Second time's a Charm

It seems we always do things twice around here. In this episode we finally bit the bullet and got a range hood. I searched and searched learning about 3 1/4" X 10" vs. 9" round; internal vs. external blowers; sones - more than I ever really wanted to know about air blowers. The prices for these hunks of petroleum are unbelievable. I was dead set against ordering the one that matched the stove due to the location of the 'branding'. Shopping around I found them for $1500 but then you also had to buy the blower! Oh my - so when our local discount warehouse showed me a beautiful Italian brand for $250 I jumped on it. It arrived, we installed (with the normal fanfare) and on the low setting...it squeaked and not to mention 1:00pm was 13:00 on this fine Italian stallion. I couldn't handled the time change and I certainly was not going to listen to what sounded like a bad serpentine belt. Not to mention since the removal of the microwave I'd been running into the garage to cook - you have no idea how many times a day you use that little electron exciter. I was getting desperate. So - my longtime best friend Overstock.com had something that appeared to be sufficient. It arrived - we did the install dance again and its beautiful. Now to finish the crown, under/over cabinet lighting and find a place to install that new microwave. I can't have it on the counter but can't find a cabinet I'm willing to sacrifice either. We'll see how long it sits on the counter I can't have it on.

Toy Tester

Only 185 shopping days left! The retail buyers are putting their orders in now. They were checking their list and checking it twice to be sure the toy experts would be happy with the selection. We took part in days of play to trial some stuff.

Animal House

Vacation Vacation Vacation

We were so proud at this moment. We're on our first family vacation; a long weekend over Father's Day / Anniversary at Lake Quinault staying at the national park lodge. No TV, no Phone, no 3G and wifi only in the common areas - so we thought. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. We departed about 11AM (would like that to have been earlier...but not a disaster), stopped for lunch in Olympia at 1PM (this is when I should have reconsidered my comfort level). Lunch was at Water Street Cafe and Bar. The menu was fabulous - so me per-baby. The problem was this was not a baby place and the waitress must not have remembered what kids are like. They had high chairs so its not like Olivia was an alien - lunch took 90 minutes - they wanted to preserve the 'experience' I guess. We swapped duties of playing in the park and eating as each course arrived. Then back in the car all set for nap time, this worked perfectly. Awake upon arrival ready for some playtime. We hit the pool at 4:30 with a reservation for dinner at 6. We ordered a bottle of the Lake Quinault Red had a somewhat 'normal' dinner; playtime and then bedtime routine with the picture above taken at 19:59. We spent the rest of the evening playing memory on the iPAD. I beat the pants off of JR. The lodge being so old was a bit loud. Lots of squeaking floors, people walking down the hall and talking and then at very odd hours clanging from the steam heater.

Day 2 started somewhat earlier at around 2AM when I had to rescue Olivia from being stuck under the bed. I tried crawling back into bed with her but she was all over the place. At one point I laid on the floor with her - that sucked - then she finally collapsed and we slept till 8AM or so. Everyone woke up tired; a coffee and some breakfast helped. Hiking the morning away in the splendor of nature - we did our best to stick to the routine - so at 12PM EVERYONE was down for nap time. No one stirred till 4 at which point we woke HER up! For an afternoon activity we hiked to the largest western cedar in the world and took a walk inside. During our drive around the lake we saw a few for sale signs and discussed the idea of a vacation home. Then dinner at the Salmon House (excellent) a shopping trip at the Mercantile. Tonight I'd thought it would be excellent to go swimming then hit the showers in the locker room as 'bath-time'. Also we were thinking wear her out = a full nights sleep. So we closed the pool at 10pm, shower and then a cold walk in a towel back to the room (cause you can't put on nighty nights without a diaper!). Then to bed - again no problem. I was granted a 'vacation' to sit in the common area to surf. Once the snoring began, I went to bed - I was no fool - JR surfed till midnight suddenly wifi was reaching our room!

Day 3 once again started a bit early. The first sounds of life began about 1AM - but those were quickly eased. Then 2AM it was our favorite wiggle worm once again in the (queen size) bed. We fought the bird for 2 hours and the bird finally won. At 4AM - we all got up turned the lights on showered, packed and got the heck outta there! All that pride in that photo evaporated as we were those loud people in a hotel room at ungodly hours - baby crying, doors slamming, talking, walking in the hall, luggage squeaking and hitting the wall (this family doesn't make two trips) - all of it! Back in the car she slept the ENTIRE way home. Jon was all gung-ho to stop at Lana's for blueberry pancakes. That would have meant breakfast at 7:15 - but I said no doubt Olivia will be asleep by then and I'm not moving her. Jon asked - are we going to order and eat separately (to me that meant breakfast would take 2X the normal amount of time). I said no, just bring my plate to the car. I think he was too embarrassed to do that - and knew I was serious - so it was McD's in Aberdeen for breakfast and home by 9:30AM. Considering we couldn't get our act together to leave for vacation prior to 11AM - arriving home from vacation by 9:30AM is definitely a lesson learned.

Class of 2026

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Polka!

Doesn't everyone do the hokey-pokey at their birthday party? Who doesn't have an accordion to play the happy birthday song? After this we went out to the garage, danced under the disco ball and lights and sang "I'm in the garage, I'm Olivia...and I'm great!". Genetics...its amazing what passes through...

We're watching you...

A camara in front and a camara in back. Just a quick message to Olivia when she's say....16....we're watching you. I can see through walls and hear noise from a few states away....don't ever think I can't see or hear what you are doing in the TV room. I know your not "just talking".

Beach-yyy

Definitely not a beach bum. She's much more a pool girl. The beach was apparently too sandy, salty, dirty, hot and sunny?! Go figure! I'm not a beachyyy sort of person myself. I'd much rather be at the pool...at the beach. Terrible I know, but true. JR would have a party in a mud puddle if it was available.

Where are we?

If you guessed Florida you'd be smart...but if you guessed an airshow (where else would these two look like this) you'd be brilliant. We made our second trip to the Sun n' Fun airshow. The weather this year was much cooler and with a 16 month old versus 4 month old things were alot easier... Liv did not enjoy the noise (and we forgot her pink headsets...but carried them all the way to Florida...) but she did like seeing the airplanes in the air.

House Call

Hard Knock Life

Cinderella's work is never done...

Happy Easter

We went to the hunt at the Big Park and were surprised to find Mr. Bunny! Olivia did a fair job at finding the treasures - she likes scrambled eggs so much every egg she 'found' went directly into her mouth!

Mr. Bunny (aka Amazon Prime) delivered a fantastic new bike. The Caaaar is starting to get too small - Olivia was complaining about the horsepower... So we got the Kettler Air Trike. She's a bit short for now - but it also includes a push bar for the same hair-raising downhill experiences the Caaaar provided. However, these are non-slip rubber tires - no 720's in the street anymore. It also includes stupid expensive accessories - in the mail is a basket, seat belt and the tandem seat. I can't wait to see her all decked out!