Stomach flu hits our house AGAIN. This time I get it. Second time in two weeks I have had it.
fun
fun
fun
1 hour ago
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Super Angie...Cougar Mountain Zoo
While visiting my parents, we went to the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah. It was so much fun because its a tiny zoo, not crowded and full of cool statues of animals.
Tan on Camel...yea! we love camels.
Sitting in Santa's sleigh with Brennan as our reindeer
Then we went and saw the real reindeer.
We even got to feed them!
We all LOVED the tigers.
Riding a rino!
Tan had SO MUCH FUN feeding this Alpaca
The black one spit at us!
EMU time!
Ride 'em Crock Girl!
My big bear Brennan with a Big Bear
Brennan liked the idea of this crock eating him.
Seeing this makes me really want to take another trip to Australia so Tan can play with the kangs.
Thanks Gaga and Pop! We had so much fun!--Super Angie
Super Angie...Fort Casey
While in Seattle, we spent the day at Fort Casey on Whidbey Island.
The kids LOVED driving past the Everett Boeing plant where my dad worked for probably 20 plus years. One
ha
nger door was open and we could see a new plane being made. We also saw the special plane that helps carry parts for the 787.We were the last car on the ferry, which
was cool. Tan and Gaga stood at the back and watched us leave the dock. Tan was VERY excited about being on such a big boat. In fact, when it was time to get off, she screamed and screamed. She did NOT like leaving her boat!On the way to Fort Casey, we took a drive through our old camping stomping ground. Rhododendron state park. I couldn't beleive how TALL the trees were and how good the forest smelt. Wish we could have gone camping. Good news...no banana slugs on this visit.
We hadn't told the kids anything about Fort Casey, so when we arrived, they were THRILLED to see this huge old naval base. We
had a picnic and then took off running. Unfortuantly, part of the fort was being painted and therefore the two big cannons were off limits. But never the less, we had a great time exploring and wondering and learning about different parts and what they were used for. It was great to remember old times with my dad and all the many adventures we had there.Afterwards, we headed to Coupeville and had some yummy ice cream--again I had Washington Mountain Blackberry...YUMMMMMMMM.
It was a great day on the Island!
--Super Angie
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Super Angie..Ocean Shores
While in Seattle last week, my dad and I took the kids to Ocean Shores for some Pacific Ocean Fun!Tanith has never been to an ocean before (the boys have) so it was extra special to watch her enjoy and explore.
I walked out with her the first time and waited for her reaction as the first wave hit our feet and the soft sand started slipping away under our sandals. I could immediately tell she was scared,
so I turned with her and we ran to Pop who was waiting in the dry sand.Brennan got crazy and went far out and then would run run run back. He fell a few times (typical Brennan fashion) and got soaked!
Dallin and Brennan found an empty water bottle and had fun putting muddy sand in it and dumping it out over and over again. Then they built Mt St. Helens and Mt. Rainier in the sand and waited for the waves to destroy both mountains.
I enjoyed how frigid and cold the ocean is in WA and how your feet actually get used to it
and you start to enjoy the cold. There was a very mysterious mist raising up off the warm sand and it was fun to see people horse back riding through the misty clouds.We just had a wonderful time and wish we lived closer and could go more often.
THANKS DAD for taking us!
--Super Angie
Monday, July 6, 2009
Super Angie..home, home on the range
We are home now and so happy to be. The trip to Seattle was awesome, but we were all so tired and needed some "down" time and time to be with our own toys and things. We had a blast though and have lots of wonderful memories.
Some highlights:
Tanith threw up on the flight home
My dad accompanied me to the gate at the airport and the kids loved that!
Swimming in Lake Sammamish!
Playing at the ocean.
Being crazy with my wonderful mom.
Seeing Mt. Rainier,
Visiting with Heidi!
Visiting Erica!
Visiting with Emily...and yes, we love taking self portraits!
Playing at Fort Casey!
