YI HAW COWBOY!!!

That's what our Mimi says. While mom was catching up on some correspondents at the computer, dad was sleeping in the chair behind her, Mimi was busy doing who know's what. Next thing mom knows, Mimi had dressed dad up to be the new sheriff in town. You better watch out when you fall asleep around our house.

BUSINESS IS CLOSED

Whenever we get together with grandma and grandpa at their house, Mimi loves playing waitress. Forever and a day she has been wanting mom to help her with a open/closed sign. Finally mom helped her the other day. All mom did was tell Mimi how to spell the words and Mimi did the rest. This is what one will find when Mimi goes to bed at night. Instead of string, she uses the leash that we had purchased for Ollie and Stanley when we were moving up here. Pretty inovative if you ask me.

END OF SUMMER

The day started off with the traditional pancake, are ya ach'in for some bacon and egg breakfast. Then while mom did the cleanning up Mimi and Blake played. When it came time for the kids to get dressed, Blake asked Mimi if she would roll up his sleeping bag for him while he got dressed, as usual Mimi said "sure". When Blake came out of the dressing room (Mimi's walk-in closet) he found out that Mimi didn't roll the sleeping bag up because she did not know how or so she says. Blake being the gentleman as he is says "here Mimi, let a man show you how it's done!" What a guy ole Blakey is! They then informed mom that they want to live together at our house. We'll have to see about that one. Technically it is still summer but up here in western Washington the weather is starting to get just a smidgen cooler and overcast. Although the temperature gage says 60 degrees but because there is no wind today it feels like 70. You can best bet that by October we will be having a wind storm though. So now is the time when everyone is putting away the patio furniture, emptying the pool such as we are today and just plain getting ready for the fall season. The swing and gazebo are anchored to the ground so that they will not fly away during the wind storm.This morning Mimi and Blake decided to help dad out with trimming of the tree in our front yard. The branches hang over the sidewalk rather low and the school season starts next Tuesday for everyone except the kingergarteners which start on Friday. Everyone in our neighborhood pass our house on their way to and from school and mom did not want anyone to konk their melons on the branches plus some of the neighbors made mention of it. This week has been kind of relaxing for us so to speak. Storytelling time is over, no gymnastics this week, swimming is done for the year. Next week Mimi will be a little busy then the week after next we will be in full swing again. Next week we will have gymnastic on Tuesday, soccer practice (I have now officially become a soccer mom)on Wednesday, gymnastic on Thursday and Friday will be the first day of school. Week after next our schedule will be pretty much the same with the addition of piano lesson on Monday morning and school in the afternoon. The gymnastic and soccer practices remain the same plus school in the afternoon. We are now in the process of having Mimi go to bed at 8:00 p.m. This is something that we absolutely do not have a problem with like we did last year. Last year we had just moved up here and she/we were not used to the solstice season where it is still light at 9:00 at night. Mimi would say "mom I can't go to bed now it's still light outside and my friends are still playing" which was not far from the truth. Now she is older and is no longer taking naps however she still wakes up at the crack of dawn so by 8:00 she is pretty much whooped and so is dad and I.

SLEEPOVER

For 3 days now Blake has been dying to have a sleepover with Mimi. Tonight when we were waiting for a phone call back from his mom with an answer he looked to be on the verge of tears. Keri said yes and the two's of them were ecstatic. They had a blast together as always. At 5 years old I think that it is ok for them to have sleepovers together, however I do know that someday in the near future it will definitely come to an end.

For the past three days Blake has been over to the house. Mimi enjoys more of the physical activities such as running and jumping, Although Blake enjoys those things too, his strength lies more in the computer/video/board games. I heard him tell Mimi "If you play the board games with me Mimi, I will let you cheat and win". What a man he is!

PHONE CALL WITH DAD

The girl likes to dial her own phone numbers nowadays. So almost everyday and phone call is made to dad at the offiice. Maybe for Christmas we'll get a web cam ya think????

