Shamrocks bring Good Luck!!

I'm nearly recovered from my very busy weekend, so I thought I'd take a moment to share the highlights. Saturday was the 2nd Annual Spring Fling letterboxing event, in Chehalis, Washington. My friend Buppsters did an AMAZING job hosting this all day extravaganza, and I'd like to take a minute to thank her for all of her hard work! I had a fabulous time!! After weather reports predicting lots of rain, we really lucked out with cloudy skies that didn't actually leak until the event was over. That's about the best you can hope for in March in Washington!

That's Whispering Thunder, Whodatscifiguy (in the middle, their daughter, but I'm afraid I didn't get her name), and Bookworm exchanging at the Spring Flinger.

A Hunting we will go... for tupperware, that is!

I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time AND boxing with Hooded Falcon and the Bald Eagle. That's Nailhead scoping out boxes in the background...

And, another highlight of the event was meeting the Famous Robb and Lisascenic, from San Francisco! After chatting online with Lisa all this time, it was wonderful to finally meet face to face! It's a great feeling to be a part of this community. Everyone is so friendly and fun to hang out with. Where else can you find a group of people, so very varied in age and background, that can come together with camaraderie like old friends, all for the sake of some slabs of rubber and a little ink? Yes, we're a strange lot, but I guess it goes to show that Strange has to stick together!!

Well, after the L-O-N-G day on Saturday, and spending the night at the wonderful Olympic Club hotel in Centralia, we also had the Cubscout Pinewood Derby on Sunday. After last year's roaring victory, Carter's expectations were awfully high. I was worried that this year's car (well, not-so-much car, but rather LARGE SLUG on WHEELS) might not maintain our one-year winning streak. But, alas... IT DID!!

Ok, 1st.. Sorry but I couldn't figure out how to rotate the pic... and 2nd.. see that yellow streak way out in front? Oh yeah... that's our SLUG!!

And, here is Pack 4523 Champion, Carter, with his speedy-banana-slug!!!!

(Nope, I'm not proud at all!!) Off to districts next month!

Oh, and I had a birthday, too. It was nice, quiet, and relaxing... which was Exactly what I needed after this weekend!

Spring Tease

Every year, about this time, Spring peaks her head out and says hello. Ahhh, but she is such a tease! Pooof, she runs and hides behind Winter for another few weeks. Still, this is my favorite time of year... even if it is fleeting. I love the blue skies and how 60* suddenly feels warm. I love to see the green sprouts of my tulips and daffodils poking out of the ground.

Today was our 3rd glorious pre-spring day in a row. I spent the morning carving and playing with Ethan. I took him to preschool and carved some more! This weather makes me realize that Prime Letterboxing season is just around the corner, and I am just Itchin' to get out and plant! At 3:00 I walked up to pick Ethan up, and we walked home. We stopped twice to look at bugs, then raced down the driveway. Darn, Ethan won again! He is always in such a wonderful mood after preschool. Today, one of his friends, Madeline, made him a picture. He got home and wanted to make one for her, so while I carved he sat next to me and stamped away. My red ink pad may never be the same again, but by golly he had fun! After completing his masterpiece, Ethan wanted to sign his name on the back. Generally, this means "E", but he's really been working on his letters lately, so I decided to see if he could do more. With a little help, he wrote his full name for the first time EVER today! The signature below was his 3rd attempt, his FIRST attempt ALL BY HIMSELF! I was so proud I almost cried!

Happy Valentines Day!

Ok, so this post has nothing to do with the cupid-infested holiday, but it is this week, so there you go.



Last week was filled to the brim with Carter's birthday celebrations. Wednesday the 7th was his actual birthday. Being a school night, it was fairly low-key, with a birthday dinner and a few presents. Saturday was the big party. Lasertag! What more could an 8year old want, then a half hour of sanctioned target practice at one's own best friends?

And, with all that cake, and playing, and of course the sheer exhaustion of being 4... Ethan decided to take a little cat nap:

That's Bailey, guarding the sleeping bug.

And what have I been doing to keep busy? Besides working, birthday planning, and general domestic bliss, I have managed to squeeze a little carving in lately, too. My list of postal obligations seems to grow all on its own! Still, I decided this week to re-carve one of my personal travellers, "Ethan's Obsession". I carved the original back in July/Aug. (one of my first carvings) and while I was SOOoo proud of it at the time, I really wanted to use my growing skills. This is exciting for me, because since the images are almost identical, I can really see how much I've improved. Here they are!

Superbowl Sunday

Today the nation sits, poised on the edges of various couches, chairs, tailgates, and other horizontal surfaces to watch THE game of the year. Today, I'm crocheting and watching the MONK marathon on USA. Sorry, folks, but football is just not something I get into. So, for all of you Not watching the game, I devote this blog to you!

Scout Sunday~ This morning was also our pack's Scout Sunday. Carter and I were up quite early this a.m. in order to cook pancakes, eggs, and sausage for the scout breakfast. We had a great time helping out and visiting with the senior-sector... (who seem to be the audience of choice for young boys in uniforms selling cold pancakes and eggs.) The picture is Wolf Cub Carter last October at the Space Derby, showing off his uniform and his X-Wing.

This has been a busy weekend for us, and truthfully, I'm looking forward to a quiet afternoon of Monk-viewing while Bill sleeps. Thursday we attended the Sidney Glen play "The Wizard of Oz". It was fabulous!! This was Ethan's first experience watching a live play, and he did a great job, too. Friday night, my sister-in-law, Laurie, and her husband Craig came over for dinner. We taught them how to play Mah-jong. They must have enjoyed it, because we were up playing until 2am! We split Saturday between Bill's dad's birthday lunch and having dinner with good friends. This time it was our turn to try a new game. We played "Bausack", which is sort of like Jenga, only the pieces are all different and irregular. It was quite the lesson in geometry/physics! We also played "Snatch", which is a fast-paced word game, rather like Scrabble on crack. Great fun. And, as it turns out... "robotsy" is not actually an actual word.
For anyone who can prove that it is... I've got a fabu-prize for you! (Actual proof is needed to reclaim my title as Snatch-Queen away from David. hmmmm, on second thought... maybe I'll let him keep that particular title!

This is my very first blog entry, so please leave me a note :-)