Craziness

Thought I'd post some of the craziness going on in our house these days.
I thought, maybe I should stop them... but they were both having so much fun with Josie's doll stroller that I decided to take videos instead.

Benjamin is such a little man, always busy with some important job. Apparently this day his job was to move the furniture around.

Both kids are loving the new Caspar Babypants CD. We've had it about a week and Josie already knows all the words and NOTHING makes Benjamin happier than a good beat to dance to.

I still have a bunch of things to post from June. I guess this time of year we are too busy "doing" and don't have enough time to tell about it.

Will update with the rest of our busy June soon.

4th of July

The 4th of July this year did not disappoint. The day after several super birthday celebrations for Marty's birthday, the sun was still shining and the weather was warm. Grandma and Papa came for a couple of days and we all had a great time spending the majority of the day walking down to Alki, playing at the Whale Tail park, the beach, and of course, dinner at Pegasus.
Benjamin is getting to the stage where he has no idea he is 3.5 years younger than his sister. He wants... demands, to do everything she does. At the end of every Pegasus meal, Josie goes up and asks for a lollipop. They are supposed to cost a quarter but since we go there all the time they always give it to her for free. This time the hostess, who has a little crush on Benjamin, gave her two. One for her and one for him. He LOVED his first lolly and really just licked it right down to the tootsie center.

We then spent the rest of the day down at the beach. The kids are playing together more and more. SOOO fun to see.

The tide was really low and we were able to walk along and look for "treasures".Josie found a huge piece of seaweed.

And then convinced me to bury her. I have never understood this concept but she loved it, with sand everywhere and all.

And what would a summer day at the beach be without an ice cream cone.



Thanks for the visit, Grandma and Papa!!

Happy Birthday, Marty!!

On the 3rd, we celebrated Marty's birthday with all things kayak. In the morning Josie and I made him his favorite oatmeal and fruit and then he opened his gift... a new inflatable kayak! It's one of the first times I've bought a gift for him that I'm equally as excited about.
After breakfast we headed down to Oma and Opa's for the day. Between the cakes and fruit (thanks, Oma) and the pizza (thank, Liz) we had another fun celebration together.
But the day was just beginning. After lunch we left the kids at Oma and Opa's and Marty and I headed up to the Redhook Brewery to meet friends for a birthday kayaking trip... not in the new kayak just yet but fun all the same.

Paddling down the slough/river

And afterwards beer, dinner and dessert at the brewery.


A very fun birthday for all of us. I think Josie and Benjamin had as much fun as we did being spoiled by Oma, Opa, Liz, Ed and Stephanie. (thank you!!) Kayaking was so fun that we have decided that all of Marty's birthdays will be action adventure from here on out. At the place where we put in the kayaks they also had a ropes course. I think that will be on the agenda for next July 3rd.

Happy Birthday, Marty!!!

Swim Lessons

Josie started swim lessons yesterday and did SO great. She was placed in the highest level for her age and was so confident in the water. Way to go, Josie!!! I was shocked at how much she has improved since her swim lessons last summer. She will go daily the rest of this week and all of next week. The consistency really makes a huge difference with her improvement and confidence. I will get some videos up later next week at the end of the session.

Doing the "torpedo"

Poor Benjamin! Our water baby didn't quite know what to make of having to sit this one out.

Thankfully, minutes before the swim lesson started Marty showed up for a surprise and helped a lot with keeping little Fritzy out of the water.

Kicking off Summer

The first weekend in June was when we kicked off summer with a perfect weekend. I can't beleive that was a month ago already. Ack! Where does the time go?!? Anyway, the first weekend in June was one of the first sunny weekends of the season. We started off the weekend with a Saturday morning "dance party" and breakfast on our upper deck. Later we all went to a fun 3 year old birthday party for a little friend and then out to dinner with great (grown-up)friends while the kids stayed home with Julie. We ended the night with really great, even if a bit excessive, U2 and Lenny Kravitz concert.
Our seats werent the best, but with the contraption they had for the show, it didn't matter. The "claw" reaches up to the very top seats where there is a HUGE video screen.
Simone, me, Jen and Markus enjoying our free nose-bleed seats and a beer.

Lenny Kravitz

Bono and gang

Marty went to dinner and then gave his ticket to my friend Simone. The photo below is the reason Marty boycotted the show. U2 has 45 of these semi-trucks to transport "the claw" from city to city while on tour. They have not one but two of everything because while one stage is being set up the other is being disassembled and moved to the next city. He felt that U2 started off as a band that was against big stadium shows but that is what they have turned into. Out of conviction he opted out.. Simone was thrilled :)

Our perfect weekend continued with great weather on Sunday as well. We had another breakfast on the deck with a "dance party" Josie loves her dance parties. Then we had a coupon for a free movie that was about to expire. Not the best option for a sunny day but a free movie is hard to pass up. We told Josie she could pick one of us to go with her on a "date" to go see a movie. She chose me, which doesn't happen much these days. We hopped on the bus and headed downtown to see Rio in 3 D. She loved it!!

When we got h0me we found an empty house with a message from Marty saying that he and Benjamin were down at Alki. So we headed down there and ended our perfect weekend with a little beach time and dinner at Pegasus.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

One of the many reasons that I've been too busy to update the blog lately. We have a VERY busy little boy on our hands. I think all the extra sleep (read:almost normal sleep for a baby) has given him the extra energy to climb and explore EVERYTHING.

Updates coming soon on the rest of our busy lives.