It’s a BIG DAY in these parts…

Today is Hayley’s first day of school! Yep, she’s had a nice long summer and has been banking sleep hours in preparation for what is coming up…and that would be lots of homework and lots of volleyball!

Hayley has opted to take part in a school program called ORCA. It is part of the Running Start program in which high school Juniors and Seniors can earn college credits while earning their high school diploma. Instead of attending classes at the high school, Hayley will drive down to Mukilteo for her classes Monday thru Thursday (Fridays, too, though there are no classes…just occasional field trips and study time at the campus.) Then after school, she will zoom up to the high school for volleyball (either practice or matches.) This is a pretty intense school program and we’ve been warned that the homework load will be big. However, our girl thrives on challenge and is ready to take on this one!

After all, she’s seventeen now! We’ve been very busy with life lately, so I didn’t get a chance to update about the big 1-7. Hayley had her first volleyball match of the season that night over at South Whidbey. While the match didn’t go our way, we still celebrated Hayley’s birthday on the way home…with cupcakes on the ferry!

Chocolate with buttercream and white with strawberry icing. YUM. And yes…that is a Cupcake “H” for Hayley! The entire Lakewood High volleyball squad got off the bus and came up to the seating area to line the way for Hayley as they sang Happy Birthday! So sweet…they are truly an awesome group of girls!

Speaking of volleyball, check out this article in the Marysville Globe. (Hayley’s jersey number is #1 when you look at the slideshow.) Pretty exciting times around here. It was our 20th wedding anniversary that day to boot! We’re awfully proud of the young lady our little girl has grown into. And for the record (because people always ask!) she’s almost 6’…so when she’s rockin’ the heels, she’s standing a proud 6’3” to 6’4”. You go Glen Coco!! (Come on…name that movie!)

Unfortunately, I still can’t take a decent volleyball action shot so you’re probably only going to get written summaries…or shots like the one above! That was taken during pre-match warm-up and you’ll have to trust me that it was Hayley killing the ball!

Tonight, Hayley gets to play against one of her best friends, Hannah. (Hi Hannah!) She goes to a different school, but the girls have played Club ball together for two years now. It should be a fun night!

So, now that Hayley is back to school, I feel like Autumn is finally here. There is a briskness in the air, though we are due for temps in the 80’s this week!

Have a wonderful week!

Oh Nine Oh One Oh Nine

Isn’t that a cool date? I think so. In these parts, that means its time to head back to school. Brian obliged me with a First Day of School photo. Is it me or have my First Day of School photos gotten much more….casual?

A refresher:

Can you stand it? My heart just melted. A lot.

Okay, back to 09-01-09. In case you’re wondering where Hayley is in the current photo, don’t worry. I didn’t forget to take her picture. She didn’t want to be in the photo because this isn’t her first day of school. She doesn’t start school until September 21st because she is attending a program called ORCA through Everett Community College and will be on the college schedule. Since Brian had a delayed start this morning due to freshman orientation, Hayley decided to drive him to school.

Isn’t that sweet?

So, after watching 2/3 of my heart drive away, I walked back into the house to find this:

and this:

Both of them wondering what’s up that the house is empty. (By the way, Uncle Pat is here for a visit so he and Dan went out for Round 2 of their golf odyssey.)

Willie was worried, too:

Or maybe not. Our Wills tends to come and go as he pleases. He sauntered home this morning (after I hollered for him to get his butt home) and ate some breakfast and went off to the woods again. We don’t know what he does out there, but we did find remains little fluffy fur bits out in the yard, so one can only imagine!

I know I never finished my update on Willie. My “teaser” post, if you will. We’ve been busy around here and I will get to it this week. Don’t worry though. All is well with Mr. Willie Lunchmeat.

I mean, does this look like an unhappy kitty to you?

(Josie Grandma, Willie really likes your pretty cushions!)

Have a fabulous day!

The Prodigal Son: Preview

It is with great joy that I can report back to you that Willie Lunchmeat has returned home to us...where he belongs.

He's actually been home for 16 days now. And while I wanted to immediately do a big post about his return, part of me was waiting. Waiting for him to break our hearts and leave again. However, it would appear that our boy has decided to stay. {{Doing my happy dance...}}

I have a slew of photos of our wayward traveler to share with you. Both pre and post journey. I'm helping serve lunch to all the coaches at the high school this morning, but when I'm done I'll sit down and share our furry version of The Prodigal Son.

