The Wedding

The past 4 days are a blur... between wedding showers, rehearsals, dinners, ceremony, and reception we have been in a whirlwind.  Couple that with trying to work in some touristy trips around the island with Chuck's niece Deb and her daughter, Lauren, we are ready for a quiet day today.  We plan to visit some museums (air conditioned I hope) to unwind in today.

I had never been to a beach wedding and I was more than impressed with the beauty of it.  WOW -- what a memory -- out in nature with the palm trees gently blowing from the ocean breezes, the deep blue ocean lapping on the shoreline, the view of the volcanic hills in the background, it was SO special.  It was a 4:30pm wedding so we had light from bright sunshine, to the sunset, dusk, and darkness.  Nice variety.

Here are a few photos.  I took a bunch, but of course there were few that were very good.  I haven't mastered Photoshop yet but I aspire to do that one of these days.  Some of you won't recognize anyone in these photos -- but Chuck gave away the bride, so you can find him easily.  Oh, and the groom is 6'10".  Chuck's niece is about 5'4".

We are going to the Big Island tomorrow afternoon and our little house is a secluded one right on the beach.  We have good 'ole dial-up there so probably won't send more pictures from there unless we go to a Starbucks or something...

 

 

 

 

Wanna smile today?

If this photo doesn't make you smile, then WHAT will?

Maggie and I were playing one day while Emmett was still napping.  This tiny "blanket" is one of several  which I  made out of a very soft fabric and some ribbon trim.  She likes to have it whenever she goes to sleep.  We were playing peek-a-boo and then I put it on her head ... once ... and then many times.  What fun we had! 

Shoveling the white stuff

It actually started to melt a bit so we each grabbed a shovel and cleared the walkway.  Good exercise.

Blizzard of 2009

I stupidly ventured outside to take a couple of pics and almost got blown down to Denver.  The wind is really roaring out there -- must be 30mph or more
. 
The good news -- the snow has stopped falling.
The bad news -- it's supposed to snow off and on through tonight. 

The good news -- it's supposed to be in the 50's by Saturday so it will melt quickly.
The bad news --we will be left with a huge puddle in the driveway and lots of muddy shoes. 

The good news -- we don't have to shovel out the driveway!

I just saw 8 cars go down our road, heading south.  Since we have very little traffic on our road, I am pretty sure they were routed down our road because there's some big accident over by I-25 and hwy 402.

Blizzard of 2009

This was the view out our kitchen window this morning.    There's a drift around the back door that's high enough to prevent us from going out that door.  The wind has blown the snow all over the windows on the east side of the house.
It's been snowing since Tuesday night and it's not supposed to quit until sometime tonight.  The wind is the problem.  The east side of the house is snowed in -- the west side of the house is not too bad.  I haven't ventured outside yet but I may get out later today and get a couple of pics.  Not sure how much snow we have received but it's more than 10-inches for sure.

Really glad we don't have to get out in this storm; retirement is a GOOD thing.

Pictures from my visit to see my GRANDS

I spent a whole week with my precious GRANDS last week.  I can't believe how much they are changing.  They are talking more, walking more, running more (Emmett), and learning more by the minute.  I envy how much they remember -- as in EVERYTHING they see and hear.   

Looking at their blog...

Emmett's New Shoes

Emmett is now wearing a size 7 shoe.

Magnolia's Glam Shots

I took these photos when I was in Seattle last week.  They make me SMILE!

Gary and Emy Visit Seattle

Gary and Emy came out for a visit the week before we left for home.  They explored the area, including a trip to San Juan Island for sea kayaking, and made sure they had lots of "baby time" with the twins.  They went to the zoo with the kids, and took them for a long walk on another day, and just hung out with them on other days  I am sure they will post some of their own pictures on their blog (right?) but here are a few taken the day before they left for home.

  The twins warmed up to Emy and Gary quickly.  Emy was their favorite for reading them books; Gary was their favorite for playing wild games with them.

Playing "mail man" with Emmett

(Emmett had to pick up mail on each of his trips around the coffee table)

Comfortable in his "mail truck"

They liked to rock in the rocking chair

(preferably standing up, though)

14 months old

One month earlier in the same chair

Definitely NOT Summer in Seattle

Just a week ago we were on the road home.  We REALLY enjoyed spending the summer with our GRANDS.  They are coming up with new tricks each and every day and we just LOVED being there to see them grow from babies to toddlers.  What FUN!

Not sure where the summer went ... it went way too quickly ... so now we have to depend on Heather's bog to keep us updated on their antics.

