Wild Things!

Today we went to Northwest Trek, an awesome wild animal park about an hour from our house. It has many wild animals that are native to the Pacific Northwest. Don't you think Mike and the boys fit right in? ;^)

[Click on the title to see Northwest Trek's website!]

FIFTY WAYS TO FLIP YOUR FLOPPER

(Click on title for more songs...)

(To be sung to the old Paul Simon tune, "Slip-slidin' Away".)

Flip-floppin’ away,
Flip-floppin’ away,
You know the nearer the nomination,
The more he’s flip-floppin’ away.

There is a man,
He came from Boston town.
His total lack of any scruples makes him seem a clown,
He said, “Teresa, I live in feah,
Were I to take a stand on principle,My votah base would disappeah”.

So he’s Flip-floppin away, &c.

This Mr. Kerry,He's riding high,
He kept pretending to be Irish, but it was a lie,
He threw some medals over a fence,
First they were his, then they weren’t his;
Must be thinking that we’re really dense.

So he’s Flip-floppin away, &c.

John says he knows,
And John makes his plans,
He wants to tax the living daylights out of the mortal man,
We’ll work our jobs,
He’ll take our pay,
He claims he’s giving us the straight dope,
When in fact he’s flip-floppin’ away.

Flip-floppin’ away, &c.

As summer winds down....

Well, the boys start school next Thursday. Swimming lessons have ended for the summer. Wall climbing classes have also come to an end. That means that the boys have been climbing the walls at home to the detriment of their long-suffering mother.

To help alleviate my (hopefully) temporary insanity, I once again dragged the boys to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. (I knew that season pass would come in handy!) Except for the bees that followed us for half an hour while we tried to eat lunch, we had a good time. The boys especially enjoyed the beluga whale. In the picture above you can see them watching one of the whales swimming. When we went outside to watch the beluga from above, he kept surfacing to spray them with water!

[Click on the title if you wish to go to the zoo's web site!]

Taming the Beast

After handling Pipa for a few days, I decided that it was time to let the boys hold her. She did fine with Joshua, but when Jeremy held her, she nipped him! It doesn’t matter that you have to use a magnifying glass to see where she nipped him – she nipped him. Oh, the trauma! I made him hold Pipa again right away so he wouldn’t be terrified of her for the next few years. It seemed to do the trick, although as you can see, Jeremy dons a hooded jacket before handling her. (I made him take off the hood for the picture!)

It's A Girl!

Finally! We have another female in the house. The boys have always thought it is great that I am the only female. With the exception of a few fish, even all of our pets have been male. Today we got a guinea pig – a female guinea pig. :^) We named her Pipa Le Pew because she kind of looks like a skunk in the face. Hopefully she won’t smell like one!

Cheesecake, anyone?

Sam was in town again this week. This time, it was just an in-and-out overnight trip, but we were able to get together for supper. Mike had to do a Bible Study so he missed out.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory in Bellevue. (Click on the title above to get to a link if you wish.) It was my first time at a Cheesecake Factory, and I highly recommend it! I had the salmon (big surprise!) and it was excellent!

Naturally, we had to have dessert. Sam had what looked like an extremely delicious strawberry shortcake, and the boys had ice cream. After much consultation with our waitress, I decided on the Godiva® Chocolate Cheesecake, pictured above. It was excellent. What could be better than a combination of cheesecake and chocolate? ;^)

Our New Fence!

We had a very eventful weekend. Our 15’ laurel bushes came out of the back yard and a fence went in. While we will miss the beautiful bushes, it will be great for the dogs to have the run of the back yard without being on a leash!
The best part is that now Caleb and Scruffy and the neighbors’ six – yes I said six - dogs can’t see each other which (so far) has drastically cut down on the barking. Whew!

Caleb celebrated the new fence by chewing on Scruffy who is unsure what to think of his freedom from the leash!

