Our Summer thus far.........

Wow.....I have been quite the slacker! I have gone a full 3 months without adding anything to this blog. Of course, maybe no one noticed cause no one has complained :-)

Much has occured in the last 3 months, which is why they have completely flown by without me giving a thought to this blog. In May, Matt and I took our first official vacation without the kids EVER. Well, we have taken a night or two here and there to the beach or to Portland but have never boarded a plane and gone somewhere exciting and out of the ordinary realm of our lives. We headed to Las Vegas for four days of sun, margaritas and fun. Along for the trip where my in-laws and Matt's sister and her husband. The six of us ate at some amazing restaurants, had drinks in some beautiful bars, sat by the pool, shopped until our feet wanted to fall off (well at least the ladies did!), wandered the strip, gambled a bit. I enjoyed every minute of the trip, even though I went into it with a list of 4 things I definitely wanted to do and did not check a single one of those things off. But in their place were other experiences that I had......ones that were well worth the lack of check marks.

At the beginning of June, Krista came down to stay for a few days. She and I also had a long list of things to do while she was here and only checked off two of them. But, again, in the place of those things we had many good times and lots of laughs. I let Austin skip a day of school to go to the beach with us. We headed to Cannon Beach for the day and were fortunate to find a near empty beach on a 65 degree day. The extra (and best) perk was that there was no wind. We spent several hours walking the beach, playing in the water and looking at the tide pools. Mom insists that we did this when we were younger, but I have no memory of having paid the slightest amount of attention to the tide pools before. We finished up our day with a trip to the salt water taffy store and dinner at Mo's (a beach tradition!).

While Krista was at her niece's graduation, Matt, the boys and I went to see the Portland Beaver's play with our friends and their kids. The boys loved the game, although for very different reasons. Austin spend all his time trying to catch a foul ball or pouting about not catching a foul ball. Wyatt and Davey just enjoyed yelling "CHARGE" and dancing to the music. All three of them got excited when the batter's bat broke. We had enough fun that we are going to try to make it to another game before the end of the season.



Still no foul ball!

Davey and Wyatt (with his "happiest face EVER!")


Not long after Krista left us, Austin, Matt and I all finished up our school year. I am not sure I have ever been as ready for summer break as I was this year. Every since January, my heart has not quite been in it the same was as it had been. I was greatly looking forward to the break to rejuvenate. On the day that Austin officially finished 2nd grade, we jumped in the car and headed to Montana to Gramma's house. As usual, Austin informed me that Gramma was in charge of them when we were at her house and I was glad to hand over the responsibility for a few days. While they ate junk food, watched Indiana Jones movies and bugged Gramma, I spent time with Krista and my girlfriends from high school. Also, Mom, Krista, the boys and I spent a long and wonderful day up in Glacier National Park. The Going to the Sun Road was open for 28 miles and then we were able to walk one more mile up it. I hadn't been there in years and had forgotten the amazing scenery that awaits you there. The boys enjoyed the big piles of snow that were still on the side of the road, even though it was summer. After we returned for Going to the Sun we had a picnic and then took a 5 mile round trip hike to Avalanche Lake. Krista carried Wyatt most of the way, getting double the work out. Austin complained a lot and had every excuse in the book for what could possibly be wrong with him. But when we arrived at our destination, it was well worth the few little hassles along the way.




Avalanche Lake



Snow in June

Going to the Sun Road

A wonderful way to spend a day!

We returned home looking forward to a few days of relaxation but soon found ourselves busy again. The day after we got home I got a call from one of our good friends. He works for Verizon Wireless, who just happens to be sponsoring the Jonas Brothers current tour. He had gotten his hands on 3 tickets for us (the boys LOVE the Jonai). He told me "sorry they aren't front row." Ha! They were free and FIFTH row. It doesn't get better than that. Of course with only 3 tix the fight was on about who was going to take them. Ok, that's an exaggeration. But Matt and I both really wanted to be the one to experience it with them. In the end, I was the lucky parent that got to go. The boys and Matt came to the conclusion, deciding that since I was going to miss the zoo with them (I was going to Rent instead) I should be the one to go to the concert. Secretly I think Matt just realized that 3 hours of teenage girls screaming wasn't his cup of tea. The concert was fun, although Wyatt was really ticked that there were three opening acts. "Mom, I just want to see the Jonas Brothers." The funniest part was when we walked out and their little ears were ringing. They would talk to each other but neither could hear the other.

