Saturday, July 26, 2008

SEAFAIR PARADE

This evening marked the beginning of Seattle's yearly Seafair Parade. Mimi had no idea that we were going there because mama wanted to make sure she would take a nap this afternoon.

We met with Sara and her mom Daphne at the Seattle Culture Center this evening before heading over to the parade site.

Mimi and Sara had a blast together along a several of their other friends. Unfortunately Ling Ling was not able to come. They had to take her grandma to the ER and fortunately it was nothing serious.

There were sooooo many groups participating in the parade. Mama became a little sentimental because of the Navy band. Mimi's other grandpa passed away one year ago and was a retired Naval soldier that fought many operations in the Asian Continent.

The highlight was the Chinese dancers and Chinese dragon and lion dance. Seattle is a made up of many diverse ethnic groups and each one was represented in the parade. The only ethnic group that we saw little of were the Japanese. This year there weren't any of the dancers however we saw the taiko drummers playing their hearts out way on the top of the pirate ship at the end of the parade. Not quite sure what to make of that. The pirates seem to be part of the theme of the parade.

Mimi and Sara were the hit of the parade. It seems that almost a great majority of the parade participants went out of their way to give them a high 5. They also received stickers and buttons to boot!

On the way home mama would ask Mimi if she if "fainting" which Mimi's word for getting tired. Mimi who has a funny sense of humor would fake a "zzzzzzzz" then start laughing but then a couple of minutes later she really did fall asleep in the car. Mimi is getting to big and heavy for mama to carry her upstairs to bed. When mama reached the stairs to go up and get ready for bed, she found Mimi already asleep on the stairs.

COMMUNITY GET TOGETHER

We are very fortunate to live in a very friendly, family oriented neighborhood. Derek started the ball rolling a couple of years back and made the empty lot into a very nice playground for the kids to play in. Last year before we moved up here we found out from the neighbors that they had a community bake sale and garage sale. With their proceeds a new playset was purchased. Earlier this year the men all got together and pulled out some of the stumps in the park and rented a wood chipper. Mama provided the breakfast for everyone.

This morning the men and a couple of the women got together to do more work in the park laying down the beauty bark and gravel for another new playset to be put in a couple of weeks from today. Mama did exactly the same thing as last year and made breakfast for everyone. The problem was she did not make enough food!!! Doggone it!!! There were soooooo many people that showed up from the adjoining neighborhood (different home owner association). We all could just not believe it. We probably had about 100-150 moms and dads there.

Mama thinks that she may have started something with the moms of the hood. When the other moms saw the breakfast food that mama had brought, they went back home to raid their pantries and bring food over to the park too. With the other moms helping out, we all had a nice BBQ to boot. Hot dogs, hamburgers and other goodies to eat and drink.

The weather cooperated with us also. It is overcast and cool. Just right for doing yard work.

Now at 1:00 p.m. mama is trying to get Mimi to take a nap. Normally she does not nap nowadays but today is special. It is the beginning of the Sea Fair festivities up here in Seattle and tonight is the Torchlight Parade in downtown Seattle. We are going to the parade with several of our friends. The festivities will end next Saturday with the hydroplane races but we will have to miss that one due to the fact that we will be up in Mount Rainier camping with our friend Tom and Eloise and their family.

Friday, July 25, 2008

SOUTH CENTER MALL

Today was the grand opening for the newly remodeled South Center Mall. King 5 news stated that it is the largest mall in our state of Washington. I think that next week Mimi and I will go check it out. It has a brand new AMC theater too and a lot of cool sounding places to eat. Must try out the Bahama Breeze, Rainforest, Blue C Sushi and Racha Thai Asian Kitchen just to name a few of the places.

Then of course there is the famous Nordstroms, Macy's, The Children's Place and a whole lot more! YIPPEEEE!!!!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

MIMI AND HER GIRLS


Mimi still loves running and jumping and hanging out with her boys but for the past couple of months the feminine of her has started to emerge. She detests the boy sandals that Blake had given to her because they are "YUCK" as Mimi stated, on the other hand she loves wearing her Hawaiian sandals because they are "PRETTY". This afternoon mama caught her playing with her dolls and asked if she would rather play on the computer to which Mimi replied "Nope, I want to coffee (copy) Erin." Will wonders ever cease I ask?

MONKEY BARS

Last year June, Mimi could not reach the monkey bars without mama there to give her a boost up and carry her across the monkey bars. This year in June, Mimi is able to go all the way across by herself without any help. It's just taken mama 2 months to get it together and get a video of it, she's mov'in kinda slow these days and no I am not getting old. Unfortunetely the video camera is rather grainy and almost looks like the film that our parents used way back in the day.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD


Hey there little Miss Red Riding Hood, you sure are look'in good........

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

A HARD DAYS NIGHT


Our day started off with breakfast then a trip to the library for storytelling. This time we went by ourselves. For some reason Erin was not able to make it today. Then it was a trip for grocery shopping and home for lunch. Mama had just enough time to clean the house and make a quick trip to the grocery store again because due to her "senior moments" she forgot a couple of items needed to make dinner. As soon as we arrived home and got the dinner in the crock pot it was time to take Mimi to swim lessons. Next thing mama knew, the lessons were over and it was time to go home for dinner. Spencer and his family were coming over. Of course by the time Spencer, Zach and Katarina arrived, Mimi was way to excited to eat but she somehow managed it. After dinner,they all had loads of fun playing hide and seek till it was time to go to Sports Camp. When I asked Mimi if she enjoyed playing with Spencer, she replied "Yeah and he's so handsome too!" I take that as a yes. By the time all was said and done, it was time to come home from sports. Next thing mama knew, Mimi was out like a light. Next month will be even busier I think. Not only will Mimi have the same activities as she does now, we will have to get her school supplies and school clothes together. Unlike back home in So. Calif. where one could practically wear summer clothes almost all year round it gets super cold up here in the northwest during the fall and winter season. This past week the weather has already started cooling off.