Our newest addition

Anyone who has talked to Emmy or London over the past nine months knows that they are crazy about border collies.  It all started when I found some cute movies at the library called "Mist".  They're a series of little stories based on some border collies on a farm in Devon, England.  For Christmas they both asked Santa for a stuffed animal border collie, for Easter they got stuffed animal sheep for the border collies to "round up".  All the while they have been hounding (no pun intended) Stevie and I to get a real border collie when we returned to the States.  We always knew we would get a dog when we returned, but not so sure about a border collie.

Guess what?  They won!  Yes, after searching shelters, websites and rescue societies, we found a man who was fostering 6 border collies.  One trip out there and our hearts melted for a sweet 4-year old boy name "Jenson".  He's a smooth coat border collie which means he's not quite as fluffy as what you might think of a border collie, but he's also not quite as rambunctious as a "typical" border collie which fits our speed just fine.

The foster house held him for us until we could get into our house, have the shipments arrive, and have the kitties delivered to us.  Once all these things were accomplished, we headed out to pick up our new pup.



At the foster house

After much debate, we decided to rename him "McPhereson" or "Mick" for short. We wanted a good Scottish name (for the breed) and McPhereson was a character in some of the Mist movies (albeit he was a cantankerous sheep).

So now we welcome our new friend...Mick!

Playing ball..

Going for our first walk...

This would be a great picture if I weren't scooping poop!

The girl and her border collie

Snuggling on the couch...

Unpack, shop, unpack, shop...

I haven't written anything since our shipments came because the time has been spent mainly unpacking and shopping.  I guess that's what life is like when you first move.  Unpack, unpack, unpack, find spots for all your stuff, move stuff around the house, drag empty boxes out to the garage, etc.  And then you take a break from that to go shopping: shop for groceries, shop for cleaning products, shop for mattress pads, shop for furniture, etc.  Let me tell you, the kids have just loved it! Ha, ha!

But on Wednesday our good friend and former Oki neighbor and cat babysitter, Kelly, brought Kimono and Obi back to us.  What a great reason to put away the shopping and the work to have a day of fun!  It was a beautiful hot (for here) day so we looked up where all the parks were in Gig Harbor, picked one close by and headed out.

This park was called Sehmel Homestead Park and it was a former homestead donated to the city and converted into a wonderful park with ball fields, playground, outdoor amphitheatre and 3 mile trail.

Just a few minutes after we got there we heard the tinkling music of an ice cream truck!  Kelly and I sat on a bench and watched every single kid on the playground go running to their parents to beg for an ice cream - except mine!  I thought, "How sad, they've been in Japan for three years and don't know what an ice cream truck is."

Of course we had to have an ice cream!

Emmy's face, post fudge pop!

That night we enjoyed a nice dinner on the deck.

And then Kelly entertained the kids by drawing a border collie.

Can you tell they love Kelly?

Moving day

Since we've been waiting so long to get into our house, all of our shipments from Japan made it here weeks ago and have actually been waiting on us.  We gladly set up delivery of our express and household goods on the same day and at 9:00 this morning both trucks pulled up within minutes of each other.

The express took about 45 minutes to unload, whereas the household took several hours, but thanks to the kids (especially Cannon) and Stevie, alot of the stuff got unpacked while the movers were still here.

Now we're trying to find homes for all our stuff which is always a tough thing to do.  Although this house is huge, there is very little wall space so I'm finding it a bit tough to find good places for all my oriental furniture.  But have no fear, I will find places!

The kids were thrilled to have their toys back and were most thrilled when the mattresses we bought were delivered so they could sleep in their own rooms in their own beds tonight.

Now we wait a little longer for our stuff that was put in storage in Virginia to come and then we'll be all put together.

The waiting is the hardest part

Remember that song?  Well, that about sums up our family's feelings about this house!  We've been waiting and waiting and waiting, and now the big day has arrived, and we're still waiting because the previous owners have until 9:00 PM to surrender the keys!!!

We passed the time by going to the local state park for a walk.

I think he's checking his phone to see if Heidi had called...

And then at 4:50 PM we got the call from Heidi, our agent, they've left and we can move in!!!!  She met us at the house, turned over the keys and we're now officially not homeless any more!

I anticipated having to clean, clean, clean all night, but the former owners left the place immaculate so instead we got to have dinner on the deck with Mt. Rainier shining down on us.

View from the deck - see Rainier?

And then witness our first spectacular sunset from the front of the house.

Berry Pickers

Kelly is a ball of energy, she actually runs one speed faster than I do, which is saying something, so I knew that we'd have some active days during our visit with her.  Today was no exception!

We started by going to a pick-your-own farm.  The kids have never really gotten to pick fruit before, at least that they remember, so this was a new experience.  From where I'm from strawberries are usually ripe in early June, but here July is strawberry season and so that's what we picked.  Lots and lots of sweet, juicy strawberries.

If only she'd eat some of those berries...

From the strawberry fields (hey, that reminds me of a song...), we went to the Naval base to pick up Dave from his flight school and then have a repeat of yesterday - a pic-nic on the beach and a stroll and play on the beach.  Today, unfortunately, was about 15 degrees cooler because the sun wasn't out, so the boys lost interest, but Emmy played on!

We drove back to Anacortes to drop the kids at home so that Kelly and I could go antique shopping in town for the afternoon.  Nothing like a little girls time - and a stop at the Donut House - to raise your spirits.

As we were in the antique stores, the weather cleared and we decided to make one last run to the lake before our visit ended.  So we headed home, packed up dinner fixings and headed to the lake.  It turned out to be a beautiful evening for the kids to get in one last swim while Mike grilled dinner.  Kelly and I also borrowed a paddle boat from her friend and took the little ones on a cruise of the lake.  They liked it so much they asked to go again after dinner, with only Ms. Kelly though.

Heading out

Sunset cruise

Lady of leisure!

What a great way to end our stay with the Paynes.  Tomorrow we head back to Gig Harbor and to our house!

Deception Pass and Whidbey Island

This morning we headed out with Kelly for a great day!  She first took us to Deception Pass state park for a look at the famous bridge, a walk along the beach and then a hike up Goose Rock Summit for an overview of Widbey Island.  It was awesomely beautiful - really amazing!

Emmy and London made this hollowed out tree their den - they were quite convinced they were wolves (can't you tell by their faces?)

A natural see-saw

Hiking up the trail.

The kids were getting hungry by the time we got to the top so they were getting moody.  I love this photo!

After we reached the summit and hiked back down to the car, we drove on to the Naval base where we picked up David and drove out to the beach on base for a pic-nic lunch.  The beach there was really different with huge drift wood trees washed up on the beach.  People had made forts and other structures out of the trees which Emmy really enjoyed playing in.

After playing on the beach for a little bit, we left to have a play date with some of Kelly's friend's kids.  It was a beautiful afternoon to play at the park.

After the park we went back to Kelly's for pizza and then another trip to the lake for a little swim for  the kids.  Kelly started a fire and we all roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  What a fun-filled day!