A Little Project

On Friday, Caroline was reading a book called "Get Out"and decided she needed to do a project. So she gathered up materials and made a twine-and-straw bubble blower,

whipped up a concoction of Dawn detergent and sugar (?)
and blew some gigantic bubbles!!
She said, "I should tell the Bubbleman about this!" I said I think he might already know....

Garden Tour

Well, while we were in France, the garden went totally haywire. I heard that it rained a lot while we were gone. Here is mom, helping me to get the climbing rose under control. It helped a lot, but as soon as it starts raining again, I am in trouble...

Clyde, the helpful wonder kitty.
Tomatoes are not nearly as tall as in years past, we seem to have the dwarf varieties....We still have more tomatoes than we can eat, I may have to make sauce this weekend.
Nasturtiums...
Chard...
And lots of pumpkins coming in!!
Caroline and I were already discussing jack-o-lantern faces today. I don't think I can make a scarier one than I did last year...

Fun with Hillyers

Mom and Dad got up here on Saturday night, and we were supposed to go hiking on Sunday, but it was raining, and only supposed to get worse. So we decided to go bowling. Half the lanes were under construction, which is a good thing because the lanes we were on had a very definable tilt toward no one getting a spare. (have to blame something!)

Dad in action!
Stefan and Owen and Caroline keep track of the scores...
My sister, tearing it up...
My mom, showing us her League Form from the 70s. Miles is excited for her...
The whole gang!

Soccer Season

Well, the LVR Blue Vipers were UNDEFEATED last year, 2006. They did tie a few, but technically, I think that is still undefeated.... Two games into the 2007 season, we are still undefeated. That is a pretty good record. We are a very cohesive team, we have played together and with the same coach for 5 years. This year there are more kids on the field, so fewer subs going in and out, and the field got humongous! Check this out!
That is our adorable coach, Sean, in the foreground and there is the field--look how small they are! Miles still excels at defense, and running around in a way that seems to confuse the other team as to what his plan is, distracting them long enough to give our guys a chance to get the ball. We never seem to win by a blowout, this day was 3-0, but we have a couple of Really Good Goalies, which is important, of course.
There is Miles in the middle in the blue doing that running thing.
This is the first year for everyone on the big field, so all the kids were moving pretty slowly by the end of the game, Miles looked like he put on his cement sneakers.
Here's how you perk up at the end of the game!

Concert for you

Here she is!...playing the song we just can't get enough of!

Cute Pics

I forgot that I changed memory cards halfway through the Stefan and Caroline Birthday party. We always take photos of them together, starting with when they were 6 and 1. It is cute to watch them grow up together.

New Piano!! Lucky us.

Wednesday:
Caroline has decided that she is for sure sticking with piano. She loves to play, but for a while has complained that our 100+ year old piano is not in tune enough. Well, the last time we had it tuned, Jack Hopfinger (no lie), the piano tuner said he tuned it to itself but it was a half step off. Since we have to listen to a LOT of piano playing, we decided to upgrade. Nick talked his way into a screaming deal down at Sherman Clay, since they have been schmoozing him to buy a piano for almost a year, it paid off.

Exciting day for us! Out with the old.....
Here comes the new one, ooo, shiny.

Wow, those dudes are strong!
Ta Da!!!Everyone welcome to a Caroline Concert, any day!

First Day of School!!!!!

OK, Wednesday was the first day of school. We always take a photo here in front of the tomatoes. Although the plants themselves look a little puny, they are as prolific as ever. We are going to have a LOT of tomatoes in about a week ripening up......


The children, on the other hand are not puny at all. I cannot believe that Miles is starting his last year of Elementary School! Kristina took Caroline for her annual birthday pedicure on Tuesday to get ready for school. She got butterflies on her big toes, there. Cute. She also chose to wear her Paris skirt and shirt for her first day outfit.
Here is Miles with his teacher, Mr Miller. He sure seems like a very nice chap. Here is a link to his website, if anyone is interested in what Miles is doing this year. Click here: Room 108.
Miles really like him, report is that he is "awesome." Here is Caroline with her teacher, Mrs Villanueva, otherwise known as Ms V. Caroline says she is really nice, too.

Birthdays!

As hard as it is to believe, Stefan and Caroline turned 13 and 8 on August 18. Since we were gone, we had the party on Labor Day. It was a sandwich and sundae lunch, and then we hung around after everyone left and all went to Chinese Buffet, yum! Then, the girls talked us into an impromptu sleepover, and since Michelle is babysitting for me on Tuesday, it made sense! Miles opted to come home. Here are some snaps of the day.
Caroline, Avery and Nora decorate the driveway.
Caroline and Owen assemble sandwiches.

Miles, Stefan, and Owen, hanging out with Monsie.
Making the birthday sundaes!!!

