Mom at Cabela's

Mom has been feeling pretty well lately. Well enough that I decided she had the stamina for a trip to Cabela's. When Mom was younger she used to love hunting and fishing. I knew she would love Cabela's and all the animals on display there.

She wasted no time walking right up to the "mountain" full of animals and checking them out.

Here she is viewing a new exhibit with prairie dogs.

Wow, there were LOTS of prairie dogs!

This little guy made us laugh.

After seeing the animals we enjoyed a nice lunch in the restaurant upstairs.

Mom said she really enjoyed her trip to Cabela's. It's a short drive from Mom's house so we will have to visit there again sometime.

My Birthday

Monday was my birthday and I have to say it was totally fun and relaxing. Just the way a birthday should be.

Here are some of the ways I celebrated:

• -- Didn't go to work (very important!)
• -- Slept in
• -- Read birthday cards
  
• -- Met friends Jim, Kristina and Elena for ice cream (my favorite food!)
  
• -- Shopping - bought new clothes and shoes (spent some money that came in the cards)
• -- Lovely dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill in Lynnwood

Thanks to those who sent birthday cards. I got a really beautiful selection of cards this year including some funny ones. One of my favorites had this great quote:

"Birthdays are like chocolates ... you never want to admit how many you've had!"

Amen to that. :)

Of course one of my favorite things in the world is spending time with good friends so I loved hanging out for a bit with Jim, Kristina and Elena. Thanks guys for making my birthday special!

Here is a little slideshow of Elena eating her ice cream. If you would like see a super short movie of her "riding the ponies" head on over to Cozzie's Clippings. Yes, that's a pony she's holding. Maybe you've figured out that Elena likes ponies!

St. Patrick's Day Parade

What a fun time I had at the parade! My little friend Elliott came to watch Todd and Wendy in the parade too and he brought his folks Doxey and Cynthia along.

Elliott is 8 months old and this was his first parade ever. I think he enjoyed it. You will see from the pictures that he had a little nap while we were waiting for the parade to start. But once it got going he was wide awake.

Todd did not warn us that we might need to learn to swim in order to see this parade! It started raining well before the parade started and the rain got heavier as the start time neared.

We got to the parade route early because we didn't know how many people might be there and we wanted to secure a good spot. Doxey and Cynthia found a great overhang for us to stand under. Once the parade got underway we had to leave the overhang to get close enough to see and photograph any action.

The rains continued through the parade and most everybody in the parade got soaked. We were feeling sorry for Todd and Wendy who were the flagbearers in the parade, but you will see from the pictures and video they were smiling through it all and didn't seem to mind the wet.



To see more pictures from the parade you can click on either photo above and use the Next and Prev buttons in Webshots to navigate the album. OR, you can view the 4 minute video below which includes both video clips and photos from the day. You will see that the weather didn't dampen a lot of spirits and there was plenty of fun to go around.

Thanks Elliott, Doxey and Cynthia for coming to watch the parade with me. And thanks Todd and Wendy for agreeing to be in the parade so we could watch!

A Poem for You

I was cleaning out some old files and came across this poem. I found it a long time ago on PostcardX and have been saving it to share with you.

Canned Laughter

I’ve been catching laughter
Snatching it out of the air
Jars of children’s giggles
I gathered at the fair

I’ve been catching laughter
With a net spun from dreams
Barrels full of chuckles
Bursting at the seams

I’ve been catching laughter
Tuck them under my arm
Plant them in my garden
Soon I’ll have a funny farm

© Barry Courtney
of Australia

Too Funny!

Thank you to Colette for sharing a really funny video with me today. I was busy and didn't have time to watch it until this evening, but it cracked me up! I thought you would enjoy it too, so I wanted to share it here with you. As Colette suggests make sure your sound is on and be sure to watch the whole clip. It's about 6 minutes. Enjoy!

Typing Wars?

I came across this fun online typing game called Qwerty Warriors or Word Shoot. It helps improve your typing speed and requires no download or installation to your computer.

To play you type the word that appears below each enemy (cartoon tanks, army men, etc.) Press enter to fire. If you typed the word correctly, the enemy is killed and you get points. If not, you can try again but hurry before the enemy shoots you! I know it sounds a tad violent, but I promise no one gets hurt - it's just typing!

A couple of hints: As you play you will figure out how you can use the fullhealth and detonate tools that are sometimes available for you. Also, a couple of the "enemies" look like misspelled words. In order to kill them you must spell them the way they are spelled on the screen even if it's a misspelling.

There are multiple levels of difficulty. Start where you feel comfortable. Warning - this game can be addictive. Would anyone like to challenge my score on the "Medium" difficulty level of 104610 points and 97% accuracy?

Click here, then click the "PLAY" link on the other site to play. (Do not click on the monkey's face - you could get lost.)

Superbowl Commercials

Are you a football fan? If so I'm sure you are glued to the set today, Superbowl Sunday. Since the Seahawks aren't in it this year I have to say I'm not such a huge fan that I have to watch the Superbowl. I do find the commercials enjoyable, though.

Today presented a dilemma for me. I had some things to get done away from the set, but I didn't want to miss the Superbowl commercials. It looked like I would just have to wait and see if they repeated the commercials in a TV special as they have done in past years.

But guess what! I found out you can go here on the web and view the commercials online at your leisure. Check it out if you missed them. Some are pretty entertaining.

Let It Snow ... Indoors!

The other day we went to Pacific Place (an upscale shopping mall in downtown Seattle) to watch it snow.

It doesn't actually snow in Seattle very often, so Pacific Place provides indoor snow for shoppers. They make it snow from November 25th through December 31st, from 6:00 to 6:15 p.m daily.

It's a fun activity, and they play really good Christmas music while you're getting snowed upon. In fact, it feels like you are on the set of some Christmas movie watching people with their shopping bags hurry about between the flakes, moving up and down the escalators, kids jumping up and down and catching snow on their tongues, and the adults trying to capture it all on their camera phones.

The little ones were SO excited about the snow, but I saw a lot of big smiles from adults as well (including our own). If you're having trouble picturing indoor snow, you can see a video of it here. Pretty cool!

Fun Stuff

Once in a while it's good to stop and enjoy the fun stuff. I received a couple links recently which were well worth a couple minutes of playtime each.

Check out Cursor Theft. After you play it a couple times watch what happens if you move your cursor below the picture and leave it there. You won't be able to resist moving your mouse. Cute!

And if you ever wished you could carve a pumpkin without all the mess, this Happy Halloween site is for you.

Enjoy!