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.
It is warming up once again for us PNW kitties, and Bug and Lola say they are turning off the pizza ovens early, cuz well it gets mega hot in there in the afternoons.... so best order early! So stop by Mannie's treehouse and get some pies! 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!
PER LOLA: Caturday Party in the treehouse!!
[youtube]k_5zELmun9E[/youtube]
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? ;-) What a BUSY week! Truth be told, I prefer it that way.
We have been swimming, and hiking, and to playgrounds, and Aquariums. We have had lunches on the waterfront, car camping wise, and on grassy laws picnic style. These days are wonderful ones. Life is good!
Wednesday and Friday, and Friday night, were our swimming days this week. We are getting closer to the end of summer pool scheduling, which I am so looking forward too. I believe Nicholas is too. Come September I will be able to spend much more time with William in the pool, when Nicholas enters a 2X/week pre-school type experience. When he goes to school, William goes to the pool. I am really looking forward to this, as it is more than apparent from a few previous visits, and times spend on the rivers, that William will love the water as much as Nicholas does. We are still swimming on Friday night. Nicholas really looks forward to this time together. I asked him the other nght if he would like William to start coming too, and he said "No Grammie. I love William, but this is our time, just me and you, OK?" I kinda had a feeling that this would be his answer, and so it shall be until he decides otherwise. We have been gong to the Snohomish Aquatic Center on Friday nights, due to summer schedules and conflicts in his other pools. He has decided that this pool is really very cool, and wants to make it his Friday night pool, maybe replacing the Terrace Pool that was our pool in the past. Aiyee.... it is nice, but the commute there is a killer. What we do to help them have a good experience, and learn in the pool. ;-) It is a bit of a drive, but we have made the time slot, get to swim, and still made it to his home at a decent hour. YAY! We are still trying to "convince" Nicholas that swim lessons would be great, but he is adamant that he does not want t do them. silly boy! ALl in good time. In the meantime I teach him what I can, and marvel at how well he does on his own.
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast too. That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. Last night we again talked pool closures, as well as all our berry hunts, swimming in the rivers, and the aquarium. He was really into that discussion, as we had spent the day swimming in and exploring some very cool rivers last week. He also talked alot about summer swim schedules and finally being able to swim again at his Friday night pool. He was one very happy boy. We also talked endlessly about how his pools were closed. I heard alot of "What a BUMMER!" ;-) I still love that drive from the pool to his house: 30 minutes of little guy stories, my little back seat driver! Quite the imagination he has. AWESOME TIME!
Monday found me out hiking.
I was out the door at 5AM, did not make it back until 6 or so... a long day! I went to Mt Rainier, and hiked the Skyline Ridge trail out of the Paradise area of the Park. The hike was excellent, that one is a keeper. I think I made about 6500 feet, me and about 200 other people. :lol: :lol: , yes it was that packed. That is the only drawback to Rainier. Some of those trails are very popular, and Paradise in general draws the crowds. I had to laugh at those wearing flip flops. Hope they enjoyed those on the talus, and the snow fields. HAHA, if they even made it that far. There was this guy that was climbing with this big huge shade umbrella. I wonder how far he made it to too. Trail was in great shape, climbed about 1500 feet. It was very rocky at the top,lots of talus slopes to cross, also a about a dozen snow fields I had to climb and cross. I had read they were there, most said they weren't an issue. That proved to be true. I made them all without any issues. It actually felt good to feel the cold in the warm of the sun. The views were incredible, my pics don't really do that justice. Wildflowers were everywhere too. It was a great day, great hike, and I will repeat this one sometime in the future. 6 miles total, climbed 1500, topped at about 6500. way cool. The only drawback was the traffic coming home. That took me 3.5 hours! shesshhh! I knew it was going to take come time, but wow, 3.5 hours to get home.... I had to deal with Tacoma traffic, pacific hwy south (UGH!) and then there is that Seattle nightmare: a mess as it always is. oh well... home at last. The drive over, and through the park though was very nice. That part made for a great road trip!
Tuesday was boring!!!..... :roll: :roll: nothing happened on Tuesday. :shock: :shock: :shock: It seems SO ODD to type that.... :lol: :lol: :lol: Well I did do a morning beach walk, so not all was lost! This morning found me on beach walk at Picnic Point. I had the time, and though why not? It was a bit gray and overcast, but still a nice morning stroll, in hand.
