juice day

I bought a ton of fruit at Costco and then we had a juice day. The strawberry juice goes in the freezer for instant frozen margaritas, the OJ & AJ goes in the fridge and the pineapple juice became popsicles. Zoe tasted every one of them and was really excited to see the fruit go in the top and then watch the juice come out. The fruit they sell at our Costco mostly comes from Washington and it is so cheap it's hard to pass up. I have to stop buying the blueberries because our freezer is filled to capacity and I know that next month I'll want to go outside and pick more blackberries. But I know that I'll be happy making blueberry pancakes in October!

after work

Pete came home from a long day at work and laid down on the floor. Zoe went in our room and pulled a pillow off of our bed for him. such a sweetie! Zoe brought home another necklace from our camping trip - Nana Jo or Aunt Annie? She still loves her monkey from Aunt Tammy!

dahlias

I took some pictures of my pink dahlias before I realized that Zoe had covered my camera lens with some kind of slimy, cheesey drool. I've got it cleaned up now. As it turns out, I like the soft focus of these photos. Dahlias usually bloom in August but we've had some very warm & sunny weather in July.

camping at Odell Lake

I intend to print & send a few of the photos from this slideshow.

New wagon!

I knew that we needed a wagon for this trip because there would be lots of walking between our campsite & the grandparents' & the bathroom, etc. It may have been one of the very best ideas I have ever had. I shopped online and was not impressed by the "toy" wagons for sale [and they are $100+]. Pete had the good sense to look for one while we were at Lowes and it is perfect. It was $69, has inflatable tires [so it's all-terrain], can haul 600 lbs, be pulled behind an ATV, and also has a pull latch so it dumps out when I use it for yardwork. woohoo! Zoe loves to ride in it. I made her a little cushion to sit on and she just sits there and enjoys the ride. She is getting too heavy to carry around all the time and only the main circle drive at the campsite was paved so walking around on big gravel chunks was hard enough for us. Everybody asked us about the wagon, I'm sure Zoe made a few sales for Lowes.
In this video you get a short shot of the lake, it's really beautiful. We also walk by the car I want which is parked right next to the truck that Pete wants. How convenient! The resort business must be a good one, the owners also have an H2 parked next to the truck.

woof!

this is Pete's grandparent's dog, Daisy, who Zoe thoroughly enjoyed playing with while we were camping over the weekend. She is really good at saying "woof" now. I'm so glad that she's not afraid of animals. Grandma got her to say "Daisy" a couple of times. You see Aunt Annie for a second here, too; collecting a pine cone or something for her stash.

swim again

cherry juice

I juiced a pile of cherries with the intention of making some kind of fruity mixed drink that evening. I had no idea how much Zoe would like the cherry juice. Cherries are really good for you! And luckily the color is highly fugitive so it doesn't stain fabric [or faces].

4th of July

We went to the Edmonds 4th of July parade on Saturday afternoon. There must have been, you know, several dozen people there! We came home with a flag, a ball, and a rubber duck. What was especially nice was that we could stand right on the sidewalk under a shady tree and it was short enough that Zoe made it all the way through without getting too bored. We did have quite an uphill hike back to the car; but that's what you get when you go to a waterfront town. Oh, and notice that I found the green necklace! I won't let her wear it to bed so last night I had to wrestle it out of her tight, little fist which caused major screaming and crying. When she got up this morning the first thing she did was put it back on.

big leaf

I brought this leaf home from our geocaching adventure Tuesday. I wanted to try to do some watercolor prints with it. We went looking for 2 geocaches, but only found one.

Helping in the kitchen

this is now a daily activity, and usually has to be done several times. I get some cans out of the cabinet and Zoe stacks them up over and over and then eventually puts them back. What she says at the end is a combination of "all done" and "thank you".

jewelry

Zoe really likes to wear jewelry. Sometimes I let her put her bracelets on. I really don't want her to lose the one Aunt Tammy gave her. I think this green necklace came home with us from Doug's house? I haven't seen it for a couple of days; which means that Zoe "put it away" somewhere, but she has put it on almost every morning for the last month and wears it all day long. She usually picks something that she totes around for a day or two - here she has chosen her "bahr" and a little "bahl". She is spending more time reading her books without my help... I'll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words is pretty good even when it's upside down.
and, I made this dress for her!

Hi Kitty!

this kitty is a neighborhood cat and spends a lot of time around our house. It's kind of nice to have a pet that I don't have to feed. Zoe also started saying "woof" really clearly whenever she sees or hears a dog.