Catch the moment: Week 3

Well, this week was all catch up because I didn't spend any time on the computer while on vacation (imagine that?!) and then the rest of the week was a battle between recovering from the explosion of post-vacation and the girls and I got the crud that's been passed around. But I did manage to take my "real" camera out more!

Squirt has come a long way with the kids. When Penny was born he kept his distance because rather than petting him, she preferred to yank his fur. With baby #2, I think he's learned that they're not all so bad and sometimes they make decent companions. Typically when I'm done cooking I lay the bowls, pots or pans on the floor and let him get a taste (and do a little dishwasher prep for me). This evening Ruby came over to check it out too, and he bravely stood his ground and allowed her to peer on while he cleaned up.

I took this picture because it was Ruby's first day of going into childcare at MOPs. Until now she's snuggled with me in the Boba and napped for most of the time. Nowadays she has little tolerance for the Boba if I'm just sitting down so she'd prefer to crawl. I decided that we were both ready for her to be in the care of MOPPETs while I got my mama break time. The girls were so darling that morning; Penny dressed herself (in a dress that I absolutely love and kind of wish they made it in my size) and I ended up putting Ruby into this little tunic dress that I remember Penny wearing a lot. As it turned out, poor Ruby had skipped her 20 minute power nap before MOPs and while she put in a good effort, this time was not meant to be so she returned to spend the rest of the morning with me. 

We finally took the getaway vacation that I have been whining longing for. Adam had a supplier meeting in Vancouver BC scheduled on a Monday, so we drove up the weekend leading up to it to Whistler and stayed at a great condo. It was located right by the Whistler walking trail and it was a less than 5 minute walk to the ski lifts and sledding. No skiing for us this time around, but it was so much fun to get to play in the snow multiple times in one weekend. Read more: Whistler weekend

I am not a football fan. I really can't even convince myself to jump on the Seahawks band wagon...yea, I've got Seattle pride and I understand it's a huge accomplishment. But to step up onto a soapbox for a moment, I *hate* it when teams are called "brave" or "heroes." Really? I'm going to quickly step off the box before I get into too much trouble and instead tell you about how we spent a part of our vacation having a quiet afternoon, warming up from a morning of sledding (and rain) to snuggle and watch the Seahawks win the NFC championship. Maybe it wouldn't have been my choice of what to watch on TV, but I'm blessed that we got to do it together. 

The afternoon that Adam had his meeting in Vancouver, he dropped us off at the Vancouver Aquarium so that the girls and I had something to do. I just love aquariums! I had not been to the Vancouver Aquarium in probably 15 years and much has changed. My favorite animal to photograph is always jellyfish and seeing Penny discover that a beluga whale is in fact a real creature (not just one we sing about) was pure magic. Read more: Vancouver Aquarium

These little hens of mine. I try not to get too gushy and put them up on an honorable pedestal, but really...these girls rock. When you think about what an intense and intricate process it is to create and lay an egg (almost daily), you can't help but be thankful for this seemingly simple gift that they give my family daily. Chickens are easy to keep and will surprise you with all the benefits they provide. I'd like to remember to take a page from their book; because a chicken lays an egg regardless of whether her day was crappy or awesome. Whether she got the extra attention or if she snagged a juicy worm. Without fail she'll still do her job and be sure that the whole world knows about it with her egg-song of triumph after.

This girl's imagination is at full speed. She loves to pretend and this time I caught this little conversation: "Come on little ducklings! Stay with your mama and you will be just fine. The daddies are at work but they will be home soon. Let's go swimming. The water is not too deep, it is just fine. Stay close to your sisters and your brothers."  more: A Penny for your thoughts

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Well I'll be damned.

This is the story of how I seriously under estimated my dog and pointed fingers at children.

