Monday, April 26, 2010

Arlie is a State Champion!

The Level Three State Meet was held at Sammamish High School on Friday, April 23, 2010. Arlie was very nervous..........she started out strong on vault, with an 8.9.....

Did a fabulous bar routine...........

Really shined on the beam.......

Very graceful!

Earned a 9.8 on the bars! Wow!

Did an amazing floor routine..........

Look at that form!

Wow! 9.8 on beam too!

The winners were announced........and Arlie takes first place!!!

Our little champion!

Celebrating with Coach Nancy after the big win!

Celebrating at Red Robin with a late dinner and some fun with the family!

The trophy!

Celebrating the next evening at Coach Nancy's house........

Where she took a well-deserved dip in the hot tub!
CONGRATULATIONS, ARLIE!!!!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

As Told By Shade


What? I was bored. All I do is lay on this couch day in and day out. Ok, I could get up and move a little, but I'm like 13 which is.......well, I don't know........but OLD in dog years. I just wanna lay around all day. But I'm just so.......bored! So, I gnawed on the blanket a little. Ok, I chewed it. Just like the identical blanket I chewed the other day. Don't hate on me - they're yummy. Probably one of the other dog's butts was sitting in that spot and the aroma was just too delectable for me to resist. At any rate, I chewed it. I tried to lay in that spot for a really long time, but eventually I had to move to my night time sleeping spot and, crap! You found my bad. I tried to act all tough by growling and such when you yanked me by the collar to drag me out to the kennel, but the thing is? I kinda like the kennel. So.....sucka! Anyway.......tonight I could smell food in the kitchen. I love that time of night when you people go in there and start banging things around and dropping bits of food on the floor and such. I sneak in and out, grabbing whatever I can. But this night? This night I had a plan. I lay low (on the second blanket I chewed a hole in - did you notice? Oops you did! Now it matches the pillow I chewed yesterday! Cool!). I decided to bide my time by acting all old and tired-doggish, but I KNEW those cupcakes were on the counter. I knew they were frosted delectably with chocolate frosting. And I LOVE chocolate. Who cares if it's deadly? You drink alcohol and that's deadly! I saw you licking frosting off the beaters and your butt isn't exactly getting smaller. That could be deadly too. So, I like chocolate. Sue me. That skinny girl went into the office and I heard her typing away on her paper, and then, oh blessed day!, then you LEFT! You took your purse and keys and LEFT! ME! ALL! ALONE! Now was my chance! I knew I'd have to act fast, which isn't a problem because while I'm stealth and sneaky, I'm also lightning fast. You, yourself, gave me the moniker "crocodile jaws". I walked (no running!) into the kitchen, being careful not to make too many tip tap noises with my overly long nails (could you clip these things? They are really starting to irritate me and mess up my stealthiness). I spied them on the counter - how many? Ten? Twenty? One hundred? No matter, they were mini....all the better to swallow whole! Paper? What paper? I hardly tasted it. Besides, it's good fiber. I slurped them down, one at a time, not stopping to lick my lips or breathe. Someone could come at any minute! Slurp, lick, yum! Chocolately goodness! Oh, crap! What was that? Slurp, lick. Pause. Still. Wait........wait..........wait.........ok, nothin'. Slurp, lick, slurp, lick! DONE! In record time. Ohhhh, my tummy is FULL. Better go lay down on the couch again. On my velvety soft blanket with the one big hole in the middle. Oh, that barf I did this morning? That was the hole! Cool, huh? Erg, my tummy hurts. SHIT! Here she comes! That skinny girl! She's looking........she's confused........fridge, counter, cupboard.......and........wait for it..........wait for it.......SHADE!!!! OH MY GOD YOU STUPID DOG! BAD!! BAD!!! I HOPE YOU DIE! YOU STUPID DOG!!!.......grrrr...........grrrrr.........OUTSIDE! BAD DOG! Slink, slink......I do my quick hop-skip outside. I'm gonna be in so much trouble when that guy comes home. He gets REALLY MAD at me when I do stuff like this. Here he comes.....uh oh........OUCH, OUCH! Ugh, my tummy hurts. And they are leaving me out here a really long time. Woof. I hate being outside this long. Woof. Why won't they let me in. Woof. I don't think they can hear me. Woof. Maybe if I.......woof. woof. woof. OH! There we go! Inside, and..........shit. I'm gonna go to jail. Here I go........the cage opens and......clink! That's it. Behind bars. Damn. Ah well, it was worth it. Besides, I'll get them back tomorrow when I barf all over the carpet. Wait till they see all those wrappers! HA!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Yogathlon!

