Posted by Angie on May 11, 2010 in
Uncategorized Today I received an email from DSHS Department of Child and Family Services, stating that they are putting in a motion in court to move Salvador Raymond to Michael’s and My home. This is because the mother and father were in a domestic violence incident and the mother is in Jail. I am attending a Family Team Decision Making meeting on Friday so the change in placement can be discussed.
I expect I will have him in my home by May 27th at the latest, possible as soon as Friday.
Previously, we had planned to take him for a week May 27 – June 3 while the foster parents went on vacation, but now I expect that to be more permanent.
I wanted to thank everyone in the family for being so supportive and helping so much over the last 5 months, getting ready for the home study. The study is in for approval and should be complete soon.
We are planning to call him Ray – his great-grandfather is Raymond Reigh, who is my granduncle. (see tree attached)
Michael and I are hoping to bring Ray to Paul’s house on May 30th for introductions, if Paul and Glenn are open to the idea.
We are not planning a baby shower, but if you would like to give him a present, he would like a copy of your favorite children’s book, with a note inside saying why it’s your favorite and how you are related to Michael and me.
Posted by Paul on Mar 22, 2010 in
Uncategorized Friday, March 19th 2010
This was it. The big “15”. It was our 15th wedding anniversary, and the components of my surprise had been carefully moved into place. Everything was ready. Nothing could go wrong.
Or could it?
I had purchased the British Racing Green MINI with white roof, mirror and white bonnet stripes on January 22nd, and left it parked at the dealer for safekeeping.
I had purchased the king-sized (24” diameter) bow online and had it shipped to Eugene’s house.
I had given them Michele’s address to send the financing paperwork to (this can be changed later).
I had purchased the custom floor mats, steering wheel cover and trash bag with the tree frogs on them, the butterfly license plate frames, the cat-head antenna ball, the tree frog keychain, and the green iPod Nano, and stored them safely in the car.
I had arranged for Eugene to drive the car down to Ocean Shores on Friday, park it in an appropriate spot on the beach, send me the GPS coordinates, and set up the camera.
I had moved the car to Eugene’s house a few days beforehand, added it to the insurance, and made sure Eugene was familiar with its driving characteristics.
I had ordered the personalized license plate, and despite a close call when the new registration arrived in the mail, she hadn’t found out about it.
There had been a couple of close calls, but I was pretty sure it was still a surprise.
Angela and I woke up in the RV on Friday morning, made breakfast, and talked about what to do with the day. I had planted suggestions about walking on the beach earlier, and this was confirmed. Somehow I managed to conceal my excitement. We bundled up, because it’s cold and windy on the ocean beach in March, and headed out. The tide was low, plenty of room to park and to walk. It’s about a mile as the seagull flies from our campsite to where the car would be, but add 1/2 mile for the beach trail and shuffling down to the water line. Off we went.
I got a TXT from Eugene: He was passing through Aberdeen. Not long to wait. We shuffled down the beach, poking at broken shells and interesting driftwood shapes with our toes.
I got another TXT from Eugene: Was the road twisty toward the end? Hmm. There’s twisty roads just after Hoquiam, but then it straightens out. I tell him so.
Another TXT from Eugene: Passing Copalis Beach. Was that right? Pulled out the GPS and started scrolling around. Uh oh. He’d passed the final turn. Told him so.
More TXTs from Eugene as I helped him get turned around. Angela is starting to get annoyed by all of the TXTing. I told her Eugene and I were almost done talking about computer stuff.
We sat on a log to “rest” for a while (as Eugene went bombing down 109 South toward 115 in the MINI).
TXT from Eugene: Turned on 115 South. Only a few miles away. We started walking again.
Another few miles, another TXT from Eugene. He had arrived. He sent GPS coordinates.
I tried to plug the coordinates into the GPS as a new waypoint, but had neglected to figure out how to do that with my new GPS. Fumbled with it for a bit. Angela looks at me funny. I put the GPS away. I know where the car is, roughly. Don’t need the GPS.
