He is the one we've been waiting for!

Summer fun!

Ellensburg has several annual traditions and festivals, but none are like "Dachshunds on Parade" weekend.

Each year, hundreds of people from around the States bring their dachshund dogs to Ellensburg for the dachshund parade, costume contest and dog races. We had heard quite a bit about it, but we had to go check it out for ourselves.


Gideon wasn't too hip on petting the dogs (he's deathly afraid of dogs, and we have no idea why), but he enjoyed the wiener races and the costumes.


Hannah enjoyed the dogs and even made friends with one named "Toby."

I'll let the photos tell the rest. (Click to enlarge.)



This summer also marks Gideon's first summer job. He joined in with the neighbor kids next door to sell lemonade and golf balls.

He thought it was the greatest thing, and did a great job yelling "LEMONADE - 25 CENTS!" every time a car drove by. After a full day's work, the girls gave him $3.72 as his pay. He decided to buy himself some gummy cherries, give 25 cents to the church and save the rest. So cute!

More visitors!

We are so thankful that our friends and family continue to visit us from so far away. Tim and Summer Gilstrap (who now live in Spokane, WA) visited us back in May as part of their "5th Anniversary Western Washington Tour." We had a great time watching their wedding video, hanging out and playing our now new favorite game "Ticket to Ride - Europe."

Then about a month ago, my Dad and Ann visited us from Bakersfield, CA. The surprise wasn't so much that Dad came, but HOW he came. Due to his claustrophobia and slight fear of heights, my father had not flown in an airplane since 1969! But thanks to the "parents passes" my step-brother got through Alaska Airlines, they were able to sit in first class which made the flight here very comfortable for him.

During their visit, we showed them around Ellensburg, and spent a day in Leavenworth, the little German town we visited back in December. This time, though, the weather was very pleasant and we were able to see a lot more of the town, including the beautiful park that goes along the river. It was gorgeous!


Our next visitors will be coming in August. Several of the Moeses are planning to come (although we're still not sure how many), and then my Mom will be coming again with my Grandparents who are natives of Ellensburg, so we're looking forward to them giving us a tour of Ellensburg as they used to know it.

Oh those crazy kids

We had so many cute pictures on this last roll, we thought we'd share. As always, click to expand!



Bad hair day? What bad hair day?



Hangin' in the cubbie. (Gideon often naps here.)



The G-man's "smile for the camera!" smile.



Chocolate pudding is serious business.



Home, Jeeves.



Fourth of July indoor picnic. Smile for the camera, Gideon!



Crazy Bag Head.


Crazy Bag Head dies for no apparent reason.


As does Crazy Bag Head, so does sister.



World-class cheese.



Faker.



Cute.



Cute in the chute (at McDonald's).



Summertime... Shade... Cool grass in the front yard... Life is good.

5K Fun Run/Walk

Last weekend, the youth group from our church hosted a 5K Fun Run to raise money for their mission trip to Jamaica. Although we had no intention of running, we thought it would be fun to take the kids for a stroll and spend some time outdoors.





The event took place at Irene Rheinhart park, a part of town we had not yet seen. Unfortunately it runs along the freeway, but is also along the beautiful Yakima river.

The 5K course was really nice. It was a loop that started at the park entrance and went around the large pond where they were having mini-boat races that day. Then it curved around alongside the river and into a forest-like section of the park. The lead runners passed us on their way back before we even hit the half-way mark, so we didn't do the last loop. They were still nice enough to give the kids ribbons of participation.

It happened to be one of four warms days we've had so far (although it rained later that day), so we put our feet in the water and played at the park for a while. The day was enjoyed by all.

You know you're from Ellensburg if...

In three months we'll have been here a full year (can you believe it?) and now feel qualified to weigh in on what it means to be a citizen of the great city of Ellensburg. So, you know you're from Ellensburg if...

- You refer to Fred Meyer as either "Freddy's" or "the mall," and you know your Rewards Card number by heart.

- Going to a real mall feels like a visit to Disneyland.

- The waiter asks if you want milk, water, coffee or "pop."

- "The West Side" refers to Seattle, not gang territory.

- You live next door to an old church, a D&M Coffee or both.

- You have no lock on your back door and only lock your car to prevent neighbors from unloading their garden produce on you.

- Sight of a Target, Costco or Wal-Mart gives you a sweet adrenaline rush.

- You can pronounce "Umptanum" correctly and without giggling.

- The weather forecast calls for warm and windy, cold and windy, rain and windy or just plain windy.

- After watering your lawn all day long, your grass is dry but your neighbor's house is soaked.

- You know someone is from out of town if they don't have a university parking permit hanging from their rear view mirror.

- You can attend extreme bull riding and a lecture by Salman Rushdie all on the same day.

- Walking to the hospital would be faster than calling an ambulance.

- Being white as a ghost is as acceptable as wearing socks with sandals.

- You meet someone "from Ellensburg" and immediately ask, "So where are you from?"

I'm still trying to decide if needing oven mitts to drive in Fresno was really worse than needing polar fleece to take a walk in June here, but we love Ellensburg and are proud to call it home.

Our first visit to the ER

When Graham and I became parents, we knew there'd be a day we'd have to visit the emergency room. We just didn't know when, and I think we both assumed it would be for Gideon. But no; little Miss Hannah, in defiance to being kept from running into the street, flung herself out of Graham's arms landing head-first onto the sidewalk. I was at work, but Graham said she cried for a few seconds at first, tried to take a breath, then completely blacked out. Thankfully she came to in a few seconds, but he had the scare of his life.

I was on the way home for lunch already, so we rushed her to the hospital which, in great little Ellensburg is literally one block over and two blocks down from our house. By the time I got home, she was extremely lethargic and had a huge scrape/bump on her head (the picture doesn't do it justice, but thankfully she didn't crack her head open). We didn't even have to wait two seconds before being seen (again, good ol' small town service!). She was pretty freaked out by the doctors and nurses, so they ended up giving her a sedative so she'd stay still for a CT scan. Thank the Lord, everything came out fine, although they said that since kids are so limber, their spines can still experience trauma even if it's not fractured.

Once she woke up, she was laughing and counting the numbers on a wellness chart, so the doctor wasn't too concerned. She took it easy once we got home, but after a while was running around and being her normal, toddler self. We just have to watch her close for the next 24 hours.

Thanks to those who prayed for her/us. Graham is still pretty upset about what "could have happened," but we're thankful that God was and is watching over our little Hannah Mae.