=)

“What I Did Today” by Diane K. Liebel

1. Got up, fed the fuzzies, made a cup of coffee and took a shower.
2. Put on a baseball cap. Because it is too friggin’ hot and humid to bother drying my hair. (Can I just remind you all that we live in the Pacific Northwest? It is not supposed to get to 100 degrees here. But today, it is supposed to hit 101 degrees. I’d like to file a complaint with Mother Nature…
3. Started the car 5 minutes before we had to leave because it is hot in the car. Really hot. And I wasn’t going anywhere until the air conditioner cooled it down.
4. Dropped Brian off at his driving lesson and went straight to Target.
5. Made a mad dash through Target to get to the just-stocked fan section and quickly shoved three (3) column fans into my cart. No doubt, they ran out of just-stocked fans within ten minutes.
6. Smugly paid for my three fans, knowing that someone is going to ask a Target employee the same stupid question I did yesterday…”Excuse me? Where are the fans???” Ya know, I don’t appreciate being laughed at by Target employees as they exclaim, “Hahaha…we sold out in five minutes…hahaha…check back tomorrow…hahaha!”
7. Filled up the car with gas at Costco. Smiled smugly at the guy behind me because I had three (3) fans in the back of my car and he didn’t.
8. Went into Costco and headed straight for the Produce walk-in refrigerator, where it is a delightful 40 degrees. I slowly examined every item of produce in said walk-in.
9. Briefly considered going and getting a display lawn chair and sitting in said Produce walk-in refrigerator for the rest of the day.
10. I decided against #9 because I think the Costco employees would have noticed and asked me to leave.
11. Josie Grandma calls and thinks she is funny by asking, “What are you doing? Sweating??? Hahahahaha!” (Josie Grandma lives in the hottest place on earth, otherwise known as Arizona. She loves this kind of hellish heat.)
12. I told Josie Grandma that no, I was NOT sweating because I was in the Costco Produce walk-in refrigerator, thank you very much! We continued to talk until I had to pay.
13. I picked up Brian from his driving lesson and we went home to set up our three (3) new fans.
14. I just set up one of the fans about 18 inches behind me and decided to blog about my day.
15. At least I’ve stopped sweating.

Sigh. I hate heat. I love cool.

We are going to Kenny Chesney on Saturday. It is only supposed to be 88 degrees and party cloudy. Who do I need to bribe to get full cloudy??? Cuz I’ll do it. =) I will.

That is my update for today. I have tons to post about, but I’ve been lazy. And now its too hot. But here is a teaser of what we’ve been up to:

The Josies came to visit us. We had a nice visit with them. We did lots of this:

Gin. Ahhhh. I’m just going to throw a number out there. 85. That’s all I will say. 85. Those that need to know will know what that means.

I put Josie Grandma to work making cushions for our front porch set. She banged them out in a couple of hours.

Pretty, no? What you don’t see in this pretty picture is the frogs that live under the cushions. Yes, you read that right. To get out of the heat, our frogs climb between the wicker and the cushion and hang out. It is what it is.

And finally, we had a new member of our family. Meet Willie Lunchmeat.

I’ll have to write more about Willie later because this photo makes me very sad. See, Willie Lunchmeat was with us for 2 1/2 weeks and then he wasn’t. I don’t know if he found someone who fed him better (like THAT would happen!) or if he met a sad fate. We just know that he didn’t come home.

Brian took a trip to see old friends and family in SoCal and Hayley had some volleyball camps. We’ll get to all that later. For now, I’m camping out in front of a fan with a glass of lemonade! Stay cool!

