Bikes

I really want to get the kids used to riding bikes since we enjoy it so much and they're getting a little heavy in the bike trailer. So, I took them to the school by our house for some practice. Isaiah was cruising on Ashley's old big wheel (the bike we got him for Christmas is still a little too big) and Ashley did really well on her bike going around the track twice! She still is very nervous about going too fast, but got the hang of pedaling backwards to stop. Although she practiced this a little more often than necessary, I was very proud of her for sticking with it when she wanted to quit so badly. The next day we took a bike ride along Marine drive with the kids and ended up at Blue Lake to run around. It will be nice when they can ride along side us, but for now Brian gets his excercise with both kids in the trailer since some of the trail in on the road. It was a good thing we had the trailer this time because it ended up pouring rain on us! We hope to be doing this ride again soon, so we can spend more time at Blue Lake packing a lunch, playing in the water and making a day of it!

Fishing

We didn't let the rain bother us last weekend. Brian was off and we were going to do a few things no matter what kind of weather we had! One of those was taking the kids to "Small Fry Lake" for their first fishing trip. Brian had taken the kids to get new fishing poles, bobbers and bait (a sparkly rainbow kind that Ashley picked out)! Little did we know we were days away from the lake being stocked with new fish so we didn't get any bites, but we still had a great time "pretending". We saw a lot of salamanders, practiced our casting and reeling, and talked about the next time we were going to try again to catch "the big one!"

Best Date

Brian and I had the best date. We try to plan things just the two of us as often as we can, and thanks to my parents eagerness to watch the kids we're able to, but this date was different. It felt like when we had first started dating 9 years ago! After dropping the kids off with my parents we made homemade pasta with pesto chicken. We drank wine, had good conversation without any interuptions and really enjoyed being together just the two of us. Because we took so long with dinner, we didn't get to our movie until 10:30. We saw "Snow White and the Huntsman" which was great. The next day we took the dog for a long walk to our favorite coffee place, then drove out to Skamania Lodge for their breakfast buffet. We stuffed ourselves for two hours, drinking mimosasa and soaking up the view. I highly recommend thier buffet, it was fabulous! After walking around the hotel we drove to Hood River to watch the windsurfers. And to end the perfect weekend, we had my parents over for dinner.

Father's Day

Papa was on call again for Father's Day so we didn't get to spend the morning with him, but we did get to see Grandpa! Grammy made a really good breakfast and Uncle Dan came over too. We went to church with them and then off to see Papa. He didn't get called in the rest of the day, so we all had some much needed quality time with him. After the kids took their nap, we went to the mall for some clothes shopping and out to dinner at Claim Jumper (one of Brian's favorite restaurants). Good thing we made reservations, the place was packed! Our server was excellent, our food was delicious and we even stuffed ourselves further by getting dessert. It was a perfect day spent with 2 of the best Dads I know! Ashley made a placemat with a picture of her on Brian's shoulder's mowing the lawn. When she told Grammy what she made she said "Grammy, you're going to love this, I drew a picture of ..." Cracked us up!

Sawyer's 1st Birthday/Meet Baby Ellie

Warning: there are a lot of pictures in this post! I had to post them all, they turned out so cute! We went up to Seattle a few weeks ago for Sawyer's birthday and to meet baby Ellie. Sawyer had a dragon theme for his party and devoured his cake. His face lit up when we sang to him, it was really cute! We had good weather most of the weekend, so went to the park one day, the zoo another, and Alki on our way home. The mommies also got some good quality time together, getting a drink for Jo's birthday and having a movie night, while the boys spent quality time together too! The kids are getting to be the age where they really play well together so it's fun to see them make memories as well. Danielle made this cake! I was so impressed, every detail from the toe nails, the wings and the fire coming from it's mouth! Birthday Boy! Baby Ellie(5 weeks) was dressed for the party! She could have held her all day! They played so well together. Da Boyz Sawyer's face lit up when we sang to him, then he went straight for the marshmallows! "Here Isaiah, let me show you how to make a good cup of Joe." zoo Penquins! Isaiah's foot vs Hippo's foot! I guess since Isaiah weighs almost as much as her, she still fits!

Lil' Dude in training

taking good care of Ashley's baby.

Pretend haircuts

Beach

I got to take the kids for a long weekend at the beach house while Brian was in Texas for a wedding. We had so much fun, it was a much needed vacation away. We took Brian to the airport Friday afternoon and headed out to the beach house from there. My parents came from work and got there about 9:00. One of my projects at the house was to paint the garage and trim. Dad helped me prep Saturday morning scraping off the rust and spray painting so I could paint over it. The garage looked like someone had come along and painted graffiti on it. We got a lot of looks from people driving by. It started to drizzle so we left most of it for Sunday, although I was able to get a coat on the trim while Isaiah took a nap. Since he's the busiest, I got a lot done! After naps we went to the beach, soaked up the sun and played in the sand. Saturday night we went out to pizza and had a campfire and ice cream on the beach while we watched the sunset. Sunday my parents took the kids on an outing for a few hours while I got the garage done, then after naps we flew kites and walked on the beach. The kids couldn't get enough of the beach! They took us out to dinner that night and we all left on Monday (Grammy and Grandpa a little earlier than us since they had to get to work). As you can see we had gorgeous weather and we wish we could have stayed longer. Grandpa made us a campfire on the beach where we got to watch the sunset. She was so cute making sure he didn't fall. Up, up and away. Flying a kite for the first time Grammy and Ashley flying kites Isaiah flying his own kite

Papa Time

Brian has been working a lot lately, so this was a much needed snuggle time.