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Virgle anyone? I wondered how they'd top last year's paper office.

After getting in some great days of skiing on Hood we headed to Bend on Thursday. Snow kept us from climbing on Friday, but Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. All three kids did great. Zach, one of our guides, couldn't believe the change in them since the last time we climbed in late August. He'd been with us on our first Smith climb, too, in early August. The 10 yo hopped on the route she couldn't do last time and went straight to the top. She even gave 5 gallon jug a try. The 7 yo, who until now preferred bouldering, finally got what rope climbing was about and had a blast. He can't wait to go again. My 5 yo surprised us all. She just headed straight up, unclipping as she went. People kept asking me how old she was. It was amazing to watch and I was such a proud mom. Zach couldn't see her as she neared the top so he asked her to come down. She also learned how to clip! The hardest thing for her was the hike out. She was one tired little girl. I'll try to post a TR with pics once things settle down here. Still trying to get stuff unpacked and through the loads of laundry. Of course, the kids can't wait to hit the slopes this weekend and keep asking when we get to go to Smith again! My little one even started crying when she didn't get to go to the rock gym with me this morning.

Glad I read this before heading out. Had the kids grab shorts. Thanks, RuMR! We are not camping. Today is my oldest's 10th birthday so she got to pick the accommodations for the week. She loves camping, but where we are and will be this entire trip is about as far from camping as you can get. No. 1 criteria for her--a pool. But the plasma TV and xBox that come with the place sure don't hurt. The first words out of the kid's mouth, "Wow, this is even nicer than that house in Sunriver." And half the price which is even better for mom and dad! We're staying at our usual place in Bend, a friend's vacation home that the kids love and has a rock wall in one of the bedrooms, when we head down there.

We're getting ready for our spring break trip. 4 nights Hood/skiing. 3 nights Bend/skiing and then a day of climbing at Smith. I know what to pack for the skiing, but no idea for Smith. The last two times we were there was in August. Hot, hot, hot. Any suggestions on what I should pack/bring for my three kids to make this an enjoyable outing for them?

The meeting went great. She's an awesome dog. She's been raised in a house that is used during the week for a daycare so tons of exposure to kids from the time she was born. She's also been raised with a cat and other dogs. She's also very smart. She went straight to hubby and just started giving him lots of love and licks! He was surprised, but I could tell he liked it. We then went to an acre fenced field so the kids could run and play with her, and we could see her energy level. So much fun! I had a couple more questions for the person so emailed those to her. I'm waiting for the answers. Even our 7 yo son, who's been the wild card in all of this because he's afraid of many animals, fell in love with her. Before we headed to the field, he walked over to me with a big smile on his face and whispered in my ear, "I'm okay with this one, mommy."

We're going tomorrow to meet a dog. A 2 year old Norwegian Elkhound. Fingers crossed it goes well. The kids saw her pic and are already calling her our dog.

I think the difference between setting ground rules here and the Scouts is that at the cc.com kid events, common sense did not prevail and Bug's daughters suffered. Not once, but three times. We might all agree we'd never let our kids get away with that or say it wouldn't happen, but why leave it to chance when history has shown it's been a problem?

That's so horrible, Bug. Kids do make stupid chooses sometimes, but given the lack of action on their fathers part, it's no wonder they're thugs. Still it boggles my mind that parents could ignore, thus condone, that type of behavior. Your poor girls. We'd be interested in a trip. And I agree that ground rules should be clearly stated to avoid anything like this in the future. If parents don't agree with setting rules and expectations ahead of time, then they should go elsewhere.

Raindawg's so right, Muffy BTW, I know you want to go to Seattle, but Bainbridge Island is pretty cool. There are cute shops, restaurants, etc. so definitely check out the area around the ferry. Have a great time!

I wasn't talking about not vaccinating kids or animals, Minx, just saying that there are side effects of them and pet owners should be aware. When you take kids in for shots the side effects and reactions are mentioned by pediatricians (fevers, fussiness) and you're given a sheet of what signs to look for before kids get vaccines. In my cats case, the vet said the disease outweighs the risk when talking about pet vaccines and that was pretty much it. Yet this side effect was serious. The cyst got so big and hurt him so bad, we had to get it out of there. Twice. Our other two cats, one who does go outside, continued to be vaccinated for it. But when Rocket's sister got diagnosed Hyper-T, they stopped all her vaccines. She's now doubled her weight and is fully recovered after her radioiodine therapy so I'm sure they'll start vaccinating her again when we take her in next week for her yearly exam.

There is an entertaining blog post about babies and the stuff we buy for them here.

Very good advice, Minx. Even vaccines can give reactions in pets just like in kids. One of my cats, Rocket, ended up with a cyst at the spot where they gave him a Rabies vaccine. It took two surgeries to get rid of it. No more of those shots for him.