Carefully picked out outfits......the clothes were very important!

Patiently awaiting Nick, Joe and Kevin........

Joe Jonas' biggest fan......he even has the Joe Jonas face down!

The Jonai

The next day they went to the zoo with Dad. Of course, being boys, I got very few details out of that other than the regular "it was fun."

Then we were blessed with ANOTHER visit from Krista. We were super stoked to have her here again. She had never been to Silver Creek Falls before so we took her up. Its one of our favorite places to visit. We did the 5 mile loop and this time Wyatt walked the whole way and Austin didn't do much complaining. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed every minute. I think that all of us had the same favorite part of the day: playing in the water under one of the 7 falls we saw.

The next day we headed over to Seaside to spend the night with Bobbe and Rupe, who had a beach house there for the week. This is the one and only time I remember being at the beach with NO wind AND 80 degree weather. People on the Oregon coast were in bikinis and it didn't look silly!! We buried the boys, Kris played with them in the water, and we took naps in the sun. We kept up with tradition and ate at Mo's, following dinner up with a fire, s'mores and fireworks on the beach.

A good place for them to be. It keeps them out of trouble!

Two days after that (yes.....I said it had been non-stop!) we spent the 4th of July with our good friends. 7 adults and 4 kids headed to Enchanted Forest for the day. We played in the Crooked House, rode the bumper cars and the Frog Hopper (even the adults!) and made the biggest splash ever on the Log Ride. I am not sure there is anything funnier than seeing four grown men crammed in a log together, all in the name of making the biggest splash possible. We followed up our exhausting park visit with a BBQ, with entirely too much food and a firework show.

Results of the Log Ride.

Smooth Criminals........

So now I have caught you up. I know this is a VERY long and rambling post but I was feeling guilty for not giving it any attention. I'll try to do better from here on out. Next up is our tradition of the midnight showing of Harry Potter. Tuesday night we will be standing in line with all of the other nerds....err, fans! I'll post pics if the boys decide to dress up. This will be Wyatt's first time to go with us at midnight.....we'll see if he makes it.

Race for the Cure 2009

Last year the boys and I met mom and the rest of the family in Spokane to walk in the Komen Race for the Cure in support of my cousin Anmrie, who was battling breast cancer. Sadly, we lost Anmrie in February. For some reason, it felt even more important for us to participate in this year's walk. Maybe it was because it has become all the more important to get the word out and do everything we can to help fight this disease. Maybe it was because I felt it was so important to show support to Mickey and the girls, remind them that we won't forget and that we want to do what we can to help. Its probably a little of both.

The weekend was exhausting but very fun. Theresa and Carter rode up with the boys and I and all of us plus mom crammed into one hotel room for the night. We didn't think it would be any big deal until we checked into the Ramada to find out that two beds meant two FULL size beds. Haha.....we were cozy (and its a good think we all like each other!) We spent Saturday shopping, chasing and laughing at the boys and visiting with some family. We wore poor prego Theresa out!

Sunday morning came early and we headed downtown Spokane to meet with the team. Anmrie's Army was the largest non corporation team in the race of 7,100 people. We also had the highest percentage of men on any team. Its an amazing site to see thousands of people in pink shirts, wigs, hats, scarves, anything you can think of, all lined up to show support to the woman and men that are fighting breast cancer and to honor the memory to those who have left us.

Austin ended up "running" the walk with Krista. She said that he was full speed ahead and then walking. Then full speed ahead again. Wy and I walked with Mom, Carter and Theresa. We enjoyed the little 3 mile walking tour of Spokane, had some laughs and I got a good workout in by carrying Wyatt on my back or Carter on my shoulders a majority of the trip. After the walk, we joined the family for lunch and a few more laughs (the money fairy was finally showering down on me and somehow I still walked out poorer than when I came in!) It was a good weekend and I look forward to doing it next year, only with the pink wigs and boas!!

