Michelle and Mannie (GA)
Member Since 2009
Good Morning LL!! 
(Ahhhhhh.... elixir! Thanks Elsa), and Happy Catmint Caturday!
LL! It's is I, Elsa, KBP, president and CEO of Coffee Cat! Life is GOOD! GUESS WHAT! Paw Prints Pizza is open and ready for business! They are running a Caturday Catnip special today, in honor of Catmint Caturday - lots of nip in those pies!
They have even used their signature nip cheese. 
Best order early! OOOOOOOOO! They have perfected their NY Style hot dog pies. MAJOR YUM!!!! Try one, you'll see! Just order the Mannie and Stu Special! so. well. anyways. Coffee time! For today, I proudly offer Elsa's special 10 hour energy coffee, and Double shot espressos, with beans from deep within the mountain slopes of Africa, AND.... for all my Mocha fans: a venti quad peppermint white chocolate mocha, with peppermint infused whip, garnished with peppermint candy chips and white chocolate shavings... It is my bean's fav! SWEET! OH! No worries, a dollop of peppermint and vanilla and chocolate and caramel swirl ice cream, on top of a dollop of fudge, sprinkled with peppermint chips and a chocolate caramel drizzle.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... mega good!
I hope everyone had a great day yesterday, and a great week. The days with the boys have been good ones! We have been very busy, that part of life has not changed. Will it ever? ;-) NOPE!!
What a BUSY week! I think I will always prefer it that way. We have been swimming, and hiking, a day on the river, and urban parks. We have had lunches at rivers edge, car camping some too, and on grassy lawns picnic style. These days are wonderful ones. Nicholas, on the day of our river trip tells me after we were done that "this was the best day ever!" you gotta love that. William's face just lights up when he sees the outdoors, he can't get out of his car seat fast enough. Life is good!
Fall is upon the boys, with their scheduling and activities. We are fine tuning all, with some minor adjustments. Last week actually went fairly well. William has taken well to the pool, Nicholas is enjoying school. YAY!!!. The kitties are into Fall too. There sure is alot of napping going on, and seeking out of the fleece blankets. Our mornings together, with the boys, are still has fun filled as always. Breffis's rule, with William eating just about the same foods as nicholas. That boy has such a fondness for pancakes and sausages. Funny, but Nicholas still watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse most morning he is here. It's nice to think some things remain constant. :razz:
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Night were our swimming days this week. :shock: That's alot of pool time! William went Monday and Thursday, Nicholas Monday, Wednesday and Friday nght. The big pool also reopened! Nicholas was more than elated. Nicholas still loves going, and continues to do well in the pool. He's been making lots of new friends when he goes. it's fun to see him connect up with kids when he gets there. Nicholas and I will continue to swim on Friday night, as he so loves that experience, at a pool that is not his normal pool. They have been very fun times for him. We are still trying to "convince" Nicholas that swim lessons would be great, but he is adamant that he does not want to do them. silly boy! All in good time. I continue teach him what I can, review what he learned from the day he swam with one of the guards, and marvel at how well he does on his own. Nicholas has been trying very hard to swim what one considers a normal swim: big arms, kicks. Last night he made several laps in the lazy river, trying to do just that. Not too badly either!This jas become one of his favorite things to do there. That river is awesome, fast, and alot of fun. He spent what was close to 20 minutes at the Snohomish pool on Friday night jumping in, swimming out to me and swimming back to the wall, and repeating that process over and over again. All on his own. Awesome! Pool time with William was great. He has taken to this just like his brother did. He loves all he did. We continue to do all we can just to let him try everything. We even had a few dunks under water, those he didn't mind, no fuss, no tears, no fear. I put him through the same "drills" I did with Nicholas, we stayed about an hour, until he was tired. We had a few tries with blowing bubbles in the water, with alot of success. It is so great to see that he doesn't mind putting his face in the water, even did a few on his own. Success I think. This should be fun. GO NICK! GO WILLIAM!
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast (sorry no photos: Picassa would not process the upload. ...)
That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. He was so happy to see that burger and fries combo show up, just like always. Somehow I think that is part of the magic of Friday night swims: that he gets burgers etc after his swim. :razz: Yesterday we again talked about our week, That days river trip, trips to city parks and urban rivers, and future visit to the Skykomish River in Gold Bar, and Skykomish. He was really into that discussion, as he does remember last year in October when we went to the same river, and watched the big fish do their annual run. I so hope to repeat that again this year. We tries this Friday, but only saw one fish, so perhaps we need to wait a week or so. He still talks about his camping trip with his family, and wants to go back. What fun time, talking through mouthfuls full of burgers and fries. :lol: The drive home was such a hoot. remember that song "on top of spaghetti all covered with cheese, I lost my meatball when somebody sneezed?" We sang that all the way home, his and Bear. I pretended to be Bear, who couldn't get the song right, kept getting the wrong things, like lot dogs instead of a meatball. Nicholas just laughed and laughed all the way home. What a fun drive!