Visiting with "Aunt" Laura. Tan's favorite person
Tan and Gaga on the Ferry going to Widbey Island. She LOVES ferries now and screams when she has to get off!
Eating at Ivars on Lake Union for Rick's birthday dinner. Love all the native american totem poles.
Staying at Pension Anna in Leavenworth...such a cute place! (thanks mom and dad for babysitting!)
Rick's group from Mt. Rainier. This is at the celebration dinner after the epic climb.
Pop with Tanith...being silly and laughing.
Celebrating Rick's 50th birthday!!!
Visiting the Cougar Mountain Zoo
I got a SOUNDERS soccer team shirt!
Squirrels! My kids never grew tired of seeing the birds and squirrels in my parent's yard.
Dallin learned how to shoot hoops and enjoyed playing with Pop at the school
Brennan gets a bit of help from Pop as he climbs UP the fireman's pole.
Brennan rock climbing at the school playground near my parent's house.
I FINALLY got on Facebook and became "cool" like all my friends!
My mom and I got new athletic shoes. :)
Doing "teacher time" with my kids at the kitchen table--Brennan is getting so good at writing different letters and working on his sounds. Dallin is doing good at Math. Tanith likes to colors and play with stickers.
Sitting out infront with my mom, enjoying the nice weather and just chatting.
Car rides
Northbend Outlet mall shopping! :)
Going out for dinner with Sister Tryon and seeing Jennifer at Cold Stone. mmmm...
Walking to Safeway...I love that my parents live just a few blocks from shopping. Its fun to walk places..reminds me of Europe. :)
Driving around Lake Sammamish and taking the 520 bridge across Lake Washington.
Going to church with my parents.
Having Jeff teach Dallin all about taking care of Enzo (his dog).
Being with my family.
--Super Angie
Some highlights:
Tanith threw up on the flight home
My dad accompanied me to the gate at the airport and the kids loved that!
Swimming in Lake Sammamish!
Playing at the ocean.
Being crazy with my wonderful mom.
Seeing Mt. Rainier,
Visiting with Heidi!
Visiting Erica!
Visiting with Emily...and yes, we love taking self portraits!
Playing at Fort Casey!
Visiting with "Aunt" Laura. Tan's favorite person
Tan and Gaga on the Ferry going to Widbey Island. She LOVES ferries now and screams when she has to get off!
Eating at Ivars on Lake Union for Rick's birthday dinner. Love all the native american totem poles.
Staying at Pension Anna in Leavenworth...such a cute place! (thanks mom and dad for babysitting!)
Rick's group from Mt. Rainier. This is at the celebration dinner after the epic climb.
Pop with Tanith...being silly and laughing.
Celebrating Rick's 50th birthday!!!
Visiting the Cougar Mountain Zoo
I got a SOUNDERS soccer team shirt!
Squirrels! My kids never grew tired of seeing the birds and squirrels in my parent's yard.
Dallin learned how to shoot hoops and enjoyed playing with Pop at the school
Brennan gets a bit of help from Pop as he climbs UP the fireman's pole.
Brennan rock climbing at the school playground near my parent's house.I FINALLY got on Facebook and became "cool" like all my friends!
My mom and I got new athletic shoes. :)
Doing "teacher time" with my kids at the kitchen table--Brennan is getting so good at writing different letters and working on his sounds. Dallin is doing good at Math. Tanith likes to colors and play with stickers.
Sitting out infront with my mom, enjoying the nice weather and just chatting.
Car rides
Northbend Outlet mall shopping! :)
Going out for dinner with Sister Tryon and seeing Jennifer at Cold Stone. mmmm...
Walking to Safeway...I love that my parents live just a few blocks from shopping. Its fun to walk places..reminds me of Europe. :)
Driving around Lake Sammamish and taking the 520 bridge across Lake Washington.
Going to church with my parents.
Having Jeff teach Dallin all about taking care of Enzo (his dog).
Being with my family.