A few weeks ago, on a really hot afternoon, Squirt started barking hysterically. It's not uncommon for him to bark, he barks at things worth barking at. People entering the house (as annoying and embarrassing as it is, I'm able to sleep very well at night knowing he will do the same if anyone were to break in), other dogs passing by, even little girls crossing the street in front of our house. But this afternoon his tone reached a level that I hadn't heard before, which made my look out the window to make sure he was ok.

Behind our backyard runs an alley that about 15 houses share. Kids have been riding their bikes, skateboards etc up and down all summer and he has more or less learned to accept this and doesn't worry himself over it too much anymore. That day there was a boy who was running up and down the alley, barking at Squirt and basically taunting him. I watched this for a couple minutes, and after a couple passes the boy left. I chalked it up as harmless boy antics and went on doing whatever I was doing.

A few minutes later, the barking starts again. The boy was back with a friend. They both ran up and down behind our fence, barking and just being little jerks. I let this happen for a couple minutes, then quietly slipped out our backdoor and opened up the back gate - to the boys' horror of being caught.

I pulled out my serious mama voice, told them to cut it out and that taunting animals is cruel. The original boy very quickly sold out his friend, pointing at him and saying that it was all him. Isn't it somewhat funny and tragic how quickly kids will do that? I called the kid out on it, telling him not to rat out his friends and lie about it. I said that if I caught them doing it again, their parents would be getting a visit from me. I have no idea who these kids belong to, but they don't need to know that! ;)

That weekend we drove up north to visit my brother in law and sister in law. We were only going to be gone for the day so we left the dogs in the backyard, as we have done several times in the past. Tons of water, food and adequate shade. About half way through the day, my husband gets a call from an unknown number from a kind lady saying that Romeo (our 13 year old dog) had wandered into their garage and made himself comfortable. We asked if she saw Squirt, but she hadn't. So this meant me having to leave my BIL's to come home (about a 80 minute drive) to get the dogs back inside. Luckily we had a spare car at my BIL's, so Adam was able to continue working on the project he had started there and he planned to come home later that evening when he was done.

My initial thought was those boys exacting their revenge. Neither of the dogs dig and there aren't any loose fence boards. As I pulled into our alley, there was Squirt waiting for me. The gate was wide open, which proved to me that there was mischief afoot. I got him into the backyard and visited the neighbor who had found Romeo. She was so nice and accommodating.. She even let him into the house and gave him a blanket to lay on in there.

A few days later Adam, Penny and I took a family walk around the neighborhood. We opted to leave the dogs - again making sure the gate was securely latched and no loose boards, etc. We were gone for 20 minutes - and upon our return, found Squirt and Romeo cavorting around our front yard. >.<

That was the last straw! I was sure it was those boys, probably living close enough to see when we leave the house and letting the dogs out. I wasn't mean when I talked to them that day, but I used my adult voice to let them know I was serious. So Adam put a lock on the gate, and for the last couple weeks there hasn't been an incident. The war had been won! I imagined the look on those boys' faces when they realized their fun was over.

Then yesterday, Adam took Penny for a walk in the afternoon while I stayed around the house. Squirt was in the backyard and unhappy to have been left behind. He didn't realize that I was at home, and I kept it that way to kind of see what he does while we're gone. He ran around the backyard for a few minutes and I grew bored and did some chores. A few minutes later I heard a really odd noise - so I peeked out of a window.

You know how a lot of gates have a string pushed through so that you can open the latch from the inside? Imagine my unbelieving eyes when I saw that Squirt was furiously pulling on that string and pawing at the gate. He's an Australian Shepherd - notoriously smart dogs. But this was beyond intelligence. This dog is brilliant.

It was Squirt all along. The damn dog figured out how to open the gate.

Memorial Day Recap Part I

This weekend we took off for a 4 day weekend down Highway 20 in Northern Washington and ended up at the Colonial Creek campground in the Northern Cascades.  We were a little worried about holiday traffic and crowed campgrounds, but incidentally the bridge collapse in Burlington and the wet weather report must have scared most of the travelers away.

