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... 

THE GREATEST SUMMER EVER!

Weather never hotter than 80 degrees...enough rain to keep things green...no traffic...working within 20 minutes of home...kids learning to swim...sledding on Mt. Baker on the 4th of July...work keeping us busy but not driving us insane...This is why we live way up here in the Northwest Corner of the Universe (I don't think Alaska can be the Northwest Corner of the Universe if they have to PAY people to live there, do you?)

Camping with the Girl Scouts at Baker Lake

Yup. Those are the kid's fellow (is that the right word, considering the female persuasion of the group...) Girl Scouts during there overnight camping trip to Horseshoe Cove on Baker Lake. The lake is located about 20 miles south of the southern flank of Mt. Baker, and the kids (and adults that chaperoned, including Lise and Geoff) had a ball!

It was only an overnighter, after all, but Catalina and Harleigh's first taste of camping. There were s'mores, hot dogs, swimming in the lake. There was also a lot of rain: we woke up very early (around here, sunrise is about 4:30 AM this time of the year, so we were all up at 6 AM) to a light sprinkle, which grew and grew into quite a downpour.

Needless to say, we were out of there by 10 AM. Luckily, home was only an hour away. And so was the IHOP!

OK. So it's an old picture. Like, 2003-old. But tell me you didn't want to see this.

This is where Geoff works....So there.

http://news.bellinghamherald.com/stories/20050418/LocalState/240494.shtml

I saw the book. Talk about much ado about nothing. It looks like what you thought about rural areas is true: people have WAY too much time on their hands.

One thing's for sure....I guess the FBI no longer has better things to do than squeeze librarians for their records.

C is now for Cauliflower.....Craaaaaap.

Read reports today that Sesame Workshop announced that Cookie Monster, long beloved blue-haired consumer of your favorite bakery treat, will be scaling back his habit. As the obesity level of American Youth reaches record levels, the Sesame Workshop has decided that its depiction of fuzzy puppets jamming snickerdoodles down their simulated pie-holes must be one of the main causes. Sadly, this will result yet another change to Sesame Street, which over the years has morphed into a poor imitation of more successful, less stimulating childrens' programming.

Perhaps this is only Stage One in a series of changes meant to promote health foods. Stage Two could include the actual changing of Cookie Monster's name to something more attuned to the concerns (or, what should be concerns) of American Parents...something like Fuzzy the FishEater. Or perhaps Cauliflower Monster. Wait, we wouldn't want to scare the kids...make that Cauliflower Guy-With-Lots-Of-Blue-Hair-Who's-Really-Not-Scary-Really-He's-Not.

Listen, I'm all for getting kids' faces out of the nearest sack of Lay's Potato Chips as quickly as possible. But for heaven's sake, if Sesame Workshop doesn't stop soon, the slippery slope will lead to parents turning off the show. Oh, wait....they have been doing that already...

A Stop at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Yes, it's raining now. And YES, it's pretty cold. But does that stop us?

We made a short stop this past weekend down south in Mt. Vernon, home of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Some insane percentage of the tulips sold in this country are grown right here, along with daffodils and other bulby plants. We stopped at one farm and stomped around in the mud. Needless to say, a good time!

Catalina getting up-close and personal.

RUN, I say!!! RUUUUUUUN!

Harleigh took this one. She said "SQUAT, daddy, SQUAT!" I hope she meant for Dad to get into the picture.

Ever wonder where those tulips come from? Probably here!

Awfully good natured for having just lost their boots in 8 inches of mud!

Victoria BC for President's Day Weekend

What better way to pay tribute to the birthdays of perhaps our country's two most crucial presidents than to RUN SCREAMING TO CANADA! That's what the Fitzpatricks did to take advantage of the three-day weekend. Following below are some pictures from our journey, which was completely pain free! The weather was AWESOME! (and has been for about a month straight. All our usual weather is camping out in So.Cal. Better start moving up here now, folks, before all the other Californians get here and take all the cheap land!)

First stop: the Victoria Bug Zoo. A little two-room museum that you cannot help but spend at least three hours in! HUGE bugs! GIANT tarantulae! RHINOCEROS beetles! MATING, MATING, MATING!!! Here's Harleigh after an exhaustive (but fruitless) search for the Queen of a huge leaf-cutter ant colony (behind her).

Lise and Geoff and some Leaf Bugs (photo courtesy of Almost Seven-Year-Old Enterprises, Ltd.)