A Day Trip to Seattle

******* I am a little picture crazy this blog!!!*******

Last weekend we decided we wanted to adventure somewhere new as a family. One of Matt and I's favorite places is Seattle so we decided to take the boys for their first visit. We hopped in the car early Saturday morning and headed north. We arrived before lunchtime and made our way to Pike's Place Market. I had made the mistake of telling the boys that they could each get a sand filled animal and so they paid very little attention to any of the 1st booths we passed as their full attention was on finding the sand animals. Once we found those, they slowed down and really took in the sights around them. We tasted jellys and jerkys, smelled flowers and fish. Wyatt didn't much care for the smell of the fish and wasn't about to go near the ugly Monk fish that Austin got his picture with. We stood with the crowd and watched the "flying fish" and were lucky enough to see them throw a really large one and a few small ones. We had lunch at the Market and then headed up to catch the monorail at West Lake. The boys thought that was pretty neat and were really excited to see the Space Needle. We decided to save the ride to the top for another trip (you'd think they could make it a little more affordable!!) and just enjoyed wandering around the base. Wyatt is obsessed with the Eiffel Tower right now so he was pretty impressed with it since it looks kind of like it. After that, we returned to the Market and took in our second magic trick of the day at the magic shop. I love the look on the boys faces as they witnessed the magic right before their very own eyes (as opposed to on tv). We headed down to the waterfront where we rode the carousel, visited the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe to see the mummified people and shrunken heads, and had dinner at Ivar's. After 8 hours of walking around the Seattle hillsides we were rather exhausted so we decided to head home. Both boys happily listed their favorite parts of the trip and then promptly fell asleep as we hit I-5.

Wyatt's favorite part of the day- Seeing the Space Needle, eating donuts, riding the monorail

Austin's favorite part of the day- Seeing real mummified bodies (he is obsessed with Egypt) and just having a really good day with his family

Mom's favorite part of the day- eating the donuts!! showing the boys around one of my favorite places

Dad's favorite part of the day- Ivar's clam chowder, a sunny day spent with the family

My little helper

Yesterday Colleen and Malia were going to be coming over to visit and since Malia has started to crawl, I wanted to make extra sure the carpets didn't have any "extras" for her to put into here mouth. This was especially because the boys had popcorn thursday night and I seemed to find a piece everytime I turned around. It was like it was reproducing. Anyway, I digress.....

Midge really wanted to help me get ready for the visit. As I named a couple of things that I needed to get done before their arrival, he informed me that he wanted to do the vacuuming. Impressed by his eagerness to help, I got it out for him, interested to see if he could manuever it and how long it would be before he got bored. He actually handled it well and spent a lot more time on the task than I thought he would. After he finished, I tried to distract him in order to not hurt his feelings as I had to go over a few spots and in true Wyatt fashion, he didn't seem to notice.

After his hard work, he enjoyed some time playing with Malia, sharing his Star Wars toys with her, and showing off for Colleen.

p.s. Isn't Malia adorable!

A trip to the Tri-Cities

Last weekend we went to the Tri-Cities to spend the weekend with Mom, Brendan, Theresa, Carter and Papa and Gram. We all crowded into their house and enjoyed some time together shopping, eating pizza and Papa's cookies, and celebrating Mom's half birthday (more on that later!) and to celebrate that we are adding another little boy to the family. For the first time in a while, I got a few pictures of the boys with Papa and Gram that actually came out. Usually one of them, if not all of them, has their eyes shut or is already half way out of the picture by the time the camera actually decides to take it. (Oh the joys of digital cameras!!) Here are the best of what we got.....

Face Mask Friday

Tonight we decided to do face masks. Austin is convinced that if Nick Jonas does it, then he should to. He and Matt applied a cucumber face peel mask and I did an avacado mask that was a lovely shade of green. Wyatt refused to participate with us, even with the idea that Joe Jonas might do face masks. But he did hang out in the bathroom and giggle non-stop at the three of us. I enjoyed the look I caught him giving his brother as he watched Austin stare at himself in the mirror. I know its an odd friday night activity but we are kind of an odd family. Plus, being the only girl, its nice that the boys will do "girly" things with me!!