Avery is proving to be our thrill-seeker child. Can't wait to take her on all the rides at Disneyland some day. Check her out a couple of weeks ago on Lacamas Lake, wake boarding with her dad! Isn't she awesome! We had so much fun out on the lake that day with some friends. We stayed out longer than usual, about 5 hours. Blake even fell asleep and took an hour nap under one of the seat cushions!
Other than trying to use our boat this summer, we have had Avery is swim lessons, she's learning how to roller skate and trying to ride her bike without training wheels. She did really well today but gets frustrated quickly. Blake is getting to be quite the big boy too. He is mimicking everything that Avery does and says. He is speaking in full sentences now and is SUCH a boy. His favorite things to do are run, jump, throw things, eat and get dirty. Not necessarily in that order. He is such a sweet little thing too, and so very handsome!
In store for the rest of the summer: a few fun weekend trips, our 10 year anniversary, Blake's birthday, and lots of fun I'm sure. I promise to try & be a better blogger.
Until next time...
I really need to get back with my blogging! I'm sorry it's been so long... AGAIN. (Haven't my last 3 posts said this?)
What have we been up to???
The first part of March I decided to try jogging/running. I've never thought that I liked running, but it's beginning to grow on me. It all started when a friend of mine invited me to the 1st Annual Fort Vancouver Run. Right about that same time, a co-worker of mine decided that she was going to try running too. We decided to run together a few times a week and to sign up for the 5k event at the run. On March 29th, I finished my first 5k (that's 3.1 miles) in 35 minutes & 36 seconds. I was 11th out of 35 for my age division and 43rd out of 151 in the women's division. It was really fun and I've been running 3-4 days a week ever since! Our next goal is a 10k in June.
We also went to a parent/teacher conference in March for Avery's preschool. Her teacher says that she is doing really well in her academic, as well as social, skills. She has made some friends and is always really excited to tell us about her day and show us her school work on Wednesdays.
Avery also started playing spring soccer a few weeks ago. (sorry, no pictures yet). The first practice, she loved it. The second practice, she cried 90% of the time. She's so funny, you're never quite sure what you're gonna get with that girl. We have had 2 games so far. Avery scored 3 goals last Saturday. We couldn't be more proud! Pictures to follow soon, I promise!
Blake is becoming quite the big boy lately. He is talking SO SO much and just being a "2 year old". Tantrums & all! We got his pictures taken at Flash last night. You can go here to see them. Type in our last name, and the password is "Blake".
Brian has been doing really well at work lately. He & his "partner" have had a few captures in the past month. Pretty exciting for him! He also has a couple of trips planned in the near future. A bachelor party in Seattle that includes a Mariner Game and a chauffeured van for the evening. And a trip to Dallas to see his best buds Eric & Cory.
Well, I think that catches us all up for now. I promise to be more diligent about posting!
Ok, I know, I've been a terrible blogger lately. I have reasons, but I won't bore you with my excuses...
Anyway, last weekend we packed up the car and headed to my parents beach house for some family fun and clamming. Nani, Popi, Nana & Grandpa were there too. We even got to see some other friends and Uncle Dean & Aunt Pauly showed up to surprise us for the Saturday afternoon dig.
The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so we played at the park, played on the sand and had a fun "outside" day. Sunday wasn't bad either, no rain until dinner time, but we took Avery to the arcade in town for her usual hour of game playing. It's like Chuck E. Cheese where you win tickets for your games and then can trade your tickets in for candy & prizes. Her daddy let her choose Fun Dip! NOT something her mommy would have introduced to her until was later in life. That's what daddy's are for I guess!
We came home late Sunday night, the kids slept the whole time so that was nice.
This past week was busy. Avery had her Valentines Day party at Preschool on Wednesday and another party at daycare on Friday. Needless to say, there has been lots of candy consumed this week.
Happy Valentines Day to all!
Two weeks ago, Brian had to work,but our parents were going to the beach, so I decided to take the kids and go too. The weather was absolutely beautiful and there was a clam dig scheduled Friday & Saturday evening, so Avery got to go clamming with everyone (I stayed at the house with Blake because it was almost dark & getting cold). Saturday morning we woke up and the girls all went into Long Beach to the arcade. Avery, Mommy, Nana & Nani all got to play lots of games and Avery got fun prizes with her tickets. We played on the beach that afternoon, but no clamming that night. It got too dark and we didn't have lanterns. The kids and I headed back home Sunday morning. They did great in the car and were overall really well behaved all weekend. And it was great have 4 other people to help out!
Here are some of the highlights...
Avery turned 4 last Saturday! We can't believe that we have such a grown up big girl! We told Avery a long time ago that she could chew gum when she turned 4. Several months ago she said that she wanted to have a bubblegum birthday party, so that's what we did! We found gum ball machines at the dollar store to give to everyone as party favors, I created a "bubble gum machine" cake, and we even had the kids bob for gumballs in plate fulls of whipped cream. I think they all had a great time and tons of our family & friends came to celebrate.Here are some pictures of the highlights.
We had so much fun trick-or-treating this year. Avery is totally addicted to candy & sweets so she was in hog heaven, and Blake, he just loves riding in the wagon, so he was happy too. He really got the hang of it after about 3 houses. He would trot up to the front porch and hold his bucket, not really knowing why. He didn't care about the candy, he's never had any...yet. Anyway, they were totally cute twin dragons and loved every minute of it.My Nana and my parents were at our house for dinner and handing out candy to other trick-or-treaters. Avery had just about as much fun handing out the candy, as she did getting it! We had 75 goblins come to our door this year.
This year we used our timeshare to stay at the Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond, OR. Our friends, the Bachelder's, went with us for the first 1/2 of the week and then it was just the 4 of us for 2 more nights. Avery & Kendall had so much fun swimming and playing together. Lake Billy Chinook is about 45 minutes from Eagle Crest, so we took our boat with us for some end of the season adventures. We got Avery to jump off the back of the boat into the water for the first time and Brian even took her wake boarding! She is a dare devil to say the least. She loved every minute of it. When Brian was getting his wake board ready to take her, Avery says to him, "Dad, are you sure you're up for this?" She has had some great one-liners lately.
Blake didn't love his life jacket, but (as long as he was eating) was fairly happy on the boat most of the time. We also took our bikes and bike trailer to cruise the trails at our resort, and even went into Sun River for a day. The pools at the resort were great too, although, I don't think I got many pictures of that. Click here to see our entire album.
Blake & Lauren doing what they do best... eating cheerios!
Yogurt mouth!
Avery up on the wake board!
Avery & Kendall rockin' the side ponies!
This past weekend we were outside doing some much needed yard work, and Avery, like always, was on the hunt for a "pet". We'll, we had been outside for all of 5 minutes when Brian finds her a snake. She played with that thing for 2 hours! She loved it. She loved it so much, she kissed it! Thank goodness I'm not scared to death of them, I even held the thing (with my gloves on), but this girl is over the top crazy for animals. And I use the term loosely, she loves reptiles, fish, amphibians, rodents, insects, you get the picture. She said to me, about 30 minutes into playing with her snake, "Mom, you should take a picture of me an Snakey Poo. So, I did!
