New Friends, New places

Soon after our trip to visit with family Wilson started a sports camp with the YMCA. Four evenings a week for two weeks Wils and two other boys played basketball, hockey, baseball, football, or soccer.

Wilson and Aiden (one of the other boys) hit if off right away. Plus, Aiden's mom, Jana, and I hit it off too! She has two boys close to the same ages as my two and loves to be outside and loves to walk.

She has even completed the 3 Day, twice!

A couple weeks ago we met up at the Bellingham Port and walked around.

She introduced us to the Marine Life Center and we had so much fun!! Such a beautiful place to walk and let the kids explore.

Now that it is June, I should fill you in on April...

Sometimes it is unbelievably hard to keep up with this. Better late than never...

April was great month! It didn't rain like May. Or maybe it did, and I am just trying to be optimistic. This damn rain is getting to me... May had (maybe) 3 days of sun and so far June has had a half day of half pretty. I won't say a half day of sun because it was not totally sunny. The sun and rain were in some kind of argument and neither one would LET. GO. I keep telling the rain to piss off. Thank you, England, for teaching me how to use that line. But it just won't take a hint.

I need to change the subject. So... back to April. The most beautiful month in my memory. My Dad was here for half of the month. (He was here for half of March too. He came in town mid-March through mid-April.)

The "plan" (just typing the word plan cracked me up. I can hardly take it seriously anymore.). Anyway, the plan (haha) was that Dad/Papaw would help us with our move. He came into town about a week before we were supposed to find out where we were moving. You remember the story? Either wild and wonderful Teays Valley, West Virgina or SUNNY and WARM San Diego, California.

Why didn't we move to San Diego? WHYYYY!? (I have already mourned over the fact that we will not be closer to family. I've moved on. Now I need to go through the grieving process of not living where the average daily temperature is 70.5 and I can see the ocean every day. Don't take it personal.)

Have I mentioned to you that it is raining today? No, I haven't? Well, it is raining today but only for the second day this month.

What's that?! You just said it's June 2nd?!

Thanks Debbie Downer, always looking up are you?

Well, it's predicted to be a furnace here this weekend (70!!) and your Debbie Downer self will NOT rain on my parade. Nope. There will be no. more. rain.

Now, let me get back to April... The plan was that he (You probably forgot who he was by now. He's my Dad.) He would help with the kids while we were house hunting and getting settled. That plan never took form, but he still helped us out.

He had the tires rotated on my car and the oil changed. He also took the car to the Dealership to fix some hiccups. He fixed our computers. Mowed and worked on the yard. Watched the kids so I could have a girl day (no kids just adult girls), Chris and I could go out on a date, and I could go to 1,000 past due doctor appointments.

I am exaggerating. It wasn't 1,000. I only had about 100. You know the drill. Mom puts off taking care of herself because she is too busy taking care of everyone else around her.

What!? You don't do that too?

For realz?!

Well, I don't know why I ever put them off. I mean, COME ON, the feeling of the needle in your gums and listening to the drill grind away teeth. Bliss. It is relaxing. Honestly, I take naps. And the physicals and mole removal. Now they are sooo much more awesome.

I love sitting in an office wearing only a thin sheet and having cold air blow up my legs. I pretend to be Marilyn. Only kidding. But what I do love... Weighing myself and seeing that I have only lost 10 pounds instead of 15. Love it! (NOT) The best part, I get to read a years worth of People magazines and learn all about pregnant teenagers and Royal weddings (BTW-is that the only magazine in doctor offices anymore. What happened the Newsweek or Time?)

My goodness. I can't stay focused today... First, rain. Now doctor appointments...

Back to April. My Dad helped. He helped A TON. (Thanks Dad! Love ya!)

We went to see the tulips (as you can see from the pictures) which was beautiful (obviously) and we found out we were NOT moving anywhere... At least not until... November. Well, "maybe" November. And we will be moving to...

what for it...

what for it...

We Don't Know. Aren't you glad you waited?

p.s. After going through my pictures it is safe to say that April WAS the most beautiful month in my memory.
We even went to Orcas Island (the above (1) and below (2) pictures) for the day on the Saturday before Easter, and it was gorgeous.

Pretty enough to touch the water and climb trees.

p.s.s- I don't know why I am complaining about the weather? Good grief. The pictures from April our great. I can handle 30 days of rain. fingers crossed. I need to remind myself that, in April, there were no snow storms covering the ground and no winter jackets covering my body. And let's not forget that rain boots are much more flattering than snow boots, especially when they are in funky colors and wild prints.

