Manito Park

Yesterday we took the family up to Manito Park to celebrate Grandma Lee's birthday.



I had hopes of getting our annual Fall family pictures, but it didn't happen. Which is ok, I decided taking them here in our own woods would work just as well. So hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can get that done.

We started with an attempt of Dad with the kids...we couldn't get Meredi to smile - and of course when she did finally smile, Joseph broke down in tears! Go figure!



We moved on to some individual pictures -

Jason:



Madilyn:



Jacob:



Megan:



Jared:



Malorie:



Melanie:



Joseph:



Meredith:




And then some just-for-fun pictures -

The fountain at Manito:



Meredi in all her cuteness:



Our resident BFF's, Malorie & Melanie:



Dad and the kids climbing the rock wall of the public restrooms. It's a wonder we aren't asked to leave most public places.



And after this shot, Jason insisted that it was Jared who was "doing it" (making them wrestle). That's Jared on the bottom.



This one was taken by a kind stranger who thought mom should be in the family picture.



Joe hanging on the bird-bath:



This picture serves two purposes - 1) Shows that Meredi DOES have hair! 2) Shows that mom is at this family function - albeit behind the camera 99.9% of the time!

Stop the bus!!

I really am trying to keep our blog up to date...but I'm obviously failing miserably!

Things happen around here and I think, "Oh, I need to remember to add this to the blog..."...and again, obviously, I fail miserably!

So today I decided I was going to add something - even if it was lame! And, as it turns out...it's pretty lame! I am, however, composing a "catch up" entry...it's just not ready yet!

But, for today's entry, in all of it's lame'ness - I give you....our new kittens!

I think they are 1.5 weeks old (might be 2.5 weeks, but I can't believe I can be THAT far behind).

This picture was taken the day after they were born - nothing but a big pile of fur!



Today I went out, with every intention of getting a really good picture of the babies...and what do I find? Another big pile of fur pose!



I really did try to get a good close up or two. Apparently they are still a bit camera-shy! Maybe I'll have better luck next time. Trust me - there are five kittens. One stripped one and four black ones.



(Hey Carla...wanna cat?)

A day at grandma's!

Look who is taller than his mom! And for the record, I'm not short! I'm 5'8" - (which you'll see is MUCH taller than my mom!)



See, I wasn't kidding!



Here he is, all tall and 14 and heading out to his first church dance. Wow, where did that decade go?




Before we left grandma's the kids went out to pick the apples. Jacob was up at the top of the tree in record time!



Maddie came out to help!



Together they stripped the tree bare! This is good because grandma makes wonderful applesauce!



Before they finished, a couple of visitors came to help...(look past the tree onto the yard...)



There were two fawns who came and stayed while the kids picked. The kids tossed apples and the deer would chase them down and eat them. My mom lives on the main street of town - a public park across the street - it's hardly like she lives in the "woods" where you'd expect to see deer in your yard (you know, like at our house) lol

6 months!

It's still a week until she's 6 months old - but Maddie took this picture of Meredi at the Fair last night so I wanted to get it up and make mention of her 6 month milestone!



I almost feel guilty sharing that this baby is perfect in every way. She doesn't cry. She sleeps 12 hours at night. She is a cuddle-bug. Everything I ever dream of in a baby! (Ok she does have the fault of being a 99% mama's girl...which is ok 99% of the time!) She is simply a joy!

(And no, I'm not going to blog abt our trip to the Fair last night. It was a huge disappointment. This is like the Lilac Parade revisited! It was MOM who insisted that we go and have a blast...and it was so *yawn*! No Lilac Parade next year, No Spokane Fair! When will I learn?)

One of THOSE days!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not as friendly in the "eco-" department as most. I have no desire to single handedly destroy the o-zone, but apparently I really like my phosphates! And apparently I like them more than Spokane County thinks I should! Recently "they" (I really don't know who it was that did this to me!) decided that stores in the entire county could no longer sell dishwasher detergent that had a certain level of phosphates...which ended up being ALL of them! Well, all except the $9 a box Palmolive brand - no thanks!