We took a detour on the way back home, stopping to enjoy the Oregon Coast and Crater Lake National Park. But after those two enjoyable stops, it was I-80 for us all the way to Colorado.  I have to admit that I did let out a whoop of joy when I saw the "Welcome to Colorado" sign.  It was good to get home.

It took us a very long time to drive through the state of Wyoming, and ... if you haven't been there for a long time ... you may not remember that there's not much difference in the terrain on I-80. But I did manage to get a couple of photos:

Snow fences amongst the sagebrush.

(They were building new ones)

Repairing I-80 -- Thank you WDOT

Hey, it was WYOMING...

not much to photograph

OOPS...

(Not an unusual sight on I-80)

More photos soon.

The Fair at the PNE

Not as many people here today as when Chuck went to the Iowa State Fair in August. (We could actually see the sidewalk at times!)

My favorite "Container Art"

My choice for "least favorite"

Apparently this type of art is available internationally -- first time for Canada

On the way home Chuck stopped to buy some sweet corn; nobody there -- just select the ears you want and leave your money in the box. It was delicious.

Check out the guy playing the accordion -- his fingers are flying!

Our view from the 5th row-center -- notice the VERY tall guy right in front of me.

This fair in Vancouver, BC started in 1910 and except for a year or two during WWII there's been a fair here. Similar to the Iowa State Fair etc. except larger buildings for performances. Once inside the gates ($6 for seniors) the shows are free. This one was so enjoyable; I bought their CD. Also saw a hilarious one with dogs running through an obstacle course. Similar to the ones you might have seen on TV. There was a fireworks display at 10:15 pm. We waited around for it but it was more of a variety show than a fireworks show.

We drove up to Vancouver last Monday, went to the fair, stayed at a hotel that night, and returned Tuesday. Good weather, good fair food (better miniature donuts than Pike's Market) and good entertainment.

Auntie Marilyn comes to visit

Story time is always a hit with these two

Stopping to play on our walk in the neighborhood

Marilyn's first time picking blueberries

Chuck remembered "Senior" Tinkertoys. I guess I must be too young!

Chuck's sister from Iowa came for a visit last week. She never misses checking Heather's blog daily for updates on the twins (and mine too, of course). She was excited to actually see them in person and she had several occasions to watch them in action while she was here. They are always entertaining, to say the least, and she loved getting acquainted with them.

We took her out to a farm to pick blueberries one day; she said it was the first time she had ever picked blueberries. We picked about twenty pounds of them and then came home and made jam.

The next day we let her rest a bit as we drove up to Anacortes and walked on the ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. While there we had lunch, toured the museum, and enjoyed the beautiful blue skies and water. It was a lovely day for a ferry ride.

Chuck took her to the Gold Rush Museum in downtown Seattle and of course we took her to Pike's Market -- a must attraction for anyone visiting here. We kept her busy and I'll bet she needs a bit of rest now that she is home.

Bell Ringers

Feet flat on the floor to reach the bell

Only the tips of her toes on the floor

On the back of the front door to our house in Shoreline, there is a thin red rope with little brass bells tied to it. It was not long before Emmett noticed the bells (they both notice EVERYTHING!) and he tried to reach the bottom bell. It wasn't long before he could stretch far enough to actually put his little hand on it and give it a swing, which made all the other bells ring. Each time they visit, he goes and gives that bell a swing or two. Now he barely has to stretch at all to reach it.

So the other day he went to swing the bell and I grabbed my camera to try and get a photo of him. Of course I was too late, so I tried to coax him into doing it again for me. He did it once but again I missed it. (He moves really fast!) I again asked him to ring the bells; he didn't. Maggie was watching and listening to this conversation and all of a sudden she got up off the floor and walked toward the door. She put her hand on the door for stability and reached up (with just her toes on the carpet) and rang the bells! Yes, I missed the actual second or two her hand was on the bell, but SHE DID IT! You can see by the photos that she is a couple of inches shorter than Emmett, but she can stretch! I applauded her accomplishment and she was quite pleased with herself, as if she were saying, "I can do that too!"

Teeth Brushing

If I could just get this CAP off...

To reinforce yesterday's comments about the kids liking "non-toys," I submit this photo. The last time I spent the night at G&H's, Emmett woke up early so I snatched him out of his crib and took him down to the basement to play. Instead of toys, I tossed him an open Ziplock bag which contained all my toiletries. Of course he got right into it and took everything out, including my toothbrush and toothpaste.