Fun at Mt Baker

These are from two weeks ago. My Dad is here visiting and we headed to Mt. Baker to get Wilson on some skis again and do a little sledding. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was a perfect 35 degrees, the snow was deep and landscape was breath taking...

We had a great time.

Whistler, BC

Feburary 23-25 we went with some friends (The Truempers) to Whistler, BC.
We (6 kids and 4 adults) had a great time and wish we could have stayed longer...
The guys were able to ski on their own and the ladies had a night on the town.
But adult fun wasn't the only reason for the trip, although it did make it more exciting.
We really just wanted to get Wilson on some skis, as he hasn't been yet.
He did great. He is timid and needs to be on shorter skis but I think the experience was a success.

We don't want to push him too hard because we want him to enjoy it. He is getting there.
We hope to head to Mt. Baker this Saturday, as long as the weather is good, to get him some more experience.
We also got him a helment and his own goggles (He wore my googles in Whistler).
(Actually his Cici bought them for him.) He is excited to try them out on the slopes.

Love this photo of The Super Dads!
Chris and Willie took the big kids skiing while the little ones stayed with Trista.
I was the group photographer.

Soundbridge

Last Friday, the kids and I headed to Seattle to met our friends, Victoria and Grandma Marcia, and check out the Soundbridge Music Kids Museum at the Seattle Symphony. We even hit up the library for some books and computer time afterwards. (side note: the Seattle Library is a fantastic library.)

We had an absolutely great time. I wish we could see them more often. They are such wonderful people... I, we, have been blessed to have met them...

The four hour round trip was worth it. The kids traveled great. The McDonald's sweet tea fueled me on the way down and nap time saved me on the way back.They napped AT THE SAME TIME. It was completely... SILENT and priceless. I tell you, it was heaven on the interstate!

.
I had absolutly no idea what I was doing, butI looked like a total natural. Right? I should have played the Viola instead of the trumpet...

This was Nora trying to play herself.

Octoberfest

This weekend we explored more of Washington... On Friday morning we headed to Leavenworth, WA . Leavenworth is a small German themed town about four hours away in North Central Washington. It has a variety of festivals throughout the year. In October, it is Octoberfest. We couldn't have picked a more beautiful day to drive there. The leaves were amazing with vibrant reds and crisp yellows. Too bad that I didn't take any pictures of the landscape... 

Leavenworth's streets were lined with people of all kinds (old, young and in between), sausages were plenty, and the beer tents were full of German attired happy people. (If you would like to read about the history of Leavenworth click here). After touring the town and getting some German food we drove on to Wanatchee where we stayed for the night. 

Our "plan" was to stay in Leavenworth until after dinner but our parental duties required us to leave earlier then planned. (read: over tired children.) We knew we were pushing our stay as Wilson (and consequentially Chris and I) didn't sleep well the night before (Wilson woke twice from growing pains in his legs) and because he was so excited about our adventure didn't sleep a wink on the four hour drive. Before we had to leave our fantastic parking spot, we asked Wilson to sit in the stroller to rest his body for a little bit. Needless-to-say, the little man wanted nothing to do with anything that involved the word "rest" so he decided to RUN. Bet you can guess what happened after he tried to flee us and the stroller of leisure... You got it... we left. He had to sit his little "I don't want to rest!" bottom in the car. And he was out like a light in a matter of seconds. Big shock-right?. In fact, the little man was out so hard that he was snoring. In reality both kids really needed a rest as Nora fell asleep after a few short cries. When I look  back, leaving should have been the plan from the beginning. (Even though mom and dad really wanted to check out the beer tent.) 

Wenatchee  is referred to as "the Apple Capital of the World"  and is about 20 miles from Leavenworth. When we arrived in the Apple Capital I checked us into the hotel and asked the front desk to recommend some fun things to do in the area (Chris and the kids stayed in the car.). It turned out that there was a NAHL (North American Hockey League) hockey game playing that night. We had about an hour to kill before the game started so we drove around letting the kids finish their naps. When the kids woke up we headed to the hockey game. Wilson was excited (and so was I!)! He loves hockey and loved the game. We all had a blast! Our seats were fantastic- four rows from the glass and the home team, Wenatchee Wild, scored 4 goals while we were there. (We didn't stay for the whole game. We knew that we needed to get a decent night's sleep so we left at 8:30.) By the time we left Wilson had learned when to cheer and was screaming when the boys (the players were babies... 16-18 years young) hit the glass and was dancing when they scored.  It was really a great experience. LOUD but great. 

