the last week or so

do you like my new red front porch?

i spent the last two days prepping & painting it and i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. the color is suppose to be the exact same as the front door, but they look a bit different. maybe bc the door was painted last summer and painting on concrete is different than wood. either way, it looks much better than what it used to look like...chipped away baby blue paint...yuck.

martha & henry came for a visit last week and stayed the night. it was really fun to have them. although trying to get out of the house with a 4 week old and 7 month old was a minor miracle! if one wasn't eating then the other needed a nap or diaper change...we managed to get out for a nice walk and coffee along the water, walked through a few shops downtown, ran a few errands and even saw a movie.

riley made a new friend - ninabelle, or nina to most people. nina is almost 3 years old and is my friend mitzi's (from high school!) daughter. they were up visiting from CA, so we got to have our babies meet, as well as meet nina's younger sister, jolene. no pictures of jolene...just this cute one of these two new friends

happy father's day

today was a special day. not only were we celebrating tyler's first father's day, but it was also our inaugural tandem plus trailer bike ride. we just recently purchased a bike trailer for riley (great deal at Costco, check it out & see if they have any left!) and were so excited to use it that we decided to not heed the advice of the manufacturer's label (wait until they are 1 years old) and instead strapped her car seat inside the trailer. it proved to be a worthwhile risk, as we had such a fantastic time today.

we took it pretty easy and just rode downtown to the mount bakery for a fun father's day breakfast.

we were able to grab some seats outside on the patio and soaked up the morning sun. we enjoyed splitting a cream cheese cinnamon roll (which was to die for!), had some coffee and then a breakfast sandwich.

after our nice breakfast we continued on our way and rode up the hill to church. some of us were pretty worn out by the time we got home!

we had a wonderful rest of our afternoon...washed the cars, had a picnic lunch near the water, took Doc to the dog park then enjoyed some time on the patio, ending the night with a bbq dinner.

happy father's day tyler!

last saturday

last saturday we met tyler's mom & her boyfriend, his brother & nephew in mukilteo and took the ferry across the water to whidbey island. it was a last minute trip and turned out to be a really fun & pleasant outing.

we had fun watching bjorn play on the ferry seats and laughed as we tried to get Riley to actually pose for the camera! stubborn girl!

we drove to our destination, the town of langley, and found a restaurant facing the water that served some good ole' fashion fish n' chips. it was quite entertaining eating w/a toddler and infant...as cups, silverware, chairs & food were everywhere and we even had to take shifts, one person bouncing/entertaining the baby while the other quickly ate.
after dinner we wandered down the main street and peeked in a cute shop (hence melinda's new "scatter joy" sign for her house!) while the boys played on the beach. we worked our way up and down both sides of the street, and even managed to pose for a photo of Melinda w/her boys and grand kids.
we loaded back in the car and made our way back to the ferry dock for the ride home. everyone was tired and a bit fussy, but we did manage to snap a picture of bjorn giving his cousin a nice hug! what a sweet boy he is!

after some much needed ice cream from ivar's at the ferry dock, we said our farewells and loaded back in our car and headed north to bellingham. riley fell fast asleep and tyler and i enjoyed a quiet & peaceful ride home. i was able to capture the sky as the sun was setting across the skagit flats. because we didn't want to stop, i quickly snapped away through the car window. what a beautiful ending to a great day!

7 months

Hi friends. The sun has finally come out...yeah! After this post I am going to try and get out in the garden and pull some weeds before Riley wakes up from her nap. But I wanted to say that Riley turned 7 months old yesterday. I say this every month, but it is truly hard to believe. She is 17lbs 7 oz and is still a tall girl, about 27 1/2 inches. She sits up with ease, has tried rice cereal, avocado, banana and will try a sweet potato today. She is still not too sure if she likes the new textures in her mouth, so we are taking it slow...therefore she spends a lot of time playing with the spoons and putting the food all over the tray, her hands, face, table, etc. It is so fun to watch her through this new learning experience! She must be teething again (her two bottom front teeth have already cut through!), as evidenced in the picture below - she can't get enough spoons in her mouth at once. She is a true delight and we simply can't get enough of her! Enjoy the rest of the week and have a wonderful father's day weekend!

Ten on Ten (6/10)

Another ten on ten photo project day...I was excited as I missed last month. It was a nice day - pretty laid back and lots of time spent at home, due to Riley's nearly 3 hour nap! We did manage to get out in the afternoon for a few errands and then to take Doc for a walk. Hope you all had a great day and be sure to check out the other photo projects on the Ten on Ten link on the side.

i love these onesies...