A Request for Prayer

She's safe! Update here: http://chattyhousewife.blogspot.com/2009/08/breaking-news-petra-bailed-out-of-jail.html

Since 10:30 last night, Petra has been lost. She either ran away or was taken, or maybe both. I was in the house when she went missing. She had been inside for a while and I let her out on her dog run to eat and use the bathroom. When I went back outside to see her around an hour later, she was gone. We have done all we can right now in the way of looking for her and posting notices but we know that the most powerful thing that we can do is pray. We would really appreciate your prayers as well. Petra is part of our family and it just won't be the same without her. We brought her home to be part of our family one year ago tomorrow and we are not ready to lose her this early.

Ocean Shores

The third day of our vacation, we said goodbye to our rental house. I still miss the beautiful coastal decor! We decided to spend the day in Ocean Shores, WA. There was a fair going on while we were there and it was the busiest any of us had ever seen it. The convention center was full of booths selling or showing things and the parking lot had rows of concession stands. There were kites everywhere of course. It was the day of their annual sandcastle building competition as well as chainsaw carving. I think they call it their "Sand and Sawdust Festival."

Goodbye beautiful house. If anyone is interested in the info for this rental property, here is the link. Even if you aren't interested, go ahead and visit the site if you want to see how beautiful and spacious this home is!


One of many chainsaw carvers.


Hungry?


Our nephew B with a "world famous" elephant ear.


The cutest member of The Red Hat Society I've seen yet. The hair piece is beautiful and you know how I LOVE crochet!





You can't really tell how big these kites are by looking at the photo. I'd say the highest one was as big as a car!


We also visited the jetty but I decided to leave my camera behind once again, so all I have is this photo taken from our parking spot.


When we got back and Bri was dressed in clean dry clothes, she thought Petra's kennel was a little home to explore.


Brave girl!


I love that face!

Her smile in this photo is so contagious. Look at Petra's tongue too!

Waiting patiently for dinner, all crammed into a four person booth!


YUMMY! You just have to eat seafood when you are at the ocean. We ate at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that is SO GOOD! I'd go back for sure. The restaurant is in the back of a seafood market so they serve very fresh seafood!






Goodbye for now! We want to come back soon.

Sunny Stanley Park

Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC is a beautiful place to take a picnic and a camera. If you are of the sort that likes to move a little faster, there is a path around the entire park that runs along the sea wall and you can rollerblade, bike or jog your way around. The Mr. and I ate a nice picnic lunch on the North side of the park and then he took off on rollerblades with Petra and I grabbed my camera, planning to walk through the park and snap a few photos. Well, as you all probably know by now, a "few photos" in my book turns into more like a hundred, but here are a few favorites from the day. If you are ever visiting Vancouver, please take the time to visit this beautiful park, you will not be disappointed. There are several different types of gardens to visit as well as sports activities to watch or take part in, swimming (pool and beach), laying out in the sun, an outdoor theater, going for a carriage ride, visiting the Vancouver Aquarium (which we love), getting your caricature drawn or watching clowns tie balloons and stand on their head.... the list could go on and on. They host many events throughout the park, you can visit many historic and natural landmarks, if you have kids you can visit the petting farm, miniature train or "traffic school" where kids pedal little vehicles around and learn about traffic with a real live cop. See, I told you the list never ends! Here is a map of the park that you can print out and take with you, it would be very helpful.

Petra's ready to go.

It was hilarious to see Petra's first reaction to the rollerblades so I took a quick video. It only took a few more strides for her to get totally used to them and just run alongside The Mr. She doesn't pull, which is good! (And safe!)

I watched this great blue heron catching his lunch and eating it. See the minnow at the tip of his beak?

I'd never seen black squirrels until I moved to this area and visited Vancouver.

The base of this statue reads "To the use and enjoyment of people of all colours creeds and customs for all time I name thee Stanley Park." Lord Stanley, Governor General, October 1889.

This is a portion of the Harding memorial. Of all the statues and memorials, this is the hardest one to find if you ask me, but the most beautiful. It's set back from the path and is also unfortunately hidden by nearby construction. It is a memorial for the first visit to the park by a United States president. It is very interesting to read the words of the President and I love the old fashioned language.

"What an object lesson of peace is shown today by our two countries to all the world. No grimfaced fortifications mark our frontiers, no huge battleships patrol our dividing waters, no stealthy spies lurk in our tranquil border hamlets. Only a scrap of paper, recording hardly more than a simple understanding safe-guards lives and properties on the Great Lakes and only humble mile posts mark the inviolable boundary line for thousands of miles through farm and forest."

"Our protection is in our fraternity, our armor is our faith. The tie that binds more firmly year by year is ever increasing acquaintance and comradeship through interchange of citizens, and the compact is not of perishable parchment, but of fair and honorable dealing, which, God grant, should continue for all time."

"Erected by Kiwanis International in memory of a great occasion in the life of two sister nations. Here on July 26, 1923, Warren Gamaliel Harding, twenty-ninth President of the United States of America, and first president to visit Canada, charter member of the Kiwanis club of Marion, Ohio, spoke words that are worthy of record in lasting granite. Dedicated, September 16, 1925."

Japanese Monument

"Girl in a Wetsuit" statue.

Brockton Point Lighthouse

The gift stores are gearing up for the 2010 Olympics. Care to buy an anime abominable snowman/bigfoot or some other little guy that isn't any sort of real animal at all?? I think make believe anime stuffies are poor excuses for 2010 Olympics mascots, but I am sure they will be popular.

In this shot of downtown Vancouver you can see Canada Place, a cruise ship getting ready to leave the terminal and the lookout tower. I'm sure there are some other famous buildings in there, but not that I can recognize.

Petra's tired out after the rollerblade. They went around the ENTIRE PARK! What a trooper. It cracks me up when she sits like this on one hip.

The view from Prospect Point.

A blue heron and its nest. There was so many blue heron nests that we couldn't count them. If you are ever at the park in the Spring, head towards the tennis courts/dog park. The trees around this area are loaded with great blue heron nests and it is amazing to see. Just don't park your car under a tree! Blue Herons lay and incubate their eggs in May. The babies hatch in June and in July they are at teenager stage- real ugly by the sounds of things!

Nighty Night