a little baseball, a little business

My "Team" at work attended the Mariner's game tonight! From the volume of the Toronto fans, you would have thought we were in Canada! I shared garlic fries with Lindsey, and enjoyed a rootbeer float. The M's won with a base hit by Ichiro in the bottom of the 9th (2 outs, even). Although the day had been super hot, it turned into a very cool & comfortable evening at the ball park.

Torchligt Parade at 4th & Marion

For several years (though not every year) we go to the SeaFair Torchlight Parade in Seattle. We love the Pirates, aaarrrgh! We've adopted our cousins' corner, and this is it:

The girls and I got to 4th & Marion at 4:45 just as a woman was loading her SUV to leave...she apologized that it would be another 3 minutes or so ~ I told her to take her time. And we parked just 3 spots down from the actual corner where we sit to watch the parade! After waiting for 15 minutes, we plugged the meter for 2 hours and took our chairs to our corner...Uncle Alan and some of his crew were already there...we stood on either corner until we saw Rachel & the rest of the Smiths crest the hill shouting, "They closed the road ~ set up the chairs!" and we (the Gilleat-May-Dillon-Campbell family) sat across the west end of 4th & Marion without blinking an eye.

The parade, as always, was great. Although it did rain on us a bit, we had so much fun! Until this clown showed up and tried to take my chair!

When the pirates finally arrived, Dana told one of them, "I'm a pirate, too!" and pointed to her favorite shirt (which she just happened to be wearing) and that nasty ol' pirate tossed her a "humongo" tshirt commemorating the 60th year of the SeaFair Pirates!

Already looking forward to next year!

Boys' Day

Before the girls and I had Girls' Day, we first took Daddy and Malcolm to the brand-spanking new Light Rail station in Tukwilla so they could ride in style to the Sounders FC soccer game. After standing in line for-EVER, the LightRail folks finally just let everyone on the trains. Apparently, 2 ticket machines for over 300 riders isn't a good balance. But once they were on the train, the fun began. Malcolm & Daddy both enjoyed the LightRail ride.

Daddy got the tickets from a gal he knew in high school ~ she has season tickets and her boys were away with their dad. When she posted their availability (for FREE) on FaceBook, Daddy got lucky and was the first to respond! GREAT tickets ~ not far off the field, and at the 45 yard line. Because Malcom and Laurel had attended the Sounders FC Soccer camp a few weeks before, Malcolm recognized some of the players, and this made it more fun for him!

After an exciting game (Sounders won!), they hiked up to 4th & Marion where we would eventually settle in to watch the Torchlight parade. They also visited the Red Hall on the 4th floor of the library, but Daddy's camera kept flashing away the awesomeness...(maybe the Sounders Green was just too powerful).

Girls' Day

We had Girls' Day today. After discussing a few options, the girls opted for lunch out at Red Robin. We stopped in at Washington Work Wear (celebrating its Grand Opening) first and we won a cool Carhardt blanket in the store-raffle. Then we ordered too much food from Red Robin. Turns out the milkshakes probably would have been enough!

We wanted to meet up with Daddy and Malcolm in downtown Seattle, and we had the chance to visit the Seattle Public Library first. Daddy was right -- the Red Hall was pretty cool -- almost spooky, and we had fun taking pictures. Plus -- the kids' section of that library is awesome!

Ian's birthday

This evening we went to Lake Wilderness Park for Ian's birthday. We don't see him and his folks much now that they've moved to a new neighborhood, and it was fun to see him. The kids loved Debbie the Science Lady even after the balloon exploded and sprayed them! We hope Ian had as much fun as our kids did!

Maple Valley Kids' Fair (and beyond)

After doing some much needed cleaning at the house, the kids and I headed to Lake Wilderness Park for the Kids' Fair. I think that Laurel and Malcolm are really getting too old for theses kinds of things, but they were happy to get out and do something.

Malcolm dunked a lifeguard at the dunk tank. Dana loved the firetruck bouncy house and inflatable slide. The kids got free (my favorite word) snow cones at one of the booths. The ice cream went on sale (2 for $1) so Laurel treated her siblings to an ice cream (except for Malcolm who wanted a hot dog, thank you very much). And we got to watch a fairly entertaining family-friendly comedic-duo called the Rowdy Referees. Laurel and Malcolm were each chosen to participate in contests "on stage" ~ and they both WON! Poor Aubrey wanted so badly to be chosen. :(

Laurel's contest was to blow up a balloon (until it popped) wearing a ski mask and blowing through a snorkel mask! Like the Rowdy Refs said ~ Laurel was full of hot air!

