Vacation....let's try this again...

I sat here last night for almost 2 hours typing out this hilarious account of our week long vacation only to have it dumped by my computer. Now that is the epitome of crappy timing! Needless to say, I was REALLY pissed and quit...and went to bed. So, here I am again, to tell you of our time in Lake Chelan...let's see if I can get this as good as I had it last night. :-)

Last Monday, the kids and I left our home and headed East to Lake Chelan. My parents were already there and my sister's were going to join us later in the week.  We are so blessed to have friends (the Ireland's) who live over there and while they're on vacation, we go and stay at their house and take care of the farm. They have horses, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, dogs, cats, pigeons and pigs.

The house

The view from the front porch.

When I think of Lake Chelan I think of sun, swimming, hot, cherries, fun and relaxation. This past trip held all those thoughts, plus the additions of: rain, cold, wind, crazy, WTF & LOL! Let me explain. Better get your reading caps on...this is going to be a long one. :-)


Day 1 - Monday: We arrived in the afternoon and had to get ready because we were having an "impromptu" dinner with the family. When I say family, I mean, my family plus the Libbey/Thompson/Barnes group. These are the family/friends of the Ireland's who welcome us with open arms every time we come for a visit. While taking a break from getting ready for dinner, we were sitting on the front porch. This front porch is amazing. You can see it in the first picture. My dad and Warren built it a couple years back and it's the perfect place for sitting outside. We had one of the kittens with us and the dogs (there were 8) started to swarm us because they wanted to play with the cat. Ross was just about to get knocked off the porch when one of the pups fell off instead. We hear the pup screaming! It's a pretty good drop to the ground. My dad jumps down there and the puppy is just screaming and tries to run away but it can't. The poor thing broke it's front "ankle" It immediately swelled up and the pup could not bear any weight on it. GREAT! What a fantastic way to start our vacation. Once we have her settled in the kennel, it's time to eat.

And eat we did! We had pan fried oysters, bacon wrapped oysters, steamer clams and a table full of salads. Now remember, this in a "impromptu" feast. Just a few hours notice and all this food came together and we had a great time. Can you imagine what a "scheduled" feast would entail? Keep reading...


Day 2- Tuesday: Tuesday, it's raining. Seriously? It's summer people! Summer in Eastern Washington is supposed to be hot and dry. We had thought about going to Leavenworth for the day, but changed our minds as the rain was coming down in sheets. We stayed home and relaxed and had a quiet day. I LOVE to read. I always have. I brought a couple of books with me but nothing was really keeping my interest. I know Heather likes to read too, so I started scanning her library. I stumbled up on the book, "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and thank goodness I did! I read the first chapter and was hooked. It is the first in a trilogy, but I noticed the other books were not at the house. I hopped in my car, drove down to the bookstore and bought the whole set! Then I read....and read....and read! I couldn't get enough. Matter of fact, as I sit here typing, I want to hurry up and finish so I can go out and read some more of the 3rd and final book! :-) My dad and I decided to go for a hike up through the orchards. We had a few of the dogs following us but by the end of the walk, only Whidbey, the ball crazed Chocolate Lab remained. All the others took off for home on some shortcut. When we got back to the house, all the dogs were waiting for us on the deck. And that's when we saw it: the blond pup....seen here:

took a short cut alright: through the barbed wire fence! He had a gash on his front shoulder with a flap of bloody skin hanging loose. Ugh! Every time he would run, he would stop to chew/lick that spot because it was flapping against his body. Sorry, I know that's gross, but it was also kind of funny to watch. So, for those of you keeping track: this is day 2 and we have 2 animals hurt. This is not a good way to start our vacation where we are supposed to be "taking care" of the farm. :-/

Day 3 - Wednesday: The weather is nice again! Yay! We decide to make the drive up to Winthrop.

Winthrop is an old mining town about an hour and half North of Chelan. It's such a cool place to visit, but I think my favorite thing about it is: Addy calls it "Win-throw-up!" So funny! We have a nice time there walking around, shopping, and having lunch. When we get back to Chelan we head to the lake. We weren't able to stay long because it was almost dinner time, but we were there long enough to have Addy jump in. She wasn't thrilled:

But, she did it then got out and played in the kiddy pool afterwards. After dinner that night, my mom and I took the kids on a walk. The weather was perfect!

On our way back to the house, I told Baylee and Addy to run to the chicken coop to get the scrap bucket we had left out. I stopped to take a picture of this pretty weed/flower...

