Seattle Adventure

Jackson spent the week with Lucas up in Seattle. They had a great time at Cub Scout Camp together. I drove up on Thursday with the little kids to pick him up. After dinner we got in the car to drive home. A few miles down the freeway (luckily the traffic was bad and we were going slow) the temperature light went on and the car starting making a very loud and scary beeping noise. I got off the freeway as quickly as I could and pulled onto a side street. I had (of course) forgotten to charge my phone before leaving home and didn't have my car charger. I had just enough juice to call Aaron and tell him which exit I was on, and then to scare Mark by telling him I was having car troubles -- and the phone died!

Luckily the engine cooled down a little and I was able to get to gas station, buy a calling card, and get a hold of everyone again. Aaron put some new coolant in the engine and was able to get it back to his house. It was 7:30 pm by then so all the shops were closed. So the Williams were gracious enough to put us up for the night. There ended up being a leak in the water pump which had to be replaced -- I was lucky to find someone who could fix it the same day, but it took all day. It was a long day because everyone was exhausted from too little sleep and we had LOTS of crankiness. But we got the car back and were on the road again that evening. I bought a car charger so I would be able to call someone if we had more trouble.

About an hour into the trip, Jackson started to get a stomach ache (bad new for him!) so we had to stop and find some Dramamine. When we got back onto the freeway, somehow I got back on going NORTH and didn't realize it for close to a half hour! Everyone was being quiet and I was just enjoying it so I must not have been paying any attention at all. But I looked up and saw a Sea-Tac Airport sign and couldn't believe it! The exit we pulled off on happened to be a huge shopping area so with the all the lights and traffic it took another 15 minutes to get back on the freeway going south. I couldn't believe it!

Bennett and Sarah were up until almost 10 pm and Jackson didn't fall asleep until 11:30. We didn't pull into the driveway until midnight! What a long two days! Luckily Mark got home a few minutes after us (he had just flown in from LA) and was able to help carry Jackson inside -- who would not wake up no matter how loud I talked to him!

I am so grateful to Natalie & Aaron who were SO helpful! And made what could've been an awful situation in a fun visit.

Sarah Dancing

Mark got a new iPhone and has been enjoying taking videos of the kids and emailing them to me. Sarah was dancing in the living room today. She is getting more and more of spunky personality every day.

For the Love of Katrina

Bennett has a beloved stuffed elephant named Katrina. He sleeps with her every night and she always accompanies us on trips, etc. Lately, it seems Katrina has become more "real" for him. He has tried several times to give her a drink of water from the sippy cup he takes to bed. When she can't drink it on her own, he opens it up and pours the water down her mouth, only to be totally surprised that the bed and Katrina are all wet. The last week or so, she has been sleeping inside of a Pull-up, just in case she wets the bed, I guess.

Today I walked into his room and it smelled terribly like pee. There weren't any wet pull-ups in his garbage can, so I asked him if he had forgotten to throw it away this morning. He looks at me with big eyes and says, "Don't! Don't!" Then he looks over at Katrina -- who is sitting in a soaking wet pull-up on the bed. Myriads of tears are generated because I insist that Katrina cannot stay in the wet pull-up and that she will need a bath in the washing machine. For some reason, this provokes uncontrolled sobbing that no amount of hugs can stop -- that is, until I offer him a popsicle. Problem solved!

Even More Cousins!

The Williams came down for the week of the 4th of July. We had a great time. We went berry picking, played at the park, tried to keep cool on the Slip N Slide & hiding in the basement, and celebrated my birthday Jackson and Lucas love being together. They are just like brothers -- fighting all the time, except when they are having a blast together.

For an early birthday present, we got a babysitter and went out for a fabulous grown-up dinner at Davis Street Tavern, topped off with gelato from Mio Gelato. Saturday we had a yummy waffle breakfast, made by Mark. We played Wii and went to see Ice Age III, which the kids loved and thought was better than the second one (which I thoroughly despised). Emily, Robert, John, Wendy and Caden all came over for dinner. (The rest of the Friess clan was at the property.) We had a yummy non-traditional 4th non-BBQ dinner of pulled pork burritos that were fabulous! (Thanks to Natalie's wonderful recipe.) We decided to forego big fireworks and just light them off in the driveway. It would've been much better if we lived in Vancouver (where you can light off great stuff that is illegal here) but the kids still enjoyed it. And we all got to bed slightly earlier.

It was really hot so we had a indoor picnic in the cool basement one night.


4th of July hanging out on the deck after it cooled off a little bit. The kids were throwing poppers and Lucas apparently got Robert in the foot!

There are more cute pictures from the week on Natalie's blog.

More Cousins

Haven & Myah had a turn too. They slept on the floor in Bennett's room. Unlike Bailey who fell asleep in seconds, they stayed up talking FOREVER until I went in and laid on Bennett's bed for half an hour. (Haven is such a girlie girl -- she takes after her Aunt Genet.)

Surprisingly everyone had fun on the trampoline, even with so many people jumping together. It got really hot in the afternoon and we ran through the fountain at Beaverton City Park. Even Sarah loved it!
Bennett gave Cohen big loves when he came to pick up his big sisters. Bennett LOVES the babies and can't wait until he has a baby brother of his very own.

Cousin Sleepover

Addie and Bailey came and spent the night while Emily was packing to move. The kids had a great time and are already begging to do it again.

Bennett did his best to teach Bailey the jedi arts. Sorry Em!

Sarah and Addie tried to get in on the action too.

Hawaiian Dream

Everyone has been bugging me to post some Hawaii pictures so I'm staying up late to get it done. It was wonderful, amazing, relaxing, fun... everything you'd imagine. We loved the Big Island. There was so much to explore and do. We would never want to live there as there is way too high a chance of losing everything to a volcano, tsumani, or earthquake! But what a place to visit! We took a million photos, as you can imagine, but I put some of the better ones in a slide show. (If you put the cursor over the photo as it slides by, the caption will come up.) You'll have to come over for the full presentation. I still have to pick up the snorkeling photos that we took with an underwater camera. Hopefully some of those will turn out.

The kids all had a fabulous time back at home with their grandparents. Every day they were off doing something fun, and I don't think they hardly missed us at all. We felt so grateful to our parents for coming. We had an incredible trip and we will always cherish the time together. After 15 years of marriage, we just keep falling more in love! I can't wait to see where we go for our 20th! (I just hope I'm not pregnant in those photos!)