Put a Cork In It

Crackin' Crab

David took the kids to the beach house last week.  He, Ryan and his Dad went out crabbing every day and came back with a ton of fresh dungeness crab.  Yum!  Ryan has never been too interested in helping crack the crab, or eat it for that matter.  But he turned a corner this trip!  He thought it was so cool to help crack it.

And he even helped eat it, too! 

Walk Along

Kendall is getting close to walking.  She just started standing all by herself, using nothing for assistance.  She'll take a few steps on her own, but is very content to fall to her bottom and crawl.  She doesn't have the sense of urgency that Ryan seemed to have, so it will be interesting to see when she decides to just take off.

She loves to walk with help from someone, especially Ryan.  But you have to use two hands.  If you try to use one, she refuses to walk!  She is a little bugger.

She loves to use her "walking" toy.  She walks back and forth through the yard non-stop.  She's so proud of herself!

The Blue Angels

One of the perks of living in Seattle is that every year we are fortunate to have the Blue Angels grace our city for SeaFair weekend.  They show up the first week of August, and create such a buzz.  It is so cool to hear the roar of the jets through the for the four days they are here.

Last year was the start of something big.  Ryan caught on the thrill of the Blue Angels.  That made it so much more exciting for David and I.  It was beyond fun to watch his reaction to the amazing jets.  I took him down to the Museum of Flight to watch them take off, and it was awesome!  Ryan loved it!!

This year, we wanted to take him to watch the whole show over Lake Washington.  He was giddy from the moment he woke up on Saturday.  Of course, the weather didn't cooperate, but we didn't care.  We ventured down to the lake and battled the traffic, crowds and rain to get there.  But first, we stopped at the Museum to see the Angels before they took off. 

Then, it was on to the lake.  We found a great place in the grass to hang out while we watched the show.  It was the most amazing thing.  They jets flew right over our heads, and since it was cloudy they were low.  Ryan could read us the numbers off the plane, that's how close they were.  Spectacular!  I think David and I enjoyed it as much as Ryan.  I was very diligent about covering Baby K's ears, but she really didn't seem to mind the noise.

We can't wait until they return next year!  Our calendar is already marked.

Fat Albert making his entrance.

Seattle Summer

My sister Jen and her kids arrived in Seattle last week and spent 9 days with us.  My parents joined us for part of the time as well.  We enjoyed sunny Seattle weather (finally) and then headed to the beach house.  We had such a great time, as you will see in the pictures!  I will note that the pictures are a mess.  For some reason I couldn't get them in the order I wanted.  Hopefully you can figure it out.

Exploring Alki Beach in Seattle.  Luke was totally in his element.

Sweet Baby K.  She loves to eat sand!

The four big kids playing in the waves.

Pool fun in the backyard.

Kendall with Auntie Jen.

The girls in their matching outfits.

More fun at Alki.

At the Aquarium.  Auntie Jen was so brave to take all 5 kids downtown on her own while I was at work.

Gracie with her beach treasures.

The kids had the best time at the beach.  They created a house in the beach grass.  Each little opening was a different room.  Grandma Sue played with them for hours.  Each of the boys had to take a turn peeing in the bathroom!  

 

 

Kendall @ 10 Months

Only two more months and our baby girl will be 1!  It's really hard to believe.  It's insane how fast the time flies.

Kendall's demeanor has changed quite a bit in the last month.  She's no longer sleeping.  She's up almost every hour during the night.  We're not quite sure what is causing this, but she miraculously sleeps soundly when I finally drag her into bed with us....hmmmm.

She's also become a mommy's girl.  She screams when I put her down, or walk out of the room.  The little bugger.  She can be very dramatic!

She is eating a lot more table foods, but still struggling with this a bit.  She has a hard time keeping the food in her mouth.  She's very good at using her tongue to thrust it out.  We'll get there.  She had eggs for breakfast this morning and loved them.

Wiggly is one word to describe her.  She no longer will sit still for anything, especially getting her diaper changed.

I find her and Ryan playing together quite often now, which I love.  She usually gets roped into Ryan's silly games, but she is just so happy that he includes her that she could care less what they are doing!  It's so much fun to watch them interact.

Underneath the sleepless nights and mommy's girl routine, she is generally still a happy girl that we love to pieces!!

Easiet Bedtime Ever

Now why didn't I think of this sooner?  And Ryan was even snoring!