I love all these dog pictures. Thanks! Last night we went to the Hillsboro Fairgrounds where they were having dog classes. A bit of a drive for us, but well worth it. We got to see about 20 or so different breeds. We also met a bunch of Norwegian Elkhounds. None for adoption, but the rescue coordinator had friends bring various ages (ranging from 2 months to 6 years) to meet. It was really fun to see them as well as all the dogs, everything from mutts to purebred show dogs. Little tiny doggies as well as ones big enough to ride! The kids had a blast. So did I.

I first put my oldest at a rock gym climbing camp when she was 6. She didn't like it. Last summer, I put all three in rock gym camps as soon as they were out of school. They were 9, 7 and 4 at the time. Then I took all three to Smith a few weeks later. We then went back to Smith a couple weeks after that. Getting them comfortable lowering inside made outside much easier. We were with two other kids at Smith who had never climbed before and the lowering was very difficult for them. We also took lots of snacks and as suggested by Rumr, candy, which really came in handy with some cuts/owies that happened. It was all about fun, no pressure to do anything they didn't want to. This was hard for my hubby since my son was very timid when tied in. He had no problem bouldering though. We've done some gym climbing since then and he is now ready to go back to Smith and excited to give it another go in a couple of weeks.

Wonderful news, Carolyn And wtg on both Latte's and your fighting spirit. That's great what you are doing to help other cat owners. Latte's got an awesome mommy!

Thanks for all the suggestions and resources. I've been goggling a lot this week checking out different breeds. It's been fun I contacted the NE rescue coordinator and talked to her about the breed. I am taking the kids out tonight to a gathering so we can see what they're like in person. It's one thing to read about them, another to meet some first hand. She's got a class going on, but is asking her friends to stop by with various ages for us to meet. Hubby said no right away to an Akita. Too big.

Thanks for all the info, guys! :kisss: I've been having fun checking all these types of pups out and will be pestering you all, I'm sure, once I do some more research. I did send emails to a couple rescue organizations, too. My biggest concern is how the dog will be with the cats. They are all over 10 and although I know it will take some adjusting, I have to make sure it's just learning to get along that we have to deal with. When our surrogate dog is here, all three cats have to stay in my bedroom. We've had two incidents when one cat got out and another where the dog got in, and luckily no one was hurt, but it was very stressful and scary and I couldn't imagine dealing with that every single day. Hubby's still dragging his feet, but he at least looked at the various breeds mentioned here. He kept saying "those are some big dogs." He asked me not to rush into it (i.e. he doesn't want to come home from his next trip to find a dog living here) and I said I wouldn't because I know this is a huge decision and a big commitment. Plus it would probably be better for the dog if we waited until after ski season was over with At least he realizes I'm serious about this. And it looks like I'm finally going to get the go ahead on an alarm system so I'll be looking into that now, too. at the weapon and the african dog/hyena! Where do you people come up with that stuff????

Hey, welcome G-Spotter! Are you going to hit any of the local crags while you're here?

The kids and I want a dog. Hubby says not with three cats. But he started traveling with his work and is gone at least two weeks a month and weird stuff is going around here. Twice in the last month there has been someone strange at/around our house. Just last week a neighbor was having trouble with their garage door and when the repair guy showed up he said someone had tried to manually open it with a crowbar. It's a nice neighborhood and the police know about the problems (and even who the person probably is who's trying to break-in to all these houses), but I'm still a little spooked and have been borrowing a friend's dog when hubby goes away. Since we've got an almost part-time dog now I think I'm justified in getting our own. Especially since our surrogate doggy will be moving away with his family this summer. So I need some advice on dog breeds. A shelter or rescue dog would be perfect, I think. I do not want a puppy unless that's my only choice because I've never had to train a dog and I'm sure there's a huge learning curve. My ideal dog would be one that's super cat and kid friendly, who will be great and loving with the family, but bark and protect when need be. Any suggestions?

That's so cool! Thanks for posting the link.

I posted too soon. Practice starts Monday! Luckily he got his last year's team's asst. as his coach. The guy's a firefighter, very nice and low key.

Interlocken is gorgeous. We used it as our base for a week years ago and took trains from there. It was cheap, but we were staying at a hostel. Very convenient to Jungfrau.

Oh, hafilax! Thank you. I love that one.

I could really run with this one, but I'll resist the urge. Come on, Sobo, please, oh, pretty please, run with this. I'll need something to read this afternoon during naptime

There was another female, can't remember her name, but she posted for a partner in partners and put her phone number down. I pm'd her saying if she was a troll have fun, but if not, she might wait to give out her number in a pm rather than a public forum. The mom in me, I just couldn't help myself. But at least one guy cc.comer climbed with her and she was legit. So you just never know.