"I'll be a puppy playing with airplanes"

So Cayden and I are playing a game. He is a puppy playing with airplanes and I am the mommy updating her blog. This would have been a good tidbit to put on my "7 Facts" post. I am a lazy player. I don't like to get on the floor and pretend or run around, etc. When my niece was little and always wanted to play "King and Queen", I was the Queen who sat on her throne and drank coffee (a very official title). So now it continues with my own child and he's perfectly happy with it.......for now anyway.

On another note, the landscapers arrived this morning with two truckloads of beautiful trees and plants!! Just before they arrived, look who was scoping out the joint.

We have a large family of deer that live in our neighborhood. The most we've seen at any one time is six. We haven't seen a lot of them lately either due to the heat (when we've had it) or the cougar that is on the loose in West Olympia. Yes, a cougar! Interesting that they picked today to make an appearance. Smart little buggers.

Yes, get your fill of those weeds kiddos. There's no salad bar available to you here!

More Landscaping Pix

Well our landscapers have been working hard over the last couple of days. Enjoy the fruit of their labor.....

Almost finished Pergola

Almost finished fire pit

A set of finished steps

The following is a low budget "panorama" photo of the main patio

(the fire pit and pergola connect to the main patio)

And this is just the back yard!! Plants should arrive tomorrow for selection and placement. YIPPEE! :)

I've been tagged......

7 interesting things you may not know about me......

1. I love grapes, but I don't like artificial grape flavor in gum, candy, pop, medicine, etc. Ick!

2. My dog Hammish is so loved and babied by me (he is my first child) that I have had people say they'd like to be him in their next life! Really I love dogs in general, my friend Leslie is convinced her standard Poodle believes I come over just to see him!

3. General Hospital is my favorite show and I will do almost anything to make sure I don't miss an episode. I used to tape it while I was growing up and would watch it after school. Thankfully, with the internet, there are great recaps just in case something goes wrong with the recording :)

4. I have a minor in Spanish, but have not actively practiced it for 12 years. I can carry on a very broken conversation. Make that monologue - I understand even less.

5. I LOVE garlic! I've been known to eat a whole bulb of roasted garlic all by myself. My husband hates it when I do that.

6. My four year old son loves to listen to ABBA, John Denver and the Bee Gee's. Wonder where he gets that from???

7. I used to love carnival rides. Especially the Zipper! I loved it and yet was terrified of it. In between the screaming I could be heard praying to God for our safety. Then I would get back in line and go on it again. Ahh, youth!

Cynthia, if you ever have the gumption to update your blog, you're tagged!

We almost have a yard!!

After living in our house for six months now, we have finally hired some landscapers to put in our yard. They think they will be done by this Saturday - woo hoo!! Here are some pictures of what they have completed so far and the busy fellows at work!

Soon to be pergola

Soon to be fire pit

Dry creek bed for all the wetland water to run (let's hope it works!!)

One of the very hard workers; you can tell by his smile he loves running the big equipment!

This guy is a little more serious about his work :)

To be continued.......

North to Alaska.....Part 2

So, here they are! The pictures everyone has been waiting for!! Just a little background first. Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jerry took their entire family (19 of us, Kohl couldn't make it because of school) on an Alaskan cruise. What were they thinking?! Ages of kids ranged from 4 to 19 - luckily the boat was sort of kid friendly and very teenage friendly!! Cayden told me the night before we left that he wanted "to get a really good seat on the boat!" He was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to sit in a seat for seven days!!

Leaving Seattle

Cayden and Conner snuggling

There is that signature move again...well sort of. Bowling on a boat is a little different than it is on land. The bumpers were a huge help!! The shoes didn't help your game either as they were all very large for their supposed sizes. Daddy had to assist Cayden as the first ball almost went through the floor to the deck below!

The Family - minus one

(Don't feel bad for Kohl though. 3 weeks ago he was in Hawaii)

The impressive wake the ship made

Tom enjoying his vacation

Beautiful Alaska, near Juneau

A lovely tribute to Hammish (and the only really interesting thing in Juneau)

And for those cold Alaskan nights......(it was furry in back too. eeww!)

A seagull perched on Tom's sister's balcony.

Skagway, Alaska. Very small, not much there.

Eureka! I struck GOLD!!! (we did too! $40 combined!)

Cayden's absolute favorite thing on the ship: going through the buffet and bringing it back to the room to enjoy!

A close up of a glacier

It was really interesting how jagged they would get. It was really loud when pieces broke off into the water. Even little pieces made a loud noise.

Johns Hopkins Glacier

Lamplugh Glacier

The little fishing village of Ketchikan. By far the quaintest town we saw in Alaska.

Grrrrrrrrr!

Conner getting cozy with the locals!

We would come back to our rooms to these cute little animals made out of towels.

Not a great pic of Booey, but it was the best one of the elephant!

I forgot to mention that Tom and his brother took a helicoptor ride to a glacier and were able to get out and stand on it. The pix are in Conner's camera so maybe I'll post them later.

A very fun trip!

North to Alaska........

Yes, the rush is on!



We are off to Alaska this week! And we are going to pan for gold - thankfully, they guarantee you get some. Cayden is very excited for this trip as they have a bowling alley on the ship. Attached is a picture of his signature bowling move.




Bon voyage!!!!!!!

North to Alaska........

Field Trip

We decided to get out of the house for a bit today as it was soooo HOT! We took a little trip to Tumwater Falls. Pretty scenery and well, it's quite shady there which we needed!

Our journey begins

Hammy checking out the water

The boys posing in front of a very tiny waterfall

The drinking fountain the Olympia Brewing Employees presented to the park about 75 years ago. Looks like it needs a good cleaning.

Hammish stopped and investigated about every 3 steps (3 of our steps, not his thankfully)

Hammy looking over the edge again, but from a higher elevation

The view from the other end of the park

The falls at the end of the park

Hammy the daredevil

The tired and very hot boys taking a breather on a bench made out of an old tree stump. Notice the Sentinel Ranger taking a break too!

If my boys were cartoons.....

They would look like this:

Cartoon Booey

Cartoon Hammy

Sleepy Boo

I put Cayden in bed tonite. We read stories, prayed, sang songs and he told me that he was going to take his beloved guitar pick to bed with him because it has blue on it :) At some point in time, he dropped the pick on the floor and went searching for it. We found him like this:

Sleepy Booey!!

A close up of the sweet boy

The rest of him

At least he thought to take blue blankie with him. As funny as it is, this is not the first time Cayden has fallen asleep under the bed. He plays under there a lot and I find him soundly snoozing quite often.