Play Area!

We are almost done with the yard! Michael got all the gravel spread around the play area the other day. He still needs to finish putting down the rest of the stones we bought for the boys dirt pile and framing in the left side of the play area.

When we stayed at Ga-Ga & Pa's we took a bucket worth of sand from Pa's truck sandbox. We are going to get a couple more buckets worth, but we knew we would need more than that so we went to Lowe's and got two bags worth. It was enough for the boys to play with. They love the sand!

This is the area that will get worked on next summer. We are going to take the fence down and use the left over stones from the retaining wall to build a stairway to the front yard. Also the chicken wire fence on the right will be a wood fence instead. Our neighbor is really nice and he wants to go in half and half to pay for it.

Close

She is my girl. She has my heart wrapped up her hands, her smile, her smell, her touch. I love having her near. I carry her more than I ever did the boys. I take her with me almost all the time and I don't mind...I want her there! I want her with me...to be near me. I has made it harder to put her down. She likes me close too because of this arrangement we have...yet again I don't mind. I love the look in her eyes when I'm near. You can taste the excitement in the air when she knows I'm going to pick her up. She is pure joy!

3 in 3 years!

Jack - 2 years old

Ella - 6 months old

Owen - 3 1/2 years old

Sometimes I'm still shocked that we have kids...let alone 3 kids! God is so good!

Mowich Lake

Michael didn't have any work to do on Monday and since the pass we bought to get into the National Park was good until Friday we decided extend our little vacation and explore another area....Mowich Lake.

This is the view we got to see about half way up the 16 miles of gravel road!!! It's definitely not the most popular area on the mountain, but we were surprised by how many cars were actually up at Mowich Lake...around 20 -30. At one point we had traveled 10 miles without seeing another car. That was right about the time I pulled off for another trail, realized it wasn't the trail we wanted, backed up into a rock, pulled forward, tried to back up again, started freaking out because I thought I got us stuck in the dirt. That's when Michael so calmly said, "Hon, your in neutral!" I love my husband! :)

When we first got there we had a bite to eat.

Then we started off on the trail that took us down by the lake. The water was SO clear and glassy! It was also quite cold outside...high 40's and low 50's.


Of course the boys had to throw rocks in the lake.

The wildflowers are so beautiful...pictures don't do them justice. The the bugs are crazy up there too. In this particular area I could hear so much buzzing I kept looking around to find the hive. Thankfully we never got stung, but Michael didn't get dive bombed by a few bees.

We only ran into 2 other people while we were on this trail.

A little ways into our walk we took a side trail and went out on a rock island on the lake.

This was only the third or fourth time I've worn Ella facing out. She likes it! I like her facing in better so I can see her face and kiss her cheeks, but she likes to see and reach out and touch things. I did end up turning her around on our walk back since the sun was in her face and she wasn't too happy about that.

It was so nice to get to see the mountain in all it's glory since Saturday was so cloudy.

Since we just extended our vacation and didn't go home we still didn't have the backpack to carry Jack in. He is such a cutie and gets tired so fast. Michael started carrying him, but he's pretty sturdy so it wasn't the most comfortable so we improvised and used Michael's thermal and belt and made this...

Jack LOVED it! In fact when Michael got back to the van he refused to put his legs down. He didn't want to get out he was so comfy! I just need to remember to keep my Moby wrap in the car for times like these.

We ended up walking a little over a mile. We almost made it to the top of the lake. Owen was so tired though so we turned around. We want to take the kids on more and more hikes. They really do love exploring and seeing the beauty around us. We just need to build up to going on longer hikes. On the way home Ella cried the whole 40 minutes it took us to get to pavement and I had such a headache from all the noise. I wouldn't mind going back to Mowich Lake though, but the 16 miles of gravel road is definitely a minus in my book.

Driving Pa's Peddle Car!

About a year ago Pa got this 1941 Chrysler Peddle Car off Craigslist. It's been sitting in Ga-Ga & Pa's garage just waiting to be driven. To be honest Owen hasn't really asked to ride it before. He's noticed it, but he's never made a big deal about it. While we were at Ga-Ga & Pa's over the weekend he asked to drive it for the first time.

He was so cute peddling all around the garage. He needed some help though since the garage is slanted.

Jack wanted to drive it too, but he doesn't understand the whole peddle thing. Ga-Ga pushed and pulled him around the garage. She also about gave Pa a heart attack when he thought she was going to hit the garage wall. :)

Pa with his boys and his car...two of his favorite things!

