Robin...the saga continues

Well, the dinosaur and tiger were just a minor distraction to the birds.  the next day we found the tiger topped on his side (and we know the wind didn't do it).  The triceratops wasn't quite as lucky....he had been pushed off the edge if the pillar, plummeting to his death (if he'd been alive).  In his place, on top of the pillar, was a nice new nest.

We know these robins mean business, but we are not backing down!

I didn't want to do it, but I felt we had no other option...we hammered nails through a board to make spikes to put on top of the pillars.  I've seen similar things used to deter pigeons from businesses.  I didn't want to hurt the birds, but I definitely don't want to be spending my summer cleaning up bird poop.  I thought for sure this would work.

Well, this morning when I came downstairs,  there were the robins....in a nice new nest, on to of the spikes.  It didn't even phase them!

Jeff has some more ideas up his sleeve...hopefully something works!

Robin

We have a cute little robin family that really wants to nest on our front porch.  I really like robins, but not when they try to take over my home.  We have been battling nature since we moved into our house a year ago with the woodpeckers, moles, and bees.  The robins are the last straw.

We noticed their nest about a month ago and decided to take it down since it was empty.  My dad assured me that the robins would renest.  We recently found they had renested.....in the exact same spot! Jeff put his old stinky lawn-mowing shoes on their nesting ledge hoping that his smell would scare them away (it would have worked with me).  But they just came back today and started building their nest on top of his shoe!

We decided to try to scare them away with some wildlife of our own.  We put a tiger on one ledge and a triceratops on the other ledge.  I sure hope this works!

Tea Party

To celebrate birthdays, a couple of good friends and I got together to have a tea party.  In Sumner (a nearby town) they have the Secret Garden Tea Room where you can get a full service tea.  I had never done this before and it was so much fun!  We had a steamy pot of hot cocoa and then they brought out scones with raspberry jam, lemon curd, and cream. Yum!  Then they brought out a tiered tray with warm savory appetizers, tea sandwiches, fruit, and mini desserts.  I would love to take Lily here when she gets a little bit older and have a mother-daughter date.

Trip to Forks

Jeff wanted to plan a weekend getaway as one of his birthday presents.  So he did!  He planned a trip for us to visit Forks, WA and some other scenic areas of the Olympic Peninsula.  Here's the play-by-play:

1st stop:  Sequim, WA (pronounced squim)  to visit the Dungeness Spit, a 10 mile sand bar that sticks out into the Strait de Fuca.  Its a popular nesting ground with sea birds.  I saw a golden eagle and several deer which was fun.

2nd stop:  Port Angeles, WA to visit Twilight sights!  We stopped in downtown Port Angeles to relive the magic of Twilight - Ha!  We stopped at the bookstore, where I was surprised to find a cardboard cutout of Bella wearing a Twilight T-shirt.

Then we saw the movie theater where Bella had her "double date" with Jacob and Mike Newton.  And where she went to the movies with Jessica and then ran off with the biker afterwards.  Too bad they were only showing R-Rated movies...none of which was Face Punch.

Then we went to Bella Italia, the location of Bella and Edwards first date.  It was not open for lunch, so we did not eat there.  Plus the "Bella" mushroom ravioli was $17 - too rich for my blood!

3rd stop:  Lake Crescent, a 600-ft deep glacier-fed lake in the mountains of Olympic National Park.  The lake is very blue and clear because it is low in Nitrogen, which makes it difficult for algae to grow.

4th stop: Marymere Falls - nearby was a relatively short hike to a waterfall, so we did it.  There was still snow on the ground, but it was still very green - hard for my brain to make sense of.  We had the place to ourselves, which was awesome, and it was so nice not having our kids with us because I didn't have to worry about them getting tired, or cold, or hungry, or bored, or hurt, or needing to go to the bathroom.

5th stop:  Forks, WA.  We had arrived in Forks!  We stopped by the Visitor's Center and they gave us a list with the addressed of the twilight sights in town.  None of the movie was filmed in Forks, but its true to the book.

Here are Bella's trucks at the Visitor's Center.  The one I'm standing next to is from the movie, but the one in the background is the one from the book - different years.

 Here's me and all my buddies.

 This is the US map of where the visitors to Forks have come from.  They also had an international map that was equally impressive.