Malcolm's contest was a "Milk Chuggin' contest" -- except it was Pepsi in a baby bottle. He absolutely crushed the competition!

On our way to the car, Malcolm spotted Mindy with her kids. And then it was impossible to convince our kids to leave. So I ran home and grabbed swimsuits for everyone, and Malcolm & Ethan P chose to stay with us.

It really was a good day ~ I think we all found something to make us happy.

Except for poor Doug...he's got hives that we can't figure out. And a swollen hand. It's been since Thursday night. Hopefully the new Zirtec (hives formula) will help.

FC Sounders Soccer Camp

Doug signed Laurel and Malcolm up for the FC Sounders Soccer Camp at the Junior High. It rained on them all day on Monday. Tuesday started cloudy, but ended up very sunny ~ and the rest of the week was probably a little too hot for them to be running around playing soccer all day. They both had a great time ~ they even met a real-life pro-soccer player (Tyson Wahl)!


It probably felt like a very long week for Laurel. Tuesday night (or early Wednesday) she saw Harry Potter 6 at 12:01am and got home at 3am; played soccer all day; saw Harry Potter 6 again ~ got home at 11:30; played soccer all day; attended an Aquasox Game with the family ~ got home at midnight; played soccer all day; stayed up late because, well, it was Friday night. And since she's dog sitting this weekend, she couldn't sleep in this morning..


Doug went to the Friday wrap-up and took some pictures. The kids loved it and hope that the Sounders will come back next year.

"those aren't our dogs!"

Our dogs have been dirty. filthy. stinky. and after cleaning the carpets last week, we just couldn't take it a moment longer. So Doug made an appointment at PetCo and dropped them off on his way to work.

At 5:30 the gal called and explained that (sorry) Henry had apparently been hit with unexpected diarrhea and possible vomiting. He was almost done when they discovered this gross travesty. She said she'd bathe him again, but we'd have to take him back on Saturday morning so they could finish the grooming.

When we walked in, I looked at the dog on the table and quickly thought, "Wow -- that dog kind of looks like Henry." And then I realized it WAS Henry.

When Doug asked them to be groomed, he thought a bath and a trimming. It's what has happened every other time we've ever taken Henry anywhere. He claims he gave them permission to shave Shadow down, but declined for Henry -- saying, "You're the pros...just do what you think will look best."

Apparently, they like the summer buzz-cut look. And now we have 2 dogs that act like our dogs, but don't look like our dogs. Both of their undercoats are different from their longer hair. We thought Shadow was all black! And we didn't realize Henry had so many fatty-tumors.

Sure glad hair grows back. And I'm sure glad there's no law that forces you to return to the same groomer twice.

Everett Aquasox - Single A Baseball

Years ago (1997), Doug and I attended a Norwich Navigators game together ~ Doug was covering Hideki Irabu's American baseball debut...I thought it was a lot of fun. There is a something special about minor-league baseball. Those boys really love to play baseball and the stadiums seem to go out of their way to create a great atmosphere for the fans. We had a similar experience tonight when we took the kids to see an Everett Aquasox game. Doug's friend/co-worker, Su, sang the Canadian National Anthem (they played the Vancouver Canadians) and we didn't want to miss the opportunity to cheer her on.

yay, Su!!

It was 80's night so the vendors and all other ushers dressed for that decade. There are give-aways at every half-inning (Malcolm caught a baseball that won him a free DIBBS ice cream!). Webbly and his sidekick Frank were readily available for pictures and autographs. The SafeCo puppet handed out Woodland Park Zoo passes to the kids. And they even let the kids clean up the stadium in the bottom of the 9th inning (paid them a whole Aquasox Bux!).

excitement at first base....most of the rest of the game was pretty uneventful (except for the back-to-back homeruns, which actually followed a home run by the visiting team!)

we didn't realize how late it had gotten ~ and how long that drive home would feel!

the kids were invited onto the field to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game during the 7th inning stretch. Aubrey is hiding behind the gal in blue, Malcolm's off to the far left, and Laurel and Dana are on the right

and the Aquasox WIN!!

did I mention there was a seat cushion give-away? This is Ryan Ortiz ~ a 22-year old from Rancho Santa Fe, CA. He is a catcher for the Vancouver Canadians. And he happens to personify the reason I love minor-league ball...these kids remember how it feels to be a fan (he signed anything & everything put in front of him for about 20 minutes), they LOVE to play ball, and they're living their dream...