Today I took a three hour yoga workshop hosted by the infamous Shiva Rae. Well, I think she's infamous. She has videos and stuff. Anyway, my yoga teacher told us about this and my crazy neighbor Amy thought it would be a splendid way to spend a Saturday morning with me and our other neighbor Carla. So, off we went, with some trepidation about the unknown, but confidant in our yogic abilities, cute matching yoga bags in hand, water bottles at the ready. After navigating the streets of Ballard and finding Leif Ericson Hall, we managed to figure out how to pay for parking and headed into our three hours of endless yogic bliss.

Mats were set up in a spiral around a central area that contained an unknown item (it looked like a mini fireplace or something but I never got close enough to see) and many candles. Steve Gold, his wife Anne-Emelie, and the rest of their band were ready to fill our morning with live music. Shiva Rae herself suddenly appeared and....wow. Beyond the rocking body and the very large and prominent "tramp stamp" tattoo on her lower back, she spoke in an otherworldliness as though she was having a little spiritual interlude with herself (or maybe she just tokes before class..........either way........). The workshop started out with a lot of talk about our "inner fire" and some "om" type chanting and some singing. Well, some holding of long notes like "om" "ah" and "meh". There was also some tribal like dancing.........I was pretty sure we were just about to get our Native American names (Shark Bait, ooh ha ha), when we started doing what I recognized as yoga.

Only it was more like X-Treme Yoga. We bent our bodies in ways I couldn't even be pursuaded to do when motivated by giving birth to an 8 pound child through an opening the size of a silver dollar. Actually most of the room bent those ways. Carla, Amy and I bent about halfway. Perhaps not having the advantage of being a yoga teacher or the benefit of a large tattoo, we were amateurs. But we gave it our ALL, I'm telling you! We bent and twisted and sweated with the best of them. At one point Amy looked up at me, gasping, sweaty, curly hair pasted to her cheeks, took one look at me and burst out laughing (because I was gasping, sweating, and had hair like Medusa). We were VERY close together and let's just say I was inches away from both Amy and Carla's butts the whole time (poor girls, that meant they were inches away from MINE!). At one point Carla accidentally slapped me in the head.

I can't remember all the Sanskrit names for everything we did but they loosely translate to "downward dog", "plank", and "some crazy ass balancing type thing where your legs are sticking straight out and nothing is holding you up except your TWO HANDS". I did not participate in that one. I think I passed out for a second. Being able to do the splits would have come in handy here too, as we did a lot of stretching our legs to their maximum limits, and I remember squatting like a squaw dropping a little papoose baby on the tundra. I'm pretty sure I felt my heartbeat in my cheeks.

Later we got to help each other do a pose that translates to "stick your leg out in front of you while balancing your entire body weight on one hand then sweep it behind you and go up in full plank only grab your other leg and while you're at it, fly". Wasn't so good at that one, either......

BUT, here's the good part. We were finally, finally at savasana, which is my favorite yoga pose (well after suptabadakinasana, but only because it's more fun to say). Savasana is where you basically are "all done" and "take a little nappy". Only suddenly all these hot, sweaty bodies next to me were doing backbends!! And lifting their legs in the air! And they weren't even passing out! Then we sat up again, which was a little disappointing since I was just getting my nap on, and we rolled our mats and put our butts on the rolled part and said something like "Om, rhe, nama, shivana" a bunch of times........I think 108 times. I mean, you'd think if I chanted something that many times I'd remember it, but I'm pretty sure I was having heatstroke at that point and suffered some damage to my brain.

We finally got into nap mode again, but instead of the nice teacher coming around and doing this comfy little head squeezing thing on you, they just let us lay there and then before I could even doze off (pass out), we were sitting up again and saying some more Sanskrit stuff (but we didn't say "Namaste" which is the only yoga word I really know, damn it), and we were done. Amy, Carla and I wiggled our way into the very small closet where we had to deposit our purses and shoes, and I escaped to a stairwell where I could finally breathe some fresh air. We made a beeline out of there and headed to lunch where we stuffed our faces, drank gallons of water, iced tea and lemonade and tried not to notice the waitstaff looking at our sweaty, red faces and damp clothing (plus they didn't get too close while delivering our food, I'm sure we smelled ripe).