We visited Forks Outfitters, where Bella worked and shopped.

 Then we stopped by the Swan residence.  Bella's room is upstairs.

 Then we swung by the hospital.  Someone was parked in Dr. Cullen's spot!

We stopped by Forks High School.

 And the police station.  I didn't bump into Charlie. Too bad.

 Then we stopped at the Cullen House.

 Its a bed and breakfast and on the front porch they have a daily letter from the Cullens

After checking into our bed and breakfast, we stopped for a romantic moment in front of the Forks Welcome Sign.  Tender.

 We headed out to La Push for dinner and crossed the treaty line.

We had dinner at a restaurant near the ocean with a beautiful view of the sunset.  Normally its really rainy this time of year, but we really lucked out and enjoyed mostly sunshine and beautiful scenery. Here's the view from our table.  We headed back to the B&B and watched the first Twilight movie and got ready for a day of fun to follow!

Jeff's Birthday

Jeff turned 30 this year.  Its a major milestone (and one I hope never to reach)!  We had a small celebration at home, just Jeff and I and the girls....and the richest, most delicious chocolate cake.  Here is a link to the recipe in case you are curious: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/best-ever-chocolate-fudge-layer-91361.aspx  We could only find the princess candles for the cake.  Poor guy.

Jeff had to wear the birthday hat we got at the dollar store.  Its supposed to be a family tradition, but our girls don't want anything to do with it.

DisneyWorld - Last Day

The last day at Disney World is so bittersweet.  Its then that you realize you didn't take enough pictures!  Here's are some classic shots we realized we hadn't taken.

Here's Claire and Lily on the teacups.  We rode twice in a row.  They wanted to ride 3 times, but I couldn't do it.  Twice in a row was one too many times for me!

Then as we were waiting for the the Magical Express to take us to the airport we got pictures with the first letters of our name.

DisneyWorld - EPCOT

We had a great time at Epcot.  We were kind of slow going on rides in the morning because Claire's not tall enough for Soarin' or Test Track.  Soarin' was Lily's favorite ride and she would get so excited waiting in line that she could not hold still.  It was funny (and annoying).  She rode Test Track with Jeff.  She said she liked it, but she didn't want to go again with me.

Then, when the World Showcase opened we enjoyed traveling the world!  Since we had extra snack and meal credits we decided to eat around the world as well.  The first stop was Mexico where we enjoyed a boat ride with the 3 Caballeros and then some tacos and Manzanita!

Then we went to Norway.  We rode the Maelstrom and got away from the trolls.

Claire loves to "honk" noses.  Here she is honking the Troll's nose.

Then we went to their bakery for some school bread.

Next up was China.  We sampled some egg rolls.  The video about China is my favorite!

Then onto Germany where we had a caramel filled chocolate cookie.  probably not German, but definitely delicious.

Then we went to Italy (but we didn't eat anything... we were getting full).

Next, we went to the American Pavillion. The Drum and Fife band had a parade that Lily and Claire participated in.  An then we listed to the Liberty Singers, an awesome a capella group.

Afterwards we rode a friendship boat back to future world so we could hit some of the rides we skipped earlier.  We also met Daisy Duck.

When we started to get hungry again we went back to the World Showcase.  We visited Canada (it looks a lot like Washington).

Then we went to the UK pavillion to get some fish and chips.  We couldn't find a seat at the tables, so we thought we'd sit at some benches by the water.  As I was walking down with our food a seagull flew over my shoulder and stole a WHOLE PIECE OF FISH!  I was so mad!  I went back up to the counter and they gave me another piece of fish, but there was no way I was going near the water again.  Fortunately, table full of teens from China invited us to sit with them.  Then the birds left us alone.  I don't like seagulls anymore.

Then we went to the France pavillion.  Here's me kissing Jeff; that's the Eiffel Tower peeking out in the background.

Here are the girls playing in the fountain.

We cashed in at the French Bakery and enjoyed some sort of pastry, cheesecake, and chocolate cake (the cake of the day).  Maybe this is why i gained 6 pounds!  :o)

After this, we breezed through Morocco on our way to Japan.  We had Teriyaki in Japan, but my favorite was the strawberry adzuki bean ice cream we had for dessert.  No pictures from Japan because it got too dark.

Before we went home, we stopped to listen to some 80's British rock in the UK pavillion.