How long does it take

to go through a whole bucket of water balloons. Well at our house, approximately at 9:19 or so they started throwing balloons and ended at 9:20 am. Giant Man Child and I spent last evening filling and tying water balloons and all I have to show for it is this (below)

Brotherly Love

I don't know why Chuckles wants to shoot me or is he the armed protection.

Believe me this picture explains so much - This is Chuckles in the dark.

Mr Bones

Her Highness

SECRET Facility

Unbeknownto me, my youngest, Chuckles, was drawing a secret facility outside last night on my driveway. Not a hideout or simply a chalk town but a SECRET FACILITY. Chuckles cracks me up. Chuckles and his friend, Nick, were very busy. Evidently, this secret facility was to house their money they were robbing from banks. I am also raising a criminal. As summer starts off, I think Mommy needs a secret facility complete with crafting supplies, chick flicks, and Cherry Coke. A girl has to dream, right.

Feeling Lucky

On one of our walks, Pappy found a 4 leaf clover. He also found a 5 leaf clover. How is your luck today? We dropped Pappy off at the "Butter House". Chuckles started calling it that and it stuck. It is a yellow house. Pappy was so excited. Deep down I think he was ready to be away from all the CHAOS of the two man wrecking crew. We helped him unpack some of his stuff.

On the way down, Pappy was trying to get a photo of Mt Rainier. Things kept getting in the way. On the way home when I wasn't driving, I took this shot. It was gorgeous day in the Pacific North West.

Reasons Why You Should Not Have Me Help You Move

Reason 97: I don't love blue tape enough. I definitely didn't use enough blue tape to indicate that I wanted items to stay. Though Chuckles asked the Giant Man child, who had written a note on blue tape and stuck it to himself, if he was marking himself so the movers wouldn't take him.

Reason98: I will have them pack everything. Yes, everything- the kitty carrier, kitty scoop, steam vacuum, rags. Hey, this is equal opportunity. They packed my cell phone wall charger.

Reason 99: I will lose you cat in a completely clear house. See picture below. Elvis, the cat, was hiding in a cupboard. We spent 15 minutes looking for you. Yes, I lose cats in completely clear houses.

Reason 100: The movers I am supervising will bust out your front window when moving your couch out. They managed to smash the window with the couch. It was an accident but disturbing none the less. They man handled that couch for over 30 minutes trying to get it off your little enclosed porch.

Santa Cruz

The last full day in California we had our teeth cleaned by our outstanding Hygienist, Nonna, and we took the kids (this includes the Giant Man Child too) to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Just look at the picture above and ask yourself who is the biggest kid. LOL The kids really enjoyed the log ride and still talking about it. It really surprised me how much they enjoyed the ride. The Giant Man Child also took them on the giant roller coaster "The Big Dipper" They didn't like that too much.

The Adventuress Run Aground

I was saddened to hear that the Schooner the "Adventuress" ran a ground. A few details here and here on the mishap. I sailed and was part of the crew of her for a week in 1986. Our Girl Scout Troop got to sail her in the San Juan Islands and into the port of Victoria. It was one of the highlights of being in Girl Scouts for me. The above picture is me at the helm. Talk about a flashback. Stop laughing Mrs Respiratory Therapist, Mrs Epi, and Mars and I don't even want to hear it from you dear sister. I put these pictures in purely for your reading and laughing enjoyment.

This is a picture of us actually sailing the ship. Some boater took a picture of us under way under full sail. He got so tired of us asking him for reprints so he eventually I believe gave us the negative. This is also the trip we got to go to the Vancouver World Expo of 86'. Looking back I can't believe how brave our leaders were to take a bunch of teenage girls on this kind of trip. I was quaking in my boots just going on a field trip to the zoo. The organization for this was immense. We sold a lot of candy bars for this trip and stacked and recycled a lot of papers too.

Living in Fast Forward

I think I fast forwarded Pappy's life. The last couple of days have been the as far as he has gone in many years by car and I know without a doubt the fastest he has gone. I drove Pappy in his Mini Van. I joked that I was driving Mr Daisy. He has wanted to drive some of the trip but the traffic was just a bit too much for him. I told him he was a great GPS. We made time to stop and smell the flowers. This is Pappy picking some wild daisies when we made a pit stop. We saw so many wild flowers throughout Oregon. We kept seeing little white ones. Unfortunately, we didn't get to pick any of those.
Pappy had a lot of good memories to share on the drive as we were driving through country that he had lived in for many years. He had a lot of stories about rocks especially gold that was found throughout Oregon. We had some interesting discussions. He is staying with us as his stuff has not arrived from California. It seemed like all of California was on fire as we left. There was so much smoke. I guess lightening caused a lot of the fires.