The 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to all our friends.

It is our first 4th in WA, and Emmy's first 4th at all. So this is a new thing for us. A few things are different here. First, you cannot legally get any ground flowers/roses. Secondly, we haven't heard any gun shots. Lastly I haven't seen anyone throwing lit fireworks yet.

Every year for the 4th, Dad would go out and water the house down. I thought about it, and decided we only need to water the lawn good, we are in the middle of a lot of housing and things are green, ...

So we got our little pack of fireworks, enough for a little family. We had our little show, the chickens were as bad as last year. We had fun. But everyone (it seems like) has rockets of some sort or the other. So the first thing we did after our set was to get the hose out and water our duplex down as good as we could.

So all in all the 4th is going well up here. They are just REALLY into the fireworks.

PS I fully support fireworks on the fourth. I just do not want the over exuberance of our neighbors to burn our (or their, but especially our) house down.

PPS Emily even started to like the fireworks. We just need to be a bit farther way.

Emmy is such a big girl!

Emily is growing up. She has finally learned how to crawl. She had been threatening for a while now, but we thought she might walk first.

The nice thing about racing an infant, is you don't even have to walk fast to win, but she is definitely cuter than I am.

Simming Time

We thought our daughter did not like the water. It turns out she does not like baths, but swimming (or simming if you are only 7-8 months old) is another thing all together.

Kathy got her into the water and then we took a smiling, splashing, happy little girl around the pool.

Splashing away.

Kathy and Emmy

Daddy and Emmy

I'm a big girl, look at me climb up the side of the pool.

That was fun Aunt Kathy, but I'm a little cold now.
See, I'm all wrinkly too!

Aunt Kathy and the Ponies

My sister Kathy needs to volunteer at many many different animal farms for school. So she came up for a week of visiting and volunteering. While working at the Darden Welsh Pony Farm over in West Richland, she was able to give us a tour on one of her last days.

We are pretty sure that this is Hotline.

Breezy, a yearling. She is a bit skittish at first, but warms up to you after a few minutes.

Kathy and Windy.

BFFs - Kathy and Windy

Emmy and her Aunt Kathy! Such a happy baby.

Laura got along with everyone very easily. It is like she grew up on a farm or something. This is Laura and Flash. He is only a few months old.

Gayfield's New Best Friend, or Friendly. She is Flash's Mommy.

This is Laura, Emmy's Mommy.

Me and Beau.

Hiking through the pasture to see more ponies, dogs, ducks, geese, ... Well to see more animals.

Pure puppy love. Annie and Emmy got along at first sight, more BFFs. Emmy just wanted to hold Annie, and Annie just wanted to be loved.

Tess likes to play with her ball. We are told that if you let her you will be throwing it for hours. Bella does not like the leash.

A pretty Aubby puppy, well not so puppyish, but ...