Wednesday after swimming we went for a walk at the Mesika Trail, by the Lynnwood Pool. We thought it would be fun to check on the berries there, see if more had come into fruit, do one more berry run at the pool trail . That was so fun. Nicholas found that hidden patch of wild raspberries last week, remembered where it was, so this week he once again climbed on in and ate them all, probably 10 of them in there, down from, the 50 found last week. We thought we had eaten them all last week, but found more this week. That was much to Nichoals's delight. He did save a few for his brother, who was busy with the huckleberries, and some early blackberries. It was fun. We ended up doing the whole trail, with alot of play time throughout of walk.
Thursday was our travel day. With the weather being as questionable as it was, and lots of thunderstorms and lightning in the mountains, we decided that a river trip probably wasn't a good ting to do. Even Nicholas said " Grammie? We don't need to go there. there are bad storms" and right he was. So... we opted for a visit to the Seattle Aquarium instead. That is always such a good choice, and this day was no exception. Nicholas has developed a fascination with the anemones. He loves to visit the touch tanks, and have them wrap their tentacles around his gingers. It really is kinda cool to watch. We visited just about all we could there , and spent alot of time at the tropical tanks too. Those are William's favorites. The weather did clear somewhat by the time we were ready to leave, so we also spent a little time at the Waterfront Park. We had lunch #2 there, and enjoyed what the waterfront has to offer.
Friday afternoon, after swimming, and some time spent with their Grammie Connie, was spent at a local park we have found. Meadowdale Park continues to be a favorite of Nicholas's. The playground equipment is really nice, with good challenges for him, and well there is that zip line. :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: That thing is so fun. Nicholas just loves it. He has been trying to master for some time now an item called the corkscrew. It rises about 15 feet up, one can climb it, and then slide down following the curved tube that makes the corkscrew. Now that he finally has this one down pat, he spent alot of time on it. Next he says he will b a pro at teh monkey bars. COOL! 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. ;-) It is so wonderful that we can find such great places to visit so close to home. Great times for the boys!
I am sitting here this morning, just like last week, trying to think what to write about the kitties.... and just like last week, thinking alot too about Mannie, and all the adventures he planned to for all the LL kitties. I so miss those days, and the fun, and relief from all the FD and the stress that comes with it. In that vein, Elsa, Lola and Bug decided that maybe the kitties would like to come to a Caturday party in the treehouse. They installed a disco ball and everything. A live DJ too, complete with a catmint bar, sushi bar, and fresh baked Paw Prints Pizza. Best show up kitities! Party On as Mannie would say.
The kitties are doing well here, all three of them. The last three days that Nicholas has napped here, I have found Bug sleeping, or watching, just outside of Nichoals's door, on the threshold. To me, that was huge. Could it be that Bug may take over where Mannie left off? I always swore that Mannie and Nicholas were bonded, inseparable, perhaps his feline GA is making sure all will be well. I always felt that Mannie sent Bug to us. They are just so much alike. Lola continues to be Lola, wild crazy fun Lola. Still the ultimate escape artist. She loves the outdoors, it has been hard to keep her inside. She is back to uprooting plants. 3 do far this week, all upturned, all with dirt everywhere. So so Lola! Elsa is doing well too. I really fo need to schedule her senior wellness exam, but keep putting it off. I am not too sure why, guess I don't want any bad news, though I really have no reason to suspect any. Her weight is down some, but she seems well otherwise. Elsa is still dong well, darn active for an almost 18 year old. She sleeps alot, but what the heck: part of being a cat. She continues to be a very good lap cat of late: nice! With the warm weather she has been out in the yard alot. Lola is SO JEALOUS!!, and lets me know it whenever she sees Big Sis out in the yard. :roll: It is interesting that Bug just doesn't seem to mind that all. He is more than content to be a house cat. Kitties are good, and All are sound asleep as I write this.... Stay good kitties! Normalcy in MusketeerVille! cat_pet_icon
Have a great day everyone! Enjoy your Caturday. The shopping is done, laundry almost done, rest of the day is free! :razz: :razz: :razz: I hope that later today I will be able to walk the trail here, to the shore. 0% chance of rains today, and temps remain in the mid 70's. it should still be a nice day to be out. Paws crossed!
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.
