What I've been up to

I've alluded to the fact that the last few months have been super busy...."too busy to blog" is what you're thinking, I know!  So, over the next few days, I'm going to try to catch you up on my last few months.  Don't worry, it won't be like an invitation to Uncle Bob's vacation slideshow.  I'll be much more brief.  In fact, I'm going to completely skip over two entire trips:  CHA Summer show in Chicago (July) and Club Scrap Retreat (August).  It's not that these trips weren't important; I just don't have very good pictures of either and, while I had a great time at both, it's just not the same unless you were there with me.

However, right after I got back from retreat, Todd & I went to Seattle for a family reunion.  For the first time in many years, every single family member were together (his mom's two sisters and their families along with Todd's).  We all got together in Yakima on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  This picture is of the entire clan, such as we are. (Todd is the tall one at the back right; I'm next to him, in black, but mostly hidden by a cousin.) I don't even remember when we were all together last, but it was great to see each other again, meet the newest additions, and have a chance to catch up.

But I can't go any further without telling you that we met some celebrities while we were in Seattle!  Yes, it's true.  They have their own website and have quite the fan following.  On Saturday (yes, it was basically the first thing we did in Seattle!) we went to visit someone we met online, specifically on a pet duck Yahoo group.  We had been away from home for barely 24 hours and already we were missing our duckies, so it was great fun to visit Tiff and her flock.  It was such fun to talk with someone else who "gets" why we have pet ducks.  Not only does Tiff have Mr. Flapper, but she has 6 other ducks too!  We got to meet them all, except for Georgie who was busy sitting on her nest and did *not* want to be disturbed!  This first picture is of Todd having a conversation with the Flap man himelf.  Flapper is a very handsome Pekin and easy to get to know. You can see a couple of the duck pens in the background and you can see Chewy in the lower left corner (more about him in a minute).

After Todd bonded with Flapper, I got to know Chewy Magooey, a Magpie duck.  He's Tiff's most recent acquisition and was only about 5 months old.  While we were getting acquainted, Todd was nowhere to be found.  All of sudden, there he was with Kozmo Kirby, truly a monster duck!  He's the son of Flapper and Georgie and is half Pekin and half Muscovy.  He doesn't particularly care to be held and Tiff was surprised that Todd was able to pick him up.  So here we are, holding Kozmo and Chewy.  Chewy was very calm, obviously used to being held. He made no effort to leave my lap. And since you can't see his way-cool stripey feet very well in that picture, here's a close up for you.  Awesome feet, Chewy!

And our duck visit pictures wouldn't be complete if we didn't show you Tiff with O'Malley Peepers.  O'Malley is a Muscovy also, and is the biggest duck I've ever seen!  Todd & I are used to our two petite girls so we just couldn't get over how BIG Tiff's ducks are!  O'Malley has a very cool Elvis crest that goes up and down based on his emotions. 

We got to feed the ducks their ducky snacks and I was shocked when O'Malley scooped up about 7 peas in one mouthful!   Our little girls will daintily snatch one little piece at a time, not a handful!  And after the ducky treats, Tiff presented us with a scrumptious arrangement of people treats.  Mmmm....  All in all, it was a wonderful, ducky day! 

That's it for now.  Check back in a day or two and I'll show you a couple of fun, touristy things we did in Seattle.

Comments

[tiffany]

It was GREAT to have you guys visit. Thank you for not mentioning the OTHER guest in Flapper's yard. :) Quacks XOXOX, Tiff