Last Minute Leavenworth Trip
If I am being entirely honest, weekends are tough. Typically, we are overburdened with laundry, cleaning and other necessary catch up from the previous week as well as the pressure to prepare for the week ahead. There’s no easy answer. We are both working and we have 3 young kiddos. This is a season in life that is busy busy and sometimes the lack of structure on the weekends can be tough. So, this weekend, we decided on Saturday morning to get out of dodge and head to Leavenworth. Just an hour and a half away, and we stopped at a trailhead to have lunch and do a short waterfall filled hike. 30 minutes later, we were at our beat down hotel with the bubble wrapped pool. It was nothing luxurious but it was so much fun just being together, walking through the town, watching the kids swim, and doing a little Christmas shopping. Presley lost her mind (I think from lack of sleep) and, as Leif put it, there was a shocking resemblance between her and the beligerant drunk people that were in Leavenworth for Octoberfest. On our way home, we stopped a the reptile zoo (gross!) and had a BBQ lunch in a school bus. All in all, a totally successful trip that served the purpose of getting away and spending some family time together.
Leif's Mid-Life Crisis
Presley's First Haircut
Conversation with Presley
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10...11...12...16...18...16...I'm good at counting...I don't like monsters."
First Day of School - 2nd and 3rd Graders (and a preschooler)
Oh my goodness! This picture says it all. Let's just say that some of us were more excited than others for the "first day of school." Funny part is that Presley doesn't start pre-school until Thursday. She is just going to Cuddlebugs today like she always does. I hope she never loses that excitement for school! The other two were excited and nervous in their own ways. I can't wait to talk with them after school.
Liam's Birthday
Liam was so darn cute about what he wanted to do for his birthday this year. He decided against having friends to Herron Island because "they don't go to sleep." This boy gets the importance of sleep! I have to admit...i was relieved! Then he asked if we could "go on a trip." I thought he was asking because I am travelling so much for work these days. I asked if he wanted to go with just me. He said "well....daddy and Skyler can come too." There was a long silence and then I asked "and Presley?" With a smirk, he answered "she can stay with grandma." LOL. I get it buddy. I really do. He loves her so much....we all do...but she definitely changes the dynamic (in a mostly good way). So, we ended up taking the day off work and bringing Liam and Skyler to the waterpark. We had such a good time and even went on the Sky Coaster that raises you 125 ft in the air and then drops you. The kids were so brave (and Leif and I too I might add)! We did roller coasters, waterslides and the wave pool. That evening we had a little party for LJ at the house. It was a great day.
Swim Lessons
The kids have been enjoying Two weeks of swim lessons this summer and have improved considerably. They are both doing side breathing (well, SJ is sort of doing front-side breathing) and are leading all of the strokes. They also get to jump off the diving board and Liam even did a front flip (so proud). Speaking of front flips, on Tuesday Liam landed his first front flip on the trampoline. Refusing to be one upped, Skyler landed her first on Wednesday. They are now the only two kids in the neighborhood who can land it. And yes....I encourage every dangerous step of it!
ICE CREAM TRUCK
PDo all parents struggle so much to keep their kids eating healthy or am I just a nut? I really try to feed them a high protein, low sugar diet but it seems the whole world is against me. Let's see, the kids were asked by a neighbor to go to Top Pot donuts this morning, then I couldn't say no to the sprites at dinner (assuming this would be it) and then the ice cream truck shows up! Now what kind of mother would say no when the ice cream truck literally pulls up right next to the restaurant we were eating at??!!! Especially when their faces light up as though they just won the lottery. Such cuties with their ice cream and cousin.
Uncle Scott is back!
Hard to explain how incredibly happy it makes me to have my brother back in our lives. Leif and I picked him up and took him outside for the first time in 3.5 years. He was nervous and anxious as anyone would be and I was so grateful to be able to be there with him. Thanks to my mom and Ted and Stephanie, who stayed home with the kids, Leif and I were able to get him home and situated. A month later he was out to Seattle to visit us and he was like a new man. Calm, smiling, and affectionate with the kiddos. We are so stoked he is here.
Skyler's 7th Birthday
She had been looking forward to having her friends out to Herron Island for her birthday ever since Liam got to do the same for his 7th birthday a year ago. And who would have thought that ALL her besties could make it. Let me tell you....having 5 girls was 50% easier than having the 5 boys last year!
The weather cooperated and the girls had such a great time playing together, climbing the tree together, tubing together and watching movies together. There was tons of giggling and no whining or crying that I can recall. It was a great birthday weekend and Skyler was glowing with excitement.
