Congratulations!

This past weekend my Hubby aka "The Giant Man Child" and his cohorts were in Idaho Falls, Idaho at the USPSA Area 1 shooting competition. This is my Hubby's first year competing. He has spent a lot of Sundays in the past year going to qualifiers and that all paid off as he came in 3rd in his class. Way to go, honey!

The Velodrome

After the Kooza performance, we got a chance to walk over and glance at the Velodrome. They hold bicycle races there on Friday nights. I can say honestly that I had never been to a Velodrome. We got to watch some of them warm up. I think it would be really fascinating to go and watch a real race.

Kooza

Kooza is the name of one of Cirque de Soleil productions. We were gifted tickets by Nonna to go see this production with her, Pappy and her friend from California. It took place in Redmond at Marymoor Park on Friday. Below is a picture of where the big top or Grand Chapiteau was set up.

What an incredible gift it was. It was awesome performance. I felt myself smiling through the whole performance. My kids loved it. You completely forget it was taking place in a tent. The acrobatics were out this world. The things these people can do with their bodies is stunning and mind blowing. The clowns were outrageous and funny. I also loved the drum solo. One of our favorite performers were the guys doing the Wheel of Death. I was blown away by the sheer athleticism and strength these guys show. Seattle Child did a reveiw of Kooza and some of the humor is adult and a little on the bawdy side so you should be aware of that before you attend with children. The review goes into depth about what a parent might find offensive. It was completely over my 8 year olds head. My 11 year old did ask me about the referencing to humping that the clown made. So if any of that makes you uncomfortable don't take your kids.

Paul Bunyan

Last week, Chuckles and I made a stop at Hovander Park. Last time, I went Big E and I discovered the Paul Bunyan Children's Story Garden. This is the first time Chuckles had a chance to visit. In case you have forgotten, here is the story of Paul Bunyan, the legendary lumberjack. This is from the Children's Story Garden , "A Paul Bunyan, an American folk hero, spent time in Bellingham and surrounding areas. He and Babe the blue Ox are credited with digging out Bellingham Bay and piling up the soil to create Mt Baker. Bigger-than-life plants will be panted in this garden and Paul's tales will be told." Of course, I remember all tall tales - ha, ha, ha. It would be really great if they had the story on a sign than just on their website. Sometimes us Parent's are tall tale challenged. It looks like they have some great programs too such as trash can potatoes, Once Upon a Time in the Garden, and Pumpkin Day.

There are some great scarecrows in the garden along with Paul Bunyan's chair,foot steps, and bed

Bad Kitty

Chuckles and I have been reading Bad Kitty Takes a Bath by Nick Bruell. It is cute and an early chapter book or a good read aloud. Chuckles has been able to read most of it by himself. We decided to do some cat art. Really meaning I decided we should do some art. Neither of my children are really into the art. I liked the idea here at Art with Mrs Smith. I found a coloring page and made a cat pattern on cardboard. Here is the result. I convinced Chuckles to give it a shot.

Of course, I gave it shot too.

This also led to collage or basically just cutting and pasting images on to paper.

Another good read out loud for K-2nd grade is The Diary of the Killer Cat by Anne Fine and Return of the Killer Cat by Anne Fine especially if your kid is into cat fiction. My post is here.

Shh....

Don't tell Mrs Respiratory Therapist BUT I baked cookies again. She accused me of having a cookie problem. Well, maybe, kind of, sort of I have a little cookie problem. These beauties are peanut butter oatmeal rounds with jumbo chocolate chips straight out of the Betty Crocker cookbook. We are going on a trip soon so I thought I would start a cookie stockpile - seriously just in case there is a cookie shortage. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Slow Start

We are having a slow start to summer here. Maybe it is the June Gloom and temperatures in the high 50's. Yesterday, after my oldest son's computer class an errand had us in the same vicinity as a dairy. Edaleen Dairy in Lynden, Washington is a staple in our summer. This dairy is the only one in the county that processes and packages its own product in the county. My car just automatically just drives there when we are in the neighborhood, scary. So, we stopped in and got a ice cream. At $1.25 for a jumbo scoop of ice cream. You just can't beat it. Who cares if it is freezing outside when you got good ice cream?

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

DAD

Swetsville Zoo (Colorado) My Dad, #1 Son, and Chuckles

I love you and despite the song Mom up proclaiming herself the greatest. (It is a little wrong that she taught that to all her grandchildren) You are the greatest too. I hope that your day is wonderful.

Anatomy of the Last Day

Art by the Diva - Tic Tock, 12 o'clock, Schools Out

Yesterday was the last day of school. I may have been more excited than the kids. It was a close call. We started our day with a lovely breakfast of strawberries, bacon, and donuts with Mrs Respiratory Therapist and her children The Diva and Big E.

Photo by Big E of #1 Son

Then Big E and went on to #1 Son's Moving up Ceremony. It was a really nice ceremony but long. I don't know if I am ready to be a Mom to a 7th grader. I will have to work on that.

I finished up the school day by picking up Chuckles at his school where the 6th graders serenaded the students with their homemade instrument band. It was really cool and I have never seen anything quite like it. They were quite rhythmic and it actually sounded pretty good.

