Muddy Buddies

These three love playing with water and dirt.  The mess makes me cuckoo day after day, but they have so much fun and are so creative I can't tell them no.

Sprinkler Love, Sprinkler Hate

Ryan loves running through a sprinkler.  Kendall warms up to the idea after she sees how much fun Ryan is having.  Natalie will not even get close to it.  So funny how different they all are. 

Natalie's little model pose.

Natalie only got close when the water was turned off and she could stomp in the puddles.

First Issaquah Fourth

We had a pretty mellow Fourth this year.  We stayed in Issaquah.  It was our first Fourth in Issaquah so we decided to head downtown to see what the Down Home 4th was about.  There was a small parade with festivities afterward.  Nothing too crazy and wild, but perfect for our trio who were rather somber all day.  I think they are fighting colds or something.

They all enjoyed taking in all the parade excitement, and really started to get into towards the end.  They didn't even flinch when the first round of candy was thrown at their feet.  They all just sat and stared at it!  By then end, they were racing and diving for it.  It was fun to see our "small" town in action.

We stopped to pick up fireworks, which ended up to be a laughable adventure for me.  David had to work, so I had to be the one to light them.  I would say that it is not really my specialty which I proved that to be correct on my first attempt lighting a sparkler.  I almost burned my finger off!  Then, two of our crackler things were duds.  Ryan was not amused and the girls were screaming from the house!  Needless to say, David and Ryan will have blast another night - no pun intended!

Not sure what to think of it all.

So somber.  

Natalie covering her ears!  Ha.

Sammy the Salmon!  

They finally made it to their feet.

The highlight of Kendall's day was finding this pinwheel.

The one sparkler I got going properly!

The crazy audience.

All in all it was a good day.  It would have been better had David been able to stay home with us all day...and if we were at the cabin or the beach.  It was fun to celebrate our freedom and teach the kids about why we actually do celebrate on July 4th.

Lake Sammamish State Park

Our last family hike took us to Lake Sammamish State Park.  It's close to our house and right on the lake so it was due time we check it out. 

Neither of us were that impressed with the swim area, but we'll give it another shot when the weather is a bit warmer.  We happened to pick the one and only rainy day we've had in Seattle in a long time to visit.

The walking trail was very meadow-like and beautiful.  It was so peaceful to walk along and listen to the birds, when they weren't being drowned out by Kendall's whining that is.

Checking out the snail in the tree.

Kendall plopped down here and was not moving.  Her legs were too tired.

My sweet girl can be feisty when she wants to be.

These reminded me of Minnesota. 

Goofy Girl

The Big Catch

David and Ryan ventured to Alaska last week.  Ryan spent the 5 days with Auntie Jenny and crew while David and "the boys" fished.

Ryan had so much fun!  He hasn't been too interested in fishing, but they finally got him out on their last day and he caught his first salmon!  It was 18 pounds, and his second was 26 pounds!  Way to go, Ryan!

Chillin'

While the boys were away in Sitka, us girls hung out and enjoyed a much more laid back environment without Ryan around!  The girls had their squabbles, of course, but the energy level in the house was definitely down about 10 notches from where it is when Ryan is around.  

Since I became a mom almost 7 years ago I've wondered how my mom survived having me and my sisters so close together.  But after Kendall arrived, it became clear; girls are so much more mellow than boys.  Natalie is Natalie of course, and rattled that cage a little but she is still more laid back when she doesn't have her brother's energy to feed off of.

It was so fun to watch them play and giggle together.  They were so content, on this particular day, filling cups of water on the deck nearly naked.