Fireworks for the Fourth

For the 4th of July we stopped by the Muckleshoot Casino for the first ever Riemer firework purchase and then headed down to Oma and Opa's to set them off and celebrate the day.  When Marty talked to the lady selling the fireworks he told her he wanted "pretty rather than loud"  We got several flowers, sparklers, roman candles and some rockets.  Most were pretty but a few of the rockets were very loud.  The kids, especially Benjamin, LOVED them all.

Benjamin taking a potty break right next to the loaded and ready rocket... when nature calls.

Yay... ready for the rocket.

Fun with sparklers

Marty got a great set of hair trimmer/clippers from Oma and Opa for his birthday.  After I gave him a haircut he decided to try his hand with Benjamin's hair.

 All was going well until... Marty dumped a cup of water over Benjamin's head.

As you can see, he did not like that one bit. 

But recovered quickly for the rest of the haircut.

And Benjamin ended up with a pretty good looking new do.

Happy Birthday, Marty!

On July 3rd, we celebrated Marty's birthday.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the birthday boy for the blog but I do have other photos of the day and celebration.  This year he decided he wanted to take our favorite walk through Schmitz Park and down to Alki and to have dinner at Pegasus.  He has also been trying to lose a few pounds (and has been quite successful - 16 pounds in 2 months) so being as supportive and creative as possible, Josie and I made him this cake out of a real watermelon and used Greek yogurt with a touch of strawberry jam for the frosting and a bunch of fresh fruit to decorate the top.  We had fun decorating the cake together and throwing the nuts at the sides.

Here is the cake before and after cutting.  It was actually really good and a great way to celebrate with a sweet but very healthy type treat.  I will make this again for sure.

It was the perfect amount of friends, family, fun and food.  Tim and Kelley were here (en route to Hood Canal to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary) so they joined us for cake and the walk down to Pegasus and then spent the night here.  They are such fun, low maintenance, easy going house guests.  It is always fun to have them here.  To the left are Kelley, Benjamin, Marty and Josie at the entrance to Schmitz Park on the way down to Alki. 

Marty's former on-air partner and really good family friend, Jodi and her son, Josh met us at Alki and for dinner.  Josh is 9 months younger than Benjamin but about the same height and 15 pounds more.  He is a big dude and he has a big crush on Josie.  She handles it very well and loves to play the "big sister" role for Josh.  Someday, this will be a disappointment to Josh as I think he is expecting a bit more but for now being that they are only 6 and almost 2 it works.  Here are a few photos of the kids down at Alki.  

Our other good friends, Jen and Elizabeth also met us for dinner but left their tribe of 5 kids behind.  Believe me, between Benjamin, Josie and Josh it was enough.
Happiest of birthdays to Marty, the perfect father and husband for us three.  We love you.  Here's to many more.