30 July 2007; 1148

Greetings,
We are on our 3rd day of holiday and this was the first workday we got to sleep in. Feels great!
WE had a terrific Saturday with getting into the Edmonds Saturday market and sold 44 boxes of Woof World dog treats. We once again had a terrific response and saw a number of our friends during the day as well. We broke down the booth and and then Henry went for a sleepover at our friends the Norton's and made it through the night!
Sunday was pretty lazy. After picking up Henry @ 1100, we did a few errands, had Chinese food for lunch and then I slept the afternoon away while Henry played outside and with some video games. I caught up on the papers from the couple days prior and we were just very casual and lazy.
We are working on Henry's birthday invitation list and will head out to get some Buzz Cola for the attendees.
We have a few plans this week. We plan to catch up some kid films; Harry Potter, Transformers, etc. Not sure if anything will match the Simpson's Movie which was a real riot. Still a lot of juvenile humor but a lot of the jokes were quite sophisticated and meant for the mostly adults in the audience. We're working on getting into the Mukilteo market on Wednesday or the Snohomish Market on Thursday and then back to the Edmonds Market on Saturday. Then it's off to OR to see Grandpa Don for a quick trip. I think we'll go down via the long road on the coast on Sunday and head back early Tuesday with a side trip to Mt. St. Helens. Henry has never been over the big bridge @ Astoria but loves the Tillamook factory tour and ice cream shop and he has gained a recent interest in volcanoes so both of these routes should prove interesting and fun.
That's about it for now, will catch up later in the week

Tuesday 24 June; 1908

Greetings Fair Readers,
Apparently it's been a few weeks since my last update. My how time flies.
Let's see...
Henry and I have been working on Woof World and after only 4 markets we are nearly out of debt and will be able to begin socking away funds for future and fun (50% of all profits are to be invested in Henry's college fund and the other 50% will become our "fun" or probably vacation fund. We have done markets in both the Seattle neighborhoods of Ballard and Fremont as well as Oak Harbor and have been successful in getting our name out and have even begun to receive inquiries regarding repeat orders. We are not up to 7 fantastic canine flavors with the addition of bacon (I think that Butch's eyes actually roll back in his head on this one) and will continue to expand in the future, even working on salmon flavor (for the NW tie-in) as well as kitty treats for which we've had a surprising amount of requests.
We had a 4th of July party on the front lawn of our home which as some of you probably know is right on the parade route to the Edmonds Kind of 4th Parade, truly an example of small town America at it's best with firetrucks, veterans of all the wars since WW1, drill teams and even Nordic Prices and princesses were on hand to help celebrate in all their glory. We had a good turnout and had terrific food and drink but most importantly to celebrate this birthday of our country, fine company. Much laughter, applause and cheering for the parade participants all was in vogue for the day.
Later on that night Henry was honored with an invitation to turn out the lights in the nearby Memorial Stadium here in Edmonds for a fantastic fireworks display. His timing couldn't have been better: the Star Spangled Banner concluded, Henry hit the switch and the 1st rockets headed skyward. Edmonds puts on a hell of a fireworks show and it was tremendous that Henry got to join in.
Previously in June, somehow I injured my foot and began to limp pretty severely. After about a month of this and an inopportune dash for the downtown bus transfer one morning I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis or a pulled/torn ligament in the arch of my foot. I have been babying that around and this has put a cramp in some of our summer fun, more markets and even just getting around. It is frustrating to Henry as I can't play well right now and for me as it has curtailed my gym time and both of us for the time it has taken away from pushing Woof World. The good news is after following the Doc's advice for the past few weeks I seem to be on the mend and should be good to go just about the time Henry heads back to school; rats!
Our wee town has been experiencing heat, rain and humidity; all of which are not the norm for July in the Puget Sound but nonetheless proves the adage that here we cannot trust the weather farther than we can see it.
Grandpa Don has been having a tough time of it lately and Grandma Joanne is understandably stressed. Grandpa Fred seems to be on the mend after his "stroke" scare last winter where it ended up being an infection that severely elevated his blood pressure and he is now being treated for sleep apnea and is reportedly a "new man". Grandma Deanie seems to be taking this in stride and is quite pleased with the progress he has been making lately.
My friends John and Carol will be here tomorrow from London and Edinburgh respectfully and Henry and I will be dining with them tomorrow evening. It is always good to spend time with them.
Henry won passes to the preview showing of the Simpsons Movie the day before it is released to the public so we will be attending that and foregoing dinner with our dinner party group but our friends all seem to understand that this is a big thing, especially to an 8 (almost 9; 3 weeks) year old. Not too far away. Henry has decided to host this years party at the local pool after attending another fiesta there and having a tremendous time. This is K's year to host but I said that I would procure sufficient supplies of Buzz Cola of Simpsons fame from the local 7-Eleven that is currently transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart from the show, right down to the pink donuts and uniforms on the staff.
I am currently working on booking travel to the 2007 World Cup of Rugby, this year to be held in venues from Edinburgh to Marseille. I will be staying with friend John in Montpellier where he has rented 2 chateau for 2 weeks and promises a good crowd moving in and out over the two week period and he has also committed to bringing his slow cooker so we might enjoy his delicious curries throughout, yum. He also has plans to attend the Scotland (his team) v. Italy match on 9/29 in Saint Etienne a short drive away as well as assorted matches in Montpellier and attendance at the local rugby clubs and surrounding pubs to take in the matches from further away. At this time, I am looking at flying all the way to Montpellier but may stop in Paris to switch to the high speed train running south. Also the flight at which I'm currently looking has a layover in Amsterdam on the way back and having never been there I could see about stopping for the night and taking a whirlwind tour.
Work is good, vacation is coming up and summer seems like it's barely started. Henry has been attending camp and has had a couple of fun field trips so far and is making new friends.

Well, that's about it for now but I promise I will try and provide updates more often than every few weeks.

More later...