Memorial Day Weekend

On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, Lake Connor Park hosts a fishing derby for the kids. The park stocks the lake with trout the week before and doesn't allow any fishing between stocking and the derby to increase the odds of the kids catching a fish. Nick went last year with our friend Ryan and his 4 yr. old son, Joey. It was a mad house. Kids and their parents start lining up at 5:30 - 6 and fishing begins at 7. This year, the boys (Nick, nephew Ethan, Ryan, Joey, Luke and Luke jr.) headed up to the lake around 7. Nick had told me that they would be at the lake until about 11 or so. Well with a combination of bordem and the chilly weather the boys headed back to camp around 9:30. Nicks parents also joined the boys to watch the derby. Sadly, there were only 3 fish caught during that hour and a half and it wasn't any of the boys.

Ethan stayed with us on Friday and Saturday night. At one time during the day on Saturday there were 14 kids hanging out at or around our lots. Wow. That's a lot of kids. Ethan had a great time even though he didn't catch a fish.

Monika made an upside down German apple cake for breakfast on Saturday. It was really tasty! We're lucky the lots that we have get a good amount of morning sun. The weather was AMAZING all weekend long. It was warm, sunny and blue skies. I think it's the first time it's been like this in a few years. Nick and I bought our lot a year ago this month! Time really flies when you're having fun!

Our afternoon on Saturday was spent with our parents. Both Nick's parents and my parents have never been up to Lake Connor Park before. It was so nice to have them there and to show them around. After spending the afternoon, they now understand why we are ALWAYS there during the summer. Good friends, good food and good times!

This is Ethan and Nick on a doodle bug. Ryan and Nick got 2 of them last year and they are really fun to ride around on. They are gas powered and can go faster than 5 mph, which is the speed limit in the park. A ticket for speeding in the part is $50.00. Ethan was really excited to take a ride on the doodle bug, but only lasted for another 30 feet maybe. He preferred the golf cart over the doodle bug.

Monika and Amelia blowing kisses.

So I had to work on Sunday from 12-5 because of the Chase Bank converstion going on over the weekend. I didn't end up getting back up to the lot until about 7:30. When I got there, Nick was a few sheets to the wind.. or something like that. He had let Shannon braid his goatee (yes, there are 2 very small braids). This is Nick and Barb just hanging out. Barb and her husband Tim live across the road from Shannon and Ryan's lot. Barb and Tim are snowbirds that during the winter live in Yuma, AZ. They are so much fun to hang out with. We all sure miss them when they are not around.

Mmmmm.... House Wine. My favorite. Yes, this was my own bottle of wine that I enjoyed on Sunday night after a day at work.

So it's been a little over a week since we got Gizmo and things are going well. The boys are getting along well. We are still keeping Gizmo locked in the bathroom when we are not home. When they are playing it's so funny just to watch them wrestle, run, bite and play hide and seek. I'm am so happy that they are getting along. Yesterday, Chester had Gizmo in a headlock and I caught him licking his head. I just know they are going to be cuddled up together in no time.

This is Chester after playing with Gizmo for about 2 hours straight. =)

Welcome to the neighborhood, Gizmo!

Meet GIZMO! He's 2 months and 2 weeks old. We adopted him from PAWS last Thursday and it's been entertaining to say the least! PAWS is also where we adopted Chester from 2 years ago. Gizmo is neutered and has all of his shots. It's been interesting to see Chester adjust to having Gizmo around. The first day was not fun at all. He was pissed! We've very slowly introduced them and it's working out well. Chester still has his moments and doesn't really know how to play "nice" with Gizmo yet.. but each day that goes by they are getting better. Just today, Gizmo was chasing Chester around the house! It's funny to see Gizmo arch his back and side-step towards Chester! Gizmo is all of 3.1 pounds right now.

Yes, his eyes are really blue, his nose is light pink and his teeth are tiny! After looking at pictures of Siamese cats, we figure that he has some in him. His nose is long and his eyes are close together.




Behind that door is where Chester's food (and mice), water and litter box is. It's funny because in the short amount of time that we have had Gizmo, he TEARS through the kitchen to go back there and check it out. We are trying to keep him out of there for now so that Chester feels like he still has his "safe area".

This is Nick and I at the lot (LCP YO) on Saturday night. We were celebrating Luke's 31st birthday. The theme was luau, the food and company were great. Nick and I left at about 10:30 that night since we needed to get up at 6:30 the next morning to go out to breakfast with Nick's family.

4 generations. From the left: Nick, Chris, Chub, Tim, Mike and Ethan. Chris and his wife Dayna (who you can see in the far right of the picture) came out for the weekend from Georgia. Chris is Mike's younger brother by 9 years. It was my first time meeting both of them and it was great to get to spend some time with them. Even though it was a short trip, Nick and I joined them for dinner at Sue and Mike's house on Thursday and then again for breakfast on Saturday. Chub was in a good mood too. I always enjoy talking to him about greenbeans. As silly as it sounds, he hates them and won't touch them.