--Super Angie
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Super Angie...promises kept
THIS IS LONG, BUT THIS IS THE TRUE EPIC STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED ON MT. RAINIER LAST WEEK.
When I left Rick at IMG last Saturday, the other climbers gave me a hug and promised to keep my sweetie safe. Well, all the promises were kept and they all survived..>BUT BARELY!!
This was an incredible epic adventure. Something that is for sure gonna be in the mountaineering history books.
A little background. Liberty Ridge is a very technical climb. You have to carry all your gear, even on summit day. Its mostly all ice climbing too, so your skill level has to be high. Its not just an easy walk up!
The weather forecast looked PERFECT for Tuesday--summit day. Up until Tuesday, there were some storms, but things seemed okay. No real problems and Rick recalls that the climbing was just fantastic! "Out of this world" is how he described it.
On summit day, they started at 2am. Rick carried the heaviest of the team gear that day--the tent.
As they neared the summit, the weather turned HORRIBLE and on top, they had 60 mile per hour winds!! A quick summit picture was taken before total white outs. It was now 7pm on Summit day--the 23rd. For some really unlucky reason, the guide's GPS quit, and with zero visibility, they were in trouble. It took them several hours to trek down just 500 feet. It was looking grim. There were drop offs, cervasses and zero visibility. The guides weren't sure where they were going. The trail was covered and a few of the climbers started having a problem similar to snow blindness. It was almost certain, to all of them, that they would die on top of Mt. Rainier.
One guide saw some rocks and they thought, maybe they could hunker down near the rocks and get out of the constant wind. Once they were near the rocks, the realized that it was not going to happen. Suddenly, at 10pm, one of the climbers spotted a 4 foot hole. An ice cave. One guide rappelled into the cave about 20 feet and found a nice platform. 5o deeper from that, they found a huge "room". It was big enough that they were able to set up 2 tents! So, the group of 5 descended deep into Mt. Rainier. It was a pretty constant 32 degrees inside the completely frozen cave. They had to continue to wear their crampons because it was all ice--picture pitching a tent in the middle of an ice rink. (remember, they had been awake since 2am!)
So, now they were out of the storm, which was good, but how long would the storm last? Would they need to stay in the cave for more then a day? If so, they would run out of fuel and food. The rationing began. Instead of heating ice for water, they caught water dripping and used that for drinking. The ate food that would take the least amount of water to digest. Hypothermia started in. Everyone and everything they owned was wet. The good news...in the cave, the GPS and the radio worked, so they were able to radio out their location.
Further down the mountain, a group was climbing the Emmons glacier. It was their summit day, but at around 12,000 feet, they bailed, knowing the weather on top was not favorable. Two of their 4 guides continued up on a rescue mission looking for Rick's group. They reached the climbers at 10:30am on the 24th (WHICH WAS RICK'S 50th BIRTHDAY!!!), so Rick's group had been in that cave, slowly dieing, for 12 hours. The rescuers had left their camp at 2am, so they were pretty tired when they got to the cave.
These two rescuers, weren't really "rescuers", meaning they didn't have any food or anything with them. They were two guides that were taking a group to the summit--so their packs (as is the normal case on summit day) were light, with only snacks, a bit of water and a larger puffy to wear on the summit. But at least these guides had hiked up to the cave and would know the way down.
After an hour, they all climbed out of the cave to find the weather about the same. The descent was slow and they had some problems getting past some large cervasses. They rolled into camp Shermon at 7pm.
The guides at camp shermon and the other climbers were welcoming, doing first aid on one climber's eyes and helping them take off their crampons. Hot water and food was given to all. At 8pm, Rick went to sleep.
Meanwhile, I was sitting at my parent's house in Issaquah. I always like to call Rick's guide companies to find out how they are doing and wondering what day and time they might be back. So, on the 24th I called. I thought they might be done since the forcast had been so good for the 23rd. This is how my phone conversation went:
Hello, IMG, ____speaking.