MORE PICS FROM THE PARTY

SPENCER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Yesterday was the last of the birthday parties for the month of August. First was Owen's, then Xaunder and yesterday was Spencer's turn. What's a party without a pinata? That's Spencer's dad Jim pulling the string and big bro Zach in the background. Jim along with Derek will be Mimi's new soccer coach starting next week Wednesday. Besides the pinata Jim had set up a small soccer field in the backyard where the party was held and all of the kids had loads of fun playing with Jim and Derek. They played a bit of soccer of course and a bit of football. This was right up Mimi's alley.

FIRST PHOTO BOOTH PICTURE AT THE PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER

TELEPHONE CALLS

Within this past week Mimi has decided that she would like to make her own phone calls to Blake, Erin and papa. Mama wrote the numbers down on post it paper and gave her specific instructions that these are the ONLY NUMBERS that she is allowed to dial. I do not want to get any phone calls from Japan, China or Istanbul mama told Mimi. So far so good.

This morning's conversation went something like this:

Mimi: Mama, I'm going to call Blake's answering machine ok?
Mama: ok
(phone rngs, no answer, machine comes on)
Mimi: Hello Blake, this is Mimi Putney. Ummm, me and my mom are going to the park to see if my hat is still there (we forgot her princess cap at the birthday party) and want to know if you want to come with us, but since you are not answering I don't think you are home. Bye.

Mama was quite impressed, our Mimi sounded so grown up.

A little while later her conversation with papa went like this (mama was outside gardening):
(phone rings, Mimi answers from the office/computer room)

Mimi: Hello?
Papa: Is mama there? Can I talk to her?
Mimi: I don't think that is a good idea.
Papa: Why?
Mimi: Because I'm on the computer.
Papa: Please go get mama.
Mimi: Ok. (then proceeds to hang up the phone and go get mama)

Meanwhile mama who heard the phone outside, came inside to call papa. When the conversation ended. Mama and Mimi had a talk. Mama now has to teach Mimi that when someone calls (especially papa) that she has to put the phone down and not hang up on the person who is calling.

UPDATE ON YESTERDAY'S CHAOS

When Krista came to help mama with the dog situation yesterday afternoon, she seemed quite perturbed over the situation. Mama later found out that the dog was not a friendly one and at one time attacked Krista's two retrievers Ziggy and Marley plus the same dog also attacked Jess's dogs Beau and Giselle and these are some big dogs too. Mama was quite relieved that the dog did not attack any of the kids outside. It just occured to mama that good ole' Ollie was there not only protecting his home by chasing the dog clear down the street, but he was protecting Mimi and her friends as well. What an amazing cat we have!!! Gawd how I love that boy!

PLAYDATE AND CHAOS

This afternoon Janet called and we took the kids over to the school ground to play for about an hour while the weather was nice. Then it was time to go home. Mimi had another playdate scheduled with her friend Liam from pre-school. All was going swimmingly. They played couple games of twister and trouble for those of us old enough to remember. The old games are new again. Pictured here is little brother Beckam trying to join in on their game. Then they decided that they wanted to go over to the school ground to play for a while. Everything was going well until Mimi went outside through the garage door. She then came flying back inside yelling "MAMA ,MAMA THERE'S A BIG DOG OUTSIDE!!!" Although she is much better about dogs now, they still scare her sometimes and this was one of those times. Sure enough, there was a big bird hunting dog outside running loose. He had a collar but no tag. He was somewhat timid, but yet friendly and energetic. Mama did not know who the owner was. Apparently the dog was well fed and clean. Just imagine this. We are all outside Mimi, Liam, Beckam, Rainnea (Liam's mom) and myself. Meanwhile Ollie is guarding the house/garage. The dog is running around, Mimi is freaking out, dog tries to run into the garage, Ollie the cat chases the dog (a 100 times bigger than the cat) clear out of our yard nipping and scratching at the dog's butt and the dog yelping all the way down the street. The dog then decides to come back to our house. Dumb dog. Mama then realized that Jess and Krista always walk their dogs around the neighborhood so they might know who this dog belongs too. Sure enough Krista knew the dog and brought him home just two doors down from us. The owners are in the process of selling their home and put the dog in the backyard and somehow the gate got opened. I tell you there is never ever a dull moment around our house.