Monday morning, after the boys swim time, I spent the afternoon in Seattle, visiting my friend for coffee and some catch up. I am so glad that this still will fit into the fall lineup!
Tuesday was my
day. I did make it our on a hike, just not the one I really wanted. I had so hoped to make the North Cascades, see that fall color... not today. Weather was really iffy, with rains on and off, and some of the road and mtns were reporting snow for a bit this morning. So.... I took the easy way out, and went to Whidbey Island instead. One can never go wrong with Whidbey! The drive on SR 20 was great! The sun was making an attempt heading west, which made the drive great. Whidbey Island an be so picturesque! I stopped in at a small lake, Pass Lake, on the way there, just to see it. Beautiful! My destination was the bluffs of Ebey State Park, and area just north of Coupeville. LOVED that hike, a cliff hike, that offered such great views of the sound, and the mountains. It was a new section of whidbey today for me: fort ebey state park, rather than deception or ebey's landing. That was nice. I really enjoyed it. Good weather, a little windy but pretty! I visited the war gunnery there too. That was cool! There were about three guys there that were attempting to parasail. I'm not to sure if they ever got them off the ground or not. The winds were good, but kept pushing them back. One guy did get off the ground, onlt to end up not taking any air, and over the side of the cliff he went. He just couldn't get the lift, so visited the beach instead of the skies. A really fun time watching those guys. Also went to Coupeville, just cuz I could, which ia very small quaint town south of the park. I spent maybe an hour there window shopping. Nice little town. Did the touristy thing too and walked the Deception Pass Bridge on the way home. all in all, a nice day on whidbey. WOO HOO!
AND!!! I so thought of all the LL kitties, especially Mannie and Tess when I watched those parasails... Tess? you remember???? You were, are, so good at it! Mannie tried, but he always ended up on the stratosphere! :lol:
Wednesday afternoon, after Nicholas's swim we were off to a river park in Bothell. We had such fun there a week or so ago that we decided to go back. They too have a nice playground area , and well as a good river trail walk, with a few access points where the boys can get down to waters edge. It is always fun to be able to do that there, as the ducks come and visit every time. we got lucky with the weather that day too, as it had rained all morning By time time we made the park, the sun was beginning to show, and stayed with us the whole time we were there. Nicholas wanted to walk some of the trail too. The fall colors there are starting to show. Really nice! We found a wetlands area, there there were a few heron. that was fun, and a new first for Nicholas. William was content with all the sticks and rocks and fallen leaves he found. Way too funny, but cool too. We brought some food for the ducks. Nicholas had such fun feeding them. He had quite the audience. William was busy chanting: " ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks! " :lol: :lol:
Thursday after William's swimming and Nicholas's school We crammed in a visit to a city park Edmonds City Park. It is a new one for us, but I think it will be a favorite of Nicholas's. The playground equipment is really nice, and new (!!!) with good challenges for him, lots of climbing apparatus and connecting rope ladders. :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: The only thing missing there is a zip line. They do have his other favorite, they corkscrew and a circular version of the monkey bars,. That was cool, he made it half way around that one. He is so thrilled that he could. GO NICK! He continues to make new friends during our visits there, it is nice that he is willing to play with whomever he meets there. It is so great to be able to watch him play with boys his own age. or even older for that matter. They run and climb on everything. The laughs for them are endless. William watches it all, trying so much to be part of the group. :lol: He has discovered that slides are really fun, so I spent some time with him letting, with help, him slide on down. ;-) They also had some interaction things for him, circular wheels he can turn, and they do various things. Those were a big hit. It is so wonderful that we can find such great places to visit so close to home. Great times for the boys!
