Anyone for Tennis?

ESPN, you are killing me.  It's Wimbledon time, but for some reason you don't think it's necessary to show games in their entirety.  You cut without notice to other matches and play commercials at ridiculous times - I can't bear it!  Don't you realize that my heart literally stops beating when Andy Murray is playing?  For God's sake ESPN, I'm Scottish, we rarely win anything, but Mr Murray has a good chance this year so PLEASE let me watch a whole game!  Your commentary is also extremely dull, a good commentary team can add so much to the whole experience and yours is sadly lacking.  It was the same for last year's World Cup - your commentators had little to no enthusiasm and commercials were way too frequent, I miss the UK so much at times like these.  At home, I'd get to see the whole match plus the pre-match build up, post-match commentary, interviews and even get to see what Kim (Andy's wife) is wearing!!  I also like to see who's in the Royal Box, who the Beckhams are sitting next to, and what other celebrities are in the audience.  No such luck on TV over here.  Bah humbug!

C'mon Andy!!!

One of my favorite American holidays has just taken place, the 4th of July.  I'm happy to report that it was Molly's least stressful Independence Day ever.  Usually, the 2 weeks preceding the day itself are full of fireworks going off at all times of the day and night and Molly will be found pacing our closet, shaking and panting like she's going to die.  It's equally as distressing for us as it is for her, as there's not much you can do to help her.   We've tried prescription tranquilizers in the past, and also her thundershirt - which actually works pretty well for thunderstorms, but fireworks not so much.  Anyway, I took her to the vet here a few weeks ago, and she prescribed our fur baby some human Xanax.  I gave her one the day before the fireworks, another the day of, and she was pretty calm even during the noisiest part of the night which was unbelievable!  I stayed with her in the one air conditioned room of the house most of the night, played some loud Taylor Swift music and it all really worked.  She got up the next morning, right as rain and no more fireworks have been heard since.  I'd definitely recommend asking your vet for Xanax if your dog suffers during fireworks or storms.

It's been bloody well roasting here recently!  So much so that we had to buy a portable air conditioning unit because we were all sweating and whining profusely.  I know, first world problems and all that...  When somebody tells you it rains all the time in Seattle, believe me, they are lying.  We're off to Scotland on our hols soon, I know there's not a chance of the weather being this nice there and it's going to be tough dragging out all our long sleeved shirts and trousers to pack.  But this time next week, I'll be in my beautiful homeland for the first time in 3 years, and I'm more than excited, regardless of the weather.

Life here continues to be very good, the kiddos have done a variety of summer camps already and we've done a few outdoor activities as a family.  We recently hiked to Annette Lake on a hot Saturday.  It's a 4 mile climb to get there, but once you reach the top you are greeted with this view:

Even my youngest who didn't enjoy the last mile or so of climbing agreed that it was worth the effort.  We spent the day chilling on one of the small beaches, swimming and chatting to other hikers before the return hike down.  We are so lucky to live this close to such beautiful destinations like this, and we intend returning to Annette Lake to camp out overnight towards the end of the summer. 

Anyway, that's my quick catch up for now, blogging has definitely taken a backseat recently!  I'm sure I'll have lots to report after our Scotland trip though, so till then folks, have a great summer!