Woodland Park

A few weeks ago the kids and I headed down to the Woodland Park Zoo with our friends Alanna, Payton and Addelyn. I don't think Belle and I have been to a zoo since we lived in St. Louis! That is way too long. She absolutely loves animals and hanging out with her friends Payton so it was a win-win situation. Jack hung out in the stroller the whole time and slept A LOT! He seemed to be feeling under the weather and was just kind of zoning out all day. It turned out to be the beginning of the teething process of his first molar. It totally wiped him out for like 4 days straight. He was totally uncomfortable, but on the plus side he took 3 or 4 naps each day! Anyhoo, back to the zoo...

Annabelle and Payton ran around like wild animals all day at the zoo and Alanna and I were positive they would zonk out on the hour and a half car ride home. Alas, they were wide awake the entire time. ;)

Stinkin' cute meerkat.

A big ol' lazy hippo. He needs a pep talk. Okay, he probably wasn't lazy... just hot from the sun and bummed out that he lives in Washington instead of Africa.

Little Miss Ready-for-an-adventure

These pictures just make me chuckle. While we were camping, AB put on her grandpa's hat (obviously too big for her), found a stick and stuck it down the back of her shirt and then tromped around like she was on an adventure.

Look at that look of concentration. I think she is trying to balance a pinecone on the stick. Or maybe she was preparing a pretend smore.

Plotting her next move.

Camping at Sucia

My parents took us on a boat trip to Sucia Island in the San Juan Islands last month and we camped there for two nights. It is a beautiful place to camp. The island is in the shape of a funky H and we camped right in the middle of it on a ridge of land. When we stepped out of our tent and looked to the right there was a cove and when we looked to the left there was a small bay. We went exploring on the beaches, ate smores three times (once was just after breakfast!), went crabbing in the dinghy and relaxed. Belle spent one night on her grandparent's boat for a sleepover and the next night Trev stayed with both kids in the tent and let me enjoy an uninterrupted kid-free night on the boat. What a man!

Jack Attack fell asleep on Grandpa's while we were on a walk and kept napping on him once we get back to camp. He was tuckered out.

There were purple starfish ALL over the ricky parts of the beach!

Here is one of the sunsets we saw from our campground. Just beautiful.

AB played in the sand a ton! She really enjoyed being outside all day while we were camping. She thrives on playing outside and she was making the most of it.

AB playing fetch with someone else's dog.

Grandma and Grandpa tend to fight a lot, especially when there is driftwood around. We had to break them up a few times. ;)

Jack is uber concerned with how his hair looks. He really wanted to showcase his red locks and opted for a hawk one morning. I think it looks stellar.

More sand play. She couldn't get enough of it!

It was beautiful and sunny the whole time we were there... until the morning we boated back to Bellingham. Then it was overcast, chilly, WINDY and when we started our journey across the water it was so so so choppy. Jack slept in my arms the whole time and Trev, Belle and I all felt a bit nauseous by the end of the hour-long trek. I boated quite frequently when I was a kid and I think this was the first time I felt yucky from boating. That can tell you how choppy the water was that day!

Playing catch up - Part 2

In July we went to Vancouver Island to celebrate Opa's birthday. Annabelle spent everyday at the beach playing in the sand, turning over rocks looking for crabs and yelling, "Lurk, lurk!" whenever she saw something exciting. By the way, "lurk" is how she says "look."

Bubble blowing!

AB riding her wee little bike (with training wheels for now). She absolutely loves riding her bike and is really good at stopping at every street to look for cars.

A couple of months ago Annabelle and I were eating breakfast together and she looked up at me with eyes crossed and said "Hi two mamas." Hahaha! I don't know how she learned to cross her eyes but I just cracked up when she did it. I give you the picture above so that you too can see her beautiful cross-eyed face.

One afternoon I gave Annabelle a paintbrush and a bucket of water and I let her "paint" outside the house. She painted the steps, the fence, the side of the house, the windows and...

... the mailbox. She went on a wild painting frenzy!

Our girl can have fun playing with anything. One day it was what she found in our recycling bin. She would go down the line she created and fill each bottle and cup with water. Seriously, we don't need to spend any money on toys when she's happy with used empty plastic containers.

Playing catch up - Part 1

Here are my two little doinkers in a warm embrace.

In July we went to Lucy's birthday party at her aunt and uncle's farm. Lucy's cousin, Madeline (above) gave the kiddos pony rides. I asked Belle if she wanted to ride the pony and she said yes immediately. This was surprising since usually her first response is no when I ask her to try something new. She climbed right on and loved it!

We made cookies a couple of times since I last blogged. Sometimes I let her lick the mixer and she ends up with cookie dough all over her face and in her hair.

Jack Attack trying to steal my camera.

One of the things Belle most loves to draw right now is people. Since I took this picture she has started adding arms and sometime hair to her little people.

Peek-a-boo Jack

Tulips

In all my years living in Bellingham, this was the year I finally made it down to the tulip festival in Skagit Valley. Yep, I'm finally blogging about tulips. Tulips that bloomed in April. I'm excited to go again next year since this year we caught the tail end of the tulips and most of the fields no longer had tulips.