My Trip to the Spa

I got a $57 haircut today. Last Christmas the ladies at church very kindly have me a gift certificate to a spa. I decided to go for a haircut while Mike is in North Carolina and the boys are at Ocean Shores with Mike’s parents. I was going to get a manicure, but I need to clean out the preschool room at church this week and decided that would be a waste of time and a good gift certificate, so a haircut it was.
The beautician did a wonderful job on my hair. However, I doubt that I will find the $57 every 6 weeks in our budget to get my hair cut there. I still have enough of my gift certificate left for a manicure. Hmmm. The boys start school in a month….
(If you are just DYING to see where I went, click on the title "My Trip to the Spa" above!)

A Night of Baseball the Mariners Would Love to Forget!

Take me out to the ballgame! After the Mariners v Cleveland game. We lost 6-18. Yikes. But we did see a record broken -- that of the number of home runs by the opposing team!

A Bear For Yuki

After we took Sam to the airport, Christy and I took Sarah, Joshua and Jeremy to Build a Bear to make a teddy bear for Yuki. You wouldn't believe how much time it takes for everyone to agree on an outfit!
(Click on the title to go to the Build-A-Bear web sit!)

Beam Us Up, Scotty!

After Don & Co. and Dad and Mavis left, we headed to Seattle with Christy, Sarah, and Sam to see the Seattle Sci-Fi Museum. It was cool. They have Captain Kirk's chair. Need I say more????

(Click on the title to go to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame website.)

Ellis Family Reunion

The "Ellis Clan" (as we were labeled by someone in the hotel) came to Tacoma this year. Here we all are except Sam. You would think we would figure out how to use the timer on one of the digital cameras!

For fun we:
-Went to the zoo
-Had a cookout
-Went to Edmonds to eat at Sam's favorite restaurant which was closed, so had to settle for the Olive Garden for great food and horrible service. (FYI: It pays to write letters of complaint!)
-Took a ferry ride where we discovered it is very expensive to go from Edmonds to Kingston, although going from Kingston to Edmonds is very inexpensive. Go figure.
-Went to see Spiderman
-Ate supper on the waterfront
-Ate too many Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

Take Us Out to the Ball Game!

The Tacoma Raineers game! Joshua, Jeremy and I got tickets right behind home plate! It was great! Here the boys are waiting to get Bucky Jacobson's autograph just before he was taken up to the Mariners.

PLAY BALL!

I went to my second major league ball game tonight. Mike and I were invited to go with a couple from church. It was a great time – especially as the Mariners won. We even got to see a grand slam homerun.

When I lived in Dallas I went to see the Rangers play a game. I must say, things may be bigger in Texas, but Safeco Field is MUCH nicer than Texas Stadium. There isn’t a bad seat in the house at Safeco Field.

UPDATE!

Mike finally got home and found it. Whew! The only good spider is a dead spider.

MONSTER UNDER THE COUCH

Oh, man. You should see the that just raced across the living room floor. I thought it was a super ball that Scruffy was playing with and then realized that he was chasing a gigantic spider that can run very fast. Of course it ran under the couch I was sitting on. At least the neighbors didn't come see why I was screaming bloody murder! I offered the boys $5 to kill it, but I guess my screaming put them off for some reason. Go figure. LOL

Ah, the joys of moving. We have moved to a new parsonage that is larger than the last, but not just yet. The church is planning on remodeling the downstairs. Great!! Except -- I need room for all our stuff! So, it looks like we will be knee high in boxes until the basement is finished.

And, just to complicate matters, the water main broke just days before we moved in. As I type, there is a work crew here tearing up the driveway to repair the damage done when repairing the water main. And of course, the lawn might as well be totally landscaped while they are at it. And how about a new patio in the back??? And a new sidewalk and steps leading to the front door???? Might as well put in a sprinkler system while they’re at it!!! Hee hee. So as you can surmise, during the next month, things will be quite exciting at the parsonage. But, I’m sure the results will be more than worth all the angst.

Sam says I need a Blog, so I'm developing a Blog. I don't have much clue about what a Blog is, but I'll find out!