Sunday, May 30, 2010

Kid Table


Not so sure when the kid table became the only table! The adults are out in the yard...or more specifically running back and forth from the food to keep these smiling faces happy. I'm not sure I ate at all! Hurry up and eat...we've got an ice cream sundae bar in the kitchen!

Its almost barbecue season with movies on the patio and sunset at 10! You wouldn't know this is the first gate to summer in Seattle with the rain and 50 degree weather this 3 day weekend.

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Monday, May 24, 2010

Caption


This picture speaks to me and says: "i don't want this old technology (blackberry)! Give me that iPHONE!". She loves both the iPhone and iPad. The applications they have for kids are amazing. Even with piano playing, coloring, and animal sounds...her favorite thing is to watch videos of Olivia! She is definately going to be a member of the Apple generation.
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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Pre-flight





I think she's checking to make sure JR is doing a proper walk around - cause she's not the first officer....

Here we are safely landed about to start running for the bus!
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The long road home

I did it. Something I've wanted to do for at least 3 years. I completed the destination yarn tour of 25 Puget Sound Yarn stores! Olivia did too - although she didn't qualify for the big prize. It took me 3 of 4 days - I even took a vacation day to get a head start. Driving and respecting the nap time, snack and meal times, not to mention diaper changes was quite the challenge. Saturday we flew to Whidbey island for two stops. We confirmed in advance transportation from the airport existed. At the first stop near Oak Harbor we arrived about 11:45; Google said the first bus wasn't 'till 12:20. I convince JR (with Olivia on his back) to just start walking - we'll get to the next stop about the time...and just then the bus passed us! We started running; luckily this is Whidbey island and the driver stopped...and then started to back up to get us! SWEET! On the bus I bumped into a girl I met on day one in Bellevue (then also in Renton) who was doing this tour by bike. Yes, bike (now go look at the map where all these stores are with that in mind). Back to the plane and heading to the beautiful town of Langley. Unfortunately Google was incorrect on the bus transportation options and we found ourselves with two options: (1) walk the 2.5 miles to town and back (with Olivia on JRs back) or (2) ride courtesy bikes the 2.5 miles to town and back (with Olivia on JRs back). We chose option 1 and 2. It was downhill all the way...and uphill all the way back. Sunday was the long haul to Bainbridge for the cutest shop of all - Churchmouse Yarn and Tea - this shop owner has her business model perfected. I didn't know till now but she has avoided going 'online' - perhaps the secret to her success? Finally, Sunday afternoon a quick whirlwind around Seattle and finishing in Mill Creek at my 'neighborhood' store. So glad I did it; don't have to ever again.

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Sunday, May 16, 2010

Serenity Garden


This is the serenity garden as JR refers to it. It is the resting place of the hanging baskets I loved for such a short time (till they died because of lack of water). But NO MORE will I have water run down my arm or get mud on my leg from dragging that hose around (we have the heaviest darn hose on earth). I now have this feature for my beautiful baskets! I'm hoping the flowers will touch the ground before the summer is over.


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Sunday, May 09, 2010

Sourcing Strategy


My yard needed two additional Redtip Photinia in the standard (tree) form. Of course nothing else would work it was this plant or nothing. I called and visited the best nursery's in the area hoping to find them with no luck. I purchased two of these in 2006 and hesitated but ultimately didn't buy any in 2008 and now you can't buy them. Nursery's only sell the shrub version due to some fungus the plant is very susceptible to. Well...I'm not one to let that stop me. I hit the Internet - I'll find someone who will ship them to me! Unfortunately that didn't work either. I found myself randomly spotting MY TREES in other peoples yards. I would comment on their height and bushi-ness and then make plans to dig them up by moonlight. Instead of going to jail I found a better option. A church happen to have about 20 of these planted on the eastern property line. The plants looked to be very unhappy in this very windy location and I knew they would be very happy to relocate to my yard. So I decided to turn to the black market of horticulture. I email the church office and offered money to take their plants - and they accepted! I was totally shocked. It took about 90 days to finalize the contract , but ultimately I got 3 humongous Redtip Photinias and they are now in my yard. I'm now able to remove the green awning from the kitchen window and have an instance privacy hedge. LOVE IT! So now where there was 2, now we have 5.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

MINE


The newest word in the growing vocabulary is MINE. This must be a daycare phenomenon - there's no way she learned that from me. I might not drive often these days but its MINE.


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Sunday, May 02, 2010

Home Ownership

Just another trip to the Depot with the daddy. This weekend was all about installing a new hot water heater. We were not in an emergency state with no hot water - that was until we disconnected it... but we had a leak so we decided for full replacement. It sounded easy and everything is easier the second time right? The hardest part was shimmy-ing this heavy round hot dog into a very tight space. Everything was seemingly going fine until we fired up the pilot light and the flame would not stay lit. Additional research revealed lots of problems with GE brand (Rheem Manufactured) 50 gallon water heaters. Reviews on the Depot site were all 5 stars...but Google told a different story. The thermo-couplers on units manufactured in CA have issues. The very courteous customer service manager explained we could have our new thermo-coupler without any problem by Wednesday. WEDNESDAY? Ah, excuse me - we'd like to shower at least every other day. Fortunately, we returned and re-purchased (after swearing to never purchase another again) and now its installed. Only one of use had to suffer through a cold bath. Now we have a cool new pan with an overflow valve going to the outside. Nice, and it only took 2 full days to get done.
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