Bad

Apparently someone {ahem, Jackson} thought that since he was bored and home alone all day it would be a good idea to grab all the mail off of the coffee table and strew it all about...and then rip some of it up.

After an hour in time out {yeah, we're lame and put our dog in time out} and a day full of no treats, I hope think he'll steer clear of the mail next time he's bored. Hmmm, if only I could teach him how to dust or something.

Oh, and the bill for my student loan payment? My dog ate it, sorry.

Salmon Days

We joined the rest of Issaquah over the weekend and hopped a shuttle down to Salmon Days. Apparently it's quite a big deal.

At several points in the river you can see the salmon swimming upstream. Some of them were HUGE. And you can see all the ones that have 'met their ends' after laying their eggs. Ah, the circle of life. It's strange to see them swimming around in front of you, then picture all the frozen filets in the freezer. But we do love some salmon at our house!

This big blow up salmon's mouth opened up and kids could climb in, sit down and listen to stories being told {by the salmon, I think}. Weird.

It was a perfect Fall day to be outside, although I'd like to see a few more Fall leaves. I'm inpatient. This is supposed to be a long Fall, so I hope that we'll have plenty of nice outdoor-worthy weekends ahead of us.

Another season down

Last weekend we headed down to Emerald Downs again to close out the racing season. There was rain, mud and luck in the air.

My fav jockey held up his end of things a won me a pretty little pile of money...that will now fund my flight to NYC next month. See, gambling does pay off. Sometimes.

I'm trying to get Rob to go in on a horse. He says no. I'll keep working on him. ☺

Root, root, root for the home team. Even when they lose.

Saturday night we made our way downtown to Safeco Field for the Mariners v. Rangers game. Before the game started we grabbed some munchies on the Outside Corner right before the rain started coming down. The retractable roof is one of the coolest things about Safeco Field. If it were raining, we would not be at the game. We're not that big of Mariners fans!

And apparently we aren't the only ones. This was the emptiest Mariners game we've ever been to. Maybe they aren't doing too well this year?? I don't know...neither of us really follow baseball...we just like to go to the games and people watch.

It just so happen to be Latin America night so everything was said in English and Spanish and a lot of the little ditty things they do on the big screen were Latino. They uniforms we in Spanish too. For all you Spanish illiterates out there, in Spanish the Mariners are Los Marineros. ☺

This was the sole M's score of the entire night. Kinda lame. What happened guys!?!

We then went home where Rob thought it would be funny to feed Jackson left over cotton candy. OK, I thought it was a little funny too. Yeah, we're awesome.

See, we're irresponsible when it comes to pets...we definitely shouldn't be entrusted with kids yet!

Labor Day the Canadian Way

Rob surprised me with a long weekend in Vancouver, BC over the Labor Day weekend. We stayed at a great place on Robson {where all the shops/restaurants/clubs are} so we didn't have to go far for anything!

We did do our fair share of walking though...there was a lot going on that weekend! We watched some street performers. Our favorite was a guy who juggled fire, then was chained up in a straight jacket and escaped. As if that wasn't good enough...he was quite the comedian as well. There was some sidewalk art too...this MJ one was probably the best.

We went to TaiwanFest, which had the absolute scariest food I have ever seen! People were lining up to get fried octopus and grilled squid on a stick and pickled pork belly, fish ball {?!?} soup, blood pudding on a stick and of course, bubble tea. Needless to say, we passed on every single bit of it!

We spent one day at the Vancouver Aquarium, which was mostly like any other aquarium we've been to, except they had beluga whales, dolphins and a 4-D movie.

It was SO crowded there. We got there fairly early and the line was snaking all away around the building. It was raining so they were passing out umbrellas to people who didn't have them {ahem, Rob}. Here he is with his cute froggie umbrella. I kinda wanted to keep it. ☺

I took a million pictures, but none of them showed up well because I just haven't learned how to master the flash/glass combo on my camera. Oh well!

We also did a bit of shopping, got in some good eats and saw a terrible movie {The American, don't waste your money}. It all went by way too fast. Good times.

Click, flash!

A few weeks back we had our photos taken at Gasworks Park. We didn't get too many couples proofs back from the photographer to choose from {big bummer}, but I think we'll end up getting the few below.

She took a lot of individual shots, which we weren't really looking for, but may snag one of each of us...just to put on our desks at work. Not of ourselves, you know...of each other.

We're not in love with any of them, but like them well enough. Rob thought it would have been funner {or is it more fun?} to have our pets in the pictures with us. I vetoed it without even considering it. Maybe next time. ☺

Get your Groupon!

I joined Groupon a year or so ago and have been buying deals from them like crazy ever since.

I am buying them faster than we can use them, but that doesn't stop my from buying them still...the discounts are just too good to pass up!

I have run into a little problem though...some of them are on the verge of expiring and we're running low on time to get them all done.

I really have come across some great steals through Groupon A few of my favorites:

• Bikram Yoga membership {at a great studio right down the street from my office!!}
• Passes to the Seattle International Film Festival
• Italian cooking lessons
• Bar Method fitness classes
• Multiple spa services {facials, waxing, massages, hair cuts, manicures, you name it, I've gotten a Groupon deal for it!}
• Professional photo sessions {we just did this last week...stay tuned we should have our proofs shortly and of course, I'll share}
• Family Fun Center passes
• Trophy Cupcakes
• Emerald Down racetrack passes
• Puget Sound cruise tickets

Excellent concept Groupon is, really. Check them out {and make sure to sign up for their emails} and see if they have offers for your city!

At the lake

August seems to have slipped by without any blogging, meaning I don't think we did much of anything worth sharing. I did find a few random pictures from a picnic at the lake a couple weeks ago.

We had a streak of hot weather up here for a few days and thought that Jackson would be all over some swimming. Turned out he had to be coaxed a bit. Okay, he had to be dragged into the water. Completely against his will.

But once he got in he actually enjoyed it...for a little while.

Then he'd had enough of it and was desperately trying to drag Rob out.

I thought he was crazy. If I'd had my bathing suit, I would have gotten in and stayed in for a while. Someone keeps pressuring me to play hooky and spend an afternoon at the lake. I might have to give in soon!

It's hip to be a square

Last Saturday we found ourselves wandering through what is normally a beautiful park along the Seattle waterfront. I say normally because this trip it was a little less than lovely. Seattle Hempfest had taken over the park and it was pure chaos, but in the most laid back of ways, of course.

We been to Hempfest once before, you know - just to say we'd gone, but apparently we've turned into complete squares since then. It was really crowded and super smelly (I got a wee bit nauseous and Rob was feeling a tad 'affected' by the surrounding odor) just by walking through the park.

The place was covered in garbage and there was an abundance of parents who thought it a good idea to bring their children. Way to go! It was a good place to people watch though...always a plus.

We snapped a few pictures, did a little bit of walking around/shoving our way through the park, dared to buy and drink some bottled water and then made a beeline back to the safety of our neck of the woods. I can confidently say we've been Hempfest-ed out. For good.

My boys

I walked downstairs and saw them watching TV just like this.

Jackson likes to kick back and watch TV too, I guess. He isn't very modest though...we'll have to work on that.