Riggins to Seattle '09: Part III

Saturday, May 30th. This was a special day. Not only were my favorite lovebirds still here visiting, but alas, I turned the ripe old age of 45! Sighhh. So, I can tell you that possibly the best way to greet 45 is to go wine tasting! Trust me on this. It dulls the pain! We hopped in the car and drove up to Concrete, WA to sample the goodies at the Challenger Ridge Winery. Our friends Ken and Danette (along with a group of their friends) own this winery. To say that it is the most charming plot of earth evahhhh would be an understatement! I mean really: Look at that view. Look at all those vines. And that is just part of the property. We went inside the Tasting Room, which is an ooold cabin. Very rustic and homey. Once inside, our darling hostess Cora hooked us up with tasting after tasting of wine. Three whites...then 3 reds. Each one better than the last. Good times, I tell ya! Lookie....future grapes! I just have to tell you about two of the wines we tried. "Gordon" and "Faye." Apparently these two wines are named after winemaker Randy Bonaventura's TWO DOGS...and their likenesses are on the labels of their namesake wines!!! Can you stand it? Anyone who names their wine after their dog is a star in our book! Missy Laura and I. We were still tasting at this point. This was right about when Laura decided to move up here and be my neighbor so we could go wine tasting every day! Yeah yeah....I made that up. My Boy and I. He's my Hunky-Monkey. I think the buzz was a little more apparent. I look WAY too happy to be 45. After tasting, we each got a full glass of wine and Cora then took us on a little tour of the winery. We got to see the whole production area from smashing the grapes to the bottler and labeler. We walked up to the upper level of the property where there is a little pond. As we stood there taking in the serenity of the pond, about 100 fish darted into view, scaring us and causing me to scream out loud. The buzz was very apparent at that point. We went back to the Tasting Room and got another glass of wine and sat in rocking chairs on the front porch and discussed how there really was no better way to spend the day. And that is when I took the photo of the wine glass and flag. We said our farewell to Cora and headed down the road to find something to soak up some of the wine eat. We came upon this place: These are the best places to nosh, right? Behold: Yeaaahhhh. I don't know if it was the wine or what, but this was the best burger I'd ever feasted on. (Except for Dano's home-made burgies. THAT goes without saying!) So, Laura and I ordered bacon cheeseburgers that came with everything, though Laura eats hers dry. Nothing on it. The guys, on the other hand, ordered regular old burgers with the assumption that their burgies would come with, oh I don't know, lettuce or tomatoes or onions or TOPPINGS IN GENERAL!!! I guess at Birdsview Burgers, you have to tell the little ladies workin' the counter exactly what you're expecting on your burger. Laura and I felt bad for the boys and their sad, plain, topping-less burgers, but the buzz of the wine left us powerless to do anything but snarf. We had the long drive home, during which Laura and I reclined the back seat and "rested our eyes." (That is Grandma Liebel's term for napping...and Laura uses it on occasion!) When we pulled up to the house, we all noticed this unsettling phenomenon. There was a dark ring around the sun. Very, very bizarre. I admit it fa-reaked me out. It finally disappeared, allowing us to relax a little, knowing the world wasn't coming to an end on my birthday! We spent the rest of the day looking at the houses for sale our neighborhood (the one right behind us is perfect for Laura and Corey...we even have a back gate to connect our backyards. Just sayin'...) For dinner, we'd originally planned to go to PF Changs. But after a day of wine-tasting, we were more inclined to hang around the house and let Dano feed us his version of Me 'n Ed's pizza. I KNOW! Dano has been on a quest...a mission, if you will, to duplicate the pizza from Me 'n Ed's in Long Beach, CA. We believe he has come out victorious! Trust me...it's that good! A special treat for Corey in his visit up here was that his friend from his Navy days, David Shellhammer, was able to drive over from Bremerton and have dinner with us that evening. He's a sweetheart. The poor guy U-turned right into a grass-covered ditch at the bottom of our hill Sunday morning and he just took it in stride. They hadn't seen each other since Laura and Corey's wedding. We all feasted on pizza and then headed out to the firepit for an FPN...Seattle style. S'mores and mosquitos. Yay! Sunday morning, I woke up feeling amazingly good. (Considering the amount of wine and Captain & Diet Cokes we consumed the day before!) We headed to church and then to the Bluebird Cafe for breakfast. Yummy! Sigh. Sadly, we had to drive our favorite lovebirds to the airport on Sunday afternoon. We stopped in at the Pyramid Brewery right by Mariner Stadium for some grub, since the travelers wouldn't be getting any real food until late that night. A little Hef, some nachos, some BBQ chicken pizza and a rather eccentric History teacher who made our acquaintance because of Dano's t-shirt that had Ben Franklin's quote: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" made for a memorable lunch. Did YOU know that Ben Franklin and George Washington smoked weed? No? Well, this woman did. And she was all too happy to go on...and on...and on about it, while our pizza cooled! I think we all silently cheered when she finally left our table so we could eat! We got to the airport and sadly bid farewell to our awesome niece Laura and her sweet hubby Corey. Fortunately for Laura and I, a simple one or two word text brings all the fun right back! After all, "We live on the Rez!" Tee hee! Corey and Laura, come see us again when you can! We love and miss you!

