"Mama, can I hold a duck?"

Yesterday the kids and I went to visit some friends and we all walked to a duck pond near their house. We took bread to feed the ducks and a big one actually took it right out of Avery's hands! That pretty much made her day. I swear, that girl loves animals (and bugs, and frogs and snakes). She says she is going to be a "little veterinarian" when she grows up. That means that she is going to be a doctor for dogs & cats, not cows & horses. Anyway, all she wanted to do while we were there was hold a duck. She kept trying to sneak up on them, but alas, they always ran away. She was so sad when we left.

After the pond, we hit the playground. It was nice letting the kids run around and getting to chat with a friend I don't get to see very often!

Pure concentration!

Princesses & boys

Avery and her friend Signe love to play together. In the last couple of months, they only play outside. They love to get dirty, catch grasshoppers, frogs, and anything else they can put in Avery's bug cage (see post next week). On this rare day a week or so ago, they were playing inside and were dressing up like princesses. Well, actually, Signe was the princess and Avery was the Queen (fitting), anyway, they were so cute, I just had to share the photos.


And then there was Blake, just being a boy and ran-sacking the play clothes! What a little ham I have.
This is his new face that he makes whenever we tell him "ah ah ahh" (that's no-no in our house). He gets mad an pulls this face. It's hard not to laugh.

Do you have anything to say?

When I started this blog, I really wasn't sure how I would keep up with it. Well, so far, I think I'm doing pretty good. However, I'm sure I would be even more motivated to post if I was receiving regular comments. If I know that you are reading this, I will want to write more, post more photos, share my thoughts, etc. Having young children and a full time job takes almost all my time. I feel really bad when I don't have the time to see or talk to my good friends. If we communicated through blogging, it might just be a little easier, and even fun! So if you're reading this, and not commenting, you're known as a "lurker" and you know who you are. Please, pretty please, with sugar on top, post a comment. I'd really love to hear from you!

Love,
me

Mountain, Beach, or Lake House?

Last week I was asking my boss if he was going up to his lake cabin for the weekend. He said no, they had other plans, and offered it to us! We jumped at the chance for a free place to stay and grabbed our neighbors and took off on Friday afternoon. Lake Merwin is about an hour drive from our house. We stopped for Mexican food on the way and got there around 7:30. The kids ran around and collected "souvenirs" which were really long pine needles, while we unloaded the cars. Next it was time to dig up some firewood and make a camp fire. S'mores were enjoyed by all. After it got dark, we headed inside to put the kids to bed. Ha, like 3 little girls were going to go to sleep in a room together after tons of sugar! I think they fell asleep just after 11:00. The 4 of us played cards until 1AM.




Saturday morning Brian & Jenni made a pancake, bacon & egg breakfast and we headed to the lake at 10:30. We were all in the boat, speeding across the lake by 11:00 and at 11:05, the kids were in the water. Brian wake boarded for the first time in 2 years and the kids (and even Jenni) went tubing. Go here for better pictures.

Brian & I had a conversation years ago, if we could ever afford it, would we rather have a mountain cabin or a beach house. We'll, I can't remember what we decided back then, but these days.... a lake cabin would be just GREAT!

Blake update

So our little man is now 10 months old. Where has the time gone? It seems as though he has only had 2 stages of his life up to now. Tiny little baby, and, very active mobile baby. Well, I believe it will only be a matter of days until he enters the 3rd stage... WALKING BABY! The past 3 days he has gone from taking 1 step, to taking 2 steps, to standing up all by himself in the middle of the room! I need to get a picture of it, but haven't yet. He is working on his 4th tooth and loves to say Mama & Dada, although he doesn't actually "call us" by those names. He does know what a duck says, "quack, quack" what a car says, "vroom, vroom" and does sign language for more, all done and milk. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast.

Here is his latest slide show if you're interested.

4th of July

I know I'm a little late, but, better late than never. Up until July 3rd, we really didn't know what we were going to do for the 4th of July. We ended up hanging out at home during the day. Kelly and the girls came over to play and have lunch. We went for a wagon ride and the big girls had Italian Ice (this summers favorite treat). The plan was to let them play in the little pool, but it just wasn't warm enough.

During the kids' nap time, I made cupcakes. When Avery woke up, we frosted them and took them with us that evening to a friends house. They invited us over to watch their neighborhood fireworks.

Avery had never seen fireworks before. She was a little scared at first, but after about 10 minutes, she was totally into them. I put Blake to bed over there and we stayed until 11:00PM. That is the latest that Avery has ever stayed up. She thought she was pretty cool.

Avery, Lauren, Blake & Kendall


Avery & Hannah watching the fireworks (it was too late for a smile from Avery)
My camera has a "fireworks" setting, pretty cool eh?

Summer evenings in the neighborhood

About a month ago, I went to Walmart to buy Avery & Blake a kiddy pool. Well, we haven't had a hot enough day to use it, until this week. All evening last night Avery was outside playing with her neighbor friends. Although, I don't think she actually got in at all. Maybe her feet. She says the water is too cold, so I added a bucket of hot, but I don't think it helped. Signe, on the other hand, was in there until after 8:00PM! And Blake, he just likes to be wet.

Blake's Maiden Voyage

After getting home from a week long vacation with no kids, we decided to spend some quality family time out on the boat on Sunday. We packed up and took the kids to Lacamas Lake. Blake wasn't too sure of his life jacket at first, but as soon as he got in the water, he was in heaven. Avery was a fish as usual. She loves the boat and loves to swim, and from what I can tell, her brother is going to be just like her!

Our Trip

So some of you may be wondering, why did Brian & Vanessa go to Disney World without their kids??? Well, this year, my National Sales Meeting for work was in Orlando, Florida. I thought, since I'm already going to be there, why not take advantage of the free plane ticket and have Brian meet me there? So that's what we did. I flew out early Sunday morning for my meetings and Brian flew out late Tuesday night to meet me there Wednesday morning. We did all 4 theme parks within Disney World. Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. The weather was less than desirable, and we really missed the kids, but all in all, it was a blast! It was about 92 degrees & very humid every day, with thunder showers every afternoon/evening. (Check out the nice $8 ponchos we had to buy!) Here is a list of our favorite rides/attractions:
Brian - Lights, Motors, Action Stunt show, Rockin' Rollercoaster & Tower of Terror
Vanessa - Expedition Everest, Rockin' Rollercoaster & Soarin'

Really cool gorilla at Animal Kingdom
German Sheppard made out of legos
Our awesome ponchos for the torrential downpours
Cinderella's Castle
A poncho & hot chocolate in Florida?
More rain!
Fireworks at Epcot