Happy Birthday Jeff!

Look how cute we are. Very 70s.



Ann Ann, Braden, and Jeff on Grandma Shaffer's back porch.



Once little Kim was here.....it was all over for those boys' cuteness.


I don't know where this was. Maybe they will remember.



Jeff at Grandma Shaffer's house. Why is he standing on that chair?


Jeff, me, and Steve in the old Den.



Jeff eating Jiffy steaks (remember the ones with the butter pat on top!) at Grandma's. Jeff, what's wrong with your eyes?




The Army will do a boy good!



Jeff comes home for a visit. And he is so handsome and studly.



Steve and Jeff and Uncle Owen. Oh, wait is that Denny and Doug? I do see the family resemblance. It's hard to tell.

Ahhhh.....the pollen.

The blooming trees are everywhere. These trees have been soaking up water for months and now have been soaking up sun. They are pink. They are white. They are gorgeous. And they are full of pollen! There was a light green dusting all over my car this afternoon when I picked up Carson at school. There are 4 pink trees are in front of her school and I missed a photo of them last year. They are like pink fluffy clouds. Eventually, it looks like they cover the ground with pink snow. The school is working on the entryway to the school. They are working on some Japanese gardens. It is looking really nice.

We took Lulu for a walk to Buckman and let her chase balls in the field. Carson made clover necklaces for all of us and a crown for Lu. We are thinking about having her take an obedience class with Lu to learn some commands. Now they are breaking down while Sharon is getting them ready for bed. I guess everyone is tired! Especially Lulu.

Summer Teaser.

The most beautiful weekend in the PNW so far this year. We spent most of the day outside soaking up the sun and trying to get our Vit. D that is in such short supply here. It was 80+ degrees today and Carson and her BFF spent the day trying to get away from "the little brother" and trying to convince him that mud is made of chocolate. He decided that it isn't, but it didn't taste too bad if you add more water. Sharon and I dug up a huge mound of dirt for the garden and took the kids to a Pirate Treasure Hunt with the "pirates". Probably not the best time to glorify a pirate, eh? Carson was full of Booty knowledge. Then the girls and Sam played in the sprinkler. We ate dinner outside and now Sharon and the kids are making a fire in the fire pit. Too bad the ants got to our bag of Marshmallows. I think this weekend is my promise that the rain really does go away. Even the animals were out soaking up the sun. Mr. Bluebird was on our back fence.

We are tired.

We had a great trip to Disneyland over the weekend. We got to spend two full days in Disney and one day in California Adventure Park. We met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, The Jungle Book Bear, Alice and the Mad Hatter and many more. We rode almost all the rides. Carson rode the biggest, fastest, longest roller coaster on the west coast, The California Screamin' which goes from 0-55 in 4 seconds and goes upside down. She rode it 3 times. Once with mommy kim and twice with momma share. She couldn't believe her old moms love roller coasters! Sam went on some scary rides too. He went on his fair share of roller coasters, but wasn't big enough for Space Mountain or the Screamin'. (no way would I have let him go anyway!) Sam's favorite ride was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We went on it many times. The rides in Fantasyland were great. The Teacups, Alice in Wonderland, Flight of Peter Pan, Snow White, The Matterhorn roller coaster were all great. Walt Disney might have been an ass, but he was a genius. You really do get taken to another world inside Disney.
There is a Disney tradition of lapel pin collecting and trading. You can trade a pin with any staff member (they call them Cast Members) if they have pins on a lanyard. Carson spent almost all her spending money on pins and then traded with people. I think I may have had the most fun of all. I loved every ride! They were all so well done and the place was spotless. We couldn't have had a better time (unless we had an extra day!)

Disneyland 2009! SO MUCH FUN!

Disneyland 2009!

Down south I think these are called Magnolias.

Springtime for birds and bees.

We meant to get to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral last year to see the tulip tree.  Today we had a lovely brunch with Don and Norma.  She made a fluffy airy souffle (I think it was my first souffle ever) and some Hot Cross Buns (also my first time).   Then we stopped at Trinity to see the tree.  AMAZING.  The most beautiful tree I have seen.  

The warmup.

We went to Oaks Park Amusement Park yesterday since the weather was so nice.  The kids "practiced" riding rides to get ready for Disneyland.  Carson was sad to learn that she was a little to big for some of the kids rides, but excited that it meant she was ready for the bigger ones.