Sunday at Bumbershoot

***I am trying my first attempt at linkage in this post--click on the pink word and tell me if it doesn't work!!***


We had a bit of a lie-in this AM, we were over at Kristina's pretty late last night. After a leisurely morning, I had to go to work at Mrs Cook's this afternoon.

Caroline was extremely jealous that we got to go see Devendra when we were in Paris, and she couldn't go. Well, when she found out that he was going to be playing at Bumbershoot this weekend, she was determined to go no matter what! We found out he was playing on Sunday night at 9:30, and then we found out that Bumbershoot tickets are now $35!! I feel like such a fogie when I say, "I remember when Bumbershoot was free!!" in my old-lady voice, but seriously, 35 bucks seems a little steep.... LUCKY US, Devendra set us up with comp tickets!! He played the Sound Transit Stage, right here under the Space Needle--beautiful.
Miles was seriously boogy-ing down, and Kristina could not resist joining him. She says he should get his groove on now, before he realizes that Seattlites don't dance. Sad, but true.
It was very exciting, that Caroline (and all of us) got to go back stage, too!! Here they are with Devendra, and when I told him she had been so excited to meet him, he said to her, well I have been excited to meet you too!! So sweet.

The End of Summer

We were invited over to the Willson-Mangle house for a BBQ on Saturday, Yummy kabobs, salads and mojitos were on the menu. Here is Miles swinging on the hammock.
Here is their garden with the sun starting to set in the background.

Fine looking lettuce.
All of the photos of people were taken around the fire pit, so they look weird because of the smoke...so I am not putting them up here, they are not very good anyway. I always miss those summer BBQs...

Circle of Life

With very little evidence that our sweet black kitty is coming home, and a very clingy, lonely orange kitty driving us crazy, and one week until school starts, we decided to get a new kitty. If Junie comes home, we will not mind having three cats, and Clyde needs a buddy for when we all go back to work and school. So, on our last trip to the pound, we adopted an adorable little 4 month old kitty we named Gloria. We like to picture Clyde and Gloria as retirees, sitting on their lanai in Boca Raton sipping Gin and Tonics....

Here she is
That is one good looking cat! She is up to all the usual kitten antics, attacking invisible stuff, digging in plants, harassing Clyde and then sacking out and getting all snuggly. Her purr is SUPER loud, and she has that cute little squeaky kitten meow.

Tragedy on 8th Ave.

We came home to a very warm welcome from a lonely orange kitty, Clyde Anthony.
Lots of meowing and stomping around looking indignant. We asked him over and over where his friend was, but he wasn't telling. After much searching of the house and yard, we determined that our beloved Juniper Pearl is indeed missing. We have searched the neighborhood, talked to our neighbors, posted fliers, checked the pound several times, not a trace. She was about 15 years old, and since I have been looking for her, no fewer than 5 people have told me that when their cat became aged, they just walked off one day and never came back. Apparently this is very much not uncommon......Well, we miss her sweet demeanor, unobtrusive companion-ness, sleek fur that felt like satin, and the way she kept Clyde in line. The couch will be considerably less warm without her.


Awwww, she was such a sweetie. We did get one phone call about someone seeing a black kitty with white boots on running through their yard, but she was gone when we got there. We still have a little hope she might come home.

Back in Seattle

When we got home, the first thing that we needed to do was sleep. Our Adorable neighbors, Tom and Jenny picked us up from the airport, and I felt like a buffoon because I could hardly form sentences on the way home. We slept, but we all woke up sometime around the crack of dawn, so Nick figured as long as he was awake, he may as well go to work!!

Then it was on to laundry and unpacking, one of my least favorite aspects of traveling...

On Saturday was the back to school picnic at Lowell, we went and met up with friends and Caroline met her teacher again, (there are 2 Carolines in her class--why if there are 4 3rd grade classes they can't split up kids with the same name, I will never understand, but the Other Caroline seems like a lovely girl, so maybe they will end up friends)

Here is a picture of Caroline with her best friend Phoebe and her sister Anna. Phoebe and Caroline are not in the same class this year, but have plans to meet on the playground every day.
Here is Miles with his buddy Max. They are not in the same class either...oh well.
Anna and Miles are in the same class for the first time since first grade. She was his first friend at Lowell, the first one to invite Miles over to play, and the first one to invite him to a birthday party. He's glad they are in the same class again. Caroline went home with Phoebe after the picnic, they haven't seen each other all summer, it seems.

The People Have Spoken

Well, this little bloggy thingy has gone farther than I could have imagined. Many people told me how much they enjoyed it (thank you very much, BTW) and MANY people told me they missed reading it!! I never would have guessed. So I decided that I will try and keep it going, telling stories and posting pictures of my normal life. Now, keep in mind that there is no possible way that normal life will be as interesting as Paris life, but we will do our best. We aim to please.