We drove up the scenic highway, found our camp ground and quickly set up camp.

So.. we jokingly call our tent "The Condo." Because it is really big. It's 15 x 17 ft. Adam has had it for about 8 years and we've definitely gotten our use out of it. It's large enough to fit a queen sized air mattress, ample space for our 2 dogs to sleep and all of our gear (and this time we even brought the pack n play in case). Plus.. it has a freaking foyer. Not kidding. This tent is probably bigger than my college dorm room was!

The funny part is that in the roughly two dozen times we've set it up together, this weekend was the first time that we got to set up camp in daylight AND no rain! There have been several camping trips where we show up after dark, because we left after work, or it's dumping rain. So we were really pleased that getting everything in camp set up took under an hour - even with a little kid running around!

Speaking of my little kid, gotta say.. Super proud of her. Even though she's been walking for well over 6 months, this was one of the very few times she's walked on rough terrain without having our assistance each step of the way. I got her these cute Oshkosh shoes and she was so capable of maneuvering through roots, through rocky patches, over logs and up and down steep slopes. Even when she did fall down, she quickly picked herself up and went on to whatever she was up to. Then there's times at home where she trips over a rug or gets knocked over by a dog and she waaaaaails like there's no tomorrow. LOL! I suppose the saying "everything is different at camp" applies to toddler falls too.

We explored around our camp grounds and found that the Thunder Knob hiking trail starts by the walk in sites. We were still waiting on our friends to show up so we decided to just take a quick look over the creek beds and then went back to camp to have dinner. This night's dinner was not up to the level of quality that I had intended on - we just had some turkey chili and chicken apple sausages.

The following morning, our friends met up with us and we took a hike up Thunder Knob. It was a 3.8 mile round trip, easy ~630 ft elevation gain hike. Even with our 2nd trimester pregnant friend we made it up quickly and enjoyed the beautiful view laid out before us. The first part of the hike has you cross a couple babbling creeks and takes you through lichen-y forest which gets a little sparser as you get to the top.

Our brother and sister in law with their son Jack showed up one evening for a few hours, and we also took a day trip to Winthrop to escape the rain. We only went through the main street area, but took advantage of some yummy ice cream, mini golf and a picnic lunch down by the water.

We ended the weekend with a visit to the Diablo Dam for some birthday cake in my honor :)

PS: Don't judge Penny because she's wearing such a frumpy little outfit. It's comfy for driving long distances in! ;)

So.. stay tuned for 2 more posts regarding this weekend!  One about our new family rig and another with a taste bud achingly delicious recipe.

Squirt earns his keep

Yesterday we visited our favorite local hike, Wallace Falls, to take advantage of the gorgeous pretty-much-summer weather. It was 90 degrees. In Washington. In May.

The last time we did this hike we (in February) did about 1/3 of the total trip. It was a good day for a hike (considering), but still a little cool and muddy. This time around we did the whole thing. With baby in tow.

Two of our main goals as parents is to keep doing what we loved to do before having a baby (within reason - no ATVing is in our immediate future) and to share our love and appreciation for the outdoors with our children.  Which means until Penny is old enough to get herself up that mountain, mama and daddy are going to schlep her up ourselves. Luckily she looooves to be worn and is not that heavy (at 14 months she weighs in just under 20 lbs...).



One of the ways we made it easier on ourselves was to give everyone a "job." Penny's job - if you can really call it that - was to be cute and happy in her Ergo. Nailed it.



Mama's job (to start with) was to be the water carrier. I pulled out my CamelBak that I've had since college, which alleviated carrying around a water bottle and opened up both of my hands to either tend to Squirty or Penny.


Daddy's job was to carry Penny. He had her on his back 90% of the way up to the top, but we ended up switching off because Penny got over being covered in Dad's sweat and needed some Mama time :) So Adam took over carrying the water.




Finally, Squirt's job. Our backs were full - which left no where to pack our lunch. And thus, the best invention known to hiking-kind. The dog pack!


