Whirley Ball + Clown Outfits = Another Job Obligation

The people in this video are part of the studio that Dustin now manages.
I'm not sure which I feel more sorry for, really.
Whirley Ball is made up of two teams with five players on each. Similar to bumpers cars, you are able to crash into others relatively harmlessly. Dissimilar to bumper cars, there is a whiffle ball being sought after and passed via plastic scoops. Getting the ball to the basket-y goal more than the others makes you a winner. Getting it there in a clown outfit makes you crazy cool.

You Pick. I Pick. We ALL Pick Berries!

We weekended in Portland with the Anuschat Family and got quite domestimicated for Father's Day. We spent some quality time on a trailer ride out to the strawberry fields where we picked 'til we popped. Then we prepped for the next day's festivities of canning our first batch of jam. Megan and I pulled it together and made some really beautiful jars of jam while the boys worked on the back yard chicken coop. Then we all sat down and wrote some folk songs while whittling a loom.

Another Victim of Spaghetti Pie

Wha? We're having WHAT for dinner tonight? Did you say Spaghetti Pie?
Don't get an ego, ma, it wasn't all that.

Alden's New Digs

Jungle Garden Tour

So after the wedding and after all of the extended family moved on to New Orleans, Dustin, Alden, and I were in New Iberia, LA for a day by ourselves. We went back to Avery Island where the Tabasco sauce is grown and produced. It was so fun the first time that we seriously thought about doing the tour again but decided to enjoy the Jungle Garden as it promised alligators and a Budda statue.
These trees are so peaceful and soothing. The limbs extend down to the ground and seemingly rest on it.
GATORS!
Joke Alert! What do you call a baby alligator? A GATOR TOT!!!! hahahhahahahahahha shut up.

I believe I asked for the large propeller boat. Sheesh.
Spanish moss... you know, like you can buy in the bags at Michael's?
The view that this Budda statue has had for over 70 years. I'd be blissed out, too!


Hot doesn't even begin to describe this day but it was worth it to get out of the car during the tour to see all of this!

Go Here. Do This.

True, it is a fantastic waste of time. But fantastic nonetheless.
Go here. Now.


That's correct. You, too, can have Mena Suvari hairs or any celebrity hair style if you have a picture to upload and approximately 76 hours to waste trying on all 336 female celebrity hair options available.

LA Vacay

Thanks to my cousin, Mark, and his new wife, Laurie, who were getting married in Louisiana in May, we got our first family vacation. Just 24 hours after moving into our new place in Seattle, we boarded a plane to the hottest place in North America: Lafayette, Louisiana. We arrived in the still of the night, rested, and then we got directly into the hotel pool. Aside from going to the wedding and being at the following pictures' locations, we stayed in the pool or laying down. Best. Vacation. Ever.
Eating fried food at The Bon Creole
Eating fried food at The Pelican... I tried the frog legs. Hey, I never said I didn't eat amphibian.
Blunt. But why? Maybe a patron or two got tipsy and fell into the croc infested water? I'll bet that's it. So, no, I won't sit.
The two July 24th birthday kids! Great grandma Shirley and baby Alden.
Sugar cane fields
Paying via a paddle fitted with a close pin to tack down money and receipt. Even the natives don't like sticking their arms out in the heat.
Tabasco barrel covered with salt from Avery Island. That barrel is better preserved than I am!

Lady Killaz (their rap name)
This church was beautiful and the ceremony was epic. Fairly short for a Catholic wedding which Alden appreciated. :)

Addicted

Damn it.
I am addicted to this little kid computer game.
Check out www.miniclip.com and type in "bunch" into the search field.
See you in 4 hours when you finally pry your fingers off of the mouse and sit up straight.
There had better be a support group for this.

Moving Day

How does one put a 1977 orange Fiat Spider that hasn't run in nearly a year on a trailer bed, exactly? Well, one doesn't. Four do. With the help of a tool endearingly called a "come along". And, of course, it was raining.

It took us a lot longer to load up than we had anticipated. About 4 hours longer. And that was with help. We don't even have that much stuff and I was so packed and ready. I think we were distracted with kind of not wanting to go and really wanting to stay.

We got as far as Cottage Grove before tapping out for the night. We got such a late start on the road and the rain wasn't helping so we got a hotel and some much needed sleep. Knocking just 90 minutes off of a 8 hour drive sure does take it out of a gal.

If you squint, that sign says "Welcome to Seattle". Admittedly, that did feel good to be done with the leaving part of moving.

This shows ALL of the change we've seen in the past two years. Grass, house color, new windows, awning, rock work, clean up, tear down, baby, gray hairs, more love and support, f.u.p.a., laugh lines, tear stains. Yup. All there. All worth it.

Thank you, little house. You've made adults out of us. You helped make us a family, too.

Final Walk Though

The wood floors are cleaned and sealed (refinishing will come at a much, much later date).
The bathroom is textured, painted, trimmed, and tiled.
The hallway, office, and laundry room is textured, painted, trimmed, and tiled.
The kitchen has a new stainless steel counter along with wood decorative piece.
The front stoop has the best roofless "awning" ever... in time, wisteria will be the canopy.
The lawn and landscaping has an in ground sprinkler system.
The bathroom sink no longer shocks the person washing their hands with running water.
All of the paint, inside and out, has been touched up.
The garden has been tilled up and is ready for replanting.
Just like that, two years and 1 week, we are moving out.

Imagine the Sound of a Starter Gun

Dustin came home from a 2 1/2 month job in Seattle with the GREAT news that his brief return to freelance was already over. He got a staff position as studio manager in Seattle. That's right, folks. Back to Seattle. In one month. Go.

Technically the work began just three weeks before the move date. Three weeks to finish off a house, find a renter, pack our belongings, nurture family and friend relationships. Super easy. Crap.




Next time, when we move into an old house and we can tell that the floor is rotting by the shower, we might just get on that a bit sooner than two years later. Maybe.

You can take the boy out of Merlin but you can't take the Merlin out of the boy...


All this dry wall dust and saw buzzin' has tuckered out lil' Newnie. He has taken to napping for longer than 27-32 minute periods. Totally worth it.