So I whine about this to a few of my friends and voila, my dear friend G suggests that I use a "small squirt" of Dawn liquid soap. So last night I tried it!



Apparently what is a "small squirt" to G isn't to me - LOL



Actually, we figured that someone had opened the dishwasher while it was running and let the bubbles escape. We've done the "Dawn Test" three times now and I'm thrilled with how it's working! The cloudy gunk on my glasses is gone and the dishwasher smells so much better than it did ...

So that's what we did last evening...splattered around in the bubbles! Mom, keep stocking up on phosphate-ful detergent for me, please!!

Silverwood 2008

Yesterday was our annual Silverwood Theme Park day with the kids. This year we waited until Labor Day and went with several families from our church. I really enjoyed doing it this way. I know the older kids had a great time because we let them go off with their friends to ride bigger rides, and we were able to spend time with the younger kids. I will admit though, we missed having our family together. I guess we can't have everything, right?

The camera stayed with mom all day though...so that means anyone who didn't stay with mom didn't get as many pictures taken. (Just didn't want it to appear that I have favorites!)

We started the day with the antique car ride. Malorie wasn't so sure abt "driving"...she was pretty nervous.



But by the first corner, dad caught her really enjoying driving!



Dad was brave and let Joseph take the wheel of their car...which he loved!



Marilyn and Melanie got the yellow car they were hoping to get!



Soon we caught up with Megan and her friends Hailey (blonde) and Kendra (not blonde) waiting for Tilt'a'Whirl (or Hurl'a'Whirl as dad refers to it...)



Maddie and her friends (L-R Makay, Taylor, Maddie & Jessica) enjoyed the day together.



Then we were off to try our hand at flying...helicopters and airplanes...





And then into the wooden barrels...



Joe's first roller coaster ride (Malorie and Melanie in the seat behind). Joseph got his money's worth out of his day at Silverwood. We discovered that he is fearless!! (Well, we assumed as much, but thought crowds and rides might intimidate him a little...they don't!)



Whew! Finally caught up with Jacob and his friend Jason. (We actually had check in times/places...don't want anyone to think we are totally irresponsible.)



Because it was still pretty cool when we first got there, we decided to wait until after lunch to go to Boulder Beach to swim...Here is where Jaynie decided to show her fearlessness. She went down slide after slide after slide, never once looking back to see where mom and dad were.



Here is where Gracie opted to take a nap - we don't have many pictures of her to share. She was so good - and the times she did need to be held, mom had her in one hand and the camera in the other...



We didn't get many pictures of Malorie here - she bumped her head on one of the first slides she went down and quickly lost interest in anything to do with water.



Jaynie getting warmed up and some Marilyn loves.



Megan & Co. floating down the Lazy River...



Dad and Jared did some lazy floating too...



Here is the wonderful water park that the little kids love so much...and yes, that is a huge thunder cloud above it! Just minutes after I took this picture, it began to rain and hail...



Mom and Marilyn and the 4 littles took cover under a cabana...



...then we decided to leave the other swimming die-hards at the water and go ride the train around the park.



Then to the Merry-Go-Round...we met up with Grandma Lee there - and the kids dragged grandma and Marilyn on that thing again and again and again!



The sun came back out after abt an hour and we were back to rides! Maddie and her group of friends hit the bumper car things...



Jared was game for another round on the bumper cars, too.



Yes, that's MOM on the Tilt'a'Whirl with Jared and Malorie! 3 times!! And yes, I paid for it all the way home, and still a little this morning!



When it was time for the park to close everyone made a dash for one last ride...the kids with us chose the log ride...and were fast enough to get to squeeze in 2 rides before they shut it down! Malorie and Dad...



Not sure why dad's in focus and Malorie isn't...well, given the long list of issues our poor camera has, I guess I do know why that happened!



Jared, Megan and Hailey got their last ride in too...



And LOOK who we have here...It's JASON!! We honestly didn't see him except for check-in's. He went on "After Shock" 16 times (A mother really doesn't want to know that kind of thing!) He had a great time with his friends...that's what a mother wants to know!!



There you have it - Silverwood 2008! See ya next year!