...when I heard the screams! I see Baylee and Addy running away and screaming with tears running down their faces. There was a dog attacking a turkey right next to them! SHIT! I run over there, grab the scrap bucket (metal) and start swinging at the dog. She finally let's the turkey go, but I figure it's too late. But, thankfully, it wasn't! The turkey was still alive!!! But the dumb thing wasn't moving! That's when I noticed it's broken wing. Great! Another animal hurt. What is going on in this place??? My mom comes over and picks up the turkey and puts her back into the coop. Yes, my mom did it. There is no way in hell I'd pick up a turkey. They freak my freakin' freak! Anyways, ok, so Day 3 = 3 hurt animals. No bueno! But hey, at least the turkey is still a viable specimen for Thanksgiving. They'll just be short a wing. :-) (Thank you, thank you....I'll take a bow).

Day 4 - Thursday: My sister's are coming! And it's the day of the "scheduled" feast of BBQ'd oysters at the Libbey house! Yayyyyy!!!! Oh and guess what? Day 4 means...if we're going at the same rate we've been going...another animal is about to get hurt. Is this totally morbid thinking? You're damn skippy it is. But hey, you can't make this stuff up! My dad went out to do something and noticed (hold your breath) a carcass in the field. What kind of carcass you ask? The damn, freakin' stupid TURKEY!!! AHHHH!!! For whatever reason, she thought, "Ok, since the dog let me go last time, maybe I'll go out of the coop again and everything will be just fine!" Right! So, the dog tore her to shreds. Well, no more "minus 1 wing" Thanksgiving turkey this year! That night, we feast on oysters again. Only this time, their barbecued. If you've never head BBQ'd oysters...you have GOT to try them. They are they only way I'll eat them!

They are amazing!!!
Day 5 - Friday: Slide Waters here we come! Chelan's one and only water slide park. What a blast we have there! The Downhill Racer is one of my faves. On  my 2nd trip, the upper lifeguard was telling us how you can splash the lower lifeguard on your way down (this is a giant slide like the one they have at the fair where you slide down on gunny sacks? Only this on is with water and a floppy boogie board). I told my sister I was going to try and soak the lifeguard. So we're speeding down the slide and I go in for the tilt, but as I'm concentrating on remembering what the upper lifeguard told me, I forget to drag my feet to slow myself down. Before I know it, SMASH! CRACK! BOOM! I'm up and over the ledge and onto the deck. Ok, go ahead and laugh. I was laughing, but not because it felt good to do this. No. I was laughing at the fact that I totally could imagine what other people saw! OMG! Thank GOD this did not get captured on video! My body is still sore from that tumble but it is pretty funny to think about. After we got back, I was sitting in the yard, catching some rays when the turkey killer decides to change her M.O. and go after a duck. I run, barefoot, through the grass and manage to pry the duck from the dog. Once again, the duck has a broken wing. Are you FREAKIN' kidding me!? When will this end? Are we being punished for something??? After dinner, the turkey killer/duck wing breaker is now back to being a killer! Of CHICKENS!!!! This cannot be happening! The poor little brown clucker, who was just minding her own business, pecking at some worms, gets demolished by the dog. Needless to say, we've had enough and she gets put in the kennel.

Day 6 - Saturday: It's hot! FINALLY!!! Time to leave...and go to the lake. We went to Manson Bay Park. What a perfect place to swim!

The kids enjoyed it (even if they were shivering and had purple lips) and it felt good to be in the water. Pretty uneventful day. We were just about to sit down to watch a movie when my mom went out on the porch to check the dogs. She noticed one of the dogs "humping" another dog who was laying in the kennel. But then she took a second look and noticed something wasn't right. She told us to come out. The poor Chocolate Lab mama (Kia) was having a seizure! She was foaming at the mouth, her body was almost rigid and she was breathing so fast and heavy I was sure she was going to have a heart attack and die. All we could do was keep her in the kennel and I sat by her head and talked to her. It was horrifying! We called Warren to see if this was "normal" for her to experience seizures and thankfully, it was. Watching Kia go through this brought back bad memories of our puppy Shelby having a seizure over a year ago. I'm kind of glad I had seen Shelby go through that so that I knew Kia was going to be alright when it was over. Once it passed (a really long 5 minutes later), she was exhausted. Thankfully, no harm done. Just frightening to watch. So, for those of you counting: 6 days = 7 animal issues. That's not a very good average.

After experiencing all these issues, I now have the concrete knowledge of one thing: I will NEVER live on a farm full time! :-) I've always thought this...but now I KNOW this!

All in all, we had a great time on our vacation in Chelan. We can't wait to go back and spend time with the Ireland's soon, while the weather is still warm and the lake is still "warm" enough to swim in.

Peanut Butter is the theme today.