Friday was our travel day. We affectionately called it Bear and Bear II's Road Trip. We ended up on the Skykomish River, and the boy's had a blast. Weather it was great too. Sunshine all day long. We went to Index yesterday, where the road has been washed out, hoping for some fish on the run, only found one, a goner. Nicholas had fun looking for them, Guess we were a bit early for the fish, so maybe try again next week. We also stopped in at the trout creek junction, maybe a dozen yards down from the washout. I really do like that spot. Nicholas kept telling me over and over how much he likes that spot, so no doubt we will go back until we do see them. It is a good spot, as he can get up close and personnel, with the fish, and in the river somewhat. I really hope they are right on the projections of a big run. that would be so great to see and experience. it does the heart good, and the soul, to see those two boys come alive when they are in places like this. Nicholas wasn't too sure on the trout creek section, took a little "convincing" to get him to walk though the pullout, tress etc to see the river. Once he did he was all over the place. That section is gorgeous, but full of boulders etc, takes a it of maneuvering for him. He was so adamant that he be able to get on top of the river, so to speak. It was great to watch him be careful, get though the rocks, analyze before he moved etc. Really great to see a three year old pick the safest route. William just loved it all. LOL: a battle to get him "dry" - four changes of clothes. haha. anyways... a really great day. Nicholas tells me after we were done that "this was the best day ever!" you gotta love that. A couple of miles in from the Index cutoff there is a small pullout that offers a stellar view of the river. We stopped there before going home so that William could get some food, Nicholas ended up eating too, but point is; I sat there with them both, watched the little guy as he ate and watched the river. Nicholas asks if we can stay there for a bit. so we did, maybe 15 minutes while he just munched on crackers and watched the river flow. The smile on his face was awesome. so..... excellent day.
Normalcy in MusketeerVille! The kitties are all doing well. Not too much new with them... Fall mode is here, they are bunkering down, but still yearning for the great outdoors when the sun is out. Elsa is still some what grounded after her "late night" adventure a few weeks ago, and when out she doesn't stay long. Bug could care less, Lola is ALWAYS grounded. :lol: We will have the deck door replaced soon, step one on the catio development. I still haven't done much more than that. I was able to price out what I really would like to build for the kitties, and had a severe case of sticker shock. :shock: :shock: So back to the drawing board on that one. :lol: :shock: Lola, I have not forgotten your catio.... but you may have to wait a bit longer. ;-) Nicholas continues to talk about Mannie. They have been such good discussions. At one point he told me that he really wishes Mannie could come home. ;-) Nicholas. so do I.
Have a great caturday everyone. Sorry this post it late today. Sorry too I missed everyone's condos yesterday too. Time this morning, and the days, have gotten away from me. At least the shopping is done, and the laundry. I am off in a few for an afternoon walk in the woods. The day has turned warm, just not very sunny. WOOT!
KITTIES! Remember: think BLUE, think GREEN cat_pet_icon
(Ahhhhhh.... elixir! Thanks Elsa), and Happy Catmint Caturday!LL! It's is I, Elsa, KBP, president and CEO of Coffee Cat! Life is GOOD! GUESS WHAT! Paw Prints Pizza is open and ready for business! They are running a Caturday Catnip special today, in honor of Catmint Caturday - lots of nip in those pies!
They have even used their signature nip cheese. Best order early! OOOOOOOOO! They have perfected their NY Style hot dog pies. MAJOR YUM!!!! Try one, you'll see! Just order the Mannie and Stu Special! so. well. anyways. Coffee time! For today, I proudly offer Elsa's special 10 hour energy coffee, and Double shot espressos, with beans from deep within the mountain slopes of Africa, AND.... for all my Mocha fans: a venti quad peppermint white chocolate mocha, with peppermint infused whip, garnished with peppermint candy chips and white chocolate shavings... It is my bean's fav! SWEET! OH! No worries, a dollop of peppermint and vanilla and chocolate and caramel swirl ice cream, on top of a dollop of fudge, sprinkled with peppermint chips and a chocolate caramel drizzle.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... mega good! I hope everyone had a great day yesterday, and a great week. The days with the boys have been good ones! We have been very busy, that part of life has not changed. Will it ever? ;-) NOPE!!
