Slithery friend

Lopez

Don’t think we could have packed this four week period any tighter! The day after Cindy and Kenzie returned from South Carolina we headed back to the San Juan’s, this time to Lopez Island. No time to post much now as we are packing to leave for Janel’s wedding in the morning! But here are a few pictures from our trip. Short story – we had a blast!

Zip line:

 

Beachcombing:

Biking:

Biking and hiking to Shark Reef:

Swimming at Shark Reef (brrrr):

And warming up:

Playing at Spencer Spit:

And just chilling:

sun burned cousins

carriage ride through charleston

Sarah and Kyle took Cindy and Kenzie on a carriage ride through the city of Charleston. Kenzie got to “drive.”

boogie boarding in south carolina

 

 

fishing with Sarah and Kyle in SC

That’s all I know…

zoo

Since Cindy and Kenzie are in South Carolina, Mason got to spend the day with Casey and Luke today. They went to the Woodland Park Zoo. (Giraffe in background.)

flopping frogs

When we came home from the San Juans I noticed that our frog tank was disrupted. The lid was taken off, the tank was scooted forward on the ledge, and about 4 inches of water was missing. Strange, I thought, as I replaced the lid, pushed the tank back, and set out some water to refill it.

I woke up at 5AM to a hissing sound. Thinking it was the downstairs toilet, I got up and headed down. The sound got louder. When I rounded the corner I realized that the cat (Zeke) had drug the entire 1 gallon frog aquarium to the edge of the counter and pushed it off! Water was everywhere! Frogs were nowhere.

These are water frogs. Not hardwood floor frogs.

I stepped on something wet and was sure I had flattened either Daisy or Duke. I screamed. You know that sound that doesn’t really come out because the air is still coming in. Except I know that some sound must have come out because Cindy came falling down the stairs looking to figure out exactly who had been murdered. After a minute I regained composure and told Cindy that we HAD TO FIND THESE FROGS before the kids woke up.

We looked. And looked. Finally Cindy found one small, spread-eagle raisin-textured frog. Against my better judgment she picked it up and placed it in her left palm. Her 20+ years of mandatory teacher CPR training, heretofore never used, became invaluable. She instinctively took her index finger and gently pushed the abdomen of the frog in and out. It was either that or the fact that she stuck the frog in the water I had set out the night before, but the frog started swimming after just a few minutes.

But where was that other frog?

We looked. And looked. We moved the sofa, we moved the sectional. We cleared out under the desk. We moved the rug. I mean, come on, how far can a little water frog move on a wood floor? Do they jump? Do they slither? We had no idea. It became closer to 6AM, still no frog. That is until Cindy observed the other cat, Issy, playfully batting something against the wall. This frog, potentially startled Cindy’s sudden reprimand to the cat, started swimming immediately.

So, yah, we saved the frogs. The next night Cindy put duct tape on the front and back of the tank. The next morning that #$*&* cat had taken the lid off the frog tank again! There is now duct tape in different places. It’s not classy, but the frogs are still swimming.

The travelers

Kenzie hasn’t even spent a night in her own bed after being at Grammy and Grampy’s all week, but she and Cindy are on a red-eye to South Carolina to visit the Bolams! Kevin, Cathy and Morgan just moved there so Bob and June are back for a visit. Then we found out that Kris, Lonnie, AJ, Cheyenne and Lane decided to join the party from Oklahoma, so Cindy and Kenzie hopped on a plane.

Here are some pictures they sent me from the airport already…they’re excited…Kenzie especially when she found out that she gets to stop in Texas!

New songs

Kenzie and Mason spent this whole week with Grammy and Grampy. They went to vacation Bible school at their church...and learn a fleet of new songs.

Baby birds

I was staying with Grammy and Grampy and I was going to VBS. On the last day, on Friday, I was going to look at the baby bird's nest that was up above their driveway. And I saw that part of the nest was broken. I looked down and I saw that the baby birds little and tiny and stranded, opening and closing their mouths. I picked one up and said, "Grammy can we take care of him?" And she said, "no, we don't have any way to make him survive." I asked Grampy and he said, "well, we'll just get a ladder and put them back in the nest." So Grampy got a ladder and I climbed up the ladder, got the nest, but only two of the baby birds were surviving. And there were three. Luckily two survived. But when I came back a few hours later I found that another baby bird was on the ground. Then I guess that the mother had kicked it out of the nest because it had died. So I buried it in the back yard with the other one. I am glad that actually the mother came back and she is feeding the one bird. And hopefully it will survive.

happy

la ti da