Riggins to Seattle '09: Part II

Here they are again: My favorite lovebirds. Hanging out on Deception Pass. On Friday morning, we drove up north to the little town of La Conner. It is impossibly charming with little shops and yummy places to eat. We settled on having a late breakfast at the Calico Cupboard. Trust me, it was to die for! On the way out, amidst the wafting aroma of fresh croutons being made, Missy Laura and I made our way over to the bakery case full of unbelievably decadent treats. It took about 10 seconds for both of us to lock eyes with the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar and some homemade caramels. We'll talk about that later. We all had to walk off our breakfast just a bit, so we mosied up and down the main drag of La Conner, looking in the shops at all the one-of-a-kind goodies. Seriously, I could retire in La Conner where Danny and I could make crafty things all day to sell to the tourists. But only after having breakfast every morning at the Calico Cupboard!

Next, we drove up and over to South Whidbey Island. What connects the mainland with South Whidbey is Deception Pass. It is two spans of bridge and looking out on either side are beautiful views of the water WAYYY below and all the pretty greenery. It is quite breathtaking. Dano and I being tourists.

We drove all the way down through South Whidbey and then boarded the ferry to take us back across the Puget Sound to Mukilteo. Missy Laura didn't tell us that she gets a wee bit nauseous until we were already on the ferry, but she did just fine on the trip. How cute are they?

But really, when one is on a ferry with a little outcropping to stand on at the front end of said ferry, there is only one thing to do: "I'm flying, Jack!!!"

I know...we are dorks. We pretty much agreed on that fact when we turned around and looked up at the ferry pilots looking down at us through the window, shaking their heads. Yeah, like they've never seen that pivotal scene from Titanic recreated on the ferry before!!! Sheeshh.....

Anywayyyyy, we drove off the ferry at Mukilteo and took an immediate left turn into the Ivar's parking lot. It was a beautiful day and we were just starting to get hungry. And thirsty. We sat out on the balcony and I believe Missy Laura and I enjoyed some Malibu and OJ while they guys had beer.

This is Laura's first taste of her chowdah. Ivar's is famous for their Clam Chowder. I generally don't like clam chowder, but I do eat it at Ivar's. With a hot sourdough roll. Dano and I always split a bowl. Sadly, I cannot remember what else we ate at Ivar's. I think we kept it light because of everything we'd consumed at breakfast!

We went home and putzed around before having dinner. Missy Laura and I had not yet sampled the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar. We set it out of sight where we thought it would be safe. It was not safe. To be completely honest, it would not have been safe anywhere in the house!

So, while Dano and Corey were out on the deck prepping the grill to cook dinner, my Laura and I had a VERY weak moment. It isn't that we nibbled on the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar right before dinner.

No, what makes us truly weak is that we hid in the pantry to nibble on the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar right before dinner. And we giggled. And nibbled. And snorted. We thought we would pee our pants because we were laughing so hard. Then Laura decided to move up here and be my neighbor so we could eat Chocolate-covered Coconut Bars every day.

Okay, I made that part up. THAT is the scene of the crime. THAT is where weak moments occur.

Tsk tsk.

But there is more. We thought our weak moment went unnoticed by anyone else in the house. Because we were hidden in the pantry. Unfortunately, we were found out! I'd asked Hayley to do something earlier and I never saw her do it. So, I asked her and she said she took care of it. I said, "Yeah? Where was I???"

(I'm sure you know where this is going....)

Hayley: "You and Laura were in the pantry...giggling."

Stay tuned! There is still more Riggins to Seattle to come...

Riggins to Seattle '09: Part I

Just look at these two. I call them my Lovebirds. One year, three months and 14 days since they said, "I do!" Seems like it was yesterday!

Missy Laura and her boy, Corey flew up back in May to visit us in the rainy Pacific Northwest. Problem was, it wasn't rainy. It was gloriously hot and sunny. We couldn't have asked for prettier weather for our favorite newlyweds to experience.

