Father's Day

We had a lot of fun celebrating Father's Day with our good friends, Markus, Jen, Mia and Ellie at a special Teatro Zinzani Father's Day Brunch.

Cousins

In June we also spent a few days up in Bellingham with the Wileys and the Shaws. We don't get together all that often but it always makes me wish we lived closer to one another when we do.
We had a professional photographer come out to shoot some photos, mostly for Grandma and Papa since getting ALL the grandkids in one place seems to be rather difficult.

The scene as we were leaving West Seattle for Bellinham... Benjamin with his bottle and Josie with her videos. Benjamin fell asleep by the time we got to UW and Josie was quite content watching videos for the 1.5 hour drive.

Living in the country has its advantages. Drew is made for this kind of living and equally divides his time between the tractor, the golf cart, his chain saw and other busy outdoor work. He took the kids around tractor trailer.

And the golf cart. Both vehicles are owned by an elderly neighbor and in exchange for unlimited use of his vehicles, Drew does his yard work. Good trade for both of them.

Josie and Benjamin feeding the chickens

One day Josie and the bigger kids went bowling while I stayed back with a napping Benjamin. The next day Kim stayed back with Benjamin while the rest of us went to the water slides. Josie had a blast. She started with the smaller slides.







But by the end she was going down the huge, twisty-turny ones with me and her two very helpful older cousins. Unfortunately, no photos of that.

Josie loved hanging out with Drew and Paul and they were both so good to her.

Benjamin, at home.

Playing soccer in the backyard.

Thanks again for hosting, Kim. We all had such a great time.

Better Late Than Never

Needless to say we've been B.U.S.Y!! We have been so busy and enjoying summer so much that I just never seem to have time to update the blog.
I thought I'd start back where I left off in June. Marty had another very successful Funny Festival with probably the best comedians so far - Owen Benjamin, Dan Naturman, Gary Gulman and Tom Papa. It was a full night of laughter and fun.

Marty made his grand appearance that night as an angel after being dangled 30 feet in the air and transcending onto the stage in a pair of Josie's fairy wings. It was funny but a little hard to explain. At least you can laugh at Marty in teeny tiny fairy wings, right?

From L to R: Tom, Marty. Dan, Gary and Owen... several VERY tall men!! Marty is 6 foot 5. The other two on the right were even taller!

The front row

We were invited to a BBQ with the band Augustana probably best known for their hit Sweet and Low.

Dan Layus, the lead singer, had come on Marty's podcast and they bonded over the fact that he has a daughter Josie's age and a son Benjamin's age. What a very sweet family. We all had a great time.

Benjamin and Dan

Townsend, Dan and Benjamin

Josie had a ball with Eloise. What do kids do at a boring, adult BBQ... stack plastic drinking cups of course! Their kids were really quite amazing. They have been on the road with the band and their parents for the past several months. I don't think our kids would fair so well.

Marty and I worked selling his new cyber bullying video at the National School Counselor's Convention here in Seattle. An extra treat, my sister Kim was staying here at our house in order to attend the conference and we got to ride the bus together just like old times :)

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.