What a BUSY week! I think I will always prefer it that way. We have been swimming, and hiking, a day on the river, and urban parks. We have had lunches at rivers edge, car camping some too, and on grassy lawns picnic style. These days are wonderful ones. Nicholas, on the day of our river trip tells me after we were done that "this was the best day ever!" you gotta love that. William's face just lights up when he sees the outdoors, he can't get out of his car seat fast enough. Life is good! Fall is upon the boys, with their scheduling and activities. We are fine tuning all, with some minor adjustments. Last week actually went fairly well. William has taken well to the pool, Nicholas is enjoying school. YAY!!!. The kitties are into Fall too. There sure is alot of napping going on, and seeking out of the fleece blankets. Our mornings together, with the boys, are still has fun filled as always. Breffis's rule, with William eating just about the same foods as nicholas. That boy has such a fondness for pancakes and sausages. Funny, but Nicholas still watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse most morning he is here. It's nice to think some things remain constant. :razz:
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Night were our swimming days this week. :shock: That's alot of pool time! William went Monday and Thursday, Nicholas Monday, Wednesday and Friday nght. The big pool also reopened! Nicholas was more than elated. Nicholas still loves going, and continues to do well in the pool. He's been making lots of new friends when he goes. it's fun to see him connect up with kids when he gets there. Nicholas and I will continue to swim on Friday night, as he so loves that experience, at a pool that is not his normal pool. They have been very fun times for him. We are still trying to "convince" Nicholas that swim lessons would be great, but he is adamant that he does not want to do them. silly boy! All in good time. I continue teach him what I can, review what he learned from the day he swam with one of the guards, and marvel at how well he does on his own. Nicholas has been trying very hard to swim what one considers a normal swim: big arms, kicks. Last night he made several laps in the lazy river, trying to do just that. Not too badly either!This jas become one of his favorite things to do there. That river is awesome, fast, and alot of fun. He spent what was close to 20 minutes at the Snohomish pool on Friday night jumping in, swimming out to me and swimming back to the wall, and repeating that process over and over again. All on his own. Awesome! Pool time with William was great. He has taken to this just like his brother did. He loves all he did. We continue to do all we can just to let him try everything. We even had a few dunks under water, those he didn't mind, no fuss, no tears, no fear. I put him through the same "drills" I did with Nicholas, we stayed about an hour, until he was tired. We had a few tries with blowing bubbles in the water, with alot of success. It is so great to see that he doesn't mind putting his face in the water, even did a few on his own. Success I think. This should be fun. GO NICK! GO WILLIAM!
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast (sorry no photos: Picassa would not process the upload. ...)
That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. He was so happy to see that burger and fries combo show up, just like always. Somehow I think that is part of the magic of Friday night swims: that he gets burgers etc after his swim. :razz: Yesterday we again talked about our week, That days river trip, trips to city parks and urban rivers, and future visit to the Skykomish River in Gold Bar, and Skykomish. He was really into that discussion, as he does remember last year in October when we went to the same river, and watched the big fish do their annual run. I so hope to repeat that again this year. We tries this Friday, but only saw one fish, so perhaps we need to wait a week or so. He still talks about his camping trip with his family, and wants to go back. What fun time, talking through mouthfuls full of burgers and fries. :lol: The drive home was such a hoot. remember that song "on top of spaghetti all covered with cheese, I lost my meatball when somebody sneezed?" We sang that all the way home, his and Bear. I pretended to be Bear, who couldn't get the song right, kept getting the wrong things, like lot dogs instead of a meatball. Nicholas just laughed and laughed all the way home. What a fun drive! Monday morning, after the boys swim time, I spent the afternoon in Seattle, visiting my friend for coffee and some catch up. I am so glad that this still will fit into the fall lineup!
Tuesday was my
day. I did make it our on a hike, just not the one I really wanted. I had so hoped to make the North Cascades, see that fall color... not today. Weather was really iffy, with rains on and off, and some of the road and mtns were reporting snow for a bit this morning. So.... I took the easy way out, and went to Whidbey Island instead. One can never go wrong with Whidbey! The drive on SR 20 was great! The sun was making an attempt heading west, which made the drive great. Whidbey Island an be so picturesque! I stopped in at a small lake, Pass Lake, on the way there, just to see it. Beautiful! My destination was the bluffs of Ebey State Park, and area just north of Coupeville. LOVED that hike, a cliff hike, that offered such great views of the sound, and the mountains. It was a new section of whidbey today for me: fort ebey state park, rather than deception or ebey's landing. That was nice. I really enjoyed it. Good weather, a little windy but pretty! I visited the war gunnery there too. That was cool! There were about three guys there that were attempting to parasail. I'm not to sure if they ever got them off the ground or not. The winds were good, but kept pushing them back. One guy did get off the ground, onlt to end up not taking any air, and over the side of the cliff he went. He just couldn't get the lift, so visited the beach instead of the skies. A really fun time watching those guys. Also went to Coupeville, just cuz I could, which ia very small quaint town south of the park. I spent maybe an hour there window shopping. Nice little town. Did the touristy thing too and walked the Deception Pass Bridge on the way home. all in all, a nice day on whidbey. WOO HOO!AND!!! I so thought of all the LL kitties, especially Mannie and Tess when I watched those parasails... Tess? you remember???? You were, are, so good at it! Mannie tried, but he always ended up on the stratosphere! :lol:
Wednesday afternoon, after Nicholas's swim we were off to a river park in Bothell. We had such fun there a week or so ago that we decided to go back. They too have a nice playground area , and well as a good river trail walk, with a few access points where the boys can get down to waters edge. It is always fun to be able to do that there, as the ducks come and visit every time. we got lucky with the weather that day too, as it had rained all morning By time time we made the park, the sun was beginning to show, and stayed with us the whole time we were there. Nicholas wanted to walk some of the trail too. The fall colors there are starting to show. Really nice! We found a wetlands area, there there were a few heron. that was fun, and a new first for Nicholas. William was content with all the sticks and rocks and fallen leaves he found. Way too funny, but cool too. We brought some food for the ducks. Nicholas had such fun feeding them. He had quite the audience. William was busy chanting: " ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks! " :lol: :lol:
Thursday after William's swimming and Nicholas's school We crammed in a visit to a city park Edmonds City Park. It is a new one for us, but I think it will be a favorite of Nicholas's. The playground equipment is really nice, and new (!!!) with good challenges for him, lots of climbing apparatus and connecting rope ladders. :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: The only thing missing there is a zip line. They do have his other favorite, they corkscrew and a circular version of the monkey bars,. That was cool, he made it half way around that one. He is so thrilled that he could. GO NICK! He continues to make new friends during our visits there, it is nice that he is willing to play with whomever he meets there. It is so great to be able to watch him play with boys his own age. or even older for that matter. They run and climb on everything. The laughs for them are endless. William watches it all, trying so much to be part of the group. :lol: He has discovered that slides are really fun, so I spent some time with him letting, with help, him slide on down. ;-) They also had some interaction things for him, circular wheels he can turn, and they do various things. Those were a big hit. It is so wonderful that we can find such great places to visit so close to home. Great times for the boys!
Friday was our travel day.
We affectionately called it Bear and Bear II's Road Trip. We ended up on the Skykomish River, and the boy's had a blast. Weather it was great too. Sunshine all day long. We went to Index yesterday, where the road has been washed out, hoping for some fish on the run, only found one, a goner. Nicholas had fun looking for them, Guess we were a bit early for the fish, so maybe try again next week. We also stopped in at the trout creek junction, maybe a dozen yards down from the washout. I really do like that spot. Nicholas kept telling me over and over how much he likes that spot, so no doubt we will go back until we do see them. It is a good spot, as he can get up close and personnel, with the fish, and in the river somewhat. I really hope they are right on the projections of a big run. that would be so great to see and experience. it does the heart good, and the soul, to see those two boys come alive when they are in places like this. Nicholas wasn't too sure on the trout creek section, took a little "convincing" to get him to walk though the pullout, tress etc to see the river. Once he did he was all over the place. That section is gorgeous, but full of boulders etc, takes a it of maneuvering for him. He was so adamant that he be able to get on top of the river, so to speak. It was great to watch him be careful, get though the rocks, analyze before he moved etc. Really great to see a three year old pick the safest route. William just loved it all. LOL: a battle to get him "dry" - four changes of clothes. haha. anyways... a really great day. Nicholas tells me after we were done that "this was the best day ever!" you gotta love that. A couple of miles in from the Index cutoff there is a small pullout that offers a stellar view of the river. We stopped there before going home so that William could get some food, Nicholas ended up eating too, but point is; I sat there with them both, watched the little guy as he ate and watched the river. Nicholas asks if we can stay there for a bit. so we did, maybe 15 minutes while he just munched on crackers and watched the river flow. The smile on his face was awesome. so..... excellent day. Normalcy in MusketeerVille!
The kitties are all doing well. Not too much new with them... Fall mode is here, they are bunkering down, but still yearning for the great outdoors when the sun is out. Elsa is still some what grounded after her "late night" adventure a few weeks ago, and when out she doesn't stay long. Bug could care less, Lola is ALWAYS grounded. :lol: We will have the deck door replaced soon, step one on the catio development. I still haven't done much more than that. I was able to price out what I really would like to build for the kitties, and had a severe case of sticker shock. :shock: :shock: So back to the drawing board on that one. :lol: :shock: Lola, I have not forgotten your catio.... but you may have to wait a bit longer. ;-) Nicholas continues to talk about Mannie. They have been such good discussions. At one point he told me that he really wishes Mannie could come home. ;-) Nicholas. so do I. Have a great caturday everyone. Sorry this post it late today. Sorry too I missed everyone's condos yesterday too. Time this morning, and the days, have gotten away from me. At least the shopping is done, and the laundry.
I am off in a few for an afternoon walk in the woods. The day has turned warm, just not very sunny. WOOT! KITTIES! Remember: think BLUE, think GREEN cat_pet_icon