HULA LESSONS

Besides enjoying feast, we also got a lesson in doing the hula and the meanning of several hula movements. While Mimi learned how to do a Tahitian dance, papa learned how to do the Hu-ki- lau ( not sure of the spelling).

ZGF'S HAWAIIAN LUAU

Xaunder's birthday party was not quite over when we had to leave and go over to the University of Washington Arboretum for papa's office party. As you can see it was Hawaiian themed with all of the trimmings of Hawaiian food such as spam musubi, dried mango fruit and pudding, mango cupcakes, chow mein and mama's favorite kalbi shorts (yum yum) white rice, fried rice, macaroni salad along with the green salad, tonkatsu, fish. They also had the usual sodas along with the Hawaiian sodas. We no sooner left the birthday party when it started to rain and it rained all during the luau too. Still raining at this hour.

XAUNDER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Yesterday was Owen's birthday and today is Xaunder turn to have a birthday party in the park. No bouncy house today but there was still plenty of food and fun for the little tykes. Of course we could not leave until Mimi had a whack at the pinata and of course Ziggy the dog had to get into the act of helping to open up the presents.

PICNIC AT LAKE WILDERNESS

Owen's birthday party was not over when we had to leave. As it turns out our SGI Chapter had a picnic scheduled the same day at Lake Wilderness. Papa had come early this morning to stake the place out. Pictured here with Mimi is her other BFF's Ling Ling and Sara. Hard to believe that just a couple of years ago mama could not for the life of her get Mimi to go into the water and now it is soooo hard to get her out.

BOUNCY HOUSE

Keri provided the bouncy house for the kids. The blonde head boy with the baseball cap that you see fainting is Cole. Cole is 7 ??? and he is the very first person that mama had met here in the neighborhood when we moved up here last year June. Cole and his family has moved out of the neighborhood and into a bigger home not far from us but they still make it our way to the festivities.

OWEN'S 4th BIRTHDAY

Today is Owen's 4th birthday and we all helped him to celebrate with a party in the neighborhood park. Keri provided the bouncy house and the kids had loads of fun. Of course Mimi was ecstatic that her friends Blake and Erin were there too. Mama was able to get a picture of Keri and Janet as well as the kids. I always write about them but rarely put a picture of them to match the name.

KISSY FACE

This is the look that Mimi will give when she gets busted for doing something that she was not supposed to do such as writing on the wall, then she will say "kiss me!"

Many moons ago mama did pretty much the same thing so I guess what goes around, comes around. This writing on the wall was done quite some time ago. I guess we're just keeping it as a reminder of Mimi.

OUR FAMILY

Picture on the right is of mama(who never looked so beautiful), Mimi and papa (who never looked so handsome). Picture on the left is of Mimi and Mei Mei. Where's mama and papa? What's up with that? I ask. According to Mimi, she is ready to go to China right now she says. So are we. She is constantly telling mama all of the things that she can teach Mei Mei such as all the things she learns in school. Bailey can't wait either. She will finally have someone her own age that she will be able to play with. As of now Mimi is sometimes in the middle of a tug of war between Blake and Bailey. Blake wants to play pirates or superheros and Bailey wants Mimi to play tea party and baby dolls (something to which Blake hates to play). Mimi on the other hand enjoys playing both.

EARLY RISER

It is a known fact around our house that mama is not a morning person. Mimi still enjoys coming in at an un-godly hour just to wake mama up as she did this morning. "Wake up mom! It's a beautiful day today! When asked WHY she wakes mama up so early, Mimi says so eloquently "It's my job!!!" Argh!!!

MIMI'S NEW TEACHER

This afternoon we met with Mimi's new kindergarten teacher. Her name is Mrs. Blevins. She's seems to be a really nice teacher. Mimi took to her right away which is a good sign. Unless Mimi feels comfortable with someone, it will be a long, long, long time until she trusts that person. While mama and papa had MORE PAPERS to fill out, Mimi had a lovely conversation with the teacher in which the teacher asked many questions to find out where Mimi stands academically.

