Build a Better Mouse Trap...

...And maybe the mice won't take off with it. We have recently found ourselves in the middle of a small crisis involving small, furry, four-legged creatures. They have infiltrated our home, and make no effort to hide their presence (several have passed right under the dog's nose, while she was sleeping of course, knowing full well the dog wasn't going to do anything about them). We have tried trapping them, however, they mock us by simply dragging the traps down their holes with them after being caught in them. One night Jeremy and I heard the tell-tale SNAP! of the trap closing on its victim, followed by a horrible racket for about 30 seconds, then silence. HA HA! we're thinking as we drift off to sleep; another one bites the dust! Alas, when Jeremy went to check the trap in the morning, he not only found no mouse, but NO TRAP. Yes, the horrible noise was the mouse dragging the trap across the kitchen floor to its getaway hole. There are several entrances, apparently, into our home, and although we have blocked them (with traps, which could be our problem), the mice still enter. So, Jeremy took matters to a different level and brought home a more "advanced" mouse trap. No, not de-con, not a sticky trap. It's called "Zooey". Here are a few pictures of it:

Yes, it's a kitty. As far as kitties go, however, it's really a good one. She's very tolerant of Cadence, and lets the girl drag her all over the house, upside down, right-side up, curled in a little ball, hanging by her middle. Her favorite pasttime is snuggling, which she does pretty well. She tolerates Kennedy very kindly, and Ange has really taken to her as well. She came to us box trained, so we had little to do there but encourage, and although I haven't seen that she's actually doing much about the mouse problem, the mice have stopped coming around. Maybe word got out that there's a new force to be reckoned with in this place. Or maybe that one mouse never made it out of the trap and it's rotting carcass is putting out the message. Either way, something is working to our advantage in this saga of 'mice and men' (well, mostly women in this house), so I think we'll keep the balance of good karma we've got going on and let the cat stay a little while longer.

Pumpkin Carving,Round One

Jeremy and Cadence carved the first pumpkin of this 'season' together a couple of weeks ago. Good thing we got a couple pictures, because it does NOT look like this now. It's amazing how quickly things spoil sitting in the house, or on the step... There are a few images missing because I was trying to get some video instead. I'll see if I can get that up in the next couple of days.

~Too Cute~

The other morning Cadence really wanted to go on a walk. Well, it was overcast, and still pretty cool out, and even looked like it might rain (which it did). So, we bundled everyone up, tucked the girls in the bike trailer/stroller, and pulled the flap down so they were nice and cozy, then headed over to the cemetery to harass the ducks, geese, and swan. The girls just looked too cute all snuggled in together, so I just had to take a picture. Like I said, it did end up raining on us, pretty good actually, and instead of staying undercover for the 10 minutes or so that it poured, I thought I might be able to beat the worst of it home. Nope. I beat the sunshine home by about 30 seconds. It wasn't two minutes after we got in that the rain stopped completely, the clouds broke up, and the day warmed up and got really nice out. Oh well. :)

Cheeeeeeeese!

Are you okay over there? I'm not smooshing you, am I?

Nana's Visit & Trip to the Beach

So for weeks Cadence talked about going to the beach, we're going to the beach, and she would name all these people that were going to the beach with her - Nana, Pop-Pop, Papa John, Gramma, Auntie Pammy, Uncle Jared, Uncle Joey, Dylan...the list goes on and on. So, while Nana was here for a visit, we went to the beach. En route, however, it came out that Cadence believed that there would be lots of animals to see at the beach - lions, elephants, penguins, etc. Turns out, she had mixed up beach and zoo. This whole time she was wanting to go to the zoo, and we took her too the beach. Well, we'll get to the zoo eventually, but while Nana was here, we went on different adventures.

We were so glad to have Nana come visit! She brought with her a little of her Nana magic; Kennedy was in a great mood and started sleeping better at night, and Cadence was an absolute doll, breaking out the cute every minute. Not that the girls are horrible when Nana isn't there. They are both wonderful, but sometimes hanging out with Mom gets old, so when Nana was here, it was like magic the way everyone was sunshiney and happy from the moment they woke up until they went to bed without a fuss.

