Jake & Stacey Come to Town {July 25-27}

Jake and Stacey and their kids came up from Portland for a weekend, and we had fun showing them some of our favorite spots around Seattle. Some of the highlights:

Tide pools at Carkeek Park

Picnic Lunch at Gas Works Park:

above: the kids all throwing sticks into the water

Ballard Locks and fish ladder:

We also drove over to Alki Beach, but the kids fell asleep on the way over, it was getting close to dinner time, and parking was really limited, so we just went on a short walk and headed home. They went back to Portland on Sunday afternoon / evening, so it was a quick trip, but so fun to have them here for a couple of days!

Week in Utah {July 11-20}

The highlight of our week-long trip to Utah was, of course, spending time with family. It was great to be back and be with everyone again, and the week of course went by too fast! We managed to fit in quite a few fun activities – swimming with grandparents & cousins, lunch at City Creek, fishing (the boys- while I met up with a couple of friends), hot dog roast up the canyon, a baseball game, a visit to the Bean Museum, playing tennis, a splash pad, Cherry Hill, and lots of backyard fun including rocket launching, throwing the ball to Zoey, gathering eggs, and a slip & slide. Nate and I even managed to fit in two little dates – an early morning hike up Adam’s Canyon, and a late-night tandem bike ride. We had a great week, and were sad to leave at the end. Looking forward to our next trip back!

sunset in the rearview mirror on our drive there; launching rockets

   

All the cousins together – they were actually all willingly sitting on the log for the picture!

The boys fishing with dad, grandpa, Uncle Russ and cousins

  

watching Connor play soccer; posing in front of the Bean Museum Moose

Hiking up Adam’s Canyon; Tandem bike ride

collecting eggs; Nate on the ‘Cardiac Canyon’ at Cherry Hill

  

Fun on the slip & slide

 

Playing on the indoor playground at City Creek; Two good little travelers on the drive home

Eliza Jean @ 6 months, part 2

It took me a while, but I finally took some ‘6-month’ pictures of Eliza (technically I think she was close to 7 months). She wasn’t willing to sit still or look at me or smile, but we still managed to get some cute ones.

     

Independence Day {July 4}

We planned on spending Independence Day in Washington, but woke up early on the morning of the 4th a made a spontaneous decision to drive down to Ashland and spend it with my family. 3 of my siblings were planning to be there with their families, and Nate was up late working the night before, saw their instagram posts of their trip down there, and had the thought that there wasn’t anything too important stopping us from going down. It took me about 10 minutes lying in bed at 6am to decide, and we were out the door by 7:15. We didn’t tell anyone we were coming, so it was a fun surprise when we knocked on the door at 3. My brother Dave & his family had shown up unexpectedly around 1am the night before, so it was pretty fun to have all of us there (except my dad, who was in France).

We made it in time for a yummy BBQ and went to watch the fireworks. Saturday, the men went on a bike ride in the morning, the women went shopping for a little bit, and the kids spent all day playing together – in the baby pool, legos, on the trampoline with the sprinklers underneath. We headed back on Sunday so it was a quick trip, but a fun memory!

    

Eliza and her cousin Olivia – they are about 5 months apart