Mama and papa found out that there are exactly 8 girls and 8 boys in her class. It is also in the smallest classroom. Keri (Blake's mom) was not happy that we have the smallest classroom (room size) but mama's thinking is if the classroom is small then the class in itself is small and the kids get more attention from the teacher. Wouldn't you think so? Hm????

Anyhoo Mimi had a fantastic time with the teacher and her new room. She discovered the books there and boy howdy did we ever have a time getting her out of there. Finally she came out only to find her BFF Erin and mom Janet talking with their new teacher Mrs. Tabit a couple of rooms down the hall.

PROJECT COMPLETION

The Dora and Diego Rescue Center is now finally completed and in operation. Maybe there is a little bit of papa in Mimi????? She did this all by herself and just by looking at the picture on the box. All along she would tell mama that she is looking at the instructions and "That is what you need to do mama. Read the instructions."

BEFORE AND AFTER

The other day Mimi was given this Diego lego set and a Dora lego set from a secret admirer. She decided that she wanted to put it together herself without any help from anyone. That's what she set out to do and she accomplished it all by herself. What a gal!!! It did not come with any instructions either, only what you see on the box. There were times when she would reach a hurdle and not know quite what to do but then say "Mom, I'm not going to give up!" As you can see she reached her goal. This afternoon after gymnastic class and before we go to meet her new teacher, Mimi says that she will take on the Dora lego set.

Just FYI we are buddhists and Mimi received this particular t-shirt that she is wearing from the Sports Camp that she participated in a few weeks ago. It was church sponsered and she loves the t-shirt and had to wear it everyday for a while.

KITTY CONDO

Come the end of next month, we will all be going to Virginia for cousin Joe's wedding. In the meantime mama needed to find a place for Ollie and Stanley to stay while we are out of town for a couple of weeks. While at the vet today mama inquire about board and care and she was given a recommendation and it is actually a kitty condo believe it or not. The website is www.ingoodhandscatcare.com The pictures on the web is much better than this one and the prices are very reasonable. If we are to leave them at the VCA it will cost us $36.00+ That is because our Ollie has asthma and needs his medication. Good Hands Cat Care will cost us $23.00 total including the medication. Tomorrow we will make the trek out to Federal Way to check them out.

RIDES AT THE PACIFIC CENTER

The last time we had gone to the Pacific Science Center was earlier this year with our good friends Allyn, Teri and Samantha. We did not ride the rides then, only went to the Space Needle. The time before that was about 10 years ago when we took our niece and nephew Joe and Mari. Only at that time there were only the bumper cars which they LOVED! Now there are all kinds of rides for the big and small kids. There is also a miniature golf and penny arcade and bouncy house. Last but not least there is a children's museum and theater. Since we did not have time to do everything we will have to come back again. Oh, Oh almost forgot that they have a park where a free concert was going on along with food booths from differen countries.

RIDING THE MONORAIL

Yesterday papa promised his partner that's working on the same project as he is that he (papa) would come into the office and work with him. Mama and Mimi went along for the ride. As it turns out papa did not need to go to the office so since we were out there we all took the monorail over to the Science Center where they had an exhibit on speed and race cars. We saw a documentary that was put together by Paul Newman and Mario Andretti in the IMAX theater. You almost felt as if you were driving the race car yourself. Of course before going to the Science Center Mimi could not pass up the rides. She rode on all of them by herself except for the ferris wheel in which mama who was having a "senior moment" went with her. Hard to believe that when mama was just a tad younger she loved the roller coaster rides and such. Now she has become her mother. Meanwhile at the top of the ferris wheel mama was hanging on with her head down and eyes shut tight and Mimi was saying "Be brave mom. You could do it" over and over till the ride was through.

CAMP OUT

Mimi now really loves camping. Last night and tonight she and papa are sleeping out in the backyard in our tent.