It is warming up once again for us PNW kitties, and Bug and Lola say they are turning off the pizza ovens early, cuz well it gets mega hot in there in the afternoons.... so best order early! So stop by Mannie's treehouse and get some pies! 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! PER LOLA: Caturday Party in the treehouse!!
[youtube]k_5zELmun9E[/youtube]
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? ;-) What a BUSY week! Truth be told, I prefer it that way.
We have been swimming, and hiking, and to playgrounds, and Aquariums. We have had lunches on the waterfront, car camping wise, and on grassy laws picnic style. These days are wonderful ones. Life is good!Wednesday and Friday, and Friday night, were our swimming days this week. We are getting closer to the end of summer pool scheduling, which I am so looking forward too. I believe Nicholas is too. Come September I will be able to spend much more time with William in the pool, when Nicholas enters a 2X/week pre-school type experience. When he goes to school, William goes to the pool. I am really looking forward to this, as it is more than apparent from a few previous visits, and times spend on the rivers, that William will love the water as much as Nicholas does. We are still swimming on Friday night. Nicholas really looks forward to this time together. I asked him the other nght if he would like William to start coming too, and he said "No Grammie. I love William, but this is our time, just me and you, OK?" I kinda had a feeling that this would be his answer, and so it shall be until he decides otherwise. We have been gong to the Snohomish Aquatic Center on Friday nights, due to summer schedules and conflicts in his other pools. He has decided that this pool is really very cool, and wants to make it his Friday night pool, maybe replacing the Terrace Pool that was our pool in the past. Aiyee.... it is nice, but the commute there is a killer. What we do to help them have a good experience, and learn in the pool. ;-) It is a bit of a drive, but we have made the time slot, get to swim, and still made it to his home at a decent hour. YAY! We are still trying to "convince" Nicholas that swim lessons would be great, but he is adamant that he does not want t do them. silly boy! ALl in good time. In the meantime I teach him what I can, and marvel at how well he does on his own.
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast too. That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. Last night we again talked pool closures, as well as all our berry hunts, swimming in the rivers, and the aquarium. He was really into that discussion, as we had spent the day swimming in and exploring some very cool rivers last week. He also talked alot about summer swim schedules and finally being able to swim again at his Friday night pool. He was one very happy boy. We also talked endlessly about how his pools were closed. I heard alot of "What a BUMMER!" ;-) I still love that drive from the pool to his house: 30 minutes of little guy stories, my little back seat driver! Quite the imagination he has. AWESOME TIME!
Monday found me out hiking.
I was out the door at 5AM, did not make it back until 6 or so... a long day! I went to Mt Rainier, and hiked the Skyline Ridge trail out of the Paradise area of the Park. The hike was excellent, that one is a keeper. I think I made about 6500 feet, me and about 200 other people. :lol: :lol: , yes it was that packed. That is the only drawback to Rainier. Some of those trails are very popular, and Paradise in general draws the crowds. I had to laugh at those wearing flip flops. Hope they enjoyed those on the talus, and the snow fields. HAHA, if they even made it that far. There was this guy that was climbing with this big huge shade umbrella. I wonder how far he made it to too. Trail was in great shape, climbed about 1500 feet. It was very rocky at the top,lots of talus slopes to cross, also a about a dozen snow fields I had to climb and cross. I had read they were there, most said they weren't an issue. That proved to be true. I made them all without any issues. It actually felt good to feel the cold in the warm of the sun. The views were incredible, my pics don't really do that justice. Wildflowers were everywhere too. It was a great day, great hike, and I will repeat this one sometime in the future. 6 miles total, climbed 1500, topped at about 6500. way cool. The only drawback was the traffic coming home. That took me 3.5 hours! shesshhh! I knew it was going to take come time, but wow, 3.5 hours to get home.... I had to deal with Tacoma traffic, pacific hwy south (UGH!) and then there is that Seattle nightmare: a mess as it always is. oh well... home at last. The drive over, and through the park though was very nice. That part made for a great road trip! Tuesday was boring!!!..... :roll: :roll: nothing happened on Tuesday. :shock: :shock: :shock: It seems SO ODD to type that.... :lol: :lol: :lol: Well I did do a morning beach walk, so not all was lost! This morning found me on beach walk at Picnic Point. I had the time, and though why not? It was a bit gray and overcast, but still a nice morning stroll,
in hand. Wednesday after swimming we went for a walk at the Mesika Trail, by the Lynnwood Pool. We thought it would be fun to check on the berries there, see if more had come into fruit, do one more berry run at the pool trail . That was so fun. Nicholas found that hidden patch of wild raspberries last week, remembered where it was, so this week he once again climbed on in and ate them all, probably 10 of them in there, down from, the 50 found last week. We thought we had eaten them all last week, but found more this week.