Did I love it? Well, it was every bit as hard as a triathlon in terms of effort. Would I do it again? Maybeeeee.............I came away with an exhausted/energized combination that was pretty nice. Does Hot Yoga sound intimidating now? Hell to the NO! Bring it. I survived three hours in a sauna with 120 bodies closing in on me moving in ways God never intended. I can do anything! Namaste!

Lake Chelan!

After having an eventful previous weekend crossing mountain passes, we braved yet another one - Steven's Pass - to head to Lake Chelan for a few days......

Of course the pool and hot tub were major attractions! Hi Hannah and Tiffany (they've been here since Wednesday!)

Harrison enjoyed the hot tub!


The three musketeers jumping in the pool!

We headed out, sans kids, for some wine tasting at Tsillan Winery....

This was the view from our room! Wow!

There was a park right across from the hotel.......

And we went to another park with this cool tree! Hi Rylie!

Arlie's a monkey!

Jeff found a perch!

Now, how to get down?

Harrison hides in a tree......

Hannah swings!

We got some down time!

Hannah showing off her dance moves.........

Arlie showing off some gymnastics moves!

Whee!

Back walkover......

Hannah and her friends Dannie, Constance and Tiffany

Look who has matching sunglasses!

On our return trip, we had lunch at the Soup Cellar in Leavenworth. It's traditional to leave a dollar with a note on it.........

Hannah's friends Trent and Drew enjoying some of the amazing Mexican food Tiffany's mom, Lily made - yum!

We went bowling and Harrison was a bowling master! This was one of his many strikes.......

Rylie and Dannie's dad, Doug, had a friendly dispute all weekend........

What now? Who got a strike?

Harrison did!

All the kids at The Soup Cellar having lunch..........

Beautiful Mt. Index on the way home.......

Hayley made us a cake to welcome us home. She stayed behind with the dogs and enjoyed the house to herself for three whole days! Woot!
We had a great time in Lake Chelan and want to go back this summer!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Boise for Spring Break!

Hannah and Harrison making snowballs at Snoqualmie pass, where we got stuck for over two hours....nice way to start the trip!

Nothing like peeing in the woods! HAHA!

Arlie and Hannah are freezing! Arlie went potty in the woods and knocked over a tree!

Snowy mountains....pretty to look at, but a bummer to be stuck in!

But it was all worth it, because we had our eyes on the prize! Kaden!!

We saw Uncle Doug for the first time in four years!

We love Unka Doug!

The Weeble Twins....

Like father, like son!

Papa, Uncle Doug, Kaden and Mimi

Me and my daddy!

Pretty Hannah! (Kaden took this)

Kaden and his pretty mommy Sydney

Hannah and Kaden

Hayley hunts for Easter eggs

Harrison hunts for eggs (look up, Harrison!)

Hannah hunts for eggs

Harrison found an egg on top of the van!

Kaden seemed to think all his eggs were pigs!

Aunt Marcia baked several batches of coma-inducing sugar cookies! Yum!

Little stinker!

Kaden took this great shot of Jeff!

And this amazing shot of Arlie!

Kaden took this too!

Hi Papa!

We took the kids to see CATS while we were visiting....
They clean up so nice!

All the girls in our family!

Da boyz!

Harrison, our little man!

Jeff and Arlie - she's almost as tall as her dad!

Hannah

Arlie

Arlie all dressed up!

Hayley

Pretty girl!

Me and my guy!

Kaden tries out the trumpet!

Look at that sweet face!

Kaden captures Hayley!

Kaden took this funny shot of Jeff....

And this shot of me!

Kaden, so cute!

Aunt Mo loves Kaden!

Kaden and Harrison checking out the cell phone!
Kaden and his right-sized guitar!

Kaden's photography skills again, wonderful!

Uncle Doug, fire burnin' on the dance floor?

Sweet baby!

How are those deviled eggs?

Harrison with his Mimi and Papa

Kids and their (great) grandparents

Smile! Say supercheese!

The Gordon/Moore kids and Mimi and Papa!

Me and mom and dad

Jeff in jammies!

My mommy and me!

A hotel named for Harrison!

Kaden tries a lime......sour!

Mexican food night out.....

It was Jeff' birthday! No , it wasn't!
Peekaboo, Kaden!

Arlie took this of Hannah! Great shot!

Love that face!

Uncle Deven and Harrison chilling out at Cracker Barrell.....

"Special" Uncle Deven tries to embarrass Hayley.....and it works!

Bye-bye, Hayley!

Bye-bye, Hannah!

Bye-bye, Arlie!

Bye-bye, Harrison!