The next day we toured Wanatchee some more (Wanatchee is beautiful- by the way.) and Nora and I squeezed in a nap while Chris and Wilson went swimming in the hotel pool. After noon we drove back to Leavenworth stopping at a farm for a box of apples along the way. (side note: We now have 30 pounds of apples. So, who wants a pie?) Back in Leavenworth we filled up on sausages and enjoyed walking the streets. The kids even napped in the stroller (with no fussing!) while Chris and I drank beer in the beer tent. It was perfect!

We had a blast. I just wish that we took more pictures...

Seattle Weekend

This past Friday Chris had a class in Seattle. So we decided to make it a long weekend for us and drove down on Thursday evening after Chris got home.

On Friday, the kids and I meet some great friends in Seattle Center.

Marcia (Victoria's Mom), Amelia, Victoria, and Wilson

We started the day riding The Duck, then had lunch on the waterfront at Ivar's, then drove to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard, and the kids and I ended the day meeting Chris at the Silver Cloud hotel where we went swimming on the roof.

I highly recommended everyone does the duck tour. It is a great way to learn about the city and decide what you want to explore while you are visiting. Plus, it was SOOO much fun!! The Captains make it very fun and entertaining. I smiled the entire 90 minutes... Well, with the exception of the last 10 minutes. My smiled faded when Wilson was doing the pee pee dance and begging to go to the bathroom. It looked painful! Just. Painful.

(The house in Sleepless in Seattle.)

(The Lock's were built in 1917 by the Army Corp of Engineers. It keeps Lake Union Fresh full of fresh water. Pretty neat.)

On Saturday, we started the day at this small waffle place called Sweet Iron in Pioneer square. Delicious. It is small, only about 8 people can actually dine in, but it was so so good! Then the fam headed to Pike's which, by the way, is much bigger than I thought. We walked up and down and all around. Going through the flower market (my favorite part) and the fish market. After Pike's we headed to the Seattle Aquarium, the Hard Rock for lunch, then swimming at the hotel and ended the day with some great (as close to east coast greasy as I have had on the west coast) pizza at Piecora's on Capital Hill.

On Sunday, we went back up to Capital Hill for some Noah's Bagels then explored the Science Center in Seattle Center. The Science Center was a great place to take Wilson. We all enjoyed our time there and I will definitely go back. The best part was the Hubble Telescope IMAX movie. Loved it. It was amazing, humbling and inspiring.

Chris doing his Nora impression. 

Our weekend made me love Seattle even more. It really is a great city and after three days of exploring we still have more to see and do.

The Fourth and Our Sixth

This past weekend our luck was cashed in when Chris found some military cabins in Pacific Beach, WA. I called them (at 8 am on Thursday 1 July) and they just happened to have a cancelation on a 4 br house OVER LOOKING THE OCEAN! 

We left later that day and spent three evenings watching the waves crash. 

We took the scenic route home. Driving for a total of 10 hours around the Olympic Peninsula (through Forks, WA) and then taking the ferry boat to Whidbey Island. It was a GREAT weekend! A fantastic way to celebrate the 4th of July and our 6th year anniversary. 

We are so blessed.


Highlights from our trip: 
Driving on the beach.

Me running wild across the beach and through the sand dunes to rescue Wilson's balloon dog that flew out his window when we put our windows down during the beach drive. 


Wilson stating, when I got back in the car,  that we can NEVER put the windows down again! Not unless he had a hold of his dog. (side note: it deflated the next day. Looking more like worm than a dog.)

Chris and I taking turns watching the kids so the other could do Yoga. 


Relaxing and reflecting on six wonderful years of marriage. 

Enjoying two fantastic mornings on the beach: Digging in the sand. Finding shrimp. 

Chris swimming in the COLD Pacific. 

The boys swimming and Buck playing fetch to his heart's content. 

Nora's suction cup hands grabbing my ranch dressing off of the table at dinner and pouring it on everything and everywhere. That girl can go-go-gadget her arms to reach just about anything.  

Sparklers with Wilson. 

Discovering just how lucky we were to find the place and realizing how we were even luckier to be able to spend three nights there when we checked out and were told that the houses book up WELL over a year in advance and that people call almost DAILY trying to get a cancellation. 

Chris getting a speeding ticket, from a Park Ranger, in the Olympic National Park. (I could blog another post just on this alone, but I will spare you. The short version: They (the Park Service) are just trying to make money during a busy holiday weekend because we weren't going what she says we were going and she didn't clock us where she said she did.  Yes. We went back to see where the mile marker was that she had on the ticket and it was 3 miles before we even saw her. )

Teaching Wilson how to pee on the tires. 


It is a special thing. Peeing on tires. Something only "big boys" can do. 


How I love being a mother!