eastern washington

we got back a few days ago from a week of vacation. we had a great time, as it's always refreshing to get away and out of the normal routine. it truly felt like a summer vacation as it was hot & sunny and tyler & i got to spend some good time together and were able to catch up on some R&R. riley and i's first stop was in seattle for a night to celebrate claire's birthday. there were babies everywhere as martha & henry joined up with us, as well as ang & ellie and erin & wesley.

tyler picked us up in seattle the next day and we drove to spokane for four nights. our main purpose was to attend tyler's ten year high school reunion, but we also got to spend a day with our good friends the bowie's as well as a day on tyler's aunt & uncles boat (the 100 degree day!) tyler, riley & i also had a morning to ourselves to get coffee, breakfast and a walk through manito park. we walked through the japanese garden and decided to do a little family photo shoot. (a little staged & cheesy, yes, but still some cute pictures, nonetheless!)

we left spokane and stopped in ellensburg and stayed a night with kristen, dj & cora. we had so much fun with them just sitting around and watching our babies play, as well as a nice walk, lots of yummy food and a late night hot tub trip for kristen & i. we had so much fun! thanks shooks for such a nice 24 hours!

i also need to announce that riley officially started crawling the morning i left for seattle last week! each day she has become more and more confident in her ability, so i definitely have a moving baby now!

ten on ten (8/10)

you can't really tell in this first picture, but riley was laying next to tyler and repeatedly backhanding him in the face - it was really funny! i'm not too impressed with the rest of my pictures - we decided to take a trip to ikea, so there are lots of car pictures. plus, i forgot to take pictures for a few hours when we were having lunch with the mcdonalds, so i had to make up for some lost time in the car. here's my best attempt at the ten on ten photo project today...

4 lbs of blueberries

it's blueberry season! i went picking yesterday morning with a few friends and i came home with 4 pounds of blueberries...wow! that's a lot! it's amazing what you can pick in less than an hour. we were distracted by two toddlers and a baby, so we all did pretty good, considering. tyler and i froze the majority of them, but i am already dreaming of blueberry smoothies, blueberry cobbler, blueberry muffins....yum.......

There is still sand in Riley's ears!

We had such a great time at the coast last weekend. The waves were nice, the weather perfect and Riley did great. We spent most of Saturday at the State Park where everyone else surfed and Riley, Doc & I cruised the beach, joined up with everyone for lunch then just did some sitting on the beach in the afternoon. That night we had the crab feed, campfire and even surf movies set up on a shower curtain! Riley slept great in the tent, although sharing a sleeping bag with a little one does not lead to a great night of sleep for Mom! It was really fun to watch Riley discover sand as she carefully watched it, twisting her hands every which way to get a good look at it. There was another surf session on Sunday morning, lunch then we headed back home. Oh, on Sunday morning the tide was way out and it was like I discovered sand dollar heaven. They were everywhere. If I had a bucket I would have loved to collected more, but I decided on just one. After being in Westport and watching the hoards of people happily surf there, I decided it can't be too bad, so I'm hoping to try surfing in WA-probably next summer. I've always been a snob when it comes to surfing (only can be done on Maui where the sun is hot and you don't have to put on a wetsuit) but I think I might give it a whirl!

this week has co$t me

who would have thought this could happen with a simple shut of the trunk? word of warning: make sure your stroller wheel is not next to the window next time you close your trunk. otherwise it will cost you $300...

a few days later i go to my doctor's appointment to have my eyes checked out and he tells me my left eye is still inflamed and i'll have to wear my glasses for AT LEAST another month. urgh! he tells me to buy a particular brand of eye drops because my cornea needs to stay extremely moist to help the healing process. i gladly walk to rite aide, only to find out that this so called "best brand of eye drops" is $18! for a little vial of eye drops! at least he didn't charge me the $45 for the office visit.

then i get back to my car to find this attached:

seriously, a parking ticket! for what???, i shout to nobody. i run to check the meter and i still had 4 minutes left, but apparently i parked two feet into the next spot. didn't know that was illegal...so much for a free doctor's appointment!

i am glad to welcome friday tomorrow, as it will mark the end of this expensive week for me. can't i do anything right??? we're headed to the coast tomorrow evening for a weekend of surfing (tyler, not me) and a big crab feed with tyler's "shred dogs" surf club. i'm looking forward to some fresh air...

first hike

Riley had her first hike (and we