gastropodus visitorius

Behold the lowly slug, who spreads a shiny trail of happiness behind him wherever he goes!



We like to poke slugs (gently) in the eye stalk, and then yell, "AAAAGH!  MY EYE!"  as they retract.  I promise it's hilarious. 





Kate was quite thrilled when this little slug crawled onto her hand, but discovered an inconvenient fact--that slime is hard to wash off!

Jessica Beecher said that her ducks would like to eat Kate's slug.  I told her Kate would certainly disapprove.  Sluggy stayed with us overnight in a jar, and then returned to the great outdoors.

Cosmos and Cold Noodles

We went down to Lakewood to get some Korean lunch for my coming-home-from-mission anniversary day. And since we were out of kim (seaweed), we had to stop by Paldo World first to get some. Outside Paldo World was this big stand of cosmos flowers. Cosmos always make me think of Korea in the fall.  It's not quite fall here yet--we've just barely had our Pacific Northwest Summer, during which everyone is miserable for about a week or so because no one has air conditioning here, and then it goes back to normal. 



I got some naeng myun at Chung Ki Wa. By this point the warm weather had broken and Saturday was rather cool, but I'd been thinking about cold noodles all week so I went ahead and got some anyway. (As it turned out it was not the best naeng myun I've had... I like Chung Ki Wa but they seem rather inconsistent. It had apple slices in it instead of pear. I've never seen that.)



The kids mostly ate lots of rice and kim, and whatever else we could tempt them with. I gave Kate the half-a-hard-boiled-egg out of my naeng myun. She has recently discovered that she likes hard boiled eggs. (We hardly ever make them. Doug is not a fan.)



I also got some kimchi jjigae to go, to take home and eat for leftovers. It's always better the next day!



Here I am at Dae Dun San, in Korea, surrounded by cosmos (looks like some daisies in there too).  This was taken in early October, 1992. 

Basket Case

We use this plastic basket when we go to the pool or the beach.  Andy found another use for it. 

Five Little Ducks

The Beechers invited us over to see their ducklings and rabbits.  They have their own little backyard menagerie.





Kate gets to hold a duckling.




The ducklings are Khaki Campbells. Aren't they cute?

Andy counted them--"One, two, three, four, five!  Five ducks!"





Andy thinks the ducklings might like a crayon.
 



They run around on the lawn (with supervision, of course) always keeping together in a flock. Safety in numbers!




Andy and Asher on the trampoline.




More bunny snuggles.



Our own animal experiences have mostly been limited to things that fit in bug jars, so it's fun to be able to spend some time with friends' animals!

Wildwood Park

Wildwood Park in Puyallup has this gorgeous little spot with a playground next to a shallow stream. We were out there a couple of weeks ago and loved it, so we went back with some Primary friends (from church) and took the camera.



Andy tip-toeing into the cold water.



The bank on the other side of the stream has this cool network of exposed roots (lots of erosion from years of climbing children, I'm sure). The whole place just makes a lovely setting. It actually reminded me of a cross between Korea and John Bryan State Park where I grew up in Ohio. (But without the humidity.)



Getting some help from Daddy.



Kate had a bit of seed fluff (like the kind you'd get from a milkweed plant) that she was playing with, and she was quite distraught when she dropped it and couldn't find it.





Andy, framed.

I ended up taking more pictures of the other kids than of my own. Here are a few:






We took along some lunch. I've discovered that it's difficult to get the kids to stop playing long enough to eat. Maybe next time we'll have them eat in the car.

Take a picture, it'll last longer.

Life's odd little moments. We seem to be having more of those, with Kate home from school. Here's a little frozen-in-time memory from today:  Kate goes out and plays in a dirty puddle with the neighbors.  Kate comes in and has a bath.  Kate eats lunch.  Kate asks me to take a picture of her yogurt.




Why am I taking a picture of Kate's yogurt?  She spotted a dinosaur skull in her spoonful.  Can you see it?  I've been taking a lot of pictures of food lately, by request.  Interesting pancakes and other things. 



How many seven-year-olds will eat plain Greek yogurt?  (Even if it does have dinosaurs in it!)

Cousin Margaret Rose

My brother Peter and his wife Karen welcomed their third daughter, Margaret Rose (they're going to call her Megan for short), July 23 at 1:06 pm, 8 lbs 6 oz, 21.5", with red hair like her sister Lizbeth. Baby and parents are doing well!

Growing up, Peter occasionally lamented being the only boy in the family. Now he has three girls!

Crabs at Kopachuck

We don't have a big trip happening this summer. I've had the feeling that the whole summer could get away from us if we don't make the effort to seize the day. Doug and I both tend to be kind of homebodies, and not really good planners, so it can be an effort to get the family out of the house and doing things. Doug picked up a Discovery Pass for us a while ago (good for all state parks!) but today was the first time we used it.

We took the kids out to Kopachuck State Park in Gig Harbor. I'd heard about it but hadn't ever been there before. It's a very cool beach--the water is sheltered and shallow, and there are lots of creatures. (It was a nice day for it, too. Not too sunny. Is that weird? I actually do better if it's not super sunny.)



Doug points out the little crabs in the water. Kate thought the crabs were great fun. (That weird thing sticking out from behind Kate is a large plastic dinosaur that she's holding. Just in case you're wondering why she's sprouting chicken feet.)



My camera battery died right after this (whoops!) but we did get some video. You can see a pretty good view of the crabs in the water, and at the end you can see Andy making letters with his fingers.



Lots of fun!  We'll have to go back again.

pretzelus giganticus

We went to the Indian buffet in Lakewood for lunch, and stopped by the Hess Bakery to pick up some pretzels. (Not that one needs anything else to eat after a lunch like that, but these pretzels are always worth getting.) They come in large and VERY LARGE. Kate opted for the super-sized variety.  So of course we had to get some pictures..





How long do you think it'll take her to eat that?