A Sorry State of Affairs

This is an indoor pool. "It sure looks like a bathtub to me" you might say. Now I am an admitted weather wimp, which is apparently genetic. So on a hundred degree, high humidity day when your house has instantly transformed into a sauna with no off button, when you feel like you could very well melt into a gooey puddle at any moment, and when you can't actually put sunscreen on your kids without it dripping into their eyes with the sweat that's running down their faces, this becomes an indoor pool, thank you very much!

Brothers and Sisters

Jake hates Payton to be "mad" at him. Even without words, she can be quite persuasive. Overheard:
Jake: "No Payton! You can't play with those! Here are your own toys."
Payton: jabbering a mile a minute, definitely telling Jake off in no uncertain terms
Jake: "Fine, you can play with these. But I get them back when you're done."
Payton: happy squealing noises obviously super proud of herself for her minor victory



PS - no worries. No children were harmed in the making of this picture. Jake loves to stuff Payton's onsies with balls and then watch her try to crawl and roll around with them. I have to admit, it's pretty funny. Good thing Payton is such an easy-going kid!

"Look, Mom. Dad has no hands!"

Jake learned how to ride his bike without training wheels last week. It was lots of fun to watch and really cool to see how proud of himself he was. It was almost as much fun listening to the conversation between Jason and Jake during this process. It gave me quite the insight into both of their very complex brains. "Jake, it's okay to have a conversation with yourself or someone else, but don't forget to watch where you're going." Hmm. A conversation with yourself? I'm quite certain a real life, out loud, full fledged conversation isn't exactly what he meant (I think), but Jake is really literal so I can only imagine what he thought. On the other hand, he didn't question it, as if having a conversation with oneself while riding down the road isn't completely out of the question. They're so much alike it's scary!

A Very Important Job

Jake was the ring bearer in a wedding recently. You might think that having him dress up (which he's not too fond of, hence the sandals), walk by himself through a throng of people staring at him and present the rings to people he doesn't really know might not sound like the best plan for a kiddo who gets pretty shy in large group settings. And I can admit now that I wasn't really sure he'd end up doing it. But he said he wanted to, and who am I to squash his attempt at trying new things just because it might throw off some silly little thing like someone's well planned, thoroughly rehearsed, long awaited wedding? Fast forward to Jake's big moment; the music is playing, the guests are seated, the wedding party have all made their way to their places. And here comes Jake..................walking backwards. That's right, backwards. When he was done I casually asked him why backwards (while trying desperately to keep a straight face). He said he wanted to make sure he could see either me or Jason the whole time. I was at the starting place with him and Jason was sitting up front where he needed to end up, so he walked backwards so he could see me until he got close enough to see Jason at which point he turned around and walked frontwards. It makes perfect sense to me.

Fun in the Sun

Who knew a $10 dollar pool could be such a fantastic investment? We've always had kiddie pools in the summer for Jake to play in, but he's always prefered the sprinkler / trampoline combination. Sadly, last year's pool didn't make it. So, on the hot days last week we sent Dad on a pool hunting mission. This year Jake loved the pool, especially running and jumping in at full speed. Payton loves the water, any water, so she had a blast, too.

3rd of July

Yep, the 3rd. Every 3rd of July is the big fireworks display over the water at the marina.

It was a perfect, warm summer night and

this year the fireworks were bigger and better than ever.

We had a fabulous time.

The end.

Home Depot Style

Home Depot has a free kids workshop every Saturday morning. Jason and Jake like to spend time with "just the boys, Mom. That's how we roll" (which is great for me because girl's time usually includes some combination of Starbucks and naptime in no particular order!). This week's project was a picnic caddy. Jake was so proud because he built the whole thing by himself. Jason's only contribution was a sore thumb from holding nails. I love that Jason looks so forward to their time together, and I love that Jake loves his Dad so much.

A Hair-raising Experience

I mentioned in a previous post that Jake's hair is getting long. This picture does much more justice to his flowing locks. I used to cut his hair, but I only know how to cut it short. He really wanted to grow it a bit longer, so I relented and let him go with Dad to have it cut (he also loves music, especially songs with hard beats. Perhaps his inner rocker is making an early appearance?). Now it seems like it needs trimmed and cleaned up every few weeks. Hence the wild child look at the moment.

And then there's Payton. She has this permanent mohawk thing going on right now. No matter how we comb it or wet it down, it slowly starts to creep up until it's standing straight on end in a perfect mohawk. Instead of fighting it, we've decided to go with it so she's rockin' the faux-hawk!

Dosewallips

Road trip! We haven't been on one in a while, especially since our oldest kiddo has a car ride tolerance radius of about 3 hours. Lucky for us Brinnon is only about 45 minutes from our house. It's beautiful and the 80 degree weather wasn't too shabby, either. Our first stop was Dosewallips State Park.

The Falls

Next up was the waterfall. We're not sure what, or if, these falls are named. It's an unmarked trail that some locals told us about several years ago. Jason swam in the freezing cold pool at the base of the falls. Jake ventured in the shallow end of the pool with Jason, too. I don't think either of them have nerve endings because the water was absolutely frigid. Payton slept most of the time. I don't blame her, though. I can't think of a more peaceful place to curl up in the sunshine and take a snooze. The last picture cracks me up. We were changing clothes in the trunk and noticed after this picture just how much Jake needs a haircut!

Mount Walker

Last stop: Mount Walker. This is a gorgeous lookout with views of Mount Rainier and Seattle. We haven't been here in quite a while and I forgot just how awesome the views are. I'm happy to report that our road trip was a complete success! I think both of our kiddos will be out in record time tonight. They're both happily exhausted!