Book it 2010- June Update

I am joining the Booking it 2010 linky party over at Life as a Mom. Our past month selection for book club was Eat, Pray, and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. This was a past Oprah book. Overall the gals were lukewarm on this selection. It is basically an autobiographical as it discusses Elizabeth's spiritual journey after her divorce and quest to rediscover herself. The eat part in is Italy. The pray part is in India. The love part is in Bali. One of the former Librarians in our group pointed out this book would actually be shelved in the travel section. None of us thought this would make a good travel guide. Though, it did inspire one our book club members to start saving for a trip to Italy when her daughter graduates from High School. Here is a better synopsis of the book. The general consensus was the best part was the pray part in India. We did have a really good discussion about traveling and how some us are really planners and others are just by the seat of our pants travelers. This was a re-read for me and I enjoyed it. I could relate to Elizabeth's voices in her head and how she dealt with quieting them. This is really explored in the pray part in India that most of us related the most too. We also discussed that travel isn't the only way to have a spiritual journey. A lot of us related that motherhood in itself has been a spiritual journey.

Looking Back

1st professional photograph - you can't see the one little tear in this scan

11 months - Sucky Baby

#1 Son came to me awhile back asking for a baby picture to take to school. For their moving up ceremony next week, I guess they have a baby photo montage of all the 6th graders. Our middle school is 7th and 8th grade. I had such a hard time picking out a photo. I seriously went through all my billion photos I took trying to find the perfect photo. I think part of the problem is that #1 Son came into the world looking like a toddler. He was 9lbs 13 oz at birth. I find myself feeling so sentimental.

10 months old- I like the one sock look

I chose the Sucky Baby picture. That picture best sums up #1 Son's personality. Only 2 .5 days left of the school year including today!

Meaningful Email Conversation

I had a whole conversation via email with my sister, the Polyester Princess, about what kind of cookies to bake. Of course, I thought I needed to share it with all of you.

me - help me decide- should I make ice cream chocolate chip cookies or sour cream chocolate chip ?

polyester princess - Is this some form of new torture?? You need to come here and make both! Go!

me- I think that idea has merit- both. I think I will start with the sour cream ones. I might have to run to the store to get some more chips.

polyester princess -What about bringing me some! That idea has merit also!

me- I don't think they would make it that far. OMG the dough for the sour cream one is sticky and delish.

polyester princess - I am going to have to cease communication...the line is breaking up ...oh never mind that is you chewing in my ear.

I did resist making both kinds. It was really tempting, seriously. When things get tough, the tough turn to baking. It is rainy and overcast here. There are all kinds of situations brewing here and not too mention at least 4 more days of school not counting today. All kidding aside, the sour cream chocolate chip cookies are really really good and make about 4 dozen. I did bake them for less time than Carol did but they turned out great.

Sea Glass

Chuckles in rocks looking for sea glass

We spent Saturday morning at our secret beach collecting sea glass. We like to do this. You never know what you will find. It is our version of beach clean-up. We are very Eco friendly like that. We had quite the haul and the best part is that we got out and enjoyed the sun. It was very rainy here today.

Our Haul - Brown Disk is the bottom of a Clorox bottle

My big splurge on Sunday was buying these 3 glass vases at the Dollar Store. We sorted all our previously found sea glass into the containers. Chuckles thought it was great fun to sort about 6 years of our sea glass collection. We were storing it in a small glass fish bowl but it is kinda fun to see it displayed this way.

Glass Vases filled with Sea Glass

Summer Surival Guide

( Big E and Chuckles one summer a long time ago. Mrs Pacific Scents bought her son this car wash thing. It was the hit of the summer!)

We have 7 more school days until school is out. Summer fever is running high here. Do you need some thrifty ideas for summer travel, entertainment, crafting, how to keep Mommy sane? Hey, it all about my SANITY. As a Mom, I sometimes run out of ideas especially since my guys are elementary age. It isn't as easy as turning on a sprinkler and handing out a Popsicle. I usually run out of ideas in the middle of the summer in a middle of a heat wave- seriously. Some really great bloggers have some thrifty ideas to make your summer great.

Check out Thrifty Northwest Mom for some thrifty travel plan ideas

Along the same lines at Thrifty Northwest Mom is Thrifty Couple with some summer planning and activity ideas to do with your kids.

Cascadia Kids is PNW resource for ideas for traveling with Kids in Oregon, Washington, and BC Canada

Planning on having a Stayvacation with your kids check out Life as Mom's camp idea

A great list of reading programs have been complied at Shawn's Blog - Daffodil Lane

Frugal Dad also has some great frugal ideas here and here

I love the summer list idea from Meg at Whatever. I am so going to do that.

Sometimes ...

Sometimes you need to take the long way home. Big E and I took the long way home after getting our donut. We had to stop to take a picture of a Turkey Vulture. I had never seen one of these around here. Because I had to turn around to take the picture near a school zone. I ended up taking a much longer route home. So, Big E took some pictures from the way back seat. I love the back seat perspective.

Linky Love

Sometimes you just got to read the blog because of the name, right! Well, I do. Here are some good ones.

Betty Crapper

Tatertots and Jello

Sh*t My Kids Ruined

Princess Lasertron

Crap I've Made