girls (plus wesley) in buckley

on monday we drove down south to buckley - a charming area at the base of mt. rainer, near bonney lake. angela and her husband just bought a new home there, so we decided a summer get-together was a must. angela's home is big and beautiful - just perfect for them. since we arrived at the beginning of this on-going heat wave, our activities included lots and lots of backyard water and play time, popsicle's at 9am and late-night sweating babies crying. we managed to get out of the house on tuesday for a fun picnic at the park and even got to watch a free theater production. we had a great time and riley just loves ellie and wesley and all her aunties - but i'm thinking next time we get together we'll have to leave the babies at home so we can actually talk w/o interruption!

thank you angela for being such a lovely host!!!

check out erin's post for more (and more beautiful!) photos from our get-together

summer fun

the summer is flying by! i really can't believe it. and this heat! up here in bellingham we are a few degrees cooler, but our little house is still just roasting. luckily we have a few friends with boats, pool memberships and lake front homes, so we have managed to get in the water most days over the last week. here is a little bit of what we've been up to:

woodland park zoo with martha & henry



wrapping up (riley's term and request) in dish towels


tea party with all the babies and animals (doc was even invited!)




sunday evening dinner and boat ride with friends (i even got to wakeboard for the first time in a few years!)




swimming at the bellingham country club pool (which included riley JUMPING off the diving board!)


and finally blueberry picking at boxx berry farm this morning (8 1/2 lbs - not bad by myself with a toddler in tow!)



we also had a little overnight trip down south to visit some girlfriends, but i will post about that separately. and tyler and i have been slowly working on organizing the garage, so we pretty much got that done this past weekend. it feels so good to sort through things and put them in their proper place. maybe by the time we move out of this house we will be completely organized! ha! the next few days our only plans are to stay cool...so wish us luck. lucky for tyler he is traveling for work right now, so he is fully enjoying the luxury of hotel AC. we do get to head to westport this weekend for our annual crab feed with tyler's surfing buddies, so cooler weather and ocean breezes await!

lately riley has been...

wearing daddy's work shirts

playing at the cornwall spray park

reading quietly by herself

and absolutely adoring baby jack

more on our spokane/seattle trip

riley and i left spokane on friday morning and drove to seattle where we spent the weekend with my family while tyler spent the weekend in spokane playing in hoopfest. i have to report that tyler's team won the losers bracket in their division and even more importantly, they received a "king of the losers" t-shirt. a free shirt is always a plus.

andrew was in town for some family time, as well as a fundraiser that some friends put on for him. check out the posts from andrews blog here and also here, if you haven't already. we had such a fun family weekend and even got to spend some time at the pool with my mom, sisters and nephew. riley was in heaven! she has become quite the little water lover and her bravery often frightens me :)

"that's the beba!"

on fathers day weekend we made the long trek to spokane where we spent a week at tyler's moms house. tyler worked all week at his office in coeur d'alene - so riley and i visited with friends and family and funny enough, riley decided to take 3 hour naps for 4 days straight, so i enjoyed lots of reading and nap time myself! unfortunately, i took very few pictures, so i have only a few photos to share.

~some highlights from the trip ~

rainy fathers day gondola ride through riverfront park after a yummy family brunch, 3 hour nap for riley and i and an early dinner out to this fab spot:




out too late on several evenings visiting friends/family:


played in the park while tyler & his buddies practiced for hoopfest:



other fun things we did (with no pictures!) were: a date night for tyler and i, bbq's, catching up with old friends, visiting grandparents, golf for tyler, playing in a few south hill parks and lots of time with the beba.

who is the beba you ask? well the beba (pronounced "bee ba") is tyler's mom and our little riley came up with that clever name. on our drive to spokane i was trying to come up with the perfect name for tyler's mom. we had always referred to her as grandma, but she was not too keen on that name, so i thought abuela (grandma in spanish) would be fitting since melinda has a condo in mexico and loves to spend time down there. every time i asked riley to say abuela, she would say beba. so it stuck and as soon as she saw melinda, she started calling her beba. the funniest part, was riley then turned it into "the beba". then when melinda would walk into a room, riley would shout, "that's the beba!". so beba it is and ALL are happy about it.

catching up...

after a week in spokane, a weekend in seattle, 5 days at home then 8 days in missouri. wow - my last month has flown by. no wonder i still haven't planted a single flower on my porch like i usually do. and no wonder i am so behind on everything! the positive side is that this past month has been full of some wonderful family time and that is priceless. and worth a messy house and life for the time-being.

i am overwhelmed with pictures, stories and events that i want to share - so i think i will take it slowly and post about each trip and event separately. and not to mention, my little riley is 20 months and seriously couldn't be funnier. so of course i want to just talk about her and tell you her latest and greatest.

but for now i will start with a few pictures from a spur-of-the-moment outing our little family took one hot and sunny afternoon a few weeks back. tyler made my day one afternoon and came home at 4 and we jumped in the car and hiked down to little squalicum beach. after living in bellingham for a total of (almost) 8 years, we had never been to this beach. it is a great off-leash spot right on the water. a must on a hot day for our furry friend! we had a great time at the beach just hanging out and i think riley could have stayed there several hours taking in the sights and playing in the water & rocks. what a pleasant way to end the day!

the dorm on the right is where tyler and i met and fell in love 11 years ago!