Halloween

In years past, there has been no dressing up of any kind for Halloween in the school. However, this year they cleverly allowed it disguised as Storybook Character dress up day. So, Caleb decided to dress up as Harry Potter.
Abby was a beautiful, (and modest) Jasmine.
Here is Caleb and his friend Zane as Harry and Ron Weasley. A duo to be reckoned with, to be sure.
And these are our pumpkins. Caleb really stuck to the HP theme. Abby expressed her love of cats, and I am responsible for the goovy pumpkin. Also, I think it odd that on Nov. 1 (when I took this picture), I have dahlia's blooming. Beautiful, just a bit out of season.

Annual Autumnal Activity

Today we had perfect weather for one of our favorite fall activities...going to one of the local pumpkin patchs. This year we went to Lattin Cider Mill. Abby walked to the far side of the field to find her perfect pumpkin.
Caleb's approach was less physical and more intellectual.
Of course Abby spent as much time as possible with all the "cute goats."
We saw lots of these...

And one of these:
I'd never seen an albino peacock before. Well, not counting Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2.


We filled our bellies with hot apple cider, and fresh apple fritters. Fun was had by all.

Fall fun

Today was beautiful!We invited our friends, the Hills to go with us to the Rutledge Corn Maze. We even pulled our oldest out of school so that we could take full advantage of the sunny weather.
Each year the maze is a different shape. This year it was the face of Captain Phil Harris from Deadliest Catch.
The kids grabbed maps and punch cards and we were off. Dave has mad navigation skills, so it didn't take us long to find each of the markers and we never got lost! Here's Abby and Lexi getting us started.
And Caleb and friend Zane punching their cards.
Looking along one of the trails.
The kids had a great time! And so did the parents. Thanks Hills family for making it extra fun!! - April

Ballard and Fremont

A few weekend ago, we went to Ballard (north of Seattle) for a birthday party for the kids of some friends of ours. While we have lived in Washington nearly 12 years now (yikes... has it really been that long?!), we have yet to see some of the local sites in that part of Seattle. So, we took the opportunity to be tourists in our own state.

This is where we ate lunch. It is a local joint, been around since 1954, cash only, greasy fries and soooo good!


The first place we hit was the Ballard Locks. It is used to get boats from Lake Washington to the Puget Sound, and the other way around. The kids loved watching the locks fill with water and then empty . We'll definitely go back in the late summer when the salmon are running in the fish ladder.


We saw this guy diving under the water searching for fish to eat. It was pretty amazing.


What?? I thought this would make a good picture. (Don't worry... it is a dead set of tracks!)


This is the Fremont Troll. It is located under the Aurora Street Bridge in Fremont (near Ballard). It is made of concrete and was a lot of fun to crawl around on.


Here you can see that it is holding onto an actual VW bug. Sure hope the passengers got out in time!

Abby and Caleb trying to escape from the clutches of the troll. Caleb looks seriously scared!!


We also drove past this Fremont public sculpture called "Waiting for the Interurban". I didn't use my picture because it is forever festooned with layers of junk, clothing, and masquerade attire, celebrating whatever.


And lastly, America's largest statue honoring Lenin. Truly. It really is. There is a sort-of interesting story about how it came to be in Fremont. I won't go into it here, but you can go here to check it out. It was a great day to be a Washingtonian! - April

Spring Break??

The calendar says it is spring break, but the weather outside tells a different story altogether. More like winter break, if you ask me. The rain has ruined any plans we made to visit parks and enjoy the time outside.




Although the weather feels nothing like spring and looks like this, the kids and I put our indoor time to good use and made some spring-like cupcakes for our friends and neighbors.

I let Caleb and Abby each decide upon the color of the frosting and cake. Can you guess their picks?
Now, before you think I'm cool enough to come up with this idea on my own, I'll stop you. My inspiration came from the Pick-Palate blog. http://picky-palate.com/2010/03/04/lucky-green-velvet-baby-cakes/

Intrepid explorer

Monday's weather was perfect for some outdoor exploring. Abby had a great time looking at all the life in our backyard. I didn't get pictures of the worms she found, or the 3 frogs she and Dave captured. Nor did I get pictures of the rolly-polly's she squashed (oops!), or the centipedes and beetles. We found this great caterpillar on the retaining wall.
Here is the dead bumble bee she found. As with all the other wildlife, she did not hesitate to pick it up and poke and prod it.

An up-close of the poor, dead bee.

Once Caleb got home from school, he and Abby and a neighbor friend worked hard to make a proper final resting place for the bee. Any bug should be so lucky to have such a resting place! - April

Summer so far

I have really been slacking. We haven't been super busy, I just haven't had it together enough to post anything. Here are a few pictures of what we've done so far. With the exception of the 1/2 marathon I ran. I didn't take pictures of myself - I'm waiting for those to come from my mom & dad (hint, hint).Abby & I painted Caleb's room. He has been in Utah with my sister Dyan for the past 2 weeks. This was a surprise for him.

Daredevil Abby. This is her favorite thing at the park.

The group at North West Trek.

Abby pointing out the cougars on the fence line.

Up close and personal with some bison.

Baby mountain goats.

We went with the Smith's for the 4th of July and celebrated at the Cul-de-Sac of Fire. Always lots of fun. Abby throwing down the poppers.

The snake pit before....

The snake pit after.

The tank wars being set up.

Abby tuckered out after too much fun! -April

Seahurst Park

Over Memorial Day weekend, we took a little day trip to Seahurst Park in Burien.  It was amazing to me that this beautiful waterfront park was minutes from the first church building Dave & I attended when we lived in SeaTac, but we had never been there.  10 years later we realized we need to do a better job of exploring our little neck of Washington.  

Here's a picture of the cousins enjoying the sand and frigid water (it is still Washington after all!)

Speaking of being in Washington, I had to snap this picture of the tide coming in with all the seaweed.  It can't be a Washingtonian beach without the seaweed!
Abby and cousin Lily playing in actual sand!
This see-saw was all set up ready to played on.  Caleb and cousin Corgan had a great time on it.  In the water you can see the group of kayakers that were practicing their recoveries - flipping upside down in the water, and then righting themselves.  
What a beautiful beach.  I am so glad we went! - April