Hi, this is Angie Miske. My husband is on the Liberty Ridge climb and I'm just checking in to see how they are doing and if they will be down today or tomorrow?
Um...let me have you talk to George and you guys can chit chat about that.
Hi Angie.
Hi George. So, how are they doing? Do you think they'll be down today or tomorrow?
Well, they all summited yesterday, but have ran into bad weather on the summit, so they are spent the night up there.
Um, they only had 3 days of food with them.
Yes, they will have to do some rationing, but there is a group going up the Emmons glacier and they will meet them and give them some more food.
LOL thats about the whole conversation.
I didn't think too much about it.
On the 25th, I got a call from Rick that the had a "interesting" time and he would leave it at that until I picked him up. I was invited to go out to a celebrating dinner with them in Ashford. Thats when the whole epic event was re-told to me.
Rick made it out alive. He survived with only a numb toe, some bad sun burns and very puffy lips. He is a different person now. Everyone in the group honestly thought they were going to die. One guide even said he was considering getting an office job and giving up guiding and mountaineering. Rick had some extremely spiritual moments on the mountain.
Through all of this...I have decided I will try climbing the mountain (via a much easier route) in late August of this year.
--Super Angie
When I left Rick at IMG last Saturday, the other climbers gave me a hug and promised to keep my sweetie safe. Well, all the promises were kept and they all survived..>BUT BARELY!!
This was an incredible epic adventure. Something that is for sure gonna be in the mountaineering history books.
A little background. Liberty Ridge is a very technical climb. You have to carry all your gear, even on summit day. Its mostly all ice climbing too, so your skill level has to be high. Its not just an easy walk up!
The weather forecast looked PERFECT for Tuesday--summit day. Up until Tuesday, there were some storms, but things seemed okay. No real problems and Rick recalls that the climbing was just fantastic! "Out of this world" is how he described it.
On summit day, they started at 2am. Rick carried the heaviest of the team gear that day--the tent.
As they neared the summit, the weather turned HORRIBLE and on top, they had 60 mile per hour winds!! A quick summit picture was taken before total white outs. It was now 7pm on Summit day--the 23rd. For some really unlucky reason, the guide's GPS quit, and with zero visibility, they were in trouble. It took them several hours to trek down just 500 feet. It was looking grim. There were drop offs, cervasses and zero visibility. The guides weren't sure where they were going. The trail was covered and a few of the climbers started having a problem similar to snow blindness. It was almost certain, to all of them, that they would die on top of Mt. Rainier.
One guide saw some rocks and they thought, maybe they could hunker down near the rocks and get out of the constant wind. Once they were near the rocks, the realized that it was not going to happen. Suddenly, at 10pm, one of the climbers spotted a 4 foot hole. An ice cave. One guide rappelled into the cave about 20 feet and found a nice platform. 5o deeper from that, they found a huge "room". It was big enough that they were able to set up 2 tents! So, the group of 5 descended deep into Mt. Rainier. It was a pretty constant 32 degrees inside the completely frozen cave. They had to continue to wear their crampons because it was all ice--picture pitching a tent in the middle of an ice rink. (remember, they had been awake since 2am!)
So, now they were out of the storm, which was good, but how long would the storm last? Would they need to stay in the cave for more then a day? If so, they would run out of fuel and food. The rationing began. Instead of heating ice for water, they caught water dripping and used that for drinking. The ate food that would take the least amount of water to digest. Hypothermia started in. Everyone and everything they owned was wet. The good news...in the cave, the GPS and the radio worked, so they were able to radio out their location.
Further down the mountain, a group was climbing the Emmons glacier. It was their summit day, but at around 12,000 feet, they bailed, knowing the weather on top was not favorable. Two of their 4 guides continued up on a rescue mission looking for Rick's group. They reached the climbers at 10:30am on the 24th (WHICH WAS RICK'S 50th BIRTHDAY!!!), so Rick's group had been in that cave, slowly dieing, for 12 hours. The rescuers had left their camp at 2am, so they were pretty tired when they got to the cave.
