It's like this...

Some people have shower caddies, we have a shower kitty. He loves to be in the shower with us and doesn't mind the water. He drinks it up. Literally.

Yesterday as we were driving home from Seattle, I took a slight detour and instead of driving on the freeway, we went over Beacon Hill and south. As we drove, we saw a woman covered head to toe in a black burkha. Only her eyes were visible. I told the girls to look out the window. "What religion do you think she is?", I asked them. "Ninja?" answered my nine year old treasure. I sputtered and then I laughed and then I explained that no, being a ninja was not a religion but a life choice. A very cool one, but no, not a religion.

If you have to spend time at a hospital, there is no better place than Children's Hospital in Seattle . We're sure we've paid for a few new wings on that place---but it's been worth it. Now we're not there every week, which is nice. Today we were there. And we were there last week, but hopefully that will be it for a while. Ash has been having pain and instability in her right leg. last week we met with the head of orthopedics and this week we met with one of our favorite people. Ashley's therapist, Cathy. She measured and she stretched Ash and we decided on a plan of action. Thankfully Ashley's hip is all right it we can alleviate her pain with some physical therapy. Since driving to Seattle every day for therapy is far too expensive, we're going to do it here at home for now.

We've all had them. Perhaps you've been in a plane that experienced severe turbulence and you were bounced around so hard you hit your head on the ceiling of the plane. Maybe you chipped a nail while opening a door or the wind mussed your hair after you'd just spent hours getting it just so . Coming this close to death is no laughing matter. I had just such an experience today. We took the girls here. We let the girls ride their bikes and we walked. Normally this is not a problem, but I'd left home not really intending to walk. I hadn't had time to grab socks so all I had on were tennis shoes (trainers to you across the pond). We walked and we walked. We walked a little further. Then my husband had a brilliant idea. "Sweetheart, how about I walk aaaallllll the way back to the suburban and then drive it up ahead to the next trail head and I'll pick you all up so you don't have to walk aaaaaallllll the way back" On the surface this was a kind an...

Pamela's Column for Pacific Publishing May 2008 I have a sign that I put up on the front of my house every Halloween. It says ‘You Can’t Scare Me, I Have Teenagers.” While this statement has proven true on many occasions, it’s also true that the only things that can scare me are my teenagers themselves. Sometimes all they need to do is come up to me and ask me for money. Or tell me they have a girlfriend. Ok, it’s not so much they tell me they have a girlfriend as I stalk them online to find out what’s going on in their lives and then discover the girlfriend. Myspace, Facebook and other social networking sites on the Internet are virtually (Get it? Virtually? Ha!) gold mines of information that your teenagers won’t willingly give you. Oh sure, experts tell you to keep the lines of communication open between you and your teen. Sit them down, talk to them, have dinner with them, ask them questions. These experts have never seen an actual teenager in their natural habitat. “So ...

What a difference a few days make. Here's a picture of hubby and doggie by the river last week. Notice the cement block and how far the water is from it.... Here's the same block a few days later with my baby girl siting on it... Here it is again the following day.... And here it is today. I mean, if you can see it. Look for the tiny dark area down to the right. The snow is melting at an alarming speed and the rivers are rising quickly.

Argh. Ack. Ptui. Someone stop this merry-go-round. I'm done. I want to get off.

Summer has started early here it seems. For the record, I am not pleased. It's hot. It's not supposed to be 90 degrees here in May. No, it's not. This violates all the laws of....well, the laws to which I adhere. It's awful and it's hot and it's not right. Did I mention the whole awful thing? So hubby decides to mow the lawn. At noon. High Noon. You know, when the sun is supposed to be hottest. The man is courting a stroke. I was in our bedroom, air conditioning running full tilt, playing a game of Nintendo with Ally when he texts me and says to come look out the front window upstairs. This is what we saw: Aha! I knew it! He wasn't mowing, he'd forced our daughter to do it for him! Shame, shame, shame! Ok, she was doing it of her own free will. She's still young enough to think things like that are an enjoyable experience in high heat and humidity.

