Downhill Racers

Ryan has been racing down our driveway on his little car like a speeding bullet for a couple years now.  Kendall, aka little Miss Copy Cat, has joined in on the fun.  David and I were nervous about letting her copy Ryan on this little act, but there's no stopping her.  With a helmet on her head we feel a little better about it - a little.  As you can see from the video, she is so happy to be doing what her brother does and copies everything he does right up to the fall at the end!

Travelling Through

BLOG BACKLOG:  I came across this old blog post from June 11th - pre-Natalie - and realized I hadn't posted it but still wanted to get it on the record so here it is!

We've had a busy week.  So far, we've made 3 trips to the airport to pick up visitors.

Last Saturday was our first trip.  Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Charlie stopped on their way home to Minnesota from Sitka.  Ryan was so excited to have a new baseball pitcher and had Charlie outside within 10 minutes of arriving.  After a few games, we went to dinner at David's restaurant.  Then we played a bit more baseball before taking them back to the airport.  All 3 kids - Ryan, Kendall and Charlie - fell asleep on the way.  They were tired!!  It was so great to see Jeannie and Charlie, and we love that they take the time for a little visit on their way through.

Ryan, Kendall, Auntie Jeannie and Uncle Charlie

Uncle Benny stopped in to see us on his way up to Sitka on Tuesday. Ryan had him pitching to him in no time.  Since we usually only see him in Minnesota it was super fun to have some one on one time with him.  We actually got to visit! 

On Friday, Jen and kids stopped on their way up to Sitka as well.  They had a long layover, so we picked them up from the airport and went to play at the beach.  After dinner at DQ we found another place to play some baseball.  We loved seeing them, even though it was super short.

The girls.

Silly face.  Luke, Ryan, Grace, Kendall and Jack.

Sweet Sisters

Anna, Maggie and Jo

My cousin Anna and her two daughters, Maggie and Jo, visited Seattle this week.  It was their first "girls only" trip and their first trip to Seattle.  We were thrilled to see them! 

The kids and I ventured downtown to visit them on Tuesday evening.  It was my first adventure solo with all three of them, and it went well.  We parked the car, then hopped the trolley to downtown - one of Ryan's favorite things to do.  We met Anna, Maggie and Jo at their hotel and hung out for an hour or so.  It was so great to see faces from Minnesota!  The only snafu of our big adventure was on the way back to the car.  The trolley door almost closed on little Kendall, and it did close before Ryan had time to get off.  The emergency open button didn't work when I hit it, so a nice gentleman slammed it a few times and it finally opened.  Whew.  Not sure how we would have dealt with that!

Wednesday we picked up the Minnesota girls and took them to the Ballard Locks then to Discovery Park.  It turned out to be a nice afternoon, and we all enjoyed the beach so much - especially Kendall.  She is so happy at the beach!

Thursday we had dinner at our house.  It was fun to show them where we lived.  David cooked us an amazing dinner as he always does and as promised we got Maggie to like salmon!  She even took seconds!  Ryan had everyone playing baseball, and Kendall had them all wrapped around her finger.

It was such a fun three days, and we are so happy we got to spend the time with them.

Maggie, Ryan, Anna, Jo, David and Kendall at the Ballard Locks.

Maggie and her new friend.

Ryan checking out the salmon ladder at the Locks.

Ry at Discovery Park.

My dark-haired beauties!

The girls enjoying the beach!

Natalie Susan

Our first three weeks with Natalie Susan have been going well.  She is now 1 month old.  At her 2 week check up she weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces - a 1 pound, 4 ounce weight gain in 10 days.  I wasn't that surprised since she spent those 10 days eating constantly!

She really is doing great.  She was fussy a few nights, which we were thinking may be due to acid reflux (which Ryan had) but are now thinking it's something I'm eating that is not agreeing with her.  She's been very content the last couple nights, so we'll monitor my diet a little closer and see if we can figure it out. She definitely likes to be held upright, which makes getting anything done a challenge!

Both Ryan and Kendall adore her and have mastered their baby talk.  They both pull off the best high-pitched, "Hi Natalie" you've ever heard.  She lights up when they talk to her.  They loves to give her hugs and kisses too! Kendall tries to sneak in a head butt here and there so we have to monitor her interactions with her sister.

I think we are all settling in to a more normal schedule as a family of five.  David headed back to work this week, and so far I managed a full day on my own (thanks to help from our daycare provided, Char and Aunt Melanie) and I got them all to bed on my own without too much trouble!  

Sleeping Beauty

Family Fourth

We spent our first fourth of July at the beach house, and our first fourth of July together.  David usually has to work on the 4th, so it was a treat to get to spend it together with beautiful weather!

The kids, as always, had the best time at the beach.  Ryan loves to play baseball and go to the beach.  That's all he wants to do.  Kendall went crazy over the tide pools.  She made sure she ran through every little pool squealing "weeee" as she entered each one.

Ryan chasing the pin wheel down the beach.  He LOVED it the first day when it wasn't so windy.  The next day he came back in tears because the wind took it, and he couldn't catch it.  He was so sad.

Losing her pants in the tide pools!

Ready for the walk home - soaking wet.

Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bill were there as well.  Both Ryan and Kendall snuggled in with Grandpa to watch the amazing firework display on the beach.  Picture miles and miles and miles of beach lined with hundreds and hundreds of people lighting their own firework display.  The show we watched from the beach house was pretty spectacular.  David and Ryan walked down to the beach and were blown away by what they saw from there. 

Grandma Karen and Natalie.

Ryan with his sparkler...which he really didn't care for!

Settling in to watch the fireworks.

Kendall enjoying her first S'more!

Natalie did great on her first long road trip.  She was a bit fussy on the way there, but did awesome on the way home.  She enjoyed our daily walks to the beach as well - all snuggled in the the front carrier.

Natalie snug as a bug for her beach walk.

Kendall and Ryan also enjoyed kite flying in the yard.  David and Bill showed us their kite flying skills, and didn't seem to mind making six trips into the neighbor's yard to retrieve the kites (I may be exaggerating a little!).  It was a good thing the neighbor is a kite manufacturer and had a special tool to get kites out of trees!

Kendall flying her kite on her back.

Our last trip to the beach was really eery.  The fog rolled in and you couldn't see the waves rolling in.  David and the kids went down before me, and it took me awhile to find them.  It was really bizarre.  They were only feet from me, but I couldn't seen them.

Walking into the fog.

Enjoying beach snacks!