Squirt is wearing a Ruffwear Approach pack.  We're in the process of running this pack through it's paces (keep an eye out for a full review soon!) but so far we are really pleased with it. It has two large pockets plus two small ones, with several high quality bells and whistles to boot. We packed our snacks, lunch, Squirt's food and a few miscellaneous items for Penny and he carried it all comfortably without needing to readjust the pack during the 4 hour hike.

Yesterday's weather will probably be one of the top 5 most beautiful days in Washington this year. Even though this hike is an extremely popular one (the parking lot was full by 10a), the trail itself was not terribly crowded. The viewpoints and lunching area were clogged up, but we bypassed most of them and opted to view them on the way back.

There were so many great photo opportunities and it's a shame that the noon day sun was right above us (for the non-photographers out there that means pretty much everything gets washed out in all the brightness!). But you didn't just hear this Washington girl complain about there being too much sun. Nope, not me.

Happy 4th Birthday, Squirty McWigglebottom :)

Today marks 2 years since we adopted our second dog, a mini-Australian shepherd, whom we dubbed "Squirt."

We decided on the name after wanting to call him something along the lines of "little brother" to our older dog, Romeo. I had suggested the name Braciszek ("bra-chi-shek," which means "little brother" in Polish)... but as you can guess, that was shot down. Eventually we settled on Squirt, which is really fitting for him anyways.

And the McWigglebottom part? Well, Squirt doesn't have a tail. Australian Shepherds are known for their naturally bobbed tails, but Squirt was born without one at all..however, when he gets really excited, his entire butt shakes.

2 years ago we had decided that Romeo was in need of a buddy. My office was dog friendly, but I didn't always want to bring him with me but we thought he might be lonely during the day. He was getting older and we hoped that a younger dog would pep him up a little bit and in turn he would help mature a younger dog too. We were about half way through our renovation and I was most likely subconsciously dealing with baby fever (3 of my sister in laws were due between May and September). So we decided to get a second dog. The funny part is that I was pregnant about 2 months later anyways....

I am pretty familiar with dog breeds (for some reason) and we decided that a Mini-Aussie would be a good fit for our family. Energetic, smart, loyal and trainable. After months of searching the good old list of Craig's and various pet adoption websites, I came across a listing for a 2 year old male on CL and texted in about him. Throughout the rest of the day I exchanged sporatic texts with a 19 year old girl who was juggling community college courses, a busy lifestyle and a energetic (to say the least) dog that was cooped up in her small apartment :( I felt bad because I remember being in that stage of life.. I'm sure she loved that dog very much, but it just wasn't a good mix. I'm thankful that she decided to give him to a good home and move on.

We picked him up that night and were greeted with this ball of furry silvery energy that immediately loved on us (and wiggled his bottom to no end). His main goal in life is to please those around him, just like any good dog does.

What a blessing it has been to have Squirt in our family and watch Penelope grow to love him.

Yogurt Teething "Popsicles"

This past weekend Penny's molars began their debut :( I can only feel one bump right now, but the poor girl is definitely uncomfortable!

Some moments are definitely worse than others (and I am so very thankful for her amber necklace, which has navigated us through some rough waters) so I started thinking up alternatives to simply medicating to help Penny get some relief. Washcloths soaked in juice and water have been old standbys for many moms, so I thought.. why not yogurt?

You will need:
A wash cloth
Yogurt of choice (we used Pomegranate Greek Gods yogurt)

You will do:
1. Fold the wash cloth into quarters and then diagonally to create a "point"
2. Dip the point into a cup of yogurt. It takes a few times to evenly coat and soak up the yogurt.
3. Place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
 4. Enjoy!

It's short lived, but a healthy treat (even when your baby isn't teething!).

Do you not just crack up when you see the sour look on her face? She's started doing that when her palate hasn't quite adjusted to what she's tasting.

Can you think of any alternatives to water, juice or yogurt?