Silly Squirrel

As soon as I can figure out a better way to upload videos besides Blogger, I will put one up of this squirrel on our deck that was adamant that the rope go with him. He couldn't seem to figure out why it wasn't budging.

Then he did his best to shred it and stuff his cheeks full, but the rope still wouldn't cooperate.

He was quite persistent and wasn't taking no for an answer. The video is hilarious. So, coming soon to a blog near you. . . . .

Right Place, Right Time

We couldn't believe our good fortune when Keith was driving by a neighbor's house last week. The man was wheeling these out to the lane and Keith commented on how neat they were and what might he be doing with them? The neighbor told him he was going to put them out by the main road and put a FREE sign by them, but if we were interested we could just take them. I think my husband finally "gets" me!

These make me smile every time I see them. I love their colors, the little bits of rust, the fenders, the matching metallic seats and handlebars, the perfect sounding bell on the blue bike (which Jaeden thought he could commandeer for his own bike - as if!).

The coveted and treasured bell

Boo has even ridden it around a few times. They are in great shape (in spite of the rust) for how old they must be.

I recently saw a saying that I love - "My heart will always be ~ in a little cottage by the sea." Yup, these would be perfect by said cottage. ♥♥♥

Proud Mama

These are the stainless steel medical carts Jordan has been making for his employer, Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute. They're what the doctors' tools are put on to be sterilized. The hole in the bottom right is for the water tanks he welded. The guy who hired him chose him out of his welding class at the college because of the quality of his work. It's been an awesome experience for him this summer!He also gets to work in a hangar with "one" of the company planes and gets to see the company pilots fly the Learjet's, etc. So he comes home with pictures on my camera like this. . . .
and stories to tell of all the air traffic that goes in and out of there. Only time will tell if he'll follow in his great-grandfathers' and uncle's footsteps of being pilots.

Newest Addition

Jordan adopted an 8 week old hedgehog on July 11th. Her name is Bella. He was going for Sonic but decided it didn't fit a female.

You can read more about where Jordan got her here - Bloomin Hedgehogs. There are also current listings of babies available for sale. Jordan has researched hedgehogs quite extensively now and seems to be quite the "expert".

We've all enjoyed holding her for a bit. She's getting quite comfortable now and likes to explore. We now know that in addition to her special food, she's fond of chicken and raspberries and not so fond of bananas or meal worms (which can be a favorite for hedgehogs).

I'm loving having a baby in the house that isn't my responsibility! When she takes care of business, Jordan can clean up after her. Finally! It's come full circle. . . . .

A Wonderful 4th!

Being on the lake this year for the 4th of July certainly spoiled us! We had the best fireworks show I've ever seen. There was a panoramic view of fireworks going off in every direction. The only problem was knowing where to look so you wouldn't miss it all.

We even had a ton of our own that was set off at the end of the dock. I was too busy oohing and ahhhing to remember to take pics of them.

Yahoo!

A few weeks ago, I rented a 2011 Mustang convertible and took Brooklyn and niece Kayla up to Seattle to shop for the day before Kayla went to visit cousins in AZ. We dragged Kayla into a bunch of stores and were constantly giving her things to try on. She was an awesome sport about it all and indulged her aunt for the day. We enjoyed lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and made sure to take a piece of cheesecake home with us. A great memory!

Summer and Lovin' It!

One of Jaeden and Brooklyn's favorite things to do is tubing behind the boat on our lake.

Right after their ride, they talked me into going out with Brooklyn. Suffice it to say that for the next 4 days, any time I moved my arms I was reminded of what I'd done. Ouch! Note to self: since I no longer carry a baby in each arm, I must work the arms out more.