The weekend Nana got here, Jeremy was on call. He wanted to take her to the Farmer's Market on Sunday, and they had just headed over when he got called in for the second time that morning. Nana was stranded at the hospital until the girls and I got out of church, and Jeremy didn't get finished until much later that evening. Unfortunately, this hospital basically shuts down for the weekend, so there was no cafeteria, gift shop, or any other entertaining thing going on to keep Nana occupied until we could get there to rescue her.

Cadence was so excited every morning to wake up and have Nana right here in our living room. She was especially excited when her friend Lily came over for a quick minute. Cadence introduced Lily to "My friend, Nana" and then made her give Nana a hug. Lily has a Nana that lives in Alabama, and didn't think twice about giving someone else's Nana a hug. Cadence also got to show Nana how much fun she has at Kid's Castle, as well as one of the places we like to go buy fruit (they were getting ready for their Fall Harvest Festival and had a hay maze set up, so Cadence showed Nana how good she is at running the hay mazes), and we took Nana swimming with us at the YMCA.

The weekend before Nana left, we took her to Seattle and to REI, Molbak's, and Olympic Beach in Edmonds. (I have some pictures from the outing at Molbak's with the girls posing in the pumpkin displays, but I have to figure out a way to get them off Jeremy's phone first.) Cadence had fun looking for shells. Right now we don't have to worry about her collecting anything to bring home because as soon as she finds a shell, she runs and throws it in the water. We tried showing her a couple of really neat rocks, and found some good-sized shells. She was really enthusiastic about the finds, exclaiming "Oh yeah!" and "Wow, that's really big!". Then she would take the treasure from whomever had found it and run go throw it in the ocean. I think that was her favorite part.

It was sad when we had to take Nana to the airport so she could go home. Cadence understood that Nana had to go back to take care of Chancey, and as long as she was sure Chancey needed Nana, it was okay if she went back. For about a week after, Cadence asked to go to Nana's house, or would tell me it would be okay if Nana came and stayed at our house again. It was so fun to have her come to visit, and we miss her terribly. We miss all of our family that we don't get to see very often, and cherish every moment we do get to spend with them.

After Nana's visit, we went to stay with Auntie Pammy and Dylan for a couple of days. Uncle Jared was there too. :) We ended up taking a trip to the beach near Pam's house too, at a place called Indianola.

The girls had an awesome time visiting everyone on this trip. Enjoy the pictures of the beach until I can post some from other things we did. Look for a link to the right to an album with more pictures from the beach (I only posted a few here).

When we first arrived, Cadence couldn't see the beach, so we told her to head over all those logs

She found the beach, and wasn't too impressed at first, although she didn't really hesitate to pick up the seaweed after Dad showed her it was okay to touch (notice the pincher grasp and lifted pinky - she's still not too sure about this stuff)

Don't get my feet wet Dad!

Kennedy was thoroughly enjoying her first time on the beach

Yes, and this is very interesting over here, too...

Where did Pop-Pop put that rock...

AAAAH! Nana's gonna lay on me!

Oh, now this is better!

Just goofing around now

Hanging out with Pop-Pop

Throwing a 'mini fit' on the sand

Posing next to some beach grass...

Oh! I'm having too much fun!

Can you see the Purvis resemblance anywhere?

Slowly, Slowly...

I know it's been a little slow on the blog here recently, but I'm hoping to at least get caught up through Nana's visit by the end of the week. Last week the girls and I were sick with the stomach flu (thank GOODNESS Jeremy didn't get it), and then we were out of town over the weekend visiting my Aunt. The flu hit Kennedy first, then me, then Cadence. I think by the time it hit our big girl the virus had grown stronger because she really caught the brunt of it. She barfed for hours, and was such a good sport! She even barfed in a bucket! And she did it a couple times when I wasn't there to pat her back because I was either changing Kennedy, putting Kennedy down for nap, or feeding Kennedy lunch when the up-chucking started. She was so brave! I'm so proud of her. She mostly just camped out on her bed and I set the laptop up so she could watch movies without leaving, or even really moving. So she just stayed in bed, watched movies, and rested when she could. Next day, she was good as new! It was a much better experience than the one we had a month ago where she barfed all over the carpet in my bedroom. I was so glad Jeremy was home to help me deal with that. Anyway, we are now all recovered, and ready to go on more adventures, so I will hurry post what I can between homework and housework and playtime, so keep checking back!!

