Our Cruise Vacation

When it rains...it pours

 This is the calm AFTER the storm.

We were without power from about 7:15 pm Wednesday, till today (Thursday) at 5:00 pm.

(It's amazing how I take electricity for granted.) Not to mention that mom and dad are STILL without power.

 My poor little cucumber plant got beat up by the hail. Our squash and zucchini leaves have holes in them. And our tomatoes have dents in them now.

 As if the outside storm damage wasn't a big enough mess, we woke up to the lovely spraying-of-water sound...

 The hot water heater pipe was busted.

The hot water heater closet wasn't that bad; it was the bathroom floor. The water went under the wall and into the bathroom - mmm, about 1/2 inch deep. A couple of my towels were ruined from drying the floor and using them as floor mats, but luckily mom is a great clothes washer.

 The plumber had to cut a hole in our bathroom wall to see the pipes of the water heater on the other side. Lovely.

According to him, electricity from the lightning ran through the pipes and burnt out the wiring in the control panel inside the tank. And then one of the pipes burst inside it.

Four hours of no toilet usage, no running water, and $955 dollars later...we have a new water heater (with no linoleum underneath).

Just fantastic.

Gus's First Bath

We gave Gus his first bath Saturday.

 He looks like an overgrown wet rat in this picture! I love it.

Other than escaping 1 time from Jason's grasp, Gus did a good job while Jason was bathing him. I have to give Jason props...he's so much better at this dog thing that I am. I can't handle the animal hair and the stinky dog smell.

Quick Beach Trip

Mom and I took a quick ride down to the beach to see Kelli and the kids, and to let Gavin and Karis play with each other. One day was plenty of sand for me.

(I just loved Karis's sandy little hiney.)

My 2 Favorite Boys in the Whole Wide World

Silly Stuff

The fireman HAD to wear his hat, but nothing else, while he took care of business.

Iron Man riding on a purple Hannah Montana skateboard.

Swim time with Karis (she's wearing Gavin's swim trunks and swim shirt)

Baby Birds

We had a bird's nest under our carport. We saw the baby birds inside of it for several days. But one morning we woke up and found 2 of the birds on the ground underneath it where they had fallen out of the nest.

 I scooped them up with some of Gavin's sand shovels and put them into a shoebox container. (I didn't know what else to do.) Jason got out his ladder and put the container on top of the ladder as close to the nest as possible. We were hoping the mama bird would see them and still feed them. And she did.

About the middle of last week, I noticed I didn't hear the baby birds chirping anymore and went out to check on them. They had both flown away.

Double Daisy

Two of my daisy stems grew together...

and made a double daisy flower.

Just thought that was cool.

New Project

This is the next project I want to work on:

Button Tree

A New Family Member

Meet Gus...

He is our newest family member. He's a lab mix. We bought him Saturday at the humane society, and then picked him up yesterday after he was neutered. I have a feeling he's going to be a big dog. He's only 3 months old and already 19.6 pounds! Yikes!