After we picked them up at the airport and drove home, I had to show Laura one of the favorite things in my house...the Keurig. Laura, being the coffee drinker that she is, said a little prayer of thanks and immediately brewed herself a cuppa joe. I believe she chose the Island Coconut flavor, which opened up a whole new level of bonding for my darling niece and I. More on that in Part II.

By the way, that is my "Butler's Pantry" aka "The Bar." Remember, I don't have a butler. Heh heh. Laura was pretty much in heaven as the little Keurig quickly chugged out a fine cup of coconut-flavored coffee.

A dash of vanilla creamer... ...and Laura decided to move in and never go back to Southern California.

The End! =)

Sorry, I made that last part up. I was only wishing she would move up here and be my neighbor and we could drink coconut-flavored coffee together every morning. Sigh.

Laura has been to our house before. It was a whirlwind visit back in November of 2007 and spent a wonderful 48 hours in our pajamas making her amazing wedding invitations. Corey, since he was on a nuclear submarine at that time, did not come with and had never seen our house. So, while Dano showed Corey (whom Dano affectionately refers to as "Corndog") around the expanse of the yard, I showed Laura the really important things. Like the Keurig.

And my birdie nest, which was an architectural feat of epic proportions. It was lovingly built in the support beam under my bedroom deck. Some wonderful birdie worked awfully hard on this thing. As my dad would say, "It was strong. Like bull."

Remember in an earlier post, when I said there were three of the most beautiful bright blue eggs I'd ever seen? Remember? Check it out...photographic proof: Can you even stand it? Laura was amazed. Corndog was amazed. It was such a sweet sight. So we all went inside and toasted the birdnest and the bright blue eggies with some margaritas, chips and guacamole while Dano made a Mexican feast worthy of our out-of-town travelers. All was right in the world. All was good.

BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMM!!!!

I let Abby and Sasha out for their morning potty time and in my sleepy daze, something caught my eye. Why, it looks like......

{{Insert horrified gasp here}}

IT COULD NOT BE: I know this will be painful for my Laura to relive (even more painful than the month-long wait for me to blog about their visit!) but I must do it to honor the birdies. First, click on the above photo. The big nest was truly a woven marvel. Nestled inside, yet completely separate from that was a super soft, delicate inner nest. And yes, those blue bits....egg shells. Can you see it? No?

How about now? Sigh. We don't know what decided to come into our yard during the night and rip the nest from the beam and then dine on some unpoached eggs. I'm not sure I want to know! It could have been a raccoon or a squirrel or even my Chippie the chipmunk (which my bowling friends told me that "chippie" was a term for a prostitute way back...shows what I know!) Danny thinks it could have been an owl. It could have been Rocky, looking for raw eggs to guzzle. We do know that Sasha woke up and went to sit by the open sliding door in the middle of the night so she must've known something evil was going on out there. All I know is, my Missy Laura and her Corey did not fly all the way up here to experience death and destruction on their first full day here!!!! We needed something to ease our troubled minds. Something soft and gentle.

Ahhhhh, that's better. This was right across the street from us. These sweeties were fairly small. New life. Gotta love nature!

So ends Part I of the Riggins visit. Check back tomorrow to see what fun we managed to round up on Friday! Hint: it involves the front end of a ferry boat!

Happy Fathers Day!

The two men in my life. My Daddy and My Boy. This was just this past Spring Break. These two are buds. The fact that they get along so well is just icing on the cake of my life. I call Danny "My Boy." Always have. Always will. I think he kinda likes it.

He's such a good dad. He really is. Our children are so lucky to have him for a daddy.

He's a strong, silent type. Much like my own daddy. Always there when you need him.

Sorry... ...my heart just melted.

He's a proud daddy. We took Brian out to celebrate Straight A's on his recent report card and Dano must've mentioned it to the waitress no less than 5 times.

Watch out boyfriends of that cute little Minnie Mouse. Consider yourself warned! Heh heh.

He has taught our babies all about camping and fishing. Much like my own daddy.

I love my Daddy.

And I love My Boy. Along with our babies, he is everything to me!

Happy Fathers Day to My Boy and My Daddy...and to all the daddies out there!