Seriously, today has been the LONGEST day EVERRRR!!! Let me explain:

Last night, we had an epic girl's night. So much laughter, my stomach muscles are actually sore! That's how much fun it was. Now, normally, I don't consume alcohol. I had wayyyyy to many "incidents" in the hay day of my "youth" where I have chosen to not drink alcoholic beverages in excess anymore. I haven't been drunk in YEARS! Nor do I miss it. So last night, I had a couple (let's be honest here....I opened 3 bottles of "margaritas" but at the end of the night, each of those 3 bottles had about 1/4 left in there...you do the math) of beverages. Those couple made the giggles that much more funny! hehe So, I get home late and my house is EMPTY!!! When I say empty, I mean, hubby is camping, Ross is at my brother's, and Addy is at my sister's. It was just me, the dog and the cat. I had a plan to sleep in!!! Well, 8:30 am rolls around (not enough sleep for me) and my mom calls telling me she forgot her key and needs to get something out of my freezer. UGH!!! No more sleeping for this lady. Thus, the start of my day.

I had it all planned out: Hubby was going to get home around 10am from camping, I'd leave, go bake for a couple hours at the bookstore, go to the grocery store to stock up for my hubby so he doesn't starve while I'm on vacation (more on that later), come home, clean up the house, get packed, have a nice dinner, get the kids to bed and have some quiet, quality time with my hubby before going off to la-la land early so I can wake up early and head off to my vacation. This...is what happened in reality:


Hubby pulls in around 2:30 PM (not 10 as I had PLANNED). During the morning/afternoon, I was able to clean up the house. Kids took a nap so it was easy, but I didn't make it to the grocery store. I get to the bookstore at 2:45-ish only to find out that, eh-hem, someone didn't pick up the groceries that I needed to bake and stock up for my week long absence. Freakin' A!!! After throwing a mild temper tantrum, I bake for a while, then run out of stuff, so I run to the dreaded Walmart. Ugh! Get my groceries, come back to the store and guess what? Yes, I'm still here!!! Guess what time it is: 8:40 PM. You do the math! I'm almost done, working on my last batch of peanut butter cookies when I realize "Shit! I put TOO much butter in the batter! SHIT! Now I have to QUADRUPLE the rest of the ingredients and now I have a freakin' QUADRUPLE sized batch of freakin' peanut butter cookies!!" So, I'm taking a mild break from rolling out a freaking quadruple batch of cookie dough.

Right now, my baked items equal this: 3 coffee cakes, a dozen maple walnut scones, 18 lemon poppy seed muffins, a dozen blueberry muffins, and a double batch of choc. chip cookie dough, single batch of oatmeal craisin cookie dough and a freakin' quadruple batch of, yes, you know it, peanut butter freakin' cookie dough! I'm in need of a vacation!

Speaking of vacation, did I tell you I'm leaving tomorrow morning??? Yes, the kids and I are heading to Lake Chelan for the week with my parents. Poor hubby has to stay home and work :-( But I'm REALLY excited! Especially for the fact that it's acting like fall here and it's supposed to be summer over there. I need some SUN!!! Sun, swimming, lounging, reading, sleeping....perfect recipe for me!

Now, back to my weight loss efforts: I wanted to walk every day, but I had the excuse of the fall like weather we've been having. Downpours! Wind! NO THANK YOU!!! I was not going to subject my children to an hour and a half walk in the rain. So, I didn't walk as much as I wanted to this week. But, I plan to walk every morning while on vacation. There are some beautiful areas where we will be staying and I fully intend to take advantage of it.

Ok, my break is over. Off to roll out some more peanut butter cookies. Hey, if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and get a coffee and PB cookie from Sage Bookstore this week....they'll have PLENTY! :-)

I'm still alive

Ok friends, I will admit, as I'm sure most of you have guessed: I fell off my own bandwagon!!! Did I set myself up for failure? No, I don't think so. I just gave in and gave up. I'm sad with myself, but I'm getting over that. I haven't posted in over a month and I can see why. I was in a funk and kind of depressed. I'm coming out of it and it's getting better. Why does this happen???

Summer is in full swing and we have been BUSY BUSY BUSYYYYY!!!! Addy has started soccer and seems to be enjoying it, even if she doesn't quite understand it's purpose. She just runs around with her tongue sticking out. haha She's super cute though!

We've celebrated the 4th of July, some birthday's and our friends' wedding. Now it's time to get back onto my own bandwagon and whip my arse back into 30th birthday mode! I haven't been on the scale since my last blog (May 25th) and I'm scared to see what it'll tell me. I'll face the music tomorrow morning.

My sister and I walked 4 miles Friday and Saturday mornings. It was great...but man I could feel it on Saturday afternoon! Ouch! Hoping we can get together again tomorrow morning or else I'll just go by myself. I have 10 weeks till my 30th birthday and I need to make everyday count to meet my goal. I need some cheerleaders on my side. So if you're with me, behind me, pushing me along, let me hear you!!!! Remind me to get off my ass, put down that un-healthy "treat" and get a move on it! Or, if you don't want to verbally "attack" me, pray for me to find the will to do it like I need to!

Now, that I'm done, I'm going for a walk! More soon. Thanks for sticking with me!

I love you all!