Also, in case you didn't know, anytime there is highlighted/underlined text in any of my posts, that means it is a hyperlink. You can click on those words and you will be taken to a new website that gives more information about that specific topic.

Central Washington State Fair

Friday, September 26 was opening day for the Central Washington State Fair in Yakima. The girls and I were so excited to go! Opening day is always $1 admission and $1 parking for the first 3 hours of the fair. So I loaded up the car with girls and supplies, and we headed the 2 miles or so to the fairgrounds. We got off to a little bit of a late start because Cadence wanted her hair done, and then wanted to take pictures. Kennedy didn't want to be left out, so she got her picture taken too.



It took us about 45 minutes to get into the parking lot, and we ended up parking out by the carnival entrance, but that was fun to go through at the end of our day as it was all lit up.

This year's big animal show was a presentation by S.L.E.W.T.H.S, a sea lion research program with California State University. We had to sit for awhile before it started so we would have a good view of the show, but we had cotton candy and snacks, so it was okay. They brought two sea lions out for the show, gave us a quick overview of the importance of their work with the sea lions, then gave us a little show at the end. I can understand the importance of plugging the program, but we were really anxious for more performance. The trainers/presenters were really engaging and entertaining, though, so that helped.



Cadence really liked going through the animal barns, although she got a little tired of barn after barn after barn of horses and cows. The miniatures were out for competition while we were there, so we missed them, but Cadence got to meet and pet some nice BIG horses. I just realized we missed the Clydesdales. Oh well. Next year... In the goat barn were some pigs. There was a momma pig with nearly a dozen new little piglets. They were all eating when we came through. Cadence took one look and said "Oh! They're eating their mom!". So we talked a little about how the little piggies were nursing like Kennedy nurses, only little piggies are much more wiggly about it. There was a little girl pig named Tinker Bell, and Cadence thought that was "Just darling!". She really liked when we got down to the goats, and spent quite some time getting friendly with a few.



While we were there we met up with our friends, the Huards. Cadence and Lily are good friends and when we went to get faces painted, Cadence decided she wanted a big butterfly face like Lily got, so the two of them were butterfly sisters for the afternoon. Cadence decided Kennedy was too little for face painting. Face painting is for big girls.



After face painting it was off to the rainforest exhibit. Brad's World Reptiles provides a really neat, interactive reptilian exhibit each year, and this year's focus was the rainforest. Cadence got to pet a tortois, meet several different varieties of snakes (including a green anaconda - we know a song about a green anaconda, so Cadence sang a little of the song to the one we saw), frogs, turtles, little lizards and big lizards, large bugs, and she even got to touch a snake! It was hard to tear her away, but I finally did and we went and looked at bunnies and chickens. And a couple turkeys. They weren't as fun.



To end the day, we went to the kid's barn which was full of kid oriented games, dress-up, play, science, and had saddles to try and a hay maze to get lost in. Cadence tried out all the saddles, and did get lost in the maze until a very nice older girl (maybe 5 or 6 years old) very patiently led her out. It seemed Cadence liked being disoriented in the maze, and was perhaps doing it on purpose. But that other girl was determined to show Cadence the right way out. Cadence finally gave in when another little girl we know from church came through the maze. Cadence didn't want her to finish ahead of her, so she followed the older girl out and had a blast doing it.



It was a day full of adventure and fun, and we were all tired by the end. We had wandered from one end to the other and back again, looked at all the exhibits we could be patient enough to let Mom wander through, and gobbled down absolutely nothing good for us to eat - caramel apples dipped in peanuts, cotton candy, strawberry lemonade, fair scones with butter and raspberry jam. It was all delicious and well worth it. It would have been fun to go again, but next year will be soon enough I suppose.

Check out more pictures of the day through a link on the right hand side of this page!

!!!CST!!!

The results have been posted!! Jeremy passed his CST exam!!!! We are SO proud of him. It was a grueling exam and he spent a lot of time studying. We have been waiting on pins and needles for results for about 7 weeks. This was a national board certification, and is good for 4 years. In that 4 years he must complete 80 hours of continuing education or retake the exam in order to keep his certification. He is now one of 4 scrubs at Regional (out of 10 0r 12) to be certified. It is quite a distinction, and also results in a pay raise. YAY JEREMY!!!