That was much to Nichoals's delight. He did save a few for his brother, who was busy with the huckleberries, and some early blackberries. It was fun. We ended up doing the whole trail, with alot of play time throughout of walk. Thursday was our travel day. With the weather being as questionable as it was, and lots of thunderstorms and lightning in the mountains, we decided that a river trip probably wasn't a good ting to do. Even Nicholas said " Grammie? We don't need to go there. there are bad storms"
and right he was. So... we opted for a visit to the Seattle Aquarium instead. That is always such a good choice, and this day was no exception. Nicholas has developed a fascination with the anemones. He loves to visit the touch tanks, and have them wrap their tentacles around his gingers. It really is kinda cool to watch. We visited just about all we could there , and spent alot of time at the tropical tanks too. Those are William's favorites. The weather did clear somewhat by the time we were ready to leave, so we also spent a little time at the Waterfront Park. We had lunch #2 there, and enjoyed what the waterfront has to offer. Friday afternoon, after swimming, and some time spent with their Grammie Connie, was spent at a local park we have found. Meadowdale Park continues to be a favorite of Nicholas's. The playground equipment is really nice, with good challenges for him, and well there is that zip line. :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: That thing is so fun. Nicholas just loves it. He has been trying to master for some time now an item called the corkscrew. It rises about 15 feet up, one can climb it, and then slide down following the curved tube that makes the corkscrew. Now that he finally has this one down pat, he spent alot of time on it. Next he says he will b a pro at teh monkey bars. COOL! 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. ;-) It is so wonderful that we can find such great places to visit so close to home. Great times for the boys!
I am sitting here this morning, just like last week, trying to think what to write about the kitties.... and just like last week, thinking alot too about Mannie, and all the adventures he planned to for all the LL kitties. I so miss those days, and the fun, and relief from all the FD and the stress that comes with it. In that vein, Elsa, Lola and Bug decided that maybe the kitties would like to come to a Caturday party in the treehouse. They installed a disco ball and everything. A live DJ too, complete with a catmint bar, sushi bar, and fresh baked Paw Prints Pizza. Best show up kitities! Party On as Mannie would say.
The kitties are doing well here, all three of them. The last three days that Nicholas has napped here, I have found Bug sleeping, or watching, just outside of Nichoals's door, on the threshold. To me, that was huge. Could it be that Bug may take over where Mannie left off? I always swore that Mannie and Nicholas were bonded, inseparable, perhaps his feline GA is making sure all will be well. I always felt that Mannie sent Bug to us. They are just so much alike. Lola continues to be Lola, wild crazy fun Lola. Still the ultimate escape artist. She loves the outdoors, it has been hard to keep her inside. She is back to uprooting plants. 3 do far this week, all upturned, all with dirt everywhere. So so Lola! Elsa is doing well too. I really fo need to schedule her senior wellness exam, but keep putting it off. I am not too sure why, guess I don't want any bad news, though I really have no reason to suspect any. Her weight is down some, but she seems well otherwise. Elsa is still dong well, darn active for an almost 18 year old. She sleeps alot, but what the heck: part of being a cat. She continues to be a very good lap cat of late: nice! With the warm weather she has been out in the yard alot. Lola is SO JEALOUS!!, and lets me know it whenever she sees Big Sis out in the yard. :roll: It is interesting that Bug just doesn't seem to mind that all. He is more than content to be a house cat. Kitties are good, and All are sound asleep as I write this.... Stay good kitties! Normalcy in MusketeerVille!
cat_pet_icon Have a great day everyone! Enjoy your Caturday. The shopping is done, laundry almost done, rest of the day is free! :razz: :razz: :razz: I hope that later today I will be able to walk the trail here, to the shore. 0% chance of rains today, and temps remain in the mid 70's. it should still be a nice day to be out. Paws crossed!
KITTIES! Remember: think BLUE, think GREEN cat_pet_icon
