Seattle

We have gone on a road trip every other weekend since the middle of June...we are exhausted!  Also, Lenorah hates to ride in the car, have I mentioned that before?  We have decided to stop torturing her, no more trips longer than the hour and a half to Ione for a long time...

Last weekend we traveled to Seattle for tons of fun and a little relaxation.  Dietrich went over with Grammy on Tuesday and got to spend two days playing with his cousins Arielle and Nathan before we arrived on Thursday night.  Fortunately, he was thrilled to see us, which made me feel pretty happy :)  Our good friend Stacey won an amazing golf package, because she's one of those awesome people who wins things all the time.  And since she wasn't interested in golfing the three courses, she did one and let Bryce golf the other two with her husband Jeremy.  So on Friday morning Bryce headed out on the two hour drive from his sister's in Marysville to the golf course in Tacoma.  The kids and I met up with my Aunt who had my cousin's son Devin for the week, at a great beach in Edmonds.  The boys had a great time playing in the sand and throwing rocks into the sound.

 On Friday night Bryce drove home from the course in Tacoma and met us in Woodinville where we met up with friends, Brian, Reiko, Josh and Jill.  It was so great to see them, it had been over a year since we saw Brian and Reiko and 9 months for Josh and Jill.  We enjoyed a few drinks at the Red Hook brewery and it was so fun to catch up with everyone.

On Saturday morning Bryce dropped me off at the bus stop in Everett, the town next to Marysville, and I took the bus into downtown Seattle where I met up with Stacey for a girls day of shopping.  The goal was to find dresses for Paul and Kate's wedding in August and Mark and Bekah's wedding in September.  We had a great time and we found lots of fun clothes and good deals.  Although I did not find the dresses I was hoping to find, oh well.  We did happy hour at Ivar's on the pier and then caught the ferry over to her parents house.  I know I've been on the ferry from Seattle before but I think it was a foggy day, and on Saturday it was so perfect and beautiful, it is really amazing to see the whole city like that.  We spent the evening at Stacey's parent's house BBQing and relaxing on their deck.

Then on Sunday the guys headed out golfing again and we headed to the zoo!  The kids loved it and Lenorah especially loved the fish.  I think she could have watched them all day.  It really made me wish we had something like that on this side of the state.  It was especially awesome that Stacey's friend met up with us and she has a membership so was able to get us all into the zoo!

 This one is blurry but it cracked me up how Dietrich just went and pushed his way between these two young girls...

 There were two young tigers playing in here, they were so cute, jumping in the water and tackling each other.  But Lenorah was more interested in the man behind us.  She went over and stared at him.  He turned to his wife, "this little girl is staring at me, it's weird...I'm not your dad honey."  I looked up at him and he had a nice beard, so I told him, "but you have a beard, she's a beard girl."  I'm sure she was just trying to decide if she knew him!

 Lenorah powered through but she got pretty tired watching the seals.  And while taking this picture Dietrich walked out of the building with another group of people which induced a bit of a panic, fortunately he realized he was missing us and came right back, phew!

 After the ducks Lenorah was done, so we headed out of the zoo and she fell asleep on the way to the car.  We drove to Cle Elum where we had dinner and the guys met up with us.  Then we started the rest of our screaming trip home.  It was a fun packed, busy weekend!  We did so much in such a short time, and we did a WHOLE lot of traveling, nothing on the West side is close together and traffic is unbelievable which makes everything take longer.  It has taken me all week to get my house and brain back in order, but we are finally there.  Just in time for another busy weekend, but at least this time we will be staying home!  Next weekend though, off to camp!

Road Trip

I remember the first day of kindergarten, no really I do, MOM.  I know I was excited to go to school because my mom tells me how she had to hold me back from chasing the school bus down everyday.  My mom stayed home with me and my brother was born when I was in kindergarten, so those first 5 years it was just me for the most part and I was READY for some FRIENDS!!!  So the first day, they put us all in the multi-purpose room at Ridgecrest Elementary school and gave us jump ropes and hula-hoops and probably balls.  But I chose a jump rope and I jumped all over until I met a little blonde girl named Laurie.  I remember looking around and there were kids crying and I remember thinking, "what is wrong with them, this is the greatest thing EVER!!!"  Probably similar to how I left for college, "bye mom and dad!" *runs away with new friends, is how I started that first day of kindergarten.  So when Dietrich was born I remember thinking I want him to feel that way, not afraid but excited about going off and trying new things!

A few months ago he surprised me by asking to go spend the night at Grandma Jane's.  It's an hour and a half away so I was afraid that if he got upset about it there was nothing we could do, we weren't going to go get him.  But it was great timing since Mom was here and could take him home with her and she was already planning to come back the next day.  So he went and he wasn't worried about me at all and when he came home he was like "hey" not nearly as excited as I was after not seeing him for 24 hours!

Over the weekend Grammy Laurel invited Dietrich to go with her to Seattle to visit his cousins for two days, and then we will be there for the rest of the weekend.  When I asked him, he was so excited he was ready to leave right then.  When I woke him up on Tuesday morning "Dietrich, it's time to wake up."  He stood up, groaned, and said "I'm ready to get in Grammy's car."  When I told him "I will miss you!" He said, "we can talk on the phone."  

He gave me two kisses said "I love you!  Bye!"  and he hasn't looked back.  We talked on the phone last night and he told me about all the fun he is having with his cousin Nathan.  This morning he called to tell me he "waked up" and then he was off and playing again.  Although I miss him, and I worry about him being so far away, I am so happy that he is brave and excited and not afraid!  I can't wait to see him tomorrow and give him a big hug, so he can run away and play some more.

Summer TIme

It's finally really truly summertime around here.  Day after day of HOT HOT HOT. So we have been spending lots of time playing outside, not enough time still, I feel like it's NEVER enough time.  But still quite a bit of time in the backyard.  Our back lawn is looking better than ever, the garden is growing like crazy.  We have enough toys to qualify us as a daycare and the patio is so perfect for relaxing and watching the kids play with all their fun toys.  It's a wonderful time of year.