We took another walk along the levee this afternoon. This time we took the girls, as well as the doggie. The first thing we noticed was just how high the river had risen in just two days. The water was moving much faster and it was a muddy brown. The big melt has begun. Apparently we got two and a half times the normal amount of snowfall up in the mountains this year. This does not bode well for the river. Here you can see the difference. This was taken on Monday. See the concrete block and how far the water is from it? This was taken today. Ashley is sitting on the concrete block and poking a stick in the water. We brought along a neighbor girl who sometimes spends time at our house. Here's Ally mugging for the camera. We walked and we walked and we walked. It was warm and humid and yes we were sweating. The girls said they wanted a treat for walking so many miles, so we took them to an old soldier's cemetery on the way home. Most of the graves were from the Spanish A...

We went to a different river for a walk this morning. I bet when you go walking you don't see signs like this: This means that if Mt. Rainier is about to blow her top, we should seek high ground. We have volcano evacuation route signs all around our town as well. You know, just in case. Like there would be time to get out, considering the traffic situation around here. It's not pretty. On days when the mountain isn't blowing up you can't get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time. But I digress... Here's Cassie in the back of the suburban as we got gas. She's not pleased. Did I mention she's not a good traveler? No, she's not. I swear she coats the entire back of the vehicle in her slobber. I call this Fear Slobber. It's everywhere. So we walked along the Carbon River. What does Cassie do right off the bat? Oh yeah. She squatted right in the middle of the path. She couldn't go over to the grass? Nooooooo. And just to show you t...

I'm not sure what 'it' is, though. Today I skipped walking the lake and took hubby and the doggie to walk along the river on the levee. Once again, Cassie didn't want to get into the suburban because she knew if she did, I'd take her somewhere and make her walk a lot. She finally decided to cooperate and climb up. Here she is at the beginning of our walk. Notice that she looks somewhat happy. This didn't last long. The sun was shining and although it wasn't really hot out, it seemed that way to her because she's black. Oh, and just a wee bit chubby. We walked and we walked and finally found a place to get down to the river so she could drink. Except I knew she wouldn't. You see, the water is....well, wet. And this particular water is moving , which is infinitely more frightening than water that is in her water dish at home. Did I mention that this particular dog is afraid of water? Especially if the water is moving at all. We've taken he...

I've decided to quit driving and get a horse. Or a bicycle. Or a horse that rides a bicycle. Maybe a hot air balloon would work. Perhaps I'll just give in to my hermit-tendencies and never leave the house. I really don't have to go anywhere, I can do everything I need to do online. Banking? check Grocery shopping? check Social Interaction? check Clothes shopping? check Bill paying? check I'm golden.

Not really, but close. Our dog Cassie is not the brightest of animals. I say this with the same affection I use when I say that my teenage son now painfully understands the reason it's illegal to text message and drive at the same time Cassie sort of fell into our laps through no fault of my own one summer day a few years back. This week I've taken up walking around a lake near our home every morning. The first morning I took hubby with me, the last three mornings I've taken Cassie. Cassie does not travel well. She tends to throw up if the journey is of any length. She also does not get much exercise. The most traveling she's had lately has only been moving from one couch to the other for her marathon naps each day. I've not been much better at getting out and moving--but I'm trying to do better, hence the lake walking this week. This morning when I woke her up and told her we were going for a walk, her response was less than enthusiastic. When I took he...

This morning our son went to school late, so we drove him. Then we walked around a beautiful lake before we headed home. It's Bradley Lake--and I'm sure there was a bear sighting there a few weeks ago. I wonder if they ever caught it.... Ah well. We never saw the bear. All we saw was the beauty of blue sky reflected on smooth as glass water. We saw Grandpas teaching their grandsons to fish and momma ducks with their ducklings. It was a beautiful walk and I wanted to share it with you here.