MMMM... beer. So after breakfast on Sunday, Nick and I took a nice drive up to Camano Island where Brian and Amanda live. (They have 2.5 yr old Natalie and 5 month old Ashley). Nick and Brian went to the same fraternity at U of W. Brian and Nick have been brewing beer for a few years now and I think they have it down to a science. Well, not really after all the drinking they do. You know, quality control and all. The whole process takes about 4 hours.

John and Annie (John went to the same fraternity) came up as well. The boys drank beer and talked about the good ol' days while us girls hung out and chatted about a little bit of everything. Natalie even sang us the UW fight song!! Yes, she knows all of the words. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

I hadn't seen this sign before. I think it's great. John had the honor of naming the beer this round. John being a very pirate fan, he went with Captain Cloudy. It's an American wheat brew. We'll get to try it out in a few weeks! Just in time for another hot spring/summer day.

This is Chester about to give Gizmo a love pat. Just kidding. They've been playing tag the last couple of days... or at least Chester wants to play. He'll run up to Gizmo.. swat at him and then run but looks to see if Gizmo is chasing him. And then they switch and Gizmo swats and runs. It's really cute to watch. I've had a hard time watching tv or reading just because I could watch them play/talk/chase for hours. It was funny to see Chester pass out tonight around 8. He's beat and Gizmo takes a 5 min. nap and is all charged up again. haha.. Gotta love kittens.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Here I am (wearing the apron that my big sister Niki made for me) making the quiches and fresh blueberry muffins from scratch for the Mother's Day brunch that we had at our house for Sue and Renee. Everything turned out great, including the fruit salad. Oh, and I didn't forget the biscotti!

Renee found some canteloupes on the table and had a great idea! HAHA!

Standing out on our deck. (Tim, Renee, Sue and Nick). Happy Mother's Day!

This is Mike, Nick's dad. Seeing these 2 pictures next to eachother makes me see how much they really look alike!

Then Nick and I headed over to Kingston to my parents house. It's a good thing that Nick feels like he can really relax over there and be himself.

This is Owen. My sister Ali's son. (6 yrs. old) He was wearing grampy's riding gloves. Very cute.

Have you made a wish lately?

My dad worked a graveyard shift the night before and was pretty beat. He tried to take a nap, but I wouldn't let him.

It was a beautiful day out and a bit warm. This is Amethyst, my parents tibetan mastiff. She'll be 10 years old this year. She's such a beautiful dog. They have 2 others (Titan and Honeybear).

My sister Ali, my mom, my dad and I. Happy Mother's Day!!

Oh Chester! This is him making sweet, sweet love to the catnip filled banana. It's one of his favorites!

April showers bring May flowers!

When Nick and I got the Chevy truck I swore up and down that I would never drive it! Clifford (Julia came up with that name for the truck!) is a 19, maybe 20 feet long Chevy truck. A full cab and a full bed. It couldn't be any longer! It even makes me nervous when Nick is driving it. So last weekend, I broke down and drove it up to LCP. I was SO nervous, I was driving like an old lady and my hands were sweaty from the tight grip that I had on the wheel. We made it to LCP safe and sound and I've driven Clifford once more since then. haha!

Oh yes! Just call me Shelly Crocker. This is a bacon, cheese and broccoli quiche that I made a little over a week ago. It's the first one that I have ever made. Alright, so I cheated on the crust, it's store bought and super easy!
Yesterday I just whipped up another quiche. This time I made it with bacon and feta cheese. It turned out fantastic.

Sue, Nick's mom has always told me that they keep growing after they are cut. Yeah, okay... but really!?!? These are the tulips that Nick brought home for me last week. When I put them in the vase, they were all the same size. Look at them grow!! They've grown another 5 inches or more during the last week.

Thanks to Chester, we have to keep them in the bathroom during the day along with the doors shut or else the vase, the water and the tulips will be all over the floor when we come home from work.

It's all in the way you hunt.

This is Chester's food bowl. Day after day he is stocking it with the fake mice that he has all over the house. Almost every day, I take them out and put them back in his toy basket and no joke, he has them in his food bowl by the morning time! Kinda strange and funny at the same time.

POOFY CAT!!!

So each morning when I am walking around the house with my slipppers on, Chester will come around the corner (the bathroom is right behind him and Nick is usally getting ready for work) and arch his back, POOF up his tail and side-step all the way over to me and then "attack" my legs with his front paws. It aways makes me laugh. He does this quite a few times in the morning and a few more times later in the day! Oh, Chester!