Heather has been introducing them to that bedtime task for a few weeks now. She puts some toothpaste on their tiny little toothbrushes and lets them brush their own teeth for a few minutes and then she "helps" them do a proper job of it. So Emmett knew exactly what to do with the toothbrush and toothpaste.

THAT WAS EASY!

Did you really mean to give this to ME?

I LOVE this big red circle thingy

It's my turn, so I'll just take it, okay?

That was easy!

These two little people have a plethora of toys to choose from ... enough to keep them busy for several "play time"sessions per day. But what they REALLY like to play with is a "non-toy," e.g., cell phone, car keys, remote control, digital camera, eye glasses (you have to beware once they start looking at your glasses -- they can snatch them off your face in an instant), laptop, or most any "not-for-babies" object that might accidentally be left within their reach. (Emmett has the LONGEST reach for such a little boy and he can STRETCH to the top of a cabinet to snatch something in an instant. Did I mention he doesn't easily give up on any task?)

So when Auntie Denise gave me a "non-toy" (remember the Staples TV commercials) to give to them to play with they were so pleased! Emmett didn't even know what to do with it, but he instantly knew it was a treasure -- an adult thing that was being handed to him. The look on his face was priceless. I showed him how to press the big button, but it was too hard to press for such little hands so he didn't try to press it much at first -- he just carried his treasure around the room with a great big smile on his face. (He later learned to step on it to make it work.)

Well, Maggie noticed that he had something, so she decided to check it out. I showed her the press-the-button-hear-some-words routine but her index finger wasn't quite strong enough either. (She uses her index finger to press EVERYTHING, point to EVERYTHING) but it was only a couple of minutes until she had mastered the "hold-with-both-hands-press-with-both-thumbs" method of getting the guy to proclaim his message (it's loud). And ... she figured out that she didn't have to wait until he was entirely FINISHED saying those 3 words before she could press it again ... and again ... and again.... Funny, but after that first day I never saw that big red button again .... Heather??? Greg???

Blueberries!

Lots of people on their way OUT while we were going in.

Chuck picking berries -- IN a row -- not much room to walk

No problem finding ripe berries

Weighing my box

Chuck's box was a bit fuller than mine

Mmmmm...

One of my favorite books that I checked out of the library when I was a kid was Blueberries for Sal. ( I have a copy of it which I will read to my GRANDS one of these days.) Right now there are WAY too many words per page -- especially for Maggie. She wants just a few words per page and then wants to turn the page; Emmett will allow a few more words before he wants to go do something else. Heather gets books for them from the library and they both love to sit down and read books -- and we love reading to them. We ask Emmett to go get a book to read and he will go find one of his favorites; Maggie will respond to the same request -- usually bring a different book that is her favorite. We are amazed at how well they understand what we say to them.

So why am I talking about that book? Keep reading. Today I decided I would do some sewing -- that was "Plan A." Then I remembered that Chuck wanted to go and pick blueberries. So I looked in our little "U-pick" catalog and noticed that Mountainview Blueberry Farm was open today -- still in the 1st picking -- so off we went north to Snohomish (Plan B). It wasn't exactly like the hill in the book, but it sure had lots of delicious berries.

When we first arrived at the address, we thought there wasn't a crowd; only one car in the parking lot -- then we drove down the hill, following the "parking" signs and we were amazed -- LOTS of people were out on this cool cloudy morning to pick blueberries. We got our buckets and off we went. It was a little jaunt into the field, but once we got there we were surprised to see how many berries were on the bushes. They were LOADED. There were so many berries that the vines were all drooped over into the rows. It was hard to even make our way into the rows. We found out that we wouldn't have to move very far to pick all the blueberries we wanted. Just stop, pick up a branch from the ground, and start filling the bucket. So nice!

After about 45 minutes I had picked 4 pounds of berries and my little can was full. I told Chuck I was ready to go. When we came out of the row, he had picked TEN pounds of berries in the same amount of time. Okay, so he's an experienced berry picker. When he was a kid he was paid to pick berries. He thinks he got 5-cents for every quart of raspberries he picked. And some days he picked all day long. Well, when I was in high school I detassled corn! (Only mid-westerners have probably heard of that term.) So I guess I do have SOME farming experience.

So now we have about 14 pounds of blueberries. We will eat some (we already ate some while we were picking -- there were some REALLY big ones and oh-so -sweet. I think I will make some blueberry jam, freeze some for blueberry pancakes and maybe make a pie. And share some with Roger ( "Denise doesn't even like them).