You know, planning to walk for a little over a mile sounds perfectly OK in theory – but the reality of it can be much different. It’s cold. It’s windy. The sand gives way under your feet. Also, you have to move to another RV camping spot at 1:00PM because the reservation didn’t work out as planned, so you have to get back by a certain time. You get tired. You start day-dreaming of hot chocolate at the campsite.
We walk along the beach some more. Angela starts slowing down, not looking around at the scenery anymore. She’s worried about timing. I know we’ll be able to get warm and have plenty of time to get back to the campsite once we get the new car, but she doesn’t know that. I can see the car now. It’s a tiny bump on the beach, but it’s a dark-colored MINI for sure.
A dozen more steps. I can just make out the bow. Angela is looking at her feet.
A few more steps. Angela heads for a log to sit down and rest on. We stop. I can clearly see the MINI and its bow now. I suspect Angela is getting ready to suggest that we give up on our goal of walking into town and that we head back.
I send another TXT Eugene, telling him she’s tired and asking him to very sneakily move the car closer to us. A couple of minutes pass. The car does not move.
Angela and I get up and start shuffling again. Nearly there. I slip the heart-shaped box with matching bow out of my coat pocket and hold it at my side, waiting for her to notice the car.
50 steps away. She’s still looking at her feet.
40 steps away. She hasn’t seen it yet.
I start steering her toward the car. She looks at me quizzically, then looks toward where I am steering her. Moments pass. Recognition has not dawned yet. We’re ten steps away from the car, looking right at it. The car is large as life, with a huge red bow twitching in the breeze. She still needs prodding. I hand her the box with the key in it.
You know, I am not quite sure what I expected. Angela has never been the “jumping up and down, squealing with delight, clapping her hands” sort of person, and I know this. Still, I expected a stronger reaction. What I got was stunned silence while she put it together and forced herself to believe it. There were some noises like “No” and “You didn’t”, followed by “Did you?”, and much looking back and forth at me, then the car, and the big red bow, and the box. Finally she opens the box, and there is the key, complete with the MINI logo on it, resting on a folded up red ribbon inside the box. “You did. You got me a MINI. Wait, you got me a MINI?” This went on for some time. Then: “How did you do this?”
Eugene magically appeared out of thin air. I swear he had folded the universe around himself, and threw it off suddenly like an invisibility cloak. One second he was nowhere to be seen, and the next second, he was twenty feet away from us setting up his tripod. I had been looking around for him. The trunk’s too small, he couldn’t have been in there. We had 100 feet of bare sand in all directions. I learned later he had been hiding behind a very large piece of driftwood about 100 feet away, and came out when we weren’t looking his direction. Sneaky.
By this time, Angela’s brain was slowly starting to figure out that the key in her hand might actually open the car she was staring at. We got a door open and she started noticing the accessories. Then it was time for pictures, as Eugene had gotten the camera ready.
I think I must have broken something in Angela’s brain, and the nano-bots were having trouble reassembling it. Over lunch and the next couple of hours, it slowly sunk in that she was the proud (and somewhat bewildered) owner of a brand new 2010 British Racing Green MINI Cooper with a bunch of bells and whistles (including the machine that goes “bing”). I don’t really remember what we did with the rest of our vacation as the weather slowly turned nasty and we relaxed in our RV within rock- throwing distance of the ocean beach. One item stands out clearly to me, and I will give you a “word to the wise” regarding this: If you choose to fly a kite in Ocean Shores in March, make sure that the spool your string is on has a handle that is 3/8” or smaller, and bring a cordless drill with you to help reel that sucker in.
Angela slowly came to accept that it was true and the car was hers as the weekend came to a close. I am told that the realization of it finally came into focus stayed there somewhere on the freeway between Tacoma and Lynnwood. I think the familiar surroundings finally crystallized it. As the miles sped by, the dream faded to reality – but the MINI remained.
Tags: 15th Anniversary, beach, MINI
Posted by Carol on Dec 4, 2009 in
Uncategorized Well, the coming out of the drugs parts was psychedelic, and my throat was sore as hell from whatever the anesthesiologist put down there (and still is somewhat sore) but there is NO pain in the knee! Have not yet taken a pain pill and don’t see any reason I should. Even the pain that started all this is gone! Whoopee, it is great to have competent doctor! I told him I would be riding in a quad in a week and he grimaced at me. Ha.