A Day at the Museum

A few weeks ago (okay, it's been about a month now...) we all hopped in the jeep and went on a little road trip down to Goldendale, WA. Goldendale is located on the Columbia River Gorge; the river separates Washington and Oregon. It was a really nice day for a drive - windy, rainy, I think we might have even seen a little hail. We were all pretty cosy until we arrived at the Maryhill Museum (our first destination). Our initial intentions were to just stick to the grounds, as there is plenty to keep any toddler busy (and it's free). Due to incliment weather and a tiny two-year-old bladder, however, we made our way into the museum for an impromtu cultural event. Jeremy took some pictures to share, and Cadence did really good to be quiet and not touch things. She got a great reward on the upper floor where a kids room is set up with hands-on playthings that correspond with the exhibits on other floors. Her favorite exhibit was of Loie Fuller. Mostly because there was a video playing of one of her dances.

Permanent Native American exhibit featuring beaded purses, shoes, clothes, and other various items

Photo of Native American woman painting on a hat

Hat similar to the one in the photo above

Eskimo parka made out of seal intestine sewed together to make a waterproof outerlayer

Another of the permanent exhibits, the International Chess Set display holds around 100 different sets from around the globe, and from various time periods

En route back to our vehicle after our tour, we stopped to gawk at a tail-less peacock. There were three, actually, that seemed strategically placed in the landscaping for visual congruity, and they were all sans tail feathers. Cadence really likes the peacock feathers at Grammy's house, so I'm sure she's still trying to figure out how those funny birds are connected to the feathers we see that share the same name.

See - no tail!

After a semi-short detour a few miles in the opposite direction from our next destination (our 'navigator' had us pointed east, but our car compass told us we were pointed west...) we arrived at our second destination, a replica of Stonehenge built as a WWI memorial. If possible, it was even more blustery on this bluff, and the poor vegetation seemed permanently bowed towards the ground. Inside the memorial, however, it was almost eerily calm. The way the structure was constructed seemed to forbid the wind from entering in its destructive state. However, this seemed to make the wind even more angry. And, lucky us, we happened to make our trip on the day of the 10th annual equinox poetry reading and earth celebration! About seven people tumbled out of an older Mercedes stationwagon and met up with several others who had arrived by minivan. One gentleman, sporting a flowing white beard, was clad in a fleece pullover and cut-off shorts, flip-flops, and was decorated with numerous strands of Marti-Gras beads. It was maybe 50 degrees out and the rain was coming down horizontally. To get things started, one man played a couple songs on guitar and sang, then another read a prayer to mother earth before jumping into more celebration. We decided to head out before much celebrating got underway, along with several others who were just there to visit the monument. They certainly did add a bit of color to an otherwise gloomy, late-summer day, although, it's not really the color we were looking for.

Posing within the monument

The wind really wanted to play in Cadence's hair

Just inside the protective rings of stone...

Oops - an elbow and her hair have crossed the magical boundary!

Okay, so this may look like just a silly picture Jeremy took of his Jeep in front of Stonehenge (it is) but if you look off the end of the front of the car, you can see a person framed by the entryway - that's the guy with the white beard ... I think you can click on the picture to enlarge it and see him better

From there we went on a wild-goose chase to locate a potty (seriously, you'd think people would allow a two-year-old to use the potty, but no - only paying customers allowed at the gas station, and the gift shop just 'didn't have one' (ya right)) and ended up at the state park where we got to see some wind surfers up close. From the museum and the monument we could see down to the river where several wind surfers were out, braving the elements. It was pretty cool. They say Goldendale is the wind surfing capitol of - well, I forget now whether it's the world or the U.S., but there were a lot of out of state plates at the park. Apparently, due to some geographical anomalies, it's just windy all the time there. The bridge to Oregon was closed, so we didn't go there, and decided instead to head into Goldendale for dinner before going home. We stopped at a nice Chinese restaurant (really the place was a little shabby, but the food was pretty decent). Goldendale was holding its 'community days', or something like that. There wasn't a whole lot going on, but they were showing some nice old cars, and as we were finishing dinner the lawnmower races started. Although it sounded like a lot of fun, we opted to skip the races and loaded up and headed home instead.

Although Goldendale proper wasn't much to write about, the museum, memorial, and park are just a few of the activities near there that really are fun. There's also an observatory open to the public. I hear its spectacular. I can't wait to try wind surfing!