Happy 15th Birthday to The Girl

The Girl spent a week this summer in a Driver's Ed classroom, all day last Saturday at Defensive Driving School, and will spend her off period and lunch period waiting in line at the DMV with Mr IM to get her permit...She must be 15!

Happy Birthday to The Girl 

(originally posted on August 9, 2013, edited for this year)

On a very warm day in 2001, The Girl joined our family...

 With  Aunt Amy, Amy@ParkerHausRoles the day after she was born

She was adopted into the pack right away....(MJ actually thought The Girl was HER baby)

 She spent her first birthday on a grand MIdwestern tour (celebrating about 5 times if I remember correctly)

2002, with your friend, Abby Doll and 2003, getting ready for an adventure.

2004--a party in the yard with friends and an Elmo cake.

 And 2005--cake decorated by The Girl...this was the year she wanted a pink and purple house...

 2006--looking ready for kindergarten!

 2007 with a pile of presents from Grandma and Grandpa on your lap.

 2008--first birthday in the new house!

 2009 with her peeps-including one who flew in from Texas for the weekend!

 2010--nice stickers on your forehead, by the way

 2011--yes, we are all amazed you turned 10 that year. (and that your brother still wears that shirt...)

 2012--oooh, a curling iron?

 2013 (nice hat)

2014...again, nice hat....

2015....
And...drum roll...Happy 15th birthday!

14th Birthday Post
13th Birthday Post
12th Birthday Post

A Pacific Northwest Adventure, Day 1...Denver to Seattle

I'm back....

So for my parent's 50th anniversary, they took the whole family on an Alaskan Cruise.  Since Alaskan Cruises leave from Seattle, we added a day or so on either end of the trip so we could visit with Mr IM's mom, sister, brother-in-law, and our nephews.

We left the Suburban Ranch very early on Thursday morning and headed for the airport..
As always, there was a lot of hurry up and wait..

 Flying Southwest, we were pretty sure we wouldn't get four seats together, so we had travel buddies---this is mine, in his vintage Varnet shades.

 After a pleasant plane trip, we landed in Seattle and took a shuttle to the airport.  Since it was only 10 in the morning, our room wasn't ready, but the nice folks checked our bags for us. By the time we got everything situated, Grandma arrived and we piled in!

First stop was to visit Grandma's new apartment, including her awesome community garden and her giant tomatoes!

For our second stop, we met up with Aunt A, Uncle M, and the cousins.  Little E was quite the hit with The Girl (although she passed him off when diaper duty came around)

 The Boy found a secret garden, which just happened to be a giant blackberry bush!

 Grandma hung out with all her grandkids at once--

 And helped the enthusiastic boys find blackberries to share with everyone

 For dinner we visited a restaurant in an old school--we ate on the patio, listening to live music, and enjoying the (slightly) cooler weather!

After dinner, Grandma dropped us off at the hotel (for a long walk to our room...biggest hotel ever...seriously) ...Day 1=success!

What I read in May, June, and July...Boom...

I'm back...
As soon as I can carve out a few minutes (hours?) I have posts on our Alaska trip--details to follow.  For now, here's an easy post--what I've been reading while MIA...I'll be brief (because let's face it, if you care, you can look up the books at your library or on Amazon)

May:
1.  Masters of Disaster (Gary Paulsen) CD--An oldie but goodie....listened to in car during last weeks of school.  Quoted it all summer..."I'm ok!"
2.  Drums of Autumn (Diana Gabaldon)--Mindless because I've read it before...didn't have to think about it
3.  The Westing Game on CD--by The Boy's request-always a classic...got us through the end of the year

June:
1.  Dead Wake (Erik Larson)-Description says it is about the last voyage of the Lusitania, however, it has much more about how the US actually ended up in WWI.  I was a little disappointed, because I expected it to follow a few characters and their adventures, and it did, but it also had a lot about what was happening in the US and the world (which was interesting, just not what I thought it would be)
2. Wicked Appetite (Janet Evanovich) Audio--Author of the Stephanie Plum novels, good, pretty short. Listened to during the 2 weeks I actually got up early and walked.
3.  Wicked Business (Janet Evanovich) Audio
4.  Pete and the Starcatchers (Dave Barry) Audio-Listened to with The Boy while driving The Girl around the county
5.  Bless Me Ultima (Rudolfo Amaya)-The Girl's summer reading assignment for Honors English.  It was good, about a young boy and his family in the SW US right after WW II.
6. Sherlock Holmes:  Knife's Edge (Andrew Lane)-Picked it up at library in teen tower while waiting for The Boy to pick a book.  It was good, didn't realize it was book 3 or 4 of series until the middle.  Picked up book 1 later (see below) and wasn't as impressed.  This one was very traditional Sherlock Holmes.
7. If You Find Me (Emily Murdoch)-Another one picked up while waiting for The Boy.  About a teenage girl who lives in the wilderness with her mom and sister and one day while the mom has been gone for a month a social worker shows up.  Interesting perspective on what it would be like to "join the 21st century" after living years without modern conveniences.
8.  Pete and the Shadow Thieves (Dave Barry) Audio-Read by Jim Dale, continues the story of how Peter Pan became Peter Pan.  Good in the car.

