Memorial Day Weekend

At the M's game Friday night

Adam on the cop's bike before the game. Kat was NOT Interested in getting on the bike.

Sunday at the Folk Festival. Kat had fun watching the crazy dog retrieving a bottle in the water. She got wet only from the dog shaking the water off. It's a cool fountain, though.

Kat and her daddy (and Laura on the far left), leaving the festival.

Kat & Laura at Zeke's Pizza after the Festival. That's Kat's hat, but I doubt that she cares.

Apparently, they don't have Memorial Day parades here in the west. At least I couldn't find any.

Aside from personal thoughts, we didn't do anything that paid tribute. I hope that next year we can find a parade and begin to explain to Kat that untold numbers of men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice and given their lives (or limbs) to make this, her adoptive country, the land of the free and most definitely of the brave.

In talking to one of Dan's (younger) co-workers, it came up that our Grandparents are deceased. This surprised her, as hers are all alive and well, and on e-mail. I thought about it and told her that my Mother's Father, my grandfather, served in World War I. That's not a typo. I can't imagine how miserable the fighting (and the elements- they didn't have gortex, polypropelene, fleece or fruit roll-ups back then) would have been in 1917 France. I wish that we had some of his stories on record. Mom and Dad did (tape) record him years ago, but that tape is long lost. So many stories, so much history is being lost every day (though the WWI vets are likely long gone), as our WWII vets are leaving us at an alarming rate. If you have a vet in your family, now is the time to record some of their history, some of their stories, before it's gone for good. It's also a good time to say Thank you.

One thing is certain- that is most definitely when men were men, and they were made of tougher stuff than most of us can fathom.

Chris comes to visit

Chris was here for a few days. Kat loved him, especially the wrestling.

This is a pic with the new camera. Haven't read the book yet, can only take auto pics. And not used to the delay yet........

At the dogpark

Boo, pretending that he was swimming.

We went to the Mariners' game Friday night (and Saturday. And Dan went with Chris on Sunday). They won- Ichiro had 2 HRs and an awesome catch in RF to win the game.

This is Saturday's game, still exciting, but the Ms did not win. I bought Kat a M's shirt on sale for 5.99. I put it right on her and then realized why it was 5.99.....it says Sexson across the back (he got traded early last year). Oh well, I still would have bought it cause it was cheap! She loved the foam finger. I'm sure our neighboring seatmates would have LOVED her waving it around and hittng them!

She was none too sure of the giant moose.

Saturday (well the whole weekend) was beautiful weather for baseball.

On the floor with Chris. She thought it was a riot.

What a face on the 3rd pic.

This kid is ready for summer. Dining al fresco on the patio.

At the dog park. She insists on a bag to walk around and pick up rocks, etc. So far she hasn't tried to pick up dog crap, as I always have to do.

Getting thrown around by Chris today before he left us. And Chris got to experience Boo's reluctance to get in the car. And his crying like a little girl when you try to make him. And Ben prancing about barking and nipping everyone. It's quite entertaining for anyone who happens to watch the show. And it ends with 2 of us each grabbing an end, trying not to throw out our backs with the 110 pound fat boy who's squirming on the way to the RAV.

The group photo. Hey, we're all in it and almost everyone's facing the right direction.

Mare's Visit

Mare was here from Calgary with us for about 24 hours and Kat made the most of every moment. Chris arrived on her heels. Pics to follow.

This is the group photo just before she left. We're all in it at least. That was pretty good.

Mare and Kat at the Cheesecake Factory, where she bought us lunch (Mare, not Kat-- she never buys).

Kat getting (and really liking) her first airplane ride.

Mare, Kat, Dan and the tupperware ball.

Kat showing Mare her current favorite toy.

Mare's pics: Kat's new job giving the dogs treats when we leave the house, which she learned in Calgary. She takes this task very seriously (possibly too seriously, as she doesn't differentiate leaving the house from walking thru the kitchen as times to distribute them))

Kat feeding Ben grass. But he had to be sure it wasn't something good......

Kat pushing Boo. I don't think she made much progress, as he outweighs her 3 to 1.

Kat's surprising dedication in our art class. She usually is running down the hall to play with the drinking fountain.

First Haircut

Well, Kat had her first haircut today. And my camera has healed. I went to OfficeMax to get a new card to see if that would solve the problem. The guys there tried to fix it but were unsucessful. The new card didn't fit, either. But I fidled with it for a while since we were early to music class this morn, and found a menu item for 'erase data'. I figured what the heck, and apparently that was all it took. For now anyway. So I got to take pics of her first haircut. Course, I ordered the new camera (Olympus 840 for $99) last night. With a 5x optical and 5.6x digital.....looking forward to checking it out. It will make the Fuji look like a monster, I'm sure.

This was before. You can see that there is a need......

And after....She loved the firetruck chair, and the sucker kept her occupied the whole time. Course, after seeing it done, and how it ended up, I could have done that and would have charged her waaayy less than $27 (plus tip)!!! Next time.

She is really good at scamming her way onto other kids' quarter rides at Crossroads. That's a pretzel in her mouth.

On her very fave, the merry go round! There is usually crying after the removal.

The Marathon Mariners Game

No pics. I'm having major camera trouble (it's definitely Hermy's fault, she pulled the cable out while the last of the Calgary pics were downloading, and my camera now says 'card not initialized' and that's all it will do.) So no pics. And I'm shopping for a new camera and looking for my manual to try to figure out the problem. I have major camera envy after seeing Mare's Cannon Elph camera in Calgary....

Dan had the firms' Ms tx today and we went with Mike & Megan. The game started at Kat's normal nap time, which she happily postponed. The Ms were down by one at the bottom of the ninth (and I was so confused that lots of people in front of us left....maybe they didn't get that the home team had last ups?). They tied it up and then in the 13th were behind by 3 again, which they tied up.

In the 15th, they had two men on base, no outs, the pitcher walked Ichiro (Kat's word of the day, BTW....IC..CHIR..O chanted over and over and over--when she wasn't yelling 'touchdown' every time that the crowd went wild) to load them up. Then a shallow pop to center that the fielder misjudged, and we could all go home! Kat did great, though she may have eaten frequently, raisins, oranges, blueberries, pizza, french fries, but she never melted down, though she was extremely busy moving about. She did pass out within minutes of being in the car, as expected.

From the Seattle Times: 'It also was the longest Major League game of the season, in innings and time. The 526-pitch marathon lasted 5 hours, 3 minutes.' The Ms went through 8 pitchers.