Today started off with our ritual of pancakes and bacon breakfast. Then on our way to grandpa's house, our friends and neighbors were having a garage sale in the park. Mama was able to buy a breadmaking machine for $10.00 and a Little Tykes slide for $25.00. If either of them breaks down for any reason, mama knows where to go.

Grandma was supposed to go to the rehab hospital yesterday but instead she talked her doctor into letting her come home. While there Mimi put on a show for her while grandpa went out shopping for groceries then it was time to leave. So on to Sara's house for a while.

We arrived home around 6:30 p.m. and shortly thereafter grandpa called to ask papa to come and help him get grandma into bed. Grandpa is very small in stature and could not get grandma from the chair to the bed. In the end they had to call the paramedics to come help. A while back papa made a wrong turn or something and has been suffering a backache ever since.

Meanwhile back at the ranch it was 88 degrees at 8:30 p.m. so mama and Mimi went outside to visit with our friends Kathy, Spencer and his dad Jim. Both Spencer and Jim gave Mimi a lesson in baseball. She seemed to like it pretty well.

By 9:00 it was still HOT (80 degreees) the movie projector in his backyard and we all went over to watch The Bridge of Taribithia (?) and Mimi had a blast with Maddie and Marissa and the other girls of the neighborhood. Finally papa was able to get everything straightened out at grandma's and came back home. What a man papa is!

We also received the letter from Mimi's new school and she and Blake will be classmates. Unfortunately Erin is in a different class but I hear that they will all be on the playground at the same time.

RELAXING

Today was another scorcher! PHEW!!! When swimming class was over Mimi did not even shower and put her clean clothes on. We just came home and into our pool we went. Blake and Bailey came over to cool off too. Pictured here are Mimi and Bailey relaxing in Mexico. Bailey absolutely adores Mimi just like a little sis to big sis. It kind of ticks Blake off sometimes that Mimi will play tea party with Bailey and not pirates with him. I am pretty sure that when we go to China for Mei Mei, she and Mimi will hit it off immediatly. All the smaller kids in the neighborhood just adore Mimi too. It probably helps that she is so close to their size even though she is a couple of years older than they are. Up here where we live it gets super duper hot at around 2:00 p..m - 8:00 p.m. Due to the excessive heat one learns to close all windows and doors, turn the air vent and fans on during the day and night, then around 6:00 p.m. open all the windows and doors unless one has air condition which the majority of Washintonians don't have. Around 2 o'clock was when Erin came over and they had a carpet picnic while watching Alvin and the Chipmunks. Way, way, way too hot to go outside so we kept cool with tons of cold water and Dora popsicles. Finally it cooled down just a smidgen and the kids went to the park with Keri while mama stayed home inside the house. Mama absolutely becomes sick and disoriented in the heat. Now at 10:00 p.m. it is way too hot to go to bed(76 degrees). Mimi and papa are "camping out" in the backyard in our tent that he set up last week. Tomorrow a neighborhood garage sale is going on here and Mimi, papa, mama and grandpa are going to go visit with grandma in the hospital. Not sure if they are going to transfer her to the rehab hospital today or tomorrow. I'm sure we will find out soon enough though.

ROLLER COASTER RIDE

It was discovered a couple of years ago on one of our several trips to Disneyland with our good friends the Fratkins that Mimi loves roller coaster rides. At Disneyland she always rode the one in Toon Town with her papa. Same with Remlinger Farms the last time we came here as a family. Yesterday we tried to get Blake to go on it with her but he chickened out in the end so therefore Mimi decided that she wanted to go solo, and solo she did. It's kind of hard to see her but she is in the first car waving to the camera now and then with the biggest grin you ever saw on her face.

MORE REMLINGER FARMS

Mama and Keri had promised the kids a trip to Remling Farms this summer and so yesterday after Mimi's swimming and gymnastic class was over, off to Carnation (where the Carnation milk and ice cream come from) we went. Man oh man was it hot!!!!! None the less the kids had a blast.