Our Fun Weekend

We just spent a great weekend with the Muffolettos.  

First, Grace and I went to see "Wicked" in Seattle with Joei and Miranda.  

I have heard lots of people talk about how great "Wicked" is, and I have been excited to see it, but I thought "I'm sure it's good and everything, but come on people, it's just a show, no need to rave on about it."   

But... holy cow!

They weren't kidding.  It was absolutely amazing, one of the coolest things I've ever been to.  Ever.  I seriously loved it SO much.  

The Paramount Theater was gorgeous, and it was fun walking to and from the show through downtown Seattle.  What an awesome city.  After the show, we went out to a delicious dinner at The Cheesecake Factory before taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island back to the boys.  It was a perfect girls day out.

The next day, the men got their turn for some fun, when they went to the Seahawks - Bears game.  Filipe has season tickets, but it was Garreth's first NFL game and he loved it! 

While they were at the game, we took the kids to the Harvest Fair on the island.  It was a very beautiful day.  The kids got to ride horses,

and get their faces painted.

We took a wagon ride,

and slid into big piles of hay.

There were so many fun things to see and do.

It was a great weekend spent with great friends.  Thanks, Muffs!!  We love you!

Introducing...

...not 

Greg,

Ramone,

Buddy,

Patrick,

Bum,

Seamus,

Norman,

Biscuit,

Ozzy,

Chancho,

Jesus,

John McCain,

or Frank.

Those names were all close, but after days of family deliberation, meetings, and votes, there really was ever only one name for the Ratchford family dog, and it's 

NACHO!

Doesn't he just look thrilled?

(I think he may have been voting for Ozzy.)

The Prodigal Dad

We survived - Garreth is home!  

We didn't do all the fun things that I had planned to keep us busy (taking care of four kids and a puppy kept me busy enough!), but we did do a few easy, fun projects, like fingerpainting:

And we also did lots of picking up after this guy.  (Man, he loves to chew!)

Garreth didn't get home until late Saturday night, and the big kids insisted that I wake them up to surprise him.  So here they are at 11:30 at night, waiting for his car to pull in.

He was very excited to see them, since he assumed they'd all be in bed and he wouldn't get to see them until morning.  After lots of hugs, we brought him inside and made him cover his eyes for our other big surprise.

He was VERY surprised, but also excited.  Man and dog bonded immediately.

On Sunday morning, Garreth gave us all the presents he brought back from Ireland - 

lots of fun Halloween stuff from the cousins, loads of candy and crisps,  

some really cool rugby outfits for the little boys,

and some great Puma jackets for me, Grace, and Liam.

We are just so excited to have him home!   

As soon as things get back to normal and we all aren't following him around every second of the day and demanding every minute of his time, I'll have him load his trip pics on here!  

Dreams Do Come True

For years, I thought of myself as a "dog person."  We always had a dog when I was growing up and I enjoy other people's well-behaved dogs.  Then a few negative dog experiences proved me wrong.  (Including having a dog raise his leg and pee down my back while I was sitting on the beach at Bear Lake.  Yes, seriously.  I couldn't make that stuff up.)  

I came to the realization that maybe I'm not a dog person.  Maybe I just want to be a dog person.  And I could have lived with that, if it weren't for two things: 1) I live with four of the biggest dog people I've ever met, and 2) I have a deep-rooted belief that all kids should have a dog.  It's like a childhood right.  

So a few months ago we started to research breeds and decided that if the perfect dog came along, we'd go for it.  But the stars really needed to align because our "dream dog" list was long.   But on Sunday, we came across a Craigslist posting that sounded too good to be true, everything we were looking for.  Long story short?

Say hello to our little friend.

Here's the rundown:

5 months old Golden Retriever (with a tiny bit of lab)

Perfect with kids

Mellow in the house, active and playful outside

Loves meeting new people, but doesn't jump

Also doesn't bark - we still haven't heard what his voice sounds like, even with all the barking dogs in our neighborhood.

House-trained - yay!

Absolutely the cutest dog I have ever seen

Currently named Tucker, with new name ideas in negotiation 

After picking him up in Bellingham, we took him to Lake Padden for a walk and to get to know each other better.

We had to have leash-holding shifts since everyone was so excited.

Finally!  The girl has a dog!

And a few non-dog pictures:

Liam and Sam were pumped to wear their Halloween shirts, but ended up getting too hot on the 2.5 mile trail.  Everyone we passed smiled at this sight:

So, yes, we are officially dog owners and couldn't be happier about it.  We haven't told Garreth, and the kids are dying to surprise him Saturday night.  Getting the dog this week while he's gone seemed a little crazy, but it actually worked out great, since we have something new to focus on instead of just missing Daddy.  

The most surprising part is how utterly and completely I've fallen in love with my new boy.  He is just an absolutely easy, sweet, and perfect dog.  

I think maybe I am a dog person after all.  

It just took meeting the right one.

Eirinn

In my 33 years, I have lived in many different places and traveled to a few more, but there are only three places on this earth that have ever truly felt like home to me:  Cache Valley, Birch Bay, and Ireland.  I know, how crazy is that?  I've only been there twice, yet I claim it as a sort of "second homeland."  A lot of that has to do with the fact that Ireland is the homeland to the person who is my home.  It also might just be the most beautiful place on earth, with a people and culture that I absolutely adore.  

Whatever the reason, this week has been a hard one, since the person I love most is in the place I love most for nine whole days.   And I'm not.  

 I'm okay with being on my own with the kids.  We have a pretty structured routine and we have lots of fun together, although the weekends are hard and  the nights get lonely when they're all in bed.  I had a huge to-do list of things to keep me busy and uber-productive during that quiet time of night, which included:  painting the stair walls, organizing the garage, cleaning the blinds and windows, working on baby books, building shelves for the shed, and organizing every set of drawers.  Overly ambitious.  

It's a shame that my list didn't include:  watch "Mamma Mia" and other cheesy musicals that Garreth would never watch with me, stay up until 2 in the morning bawling my eyes out to finish reading "The Time-Traveler's Wife," and sniffling my way through "P.S. I Love You."  (How did I not know that the whole movie is about a dead Irish husband and that half of the movie is set in Ireland?!  Perhaps not the most timely choice for this week...)  But if my list had included those things, I would feel pretty dang good about getting so much done.  In fact, I think I'm going to add "watch AE's Pride and Prejudice"  to my list.  That'll kill another six lonely hours... 

Something that makes me smile

Tennant Lake

Last week Garreth was in northern Alaska for work, and by Friday we were really missing him something fierce.  So after school we tried to distract ourselves by going walking around Tennant Lake.  

But before heading onto the trail, we took our time at the lovely Fragrance Gardens.  

Everything planted there has a strong scent and is marked with little signs so you can tell what plant it is as you lean over to smell it.

It is a very fun place to explore.

Then it was onto the boardwalk for our walk. 

Tennant Lake is not so much a lake as wetlands, so most of the mile-long loop is on a boardwalk and over little bridges.  

The signs say there are many cranes, frogs, beavers, and other animals, but let's face it, they hear our little family from a mile away and have plenty of time to hide!

We spent a lot of time studying water-skipper bugs, and Grace tried in vain to catch a fish.

We are blessed to live in a place with so many places to indulge our young naturalists' curiosity.