Watch your Step

Geoff went downstairs late last night as he does every night to check on the boys/tuck them in/make sure they aren't still up with the lights on/reading books/sleeping on the floor/etc. once more before we go to bed.

And he almost stepped on W. Sleeping on the stairs of all places.

Completely out. I took about six photos and he didn't even flinch. It's a long way down little guy!

Pierce Brosnan Says Save The Whales

OK here is the video...and now read the next post...I couldn't get them on the same post for some reason!

Whaling

When we were in CA I saw this commerical featuring Pierce Brosnan (next post).

Have you seen it? Probably not bc it only has a few thousand hits. It really bothered me...and the images just break my heart.

I hate when politicians make promises to get elected then change their minds. It quotes President Barack Obama saying "Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable." 3/16/08 And now reports are that the current administration is going to support commercial whaling.

So I just sent a message to the President and to the Prime Minister of Japan's office.

Feeling very official.

Please visit this website: http://www.savethewhalesagain.com/

and read about it.watch about it.at least sign the petition...the one needing 1 million signatures and has just around 200,000.

I for one don't want to see whales only in museums and extinct in my lifetime or my childrens' lifetime.

S*M*P

SKUNK*MUST*PAY

Around midnight or so last night I woke up thinking that my pillow smelled like skunk...or was it my hair? Then Geoff says "it smells like skunk in here. " All of our windows were open so I went out to the living room and started shutting windows all the while thinking "I bet the dogs got skunked...I bet the dogs got skunked."

I don't know if I blogged about Katy and Bear getting skunked back in April...they each did...one on a Friday night...then the other on Saturday. And just this week I noticed that they finally started to not smell anymore. It took 8-10 weeks.

This morning I got up early to go jogging with some friends and I realized that it didn't smell so bad. Until I walked downstairs to get some socks out of the dryer and OH MY. SKUNK SMELL at 100% potency. Dogs were sprayed guaranteed...because they sleep under the house in the crawl space and the odor just radiates right up through the vents.

I went outside and downstairs...Katy and Bear hopped out of their doggy door and I notice right away that Katy's white chest is stained yellow. Seriously. I had never smelled a fresh skunk spray until 8 weeks ago and it is horrid...kind of a smells-like-burning-plastic/rubber-make-your-eyes-water-kind-of-knock-you-out-nightmare-smell. So a skunk must have been out last night and sprayed Katy...and Bear (I just noticed she smells too) through our fence!

I know what we will be doing today. And it will involve lots of dog baths with the peroxide/soda/dish soap solution. We were going to try the tomato juice but everything online says that it doesn't work (just masks the smell) and makes your dog red.

Here is a photo from a couple of weeks ago when the dogs were smelling like dogs. And not skunks. It's Bear giving W a look of pure love when he decided that day he was going to pet her (the boys normally don't want anything to do with the dogs).

Big Day Big Lake

We had such a nice day outside today - have I said how glorious the weather is here right now?

First we saw some homemade bikes participating in a Kinetic Challenge.

Then we went to a nearby lake to explore, have lunch and rent a pedal boat.

The lake was beautiful and crystal clear. I am not normally a big lake person but I would swim in this lake! There was a little swimming area that we will definitely be back to try out when it is a little warmer. Maybe in August?! But we decided to rent some type of boat before we headed home. Papap wanted a motor boat but I didn't think the cost was worth just a short trip. So I convinced him to just do a pedal boat. That way the boys could sit closer to the water and it was $12 bucks. Papap and W heading toward the boat:

J getting in his life jacket:

W enjoying the boat ride:

J on the boat:

W and Papap:

Feeding some ducks from the boat...

Our friends Rob and Rich took the bike and hiking trails in the area were amazing so we have that on our "to do list" as well.

And I think the boys enjoyed this stagecoach kid's ride as much as the boat ride. Just 25 cents.

Giddi-yap!

California

My posts seem to come in waves lately. Lots then nots.

We just returned from a week in Oxnard, CA where we tagged along on a work trip with Geoff. We stayed at a resort right on the beach. The weather was a little cool for the beach and the pool but we still did it (with goose bumps and blue lips but whatever)...

At the harbor:

There was a great Pirate park right by our hotel that the boys and I played at while Geoff did some work.

Arrgh!!

We drove down through Malibu and Venice Beach on the way to LA to pick up Aunt JJ. She happened to have an overnight in LA. So we picked her up and drug her with us to Knott's Berry Farm amusement park for a late afternoon race around the park to go on the most rides possible. They had a great section of kid rides in Camp Snoopy. Aunt JJ with W:

The boys enjoying a self-propelled train ride:

Being held up on another train ride:

Big Rigs:

Not so much for the Woodstock ride though:

All of us on the log ride. W's face and J's eyes are priceless as we took the steep drop down...

...guess who screamed the loudest? Me. I have to say - probably not the best idea for my neck!

My dad flew in to LA as well and drove back to OR with us. We stopped halfway overnight where W mysteriously came down with a stomach ache and threw up on the hotel room bed (and J's sheet-covered feet) who was fast asleep next to him and thankfully never woke up...and all over the carpet as I raced him to the bathroom. Fun night that one.

And we have been back home with Papap LOVING the weather here. I feel like I have gained a few months out of the year because the summer weather is amazing. In FL I dreaded the summer bc you couldn't do anything outside that didn't involve water. We have been out exploring and even going for walks in the middle of the day. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Here is Papap reading a very.large.book that Aunt JJ sent:

See? Big.

Grammy and Grandpa Visit

Mark and Jan flew to Reno then drove to our house for a visit last week. The weather was a little gloomy but we still managed to get out and about some.

We went to a very old water-ran mill, a creamery and a small (but expensive) artisan chocolate place. Here is the man explaining how they make the flour at the mill:

Pretty tree at the mill:

We ventured out to Crater Lake:

It is so beautiful there that it just doesn't even look real. Still snow there too. Lots of snow.

And we worked in some more house projects in between. Mark and Geoff spent a good day building and installing these rock steps in the yard. They turned out fantastic. View from up on deck:

Our landscaping is almost done...will post final pictures soon. The next project is a fence...

And Jan somehow managed to let out the hem and sew some drapes on our broken sewing machine so we finally have some window treatments on the boys' room. Maybe it will help them go to sleep earlier and sleep a little later. I think their room is the next room I will attempt to paint. That's all for now! Thanks for visiting Mark and Jan!

Paint Results...

We had a nice long Memorial Day weekend. We didn't plan anything big because we have so many house projects to do...and we are never going to get them done if we don't just take turns watching the boys and focusing on them. I finally solved the paint predicament...it took several trips to Home Depot and several samples to find a color:


I liked all of the samples I picked-especially paired up with white. But our house has a shortbread-buttery yellow color in it with even darker trim so the colors I liked didn't look good in our house...so we had to pick something that worked well with a "yellow-ish" color. I chose Artisan Tan from Sherwin-Williams and had it color-matched at HD. It wasn't my favorite on the swatch but it looked the best on our walls.
Here I am painting around furniture and pictures:

C'mon...everyone does it this way right? SO much faster....

Just kidding. I did remove all objects from the wall and painted. Final result...I love it...it is a subtle change but the room feels warmer and bigger to me!

Geoff was able to finish staining our old desk...and we got some more furniture arranged. I love our house but it is hard to arrange. We have a three-tiered wall in our family room that is quite a challenge to work around. After several arrangements I think we almost have it how we like it. Will post pictures when we get our pictures on the wall!