The Puyallup Fair 2010

Going to see the quilts is one of my favorite things at the Fair (second only to the scones!). I usually go see these while Ray and Chloe go on the rides. But this year, it was so wet that they just waited for me to quickly go through the exhibit.


Little kid playing with the Mutton at the Mutton-Busting! Too funny!


One of our favorite events is the Mutton Busting...little kids try to ride the sheep as long as they can. Not a lot of entries this year...there was a lot of rain and mud! We still enjoyed watching, though.


Here's me with the bunny at the petting zoo!


Aaahhh...love the petting zoo!

We probably could have used the warmth during the Fair!


It was raining the day we went to the Fair, but we still visited all of our favorite places.



Giant pumpkin! Love these. They are usually by the Giant Corn and the old-fashioned cabin.

When we go to the Fair, we get there early and get a scone first thing!

Wow

It's been over a year since I updated my blog. Coincidentally, it was a year ago that I was given extra duties at work, frequently working extra hours, and was tired every night coming home (and very stressed). The last year at work has been pretty difficult, but it's over now and I'm looking forward to the future.

License plate game: we're now on 345! Ray and Chloe just saw 344 today, and I saw 343 yesterday. We've been through weeks of not seeing any numbers, though, so it's nice to get some momentum!

This last year we took one big trip, it was to Mexico for a friend's wedding. I'll post some pictures of that later. We could not believe how absolutely beautiful Mexico was! I feel really lucky to have been invited and to have been able to go to such a wonderful event.

We took a couple of short trips to various places in the state, and was able to get back to LaConner last month. It was really good to relax and get away.

I've gotten back to my sewing and stamping lately, too. I started working again on my Christmas quilt that I started 2 years ago. I also started a block-of-the-month quilt kit from Keepsake Quilting.

I feel so much better lately. I feel like I'm coming out of a fog, and hopefully I can keep it this way!

200!

We saw #200 in the license plate game...only 799 to go!

Forks, WA

Chloe went with my Mom and my sister Lisa to Forks, WA today. They went to have a nice drive, and to see the landscape in the Twilight series. Chloe has read 3 of the books, and was not too impressed, but liked the time with her Grandma and her Aunt.

She took the above pictures. One is of the table reserved for Bella and Edward at the cafe that they had lunch at. The other is from the sign from the local motel.

My Mom got a couple of cute T-shirts, and it seems like they had a nice time, so all was not lost. :)

G-Force

We went to see the movie G-Force last night (Friday). It was a really cute movie. I wasn't going into it expecting much, but I love guinea pigs, so I think I enjoyed it more than a lot of people would.

We saw the 3-D version, and I found myself wanting to reach up and pet them at times. Chloe, of course, thought that was hilarious.

The story revolves around an elite force of guinea pigs, a mole, and a fly that were trained as special agents. The new commander in charge of their unit thinks they're an embarrassment, so he wants to close them down. They decide to show them that they're worth keeping by cracking a large case that the FBI has been working on for years.

The voices in the movie were pretty funny - Nicholas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Jon Favreau, Sam Rockwell, and Tracy Morgan as the mole and guinea pigs, Steve Buscemi as the crazy hamster. Nice job on the casting for that!

One thing I really liked about the movie, was that they had references to other action movies. "Yippie-ki-yay coffeemaker!" was one of my favorites. (Die Hard is one of my favorite movies, and my favorite Christmas movie. Ever.)

It was a nice night - we went to The Rock for pizza, then the movie. Fun night out for the family.

HOT!

It was freakin' hot yesterday. It's still hot today (96 degrees outside as I post this), but yesterday was amazingly hot (108 at my parent's house at one point). Four local libraries had to close because it was too hot. Our Comcast cable/internet went out. Fire broke out on a median of I-5 because some stupid idiot flicked a cigarette butt out of their car. Several other fires were reported. Many brown-outs and blackouts because of the heat. "Cooling Centers" were set up around the area at local air-conditioned facilities for people to come in and beat the heat. And today, we had the first heat-related death.

Now, before you go on bashing us wimpy Seattle-ites because we're so delicate...are you in an air-conditioned place at this time? If so, then consider that only 13% of Seattle-area houses have central air, and only 30% of Seattle Metro buses have a/c (can you imagine getting stuck in a traffic jam at Safeco field on your way home in the non-air-conditioned bus because of the Mariner's game, in 103 degree weather?)!

It was pretty miserable all around, yesterday. We've never had temps that high, and our records go back to 1891.

Strange weather here...snow in April, and 100+ degree heat in July!

Movies...

Ray, Ray's friend Randy, Chloe, and I went to see Star Trek today. Ray and I had seen it, but Randy and Chloe had not. I really wanted to see it again. It was a great movie, I really enjoyed it both times. I saw things on the second viewing that I did not on the first - such as the Tribbles in the cage, cooing, when you first meet Scotty, and little bits of dialogue that were lost on first viewing.

Chloe said she enjoyed it, too, even though she only recognized two names: Spock and Captain Kirk. We may need to rent some episodes of classic Star Trek for her to catch up!

I was impressed with the lobby displays, too. When I worked at the movie theater (many years ago..) the displays were mostly just cutout standups of the characters. The Transformers lobby display was probably 10 feet tall, and really intricate. I would have hated to put that one together!

Oh, and I saw a movie that I will probably want to see. I just love guinea pigs. I hope it's as cute as it looks. Probably only Chloe and I will see this one!