Yabba Dabba Doo!

After much deliberation, we have settled on our halloween costumes:

Drew: A ketchup bottle with a hamburger, hotdog and container of french fries hanging around his neck
Gracie: A jockey - complete with riding crop, goggles, cap, horse and boots
Jim: Fred Flintstone complete with caveman club
Chris: Wilma Flintstone (since I ordered the costumes, I ordered the "sexy Wilma" costume!)
Daisy Mae: Dino Flintstone

We are getting into the whole Flintstone theme and have been practicing the theme song!!! And I ordered the 3rd season DVD from Amazon so we have all the lingo down!

There will be great pics!

2nd place

People have been asking about the results of the Tuna Tournament....Jim won 2nd place! We have the trophy and I will post pics as soon as I have a chance - so check back - it is a real beauty!!

Best Doggie Friends

This is Daisy Mae (on the right) and her best friend Toby. Toby lives next door and the two of them play together a few times a week. We can let Daisy out the front door and tell her to go see if Toby can play and she runs next door and paws at Toby's front door. Toby was a rescued dog who was abused by his previous owner. When our neighbor Rob adopted him, he was REALLY timid. But he has learned that whatever Daisy does is safe and he follows her lead. He now plays with the kids, drinks out of the hose and wanders into our house. When he was younger he didn't even like coming into the front yard. They are truly best friends. They play chase and wrestle around chewing on each others ears, necks and legs!

Happy 7th Birthday!

Here are some pics of Gracie's 7th birthday. We did our traditional Japanese dinner with the whole family. Gracie did the very traditional sprite bomb!

Here she is on her new birthday bike - which she LOVES!

Heart Walk is a HUGE succcess!

Thanks to all our fabulous friends and family, the Heart Walk was a HUGE success! With matching donations, we raised $3310! Thank you, thank you, thank you!


As promised, we painted to dog to add to the festive nature of the event! She was a big hit!

It does not get any cuter than this.... Sam and Gracie holding hands, walking behind Grandpa Tom at the Heart Walk!
That dog is a saint! She just stood there and let us spray paint hearts on her!

Thanks again to everyone who opened their hearts and wallets for a good cause!

Matt, eat your heart out....

This may be the winning tuna. Jim was in a tuna tournament that lasted most of the summer and right now he is in first place with this tuna! It was 28.3 pounds! He would win $1500 in cash and prizes. The BEST part though, is he would get a tuna trophy! Can't wait to see what that looks like! We are currently searching for place of honor in the house to hold this glorious trophy! The tournament is over on Sunday so we are praying for high winds so no one else can go out fishing.
This is what a trophy winning tuna looks like when it turns into dinner! Not sure why the beer is in the pic - you will have to ask Jim, who was the photographer. It may be he couldn't hold his beer and take a picture too!
These guys are just a bunch of clowns! Happy, smelly clowns!
Each of these tuna were about 20 pounds - thus the grimacing on Jim's face.
This picture is ridiculous but Jim and Drew insisted it be added to the blog.

PS - Matt is my Kentucky Hillbilly cousin who is probably losing his mind looking at these pics! Hi Matt! November is not coming fast enough, is it?

Fisherman's Story (AKA Good News - Bad Bews)

The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim-faced Alaska State Troopers.

"We're sorry Mr. Wilken, but we have some information about your wife," said one trooper.

"Tell me! Did you find her?" Wilken shouted.

The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Fearing the worst, an ashen Mr. Wilken said, "Give me! the bad news first."

The trooper said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in Kachemak Bay."

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Wilken. Swallowing hard, he asked, "What's the good news?"

The trooper continued, "When we pulled her up she had twenty, five pound king crabs and 6 good-size Dungeness crabs clinging to her."

Stunned, Mr. Wilken demanded, "If that's the good news, what's the great news?"

The trooper said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow ! "

Chicken Dog

We were going to have Daisy Mae be a zebra for Halloween but then we saw this costume and we couldn't believe it! Is there a more perfect costume for Daisy??? There will be great pics of her dressed up with Rowdy, Maverick and Betty in the background!

Tuna Man!!!

Jim took the day off of work yesterday because it was a hot fish bite and the tuna were only 30 miles offshore (vs the usual 70 to 80 miles). In case you are not aware: hot tuna bite + less than 50 miles off shore = a national holiday!

The haul was worth it --- they got about 30 tuna!!

Just rest assured while you and I are working the common mans jobs.....Jim is out there doing the important work of making sure there are not too many tuna in the ocean!

Aren't you feeling safer now?

A Dog's Bad Day

Earlier this week, I got up early to go running and went thru my normal routine:
Crawl out of bed and while still asleep, get dressed, put in my contacts and head downstairs. Usually before I have even turned on the bathroom light (which is about 5 feet from my bed), the dog has heard me and is there wagging her tail and ready to go.

That particular morning, she was a "no show" for the first time ever!!! As I was leaving the bedroom, Jim said to me, "the dog is in Drew's room". So I figured she was sleeping in there and was just out cold and had not heard me. I assumed that once she heard me walking down the hall and the stairs, she would be up.

So I go down stairs and put on my shoes....still no dog!?!? So I whistle for her. She can hear me whistle a mile away and stops everything she is doing and comes running.

Still no dog!!

What?? Now I am sure she is dead - must have had a doggie heart attack or aneurysm.

At that point Jim comes to the landing upstairs and leans over to tell me that Daisy is in Drew's room and the door is CLOSED!!!

The poor thing must have been screaming......"WAIT FOR ME, I AM HERE, I HAVE NO THUMBS, I CAN'T TURN THE DOOR KNOB, DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT ME!!!!!"

He opened the door and she came hauling butt downstairs looking very concerned!

I would say that was the begining of a bad dog day --- which got better when she got to go out for a run!

Gracie's a star!

Gracie played in her first soccer game of the season this weekend. It was also her first game on an all girl team, the Wild Butterflies. She was awesome! She scored 4 goals and was mowing over the other players....not being mean just going for the ball! She is totally built for speed and could run circles around others on the field.

Kid Sandwich

Yesterday, Deb's kids (Tyler and Jeremy) were over and they decided to use the couch cushions to make kid sandwiches! The blankets represent cheese or lettuce and the kids are meat! The cushions are "buns"!

My favorite place in the world...

This is where we spent the last weekend - my favorite spot in the world - Cherry Lake. This is a lake that is remote and on the edge of Yosemite. We spent the weekend boat camping. For the first time we slept on the boat - it was great fun laying there looking up at the stars. The days were spent swimming, fishing, hiking and inner tubing. The best part was kayaking around in the water that was like glass. Drew and I had a great time fishing for blue gill at nite with our head lamps.

I can only hope that you find a place in your life that brings you such peace. It is really a little bit of heaven on earth.

Happy Birthday to You!

September 5 was Daisy Mae's 3rd birthday. We had a little celebration at the lake this weekend complete with candles, cupcakes and dog party hats. Unfortunately, she was so tired from being at the lake and swimming all day that she was falling asleep while we were singing to her!