July:
1.  The Oregon Trail (Rinker Buck)--About a modern day (2011?) journey following the Oregon Trail.  Good book.
2.  Sherlock Holmes:  Death Cloud (Andrew Lane)--book one of the series, not as good as I thought it would be, but a nice short mystery read
3.  Life As We Knew It (Susan Beth Pfeffer)--Picked up in teen tower.  Series of 4 books, I think I might have read them kind of out of order.  Thought it was going to be a teen/chick lit book, but on about page 20 the moon is hit by an asteroid and it becomes dystopian--All four books are pretty short and engaging.  Enjoyed the series (although it was a little horrifying at times).
4.  14 (Peter Clines)--Recommended by my friend, W.  Loved it!  Starts out as a typical mystery and becomes a sci-fi mystery.
5.  Peter and the Secret of Rundoon (Dave Barry) Audio--Continues the story...one more book to go, I think!
6. The Dead and the Gone (Susan Beth Pfeffer)--Book 2, of series (see #3)
7. This World We Live In (Susan Beth Pfeffer)--Book 3, of series (see #3)--I read this one before book 2, because I had it checked out on my kindle and we were without internet on the ship.  There were a couple confusing parts, since I missed book 2...but after reading book 2, I think they were supposed to be confusing...
8.  Laughter of Dead Kings (Elizabeth Peters) Audio--Have it on my car HD drive...listened while driving from place to place without kids...

Possible for Top 10 of 2016:
The Oregon Trail
14

A tourist afternoon

This afternoon Mr IM, The Boy, and I made a quick trip to Wyoming to get buffalo meat. We've been to this ranch before, but we don't think since The Girl was a toddler.  ( she stayed at home today). Here's a photo log of the afternoon.

 A stop at Johnson 's corner  ("open continously since 1952") for works famous cinnamon rolls (and gas)

 We're dorks

 The lamas kept looking at me.

 Giant chicken

Jackalope!

Hello, Garden and Yard

We've been doing some work on the yard and garden--first priority (after "the usual") is to clean up the side yard. We've been able to use a lot of our leftover materials from other projects and it is coming along nicely.

First up--using the pavers left over from the "along the driveway" project (adding a path so people can walk from the sidewalk to the front door).  We added a little to the front of the porch--connecting the front walkway, to a walkway leading to the back gate.  We trimmed the tree and shrubbery as well--it turned out nice! We are about two pavers short, but have some ideas (other than buying more pavers).  Now people can come from the street to the backyard!


Next project--improving the drainage, adding a path, and cleaning up the side yard.  Water has a tendency to collect near the tree in the distance and the dogs were constantly digging in the area to the left.  Last weekend we added some more fencing, that will eventually hold gardens, this weekend involved moving a lot of rock.  Next up is putting in drain pipe and a small side yard patio, as well as extending the existing path to the front gate.

 The entrance from the front is looking pretty good--I'm happy with today's progress!
















Welcome to the backyard!

What I read in April..Alternate Title, Egads, its almost June

I promise I'm alive, just busy!

 As the school year wraps up, I have to say I'm bummed to lose two of my favorite classes ever--they are juniors, so  they will be back next year, but, golly, our class(es) will never be all together again.

Morrison continues to grow at an astounding rate, some day acting like a toddler and other days like a teenager..she is a sweet puppy, but a bit of a troublemaker when it comes to plants (I'll provide photo evidence later...suffice it to say that she has never met a plant that she allows to remain in its pot).

I also seem to be spending a lot of time in the car again, although I can't pinpoint exactly why--there are no current sports!

So in April I only read one book..and it was a re-read so I don't know if it really counts--Voyager (by Diana Gabaldon)--I did listen to The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan) with The Boy in the car--for a grand total of 2 book--eesh. In May I may read 3....