday was the last day of Zoey’s two-week swim class at Mounger Pool. About the only thing she didn’t really get into was the first day’s lesson, blowing bubbles, although she did try it a couple times by the end of the second week. The big highlight of the class was supposed to be the trip down the big slide into the colder lap pool (the kiddie pool is kept at 80 degrees). Zoey and her Mommy did it twice, but 5-foot-tall Mommy plus 4-foot-deep cold water at bottom of slide equals shocked, spluttery baby. We’ll try it again next time, but maybe a little slower…
Walking!
Zoey has been walking up a storm the past few days, both on her own and "holding" Mommy and/or Daddy’s hand (which means she purses her fingers into a cone shape and stuffs her hand in the middle of our fingers). I took her and Murphee to Lakeside yesterday afternoon for about an hour so Rona could sleep, and Zoey kept walking halfway down the football field to play in the longjump sand pit. She loved grabbing sand and letting it run through her fingers into the grass (don’t tell the groundskeepers) and she didn’t even eat any! Our little girl’s growing up! *sniff*
Of Backhoes and Bamboo
Our neighbor Mike (who plays trumpet in a jazz band and is a band director somewhere around here) rented a little (9′ tall) backhoe last Friday to dig out the bamboo that had grown from our yard into his. We managed to dig enough dirt away from the back gate so he could drive the rig into our yard and attack the bamboo on our side of the fence. While he was there he took about a minute or less to dig up the giant wild blackberry brambles that had taken over our out-of-control climbing roses, along with the roses themselves and whatever else was in their raised beds. Including one of the raised beds, which is fine with us. Here’s what it looks like now (after Barrett and Conrad spent 4+ hours on Saturday cutting and bagging yardwaste):
Previously it looked a lot like this raised bed next to the garage (aka Barrett and Conrad’s Next Project):
As you can see in the expanded version of the after-backhoe photo, we discovered a nailed-shut double gate buried behind the brambles and raised beds. The hinges are in great shape, but the gates are designed to open in, so are now just a fence.
California Invades!
Eric, Chantelle, Alana, and Matthew brought Ian up to see Seattle, so we all met Brian and Jen at the Zoo. We walked around for at least a couple hours ("we" including Zoey quite a bit), Zoey sat on a rock for a while, and then we all adjourned to Jalisco’s on 65th by Whole Foods for a south-of-the-border repast. After that we all parted, though I was in the Californians’ Space Age Minivan. We headed to Edmonds, where we met up with a couple of Chantelle’s friends and had ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Ian likes chocolate chip shakes, but don’t tell Eric. (Hey, it wasn’t me.) After that Alana wanted to see a park with a view of the water, so Chantelle’s friend provided big time, with Marina Beach. There are lots of photos of the park and the terrific sunset there, in the gallery. (Speaking of those photos, we now officially have more photos of my niece and nephews than can be found in a certain secret Web site.) After the park we went back to the Southern Sass’ hotel in Lynnwood to put the munchkins to bed, and Eric gave me a ride home. All in all, a very nice visit.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.