These two rescuers, weren't really "rescuers", meaning they didn't have any food or anything with them. They were two guides that were taking a group to the summit--so their packs (as is the normal case on summit day) were light, with only snacks, a bit of water and a larger puffy to wear on the summit. But at least these guides had hiked up to the cave and would know the way down.
After an hour, they all climbed out of the cave to find the weather about the same. The descent was slow and they had some problems getting past some large cervasses. They rolled into camp Shermon at 7pm.
The guides at camp shermon and the other climbers were welcoming, doing first aid on one climber's eyes and helping them take off their crampons. Hot water and food was given to all. At 8pm, Rick went to sleep.
Meanwhile, I was sitting at my parent's house in Issaquah. I always like to call Rick's guide companies to find out how they are doing and wondering what day and time they might be back. So, on the 24th I called. I thought they might be done since the forcast had been so good for the 23rd. This is how my phone conversation went:
Hello, IMG, ____speaking.
Hi, this is Angie Miske. My husband is on the Liberty Ridge climb and I'm just checking in to see how they are doing and if they will be down today or tomorrow?
Um...let me have you talk to George and you guys can chit chat about that.
Hi Angie.
Hi George. So, how are they doing? Do you think they'll be down today or tomorrow?
Well, they all summited yesterday, but have ran into bad weather on the summit, so they are spent the night up there.
Um, they only had 3 days of food with them.
Yes, they will have to do some rationing, but there is a group going up the Emmons glacier and they will meet them and give them some more food.
LOL thats about the whole conversation.
I didn't think too much about it.
On the 25th, I got a call from Rick that the had a "interesting" time and he would leave it at that until I picked him up. I was invited to go out to a celebrating dinner with them in Ashford. Thats when the whole epic event was re-told to me.
Rick made it out alive. He survived with only a numb toe, some bad sun burns and very puffy lips. He is a different person now. Everyone in the group honestly thought they were going to die. One guide even said he was considering getting an office job and giving up guiding and mountaineering. Rick had some extremely spiritual moments on the mountain.
Through all of this...I have decided I will try climbing the mountain (via a much easier route) in late August of this year.
--Super Angie
Super Angie...Father's Day
I'm catching up on pics from the past week...
Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura came over to celebrate Father's day and enjoy some cake. The kids got so excited to see them.
We enjoyed a BIG dinner. Thanks Mom and Dad for making such a nice spread!
This picture doesn't like me and won't flip sideways. Anyway, Dad grilled up Bratwurst. YUMMM!!!!
Go Grill Master Dad!
And the kids wore their German clothes to church that morning. Doesn't Tan look so cute in her dirndel? This was the first time she wore the blue one. SO stinkin cute!
Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura came over to celebrate Father's day and enjoy some cake. The kids got so excited to see them.
We enjoyed a BIG dinner. Thanks Mom and Dad for making such a nice spread!
This picture doesn't like me and won't flip sideways. Anyway, Dad grilled up Bratwurst. YUMMM!!!!
Go Grill Master Dad!
And the kids wore their German clothes to church that morning. Doesn't Tan look so cute in her dirndel? This was the first time she wore the blue one. SO stinkin cute!
--Super Angie
Super Angie...Strawberry Days-a bit late.
SORRY FOR THE ANNOYING FORMATING> I CAN"T GET IT TO FIX AND LOOK RIGHT!!