Posted by Angie on Nov 29, 2009 in
Uncategorized 
What’s better than Christmas?
Christmas on Skates!
Join the Rat City Rollergirls for a fun family event, Skatemas 09, on December 6 at Bellevue Skate King from 6:30 — 8:30 pm.
The evening will include fun games like snowball toss, candy run, and gift unwrapping relay and, of course, roller skating!
Cost is $8, which includes admission and skate rental.
Want to help kids in need enjoy the holiday season?
We do!
That’s why we’re inviting our fans and friends to bring a new, unwrapped present (or two or three!) to donate to DAWN (Domestic Abuse Womens Network). Let’s brighten the lives of kids in need.
If you need a little extra enticement, here’s a little secret:
Some of the Rat City Rollergirls are elves on loan from North Pole… Come find out which ones when you get your picture taken with Santa in our winter wonder land.
Happy holidays! Come celebrate with us!
Posted by Terry on Nov 23, 2009 in
Uncategorized This has been a momentous year for Tom and me in many ways, but the biggest has to be that we broke ground for our new home at Point Roberts. And when I say we broke ground, boy, did we ever! We cleared about a third of the lot (seems like more, but some of it was already cleared). We had a culvert and service road put in and an infiltrator in-ground pump septic system installed. We had our main driveway culvert installed. We had the slash burned down and the ground graded. We have a huge pile of logs waiting until we move in and want to light a fire in the fireplace (we’ll be looking for friends with chain saws then).
Now we’re ready to move ahead some more. Our blueprints have been engineered for wind and seismic. We are currently having them engineered for radiant floor heat, plumbing, solar hot water, and solar electric. We’re ready to buy the water meter. We’re working on getting our Seattle home ready to sell – decluttering, repairing, cleaning, painting, landscaping and decorating.
And I’m working on getting my new job down pat, so I can convince my new manager that I can do my job just as well if not better from a remote computer at Point Roberts. So I had better get back to work.
I’m looking forward to the day that you, my dear family, can come visit up at Point Roberts and share the wonder of that beautiful place with us. We’ll have guest rooms where you can stay. Maybe we’ll even put up some jungle hammocks. Make sure you have up-to-date passports!
See you day after Thanksgiving. Love you!
Posted by Terry on Nov 20, 2009 in
Uncategorized Louise, Glenn, Angie & Paul, I need your social security numbers in order to complete my open enrollment, so I can list you as secondary beneficiary on my life insurance. I think it’s fairly likely that Tom and I will die within minutes of each other in a fiery crash, so that could be important, although, of course, you are already in my will.
Paul, can you suggest a secure way to get this very sensitive information to me?
Posted by DJ on Nov 18, 2009 in
Uncategorized Love the pictures. I couldn’t see the Thriller image until I saw the lit up version, and then I was amazed. That was one kickass jackolantern.
Posted by Paul on Oct 25, 2009 in
Uncategorized The pumpkin part went pretty well, although attendance was low.
Some interesting jack-o-lanterns were created, including a Michael Jackson “Thriller” image, one painted with lipstick, and a snowman pumpkin made with white pumpkins. Also notable was one that ended up with a pitchfork through its (lack of a) brain, and one that looked as though it really got into the whole body piercing thing.
Some met loud and violent ends in the back yard, which resulted in the neighbor yelling at us (the neighbor who lets his brainless dog bark late into the night, revs the engines on his old crappy big-engine cars he works on, and has back yard BBQs with drunk people laughing raucously).
Glenn didn’t remember (from Angie’s party) that the explosive has two charges - the propulsion charge, then the big one. So when the first one made a small noise and a puff of smoke, Glenn started saying how disappointing it was, and was cut off by the business end of that little firework. We got that on video, but Liz totally lost control of the camera in all of the excitement (I should have used the tripod). I’ll see if I can edit the video and cut the interesting portions of it into a separate video, so you don’t have to watch 3:52 of a sickeningly swinging camera and people talking in order to see the good bits.
Overall, not a bad day.
