Lise Graduated! WOO!

Harleigh, the graduating nun.
Catalina, the bitter artist.
WOOHOO! Lise is a STAR!

More!

More game-day pix!

USC V UW. It could have been worse! We could have been wet! We were all underneath an over-hang, so the four-hour game !(?!?!?!?) wasn't too bad! Here are pix of the gang!

Why we like living in Bellingham!

COPTERS! POLICE! SWAT TEAMS!
from the Bellingham Herald May 24, 2007:

"BELLINGHAM -- A major police action turned out to be a case of mistaken identity this morning, when a man reported to be carrying an assault rifle was instead carrying a prosthetic leg to a medical office building.

Police barricaded several blocks near downtown Bellingham after a woman called 911 to report that she saw a man enter the Chestnut Professional Building with what she thought was a rifle.

The building in the 800 block of East Chestnut Street, near the south campus of St. Joseph Hospital, was locked down and police conducted a floor-by-floor search.

When no suspect was found, police evacuated the building and the woman who reported the incident spotted the office worker who had carried the prosthetic leg.

"Everyone did everything right ... they allowed us to do our job," said Deputy Chief David Doll of Bellingham Police Department. "Like we hoped, it turned out go be a good situation today."

The building houses offices for Whatcom Alliance for Healthcare Access, St. Joseph Hospital Foundation and Whatcom Hospice Foundation, among others.

The incident shut down several blocks around the building as officers from Bellingham Police, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office, Western Washington University Police and Washington State Patrol responded to the scene. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter patrolled the area to check the building's rooftop.

St. Joseph's patients in the south campus area were moved to a safe location, said Nicci Noteboom, St. Joseph's spokeswoman.

Patients in the south campus area are there for in-patient rehabilitation, out-patient physical therapy and behavioral health services, she added."

Catalina: First Place!

Lest we forget...before our trip, Catalina had a big gymnastics meet, and she placed first in her age group in the All-Around (total score from bars, beam, vault, and floor)!!!!

WAY TO GO, C!!!!

Baseball Season has begun!

Yup, Harleigh has taken the plunge! Games start tonight and boy is she excited...although it's raining today. Hope we don't get postponed!

We're Back!

And, yes, there were sheep. Many sheep.

We spent three great weeks in New Zealand, both islands, seeing all we could see and more! Follow the link here to see a few of our several hundred pictures (thank heavens for digital cameras!), and some vague commentary!

http://bellinghamfitzNZ.blogspot.com

OK, Snow days WILL be made up. And in a GOOD way!

Our school district was dumb enough to join in with many evil districts...they had something called a "mid-winter break". This in addition to Winter Break (nearly 3 weeks), spring break (a week), and somewhere 'round 15 half-days scattered around the year...

Well, we have had something like 6 "snow days". They've done the logical thing-they grabbed those 4 days (one is the Monday of Presidents' Day) back and forced the teachers to go to work those days. HOOOOOOOOOORAY! Means 4 days less vacation Lise or I will have to take!

I hate teacher's unions.

So very much snow...

Well, really, it wasn't a ton of snow...but it didn't get above freezing for a long while, so our house on the hill was Sled Central for quite a while...The back of our house is on the top, and the side is on thebottom of this post.(that's a picture down the hill towards the trees...rhodies can stop you on your way down, but it's easier to slide around them IF YOU CAN!)

OK...when can we make up these snow days?

Down at the Barns Playground, a bit down the hill from us, there was more snowy goodness. It was below 20 degrees for the high temp that day, but at least it was sunny!

mmmmmm,

Nutcracker, Etc.

Look at those skaters go! This was the temp. rink they set up at the Seattle Center.

Unfortunately it looks a lot bigger than it really is. It's really about 4 ft. x 6 ft. That works out to about 38 skaters per sq. ft.

Nutcracker, Etc

Look, everyone! I've got new glasses!

Catalina never complained about her vision, never even squinted. But after her school did a vision screening, the screener asked her teacher "Does she have any trouble reading, because she had trouble reading the 'E' on the top line."

Chalk one up to the public school screening! 

Nutcracker, Etc

Not sure who that was that took our picture here, but at least they were nice enough to email us our photos after she ran off with our camera.... 

The Nutcracker, Etc.

Really, this was just an excuse for the kids to get all dressed up. It was a nice ballet, though, and the kids thought so, too.

This picture was taken out in the lobby of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Lots of photo-spots that included these characters were scattered around...