--Super Angie
Before we came to WA, we went to Strawberry Days. Just me and the kids for an hour before swim lessons. We had a BLAST!! Tan had never been to a carnival before. I enjoyed watching it all through her eyes. Of course the boys wanted to go on the dragon rollercoaster and Tan wanted to 
follow anything they did. So all four of us went. Tan immediatly started screaming, so I just hugged her close and talked about the other people screaming and putting their hands in the air. Eventually she settled down but did admit later that it was "scary!". Next we went on the duck ride, which borred the boys to death, but Tan LOVED it. I think Brennan and her said QUACK the entire time. :)
follow anything they did. So all four of us went. Tan immediatly started screaming, so I just hugged her close and talked about the other people screaming and putting their hands in the air. Eventually she settled down but did admit later that it was "scary!". Next we went on the duck ride, which borred the boys to death, but Tan LOVED it. I think Brennan and her said QUACK the entire time. :)Tan and I settled on the grass to watch the boys do a jeep ride through the wild west. Of course the boys were laughing the whole time while talking about fighting the indians and wild things out in the desert. 
Then I 
let each kid pick one more thing to do. Dallin chose the gunny sack slide. He went so fast and had a blast. Brennan and Tanith pick another car ride. This time, Tan cracked me up! She had her arms raised in the air, almost the entire time, like she had seen people on the roller coaster do. She was screaming with joy and smiling so big. It was just so cute.
let each kid pick one more thing to do. Dallin chose the gunny sack slide. He went so fast and had a blast. Brennan and Tanith pick another car ride. This time, Tan cracked me up! She had her arms raised in the air, almost the entire time, like she had seen people on the roller coaster do. She was screaming with joy and smiling so big. It was just so cute.I had a great time braving the crowds and taking my kids to the carnival. Can't wait for next year and see what new things the kids want to try. 
--Super AngieWednesday, June 24, 2009
Super Angie...HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK
Today is Rick's 50th birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!!
--Super Angie
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Super Angie...Wendy, Awsumb, a bump on the nose and a fever
Tan with Wendy before she offered her some gum
Tan with Wendy after Wendy gave her gum. Notice how much nicer Tan is actting? What a moody girl! lol
Today, we met up with my good friend Wendy and her son Awsumb at one of my favorite places, Grasslawn Park. I drove the long way from Issaquah to Redmond via West Lake Samamish parkway. Ah, stunning! Anyone have an extra 2 Million dollars so I can buy a waterfront home please? Anyway, then we drove by Ben Rush Elementary, where I went to school and of course we drove by my old house. Its UGLY now. Dumb new owners!
Then onto Grasslawn. Man, this park ROCKS. I can't beleive how much it has changed. The new baseball fields ROCK and the playgrounds are great. We met up with Wendy and Awsumb and
had a picnic under a tree and then the kids played their little hearts out. It was so nice to catch up with Wendy. The kids all picked up right where they left off last time we visited and just had a great time.
had a picnic under a tree and then the kids played their little hearts out. It was so nice to catch up with Wendy. The kids all picked up right where they left off last time we visited and just had a great time. After a while on the big playset, we went over to the fountain area and allowed the kids to get soaked. Tan ran around in only her diaper. It was cute. When we were getting ready to leave, something happened and Dallin and Tan collided with Tan's nose hitting the corner of the picnic bench. It immediatly started bleeding, so we decided to go to Wendy's to get some ice. The kids were bummed we were leaving the park, but soon they were playing happily at Wendy's. T
an didn't like having the ice on her nose, and instead found some toys. The boys LOVED Awsumb's toys and made themselves quite at home. This was great because it allowed Wendy and I to talk talk talk. It was really nice to be with a good friend and just to chat. :) The kids played outside and ate popsicles and then suddenly, Dallin had a fever and was very latharic. So, we got him some tylenol and packed up to head home.
an didn't like having the ice on her nose, and instead found some toys. The boys LOVED Awsumb's toys and made themselves quite at home. This was great because it allowed Wendy and I to talk talk talk. It was really nice to be with a good friend and just to chat. :) The kids played outside and ate popsicles and then suddenly, Dallin had a fever and was very latharic. So, we got him some tylenol and packed up to head home. Phew! It was a really busy afternoon, but so much fun!
--Super Angie
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Belay On
Brennan Top Roping
Climb On!
Dallin top roping