Boeing Family Fun Fair

On Sunday we continued our fun little vacation by going to The Boeing Family Fun Fair down at Fredrickson. This is the second time we've gone...the first time Owen was just 7 months old.

The first place we stopped was the big firetruck to get hats and all sorts of goodies.

Then it was on to the inflatables. Owen loved this plane! I even got to climb in it once with him.

He did this over and over and over again!



The boys both got tattoos too.




Owen got an ant!




Jack didn't want to have a tattoo drawn on because the lady couldn't draw Mickey Mouse. I thought that was a little odd, but she was going off a piece of paper and Mickey wasn't on there.

So he got an actual temporary tattoo of an airplane instead.

It was a fun day...we got to eat hot dogs, chips, popcorn and cotton candy! The boys got to play some carnival games and we ended our trip with a visit to my dad's building. We even got to go into his office and see his work area.

There's no better way to end a fun day then taking a bath in Ga-Ga'a big tub and watching Handy Manny On Demand in Ga-Ga's bed!!!

Pedestal Sink!

I love our pedestal sink in our half bath. I've always wanted one..that and a pot rack...and I have one of those too! Yes, I know silly things make me happy!

I also love to sit our kids in our pedestal sink. Not sure why...it's just a quirky thing about me.

Jack is 9 months old here. I never did put Owen in the sink though.

Peek - a - boo...I see you!

Mount Rainer - Lake Tipsoo - Grove Of The Patriarchs - Sunrise

On Saturday morning we got up and got the kids ready to go. I've been wanting to go up to Mount Rainier and explore. It's been almost 2 years since we've been up there so we were long overdue for a trip.

Since we were staying at Ga-Ga & Pa's house the boys both picked special toys to take with them for the day. Owen picked his Leak Less car from the movie Cars.

Jack wanted both Mickey & Minnie!



Our first stop was Lake Tipsoo on the east side of the National Park. The drive wasn't bad at all it took a little less than 2 hours and Ella slept pretty much the whole way.


It was really fun to go see Lake Tipsoo because there is a picture of the mountain and Lake Tipsoo hanging over Ga-Ga & Pa's fireplace. Of course the picture was taken on a much prettier day.



The lake is really small and you can walk around the whole thing. It was perfect for Jack since he gets tired out easily.

This was about the only time we really got to see the mountain well since the weather was pretty cloudy.

After walking around the lake once we sat down to have lunch. Then Daddy took the boys around for a second time while Ella and I stay in the van.

Ella and Jack fell asleep on the way to our next stop...The Grove Of The Patriarchs. We decided to sit in the car for a little while and let them catch some Z's.

I love how cute and puffy his cheeks get when he sleeps!

Once nap time was over we headed out on the trail. The sign said it was a fairly level trail so we decided to put Jack in the umbrella stroller. We'll we learned our lesson that fairly level in fact is not level enough for a stroller. If we had only remembered to bring the backpack that he can ride in....oh well!

While Jack, Ella and I stayed up on the trail, Michael and Owen climbed down to the river to...what else...throw rocks!

One of the cool things about the trail was we had to cross the river on a suspension bridge. It was fun and freaky at the same time.

Ella getting to take in the view!

The Grove Of The Patriarchs trail leads to this ancient grove of huge trees. They are beautiful! This was a tree that had fallen over. The boys were able to climb about 10 feet back inside it.

Pictures don't do them justice!

One of the things we thought were cool were seeing all these newer trees growing out of the older fallen down ones.

This is the HUGE cedar tree at the end of the trail. It would take at least 10 men holding hands to go all the way around it!

Jack of course had to take Mickey with him, but he kept dropping him along the way so I improvised and stuffed Mickey in his coat.

After we got back from walking the trail we sat down and had another bite to eat. Ella has had bananas a few times so she got to eat a little too.

We had to pay to get into the park so on the way home we decided we might as well drive to Sunrise to see if we could get a better view of the mountain.

Owen finally fell asleep on the way there!

We went all the way to Sunrise, but it's really not that good of a place to get a good shot of the mountain unless you hike up a little bit. We were all too tired for that so we drove back to Sunrise Point and I got out to snap a few shots. This is facing north away from the mountain...not sure what the name of this lake is, but it's was pretty.

By this time the mountain was almost completely surrounded by clouds. Thankfully it never rained on us. After this we started heading back to Ga-Ga & Pa's. We were gone for about 9 hours. It was a fun, full day!