School. It's begun.

Well, we started school today. The kids practically begged. It was really fun and we are going to have a great year of learning new things. We are especially excited about our year of science (biology, botany and physics).
This may sound hard to believe, but I have no pictures....isn't that bad??? No first day of school pictures!!!! I have many reasons. The school room is a disaster (remember I have been sick??). Also, Wyatt did school in his underwear today and Brendan in his hand-me-down PJ's. It just wasn't a picture worthy moment. But it was fun!
After school we headed to a sweet park for a "celebration" of everyone else going to "real" school today. Turns out no one started school in those school districts where the park was located. Go figure. We'll try again on that one next week. :) No pictures of this event either. Sadly poor Wyatt got injured pretty bad on his second trip down the giant tube slide (something about too many kids going too fast, and I guess he was headfirst in all that mess). I think he went headfirst INTO the slide because he came out with a golf ball sized bonk on his forehead and a bloody nose. YIKES! He was fine and continued to play after a good cry, but I felt a little sick to my stomach the rest of the time.....so no pictures again.
We finished up our special day with slushes from Sonic. Reminds us of the Phoenix days. And now we're home. The weather is fantastic today (at least 10 degrees cooler than it has been) and the buzz of fall just seems to be in the air. I'm getting all excited for chilly mornings and fallish smells, tastes, and sights.
I love when school starts!

Kid Quotes::Vol. 6

Wyatt: Mom, I really miss Arizona.

Me: Yeah?

Wyatt: Yeah. We had so much carpet there.

(I guess the kids aren't so thrilled with the hardwood floors)

Box Day (#3)

We are now home from our long visit to Washington. I woke up sick the next morning, so I can't really say I'm feeling great about being back. It's warm, I'm sick, I'm pregnant (which means more sick and also tired) and I still have jetlag (so even more tired). BUT, we had books waiting for us at the door when we got home.

I LOVE Box Day! It's the day we get to rummage through all the wonderful possibilities that await us this year. It really is like Christmas. This was our 3rd official Box Day and I think it gets better every year. There is a constant hum of "OOOooo! Look at this book. Mom can you read me this right now? Look at this one!!!!" It's quite fun. And really, when you spend that kind of money in one swoop online, it sure is nice to receive such a treasure.

We are getting started probably Tuesday. All the other schools here are starting Monday and we usually try to celebrate the UN-First Day of School by not doing school and doing something fun instead. It's always fun to head to the zoo or the park or the pool or somewhere usually packed full of kids and have it all to ourselves. We'll see what we can pull off this year with all the yuckiness I'm feeling. :(

Here's to another Box Day!

More Vacationing Fun

There has been a lot of fun being had here in Washington. I think this is the busiest vacation we've ever had. Lots of trips, and plans and visiting friends. It's been fun. A few days left and we are headed back to the "other side". I'm about ready for a schedule, Rand, and my own car back.
Here's some of what we've been up to...

My Dad and I took the little boys clam digging on the canal one morning. It's been a hot summer so it took us a while to realize that the clams were actually up the beach a bit where it was wetter and muddier, as opposed to closer to the water where the sand was much more dry. Yeah. We wasted about an hour finding almost nothing. Then we found the clams and dug WAY too many! :) The boys mostly just enjoyed the little crabs and the not-quite-ripe-apples from a near by tree. None of them participated in the clam-bake dinner.

This is Hood Canal.






On Friday we went to Seattle on the Ferry and took the boys to the aquarium. Peak tourist season on the waterfront in Seattle is not my favorite time and the aquarium was too crowded to completely enjoy for me, but I think the kids had a blast. Maybe even the Ferry ride was their favorite. We had VERY tired kids at the end of the day. I thought it was kind of funny that with 5 adults and only 3 mobile children it still felt totally out of control. Why is that???


_____________________________Willow having her first Starbucks. Totally appropriate. :)


From the ferry_______________That blue building down there on the water is the aquarium.


This was a new addition since I had been there last. A huge aquarium from the floor to the ceiling full of Pacific Northwest sea life. It was awesome! The boys stood at the glass waving at the scuba diver that was in there giving a presentation.

A Nearly Perfect Day (or two)

Today with all the dads back to work, us ladies took the kiddos to the Theler Nature Center for a nature walk.







After that, we did a little of this:



And a little of this:



And there was even a little of this:





And finally there was this:

(sunset pictures by Jordan) :)