Exit Ichiro

Ryan has been a huge Ichiro fan since he was two, so when I heard about Ichiro's big trade to the Yankees on July 23rd I was a bit nervous to tell him.

When I finally did break the news to him he initially thought I was kidding then when he realized I wasn't replied, "He wasn't a good hitter anyway".  Oh, my boy.

It was odd that Ichiro wasn't in the Mariners line-up for the first time in 12 years.  But even more odd to see him in a Yankee uniform at Safeco Field the same day he was traded.  It was a quite a moment in Seattle sports history.   I was sad for my boy.  As we watched, Ryan took it all in.  I could tell he really wasn't sure how to feel about the whole thing.

Halfway through the second inning he says, "Mom, I'm going to play for the Mariners for two weeks then I'm going to play for the Yankees.

By the sixth inning he decided that he is just going to play for the Yankees.

Delightful

My Mom described Kendall as "Delightful" once, and she couldn't have found a more perfect word to describe her.

She has been so much fun lately.  She is so easy going, yet determined.

She loves her books.  She carries stacks of them around the house.  Stacks.  And she gets so mad when she can't carry them all.  She insists on reading 25 every night.  To get around this little routine I tell she has one more and I'll leave the rest for her to finish in the morning.  If they are moved when she wakes up in the morning she throws a fit.  I'm not sure how she keeps track of all of them, but she does.  She loves her books.  She doesn't let me read them to her, though.  That is her job.  She makes up her own stories as she goes along. 

She loves to be silly, and to laugh.  Being tickled is one of her favorite things. 

Her vocabulary increases daily.  There is nothing cuter then her chattering in her sweet girly voice.  Her facial expressions are the best.  It is really hard to keep a straight face when she starts talking with her hands.

She is such a little mimic, too.  She completely copies anything Ryan does or says.  Most of the time she tries to say it with him, so there is always a little echo in the house.    

I love her singing.  "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "ABC's" are the two she usually sings, and it is beyond precious.  When we were in Minnesota she picked up "It's Raining, It's Pouring, the Old Man is Snoring".  I will have to capture it on video.  Words can not explain how adorable it is.  Try singing it yourself substituting a "W" for all the "R's" and you'll get the idea!

Playing "Mommy"  has also become a mainstay.  She's always rocking her stuffed animals, and putting them to bed.  She makes sure that we all know they are sleeping and that we need to be quiet.  I find it interesting that she has no interest in her dolls, and that the stuffed animals get all the love. 

My absolute favorite thing about her right now is how caring she is.  Since David's knee surgery she asks him daily how his knee is, "Is your knee ok, Daddy?"  When someone from our unit is missing, she notices right away.  For instance, if Natalie is napping when Kendall wakes up from her nap she notices Natalie is not there right away and asks where she is.

In the last two months she has lost all the toddler in her and is officially a little girl.  She's growing up so fast.  What a treat to be blessed with this Delight every day.     

Nighty Night

Kendall's animals are all tucked in and sound asleep.  She's such a good mommy.

Badmitten

Last weekend we purchased badmitten rackets and birdies at a used sporting goods store.  It was the highlight of our weekend.  We had so much fun hitting (or trying to hit) those birdies in the backyard.  One day we will get a net so David and I can square up in the Ultimate Boehm Badmitten Match.  Apparently, we were both quite good in 8th grade, so there is a bit of trash talking go on.

One of my favorite things was that the store we purchased our new gear from had the perfect birdie for Kendall.  It was pink with a rainbow tip, her two favorite things these days.  She was beyond thrilled!

Chillin' on the Hammock

The Rides

After going through the barns we ventured over to the rides at the Cowlitz County Fair!  Kendall was skeptical about everything.  She did want to go in this huge bouncy house thing, but the ticket taker was going to make me go with her.  There was no way I would fit through the extra long tunnel slide.  I'm sure I would have but that was my story, and I was sticking to it.  I'm sure you can picture the huge County Fair bouncy house monstrosity.  No thanks.  Kendall then decided that the big green slide would be fun, although she showed no emotion what-so-ever as we were coming down.  No screams, no giggles.  Nothing.  After awhile she said, "that slide too big for me".  Oh, that girl.  The bouncy house thing was even bigger so I'm glad we decided not to do that.  Ryan thought the big slide was pretty fun.  He, David and I went on the ferris wheel which was great.  So fun to watch Ryan's expressions, and see the Fair from up high.  We also loved waving the the girls and Grandma and Grandpa each time we went around.

We let the kids pick one game to play before it was time to go.  They immediately went to the giant fishing game.  The were just playing the miniature version at Grandma and Grandpa's so I wasn't surprised.  They both caught a "big" fish right away and were thrilled with the little stuffed animal they won as a prize.

Kendall and Grandma closed out the day with a little dancing to the live music, and then it was time to go!  Such a fun day.

Riding the cars.  Ryan was not impressed.  He was most excited about riding with Kendall and then she refused to go.

Taking it all in.  Watching Ryan on the cars.

The big slide.

Kendall was NOT impressed.

The perfect little County Fair!

The view from the ferris wheel.

The highlight.  The giant fishing game!

My proud fisherwoman!

Ryan with his big catch.

The prize!  Kendall loves her sea star, too!

Natalie's first ride.  She was so funny.  She loved sitting on the horse, until it started going up and down.    Her facial expressions were priceless.

Dance!

Tuckered out.

My only regret:  Not getting cotton candy.

Cowlitz County Fair

We drove to Castle Rock last week to celebrate Grandma Karen's birthday and go to the Cowlitz County Fair.  I had been wanting to take the kid's to a County Fair, and Karen planned her birthday in correlation with the fair perfectly!  We even got Papa Pete's pizza for dinner (seriously the best pizza ever).

It was great to see Karen and Bill and see how their garden is growing.  They had such beautiful flowers, and amazing blueberries and pea pods.  Yum!  The kids were so content to be there.  They love visiting the donkeys and Robbie, the dog.  They know exactly where the toys are and get them out right away.

We all had a great time at the Fair on Thursday.  The kids loved seeing all the animals.  Kendall was stone-faced the entire time.  I don't think she showed one emotion until she got to play the fishing game.  She can be so funny sometimes.  She stuck to Grandma Karen like glue.

I loved walking through all the barns.  David thought it was boring after awhile.  He said, "If you see one bunny, you've seen them all".  I completely disagree, and enjoyed seeing ALL the animals.  Even though there were 40 chickens, they were all different!  Of course, all the babies were my favorite.  Especially those little piglets.