OUR CHINA FRIENDS

This picture is an oldie but goodie. Plus it is the only one of them that I have on hand. At the end of this month Mimi's good friend Samantha and her family will be making the trek up here to Washington for a short 3 day weekend over Memorial Day. Mama wishes they could stay just a wee bit longer. Oh well, she will take what she can.

We really do hope that Katie and her family could come for a visit one day too. We really miss them a lot. All they have to do call to make sure we are home, then just show up (we really do mean that. It's no joke). That goes for the rest of our friends and family too.

We got a bit of good news from the weatherman last night. We are expected to have 80 degree weather in a couple of weeks. The weather here now is cloudy. It has not rained much yet but the weather here changes frequently so who knows what will happen.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate because mama has plans for them. This is her idea and papa always agrees to her ideas. Smart man, that's why I married him.

Here's the plan that is subject to change at anytime. They will arrive on Fri. evening. We will just relax at home. Sat. morning we will have breakfast at Black Diamond Bakery then go on to the Northwest Trek (Washington's wildlife park. It can also be found on the internet). On the way home (close to dinner time) we will stop at Wally's for an old fashion burger. This place still has car hops and a small park so that one can eat outside if they feel like it. Plus the burgers are very good and papa gets his blackberry malt. They also have a kids menu too. By the time we head for home, mama is quite sure the girls will fall asleep in the car. Mimi alway does. We will probably arrive home around 7:30 pm.

Sun. we will do the tourist thing. Have breakfast at home then on to downtown Seattle where we will go to the Space Needle. Mimi has not been there yet so I'm quite sure the girls will get a kick out of that. Then we can go to Pike's Place Market and Cutter's restaurant or vice versa.

Mon. after breakfast we can take the girls to Lake Wilderness and drive around "funky town".

Sometime in the afternoon our neighborhood is planning a BBQ.

That's All Folks!!!

AQUATIC SWIM CENTER

You would think that the whole western Washington was there last night!!! Man! I never saw so many kids in my life outside of Disneyland. Despite all that Mimi and the rest of us had a blast.

Mimi and mama had gone there earlier in the day thinking that the pool would be open. It was, but not for the public. It was lesson time. Therefore we hung out at McDonald's till it was time for gymnastics. By the time gymnastics was over, Mimi was really tired so mama had no problems (not that there ever is) putting her down for a nap. She slept from 2:30 pm - 5;30 pm which is her usual nap time.

When she woke up she could not wait for the life of her to get down to the pool. Because they did not open till 7:30, we had some waiting to do. That just about killed her right then and there. "But mmooomm, waiting is soooo hard to do!" Mimi exclaimed. What can you say other than yes it is.

Finally the time came to jump in the pool. She had a blast. Imagine Squirt (Finding Nemo) saying "Watch what I can do!" with that little Chipmunk voice of hers. That was our Mimi. She is way much more comfortable in the water than she was a couple of years ago.

In the beginning Mimi was around 3years old and mama started to take her to the public pool nestled in the mountains of Pacific Palisades. It was great. The pool is a outdoor pool that only goes from 2-4 feet and it is free with a L.A. public library card. At first she was a little reluctant to go in but with mama's encouragement, she did. She liked it ok. It did not win her over. She would rather sit on the steps and splash the water. Papa does not remember this because he was not there at the time. Mama and Mimi would always go during the weekday when papa was at work and we practically had the pool to ourselves.

When papa started to go with us on the weekends, by then, Mimi took to the water like a duckling. The last time we all swam together was at Disneyland last year. Boy was it hot that day!!! By then Mimi was jumping into the pool.

Between last summer and this summer she did not go swimming so when it came time for the lessons, she was just a smidgen hesitant. What I know helps with Mimi on any new experience is that she has to check it out first. So before starting her lessons, we watched a class first. Now she understands that we will be going to a new swim school next month.

LIFE PRESERVER

Last year mama had bought this vest but we never had the chance to use it till now. Even though it is quite "princessy" Mimi likes it. Tonight, together with Ling Ling the duck life preserver, we will break it in at the Aquatic Center. Papa will meet us there and for one hour we will have a family night together.

MIMI AND LING LING THE DUCK

Today after swimming lessons, mama and Mimi had an appointment at the doctor's office for mama to get her bloodwork done and Mimi had to finish up her immunizations. It is a surprise that our friends from Southern California has not called yet to let us know that they had heard Mimi's big booming yell way down there! Boy did she scream bloody murder!!! And that was even before the nurse gave the shot!

Mama promised her that that afterward we would make the trip to Fred Meyers to buy her sushi for lunch and a swim toy before heading off to school.

Tomorrow before gymnastic school, mama and Mimi will take Ling Ling the duck to the Aquatic Center and try it out.

SCHOOL MEETING

Tonight was the school orientation meeting for up and coming kindergarteners. Mimi was super duper excited because her two best friends Blake and Erin will be attending the new school with her.

After the official meeting was over, parents and kids were encouraged to tour the classrooms. Somewhere in the shuffle we lost Blake and mom Keri. Mimi and Erin toured every single room walking hand in hand.

The highlight of the evening was when we were all able to get on the school bus and take a drive around the neighborhood of where some of the students will ride the bus to school. Mimi and Erin will walk to school but it was still fun to ride the bus. The girls had a real blast.

Wii Play

On an earlier blog. Our good friend Allyn asked if the Black Diamond Bakery is the only place we eat breakfast. Well let me tell you, besides Gloria's (which the neighbors say is absolutely not good) and the new Cedar Grill (which papa says is ok), there is no other place around.

This morning mama thought that Mimi and her would go to the Black Diamond Bakery for breakfast but then changed her mind. I thought that we would try out the Appleby's in Covington before going to Walmart and they are only open for breakfast on the weekend! We ended up a Mickey D's across the street.

When mama was over her disappointment of breakfast, we headed over to Walmart to purchase another Wii remote as suggested by Allyn. Here we have the Fratkins and the Putney's.

Next on the agenda was getting Mimi signed up for swimming lessons at the aquatic center, gymnastics and school orientation meeting in the evening.

After the school meeting, Mimi could not get home fast enough in order for her and papa to play the new Wii game.

911

This morning Mimi woke up late. Oh my gosh! It was 7:30 a.m. when she came into bed with me! I just love it when she does. We have had some interesting conversations there. This morning we were discussing upcoming events for the day.

Mimi saw the ceiling fan that we have in our bedroom to which she said that papa needs to put up the ceiling fan in her and Mei Mei's room. Mama explained that we need to call Andy (neighbor) to come help us because papa does not have the right parts to put in.

"Well this is an emergency!" Mimi cried. "Papa needs to call 911. That's for an emergency you know" she added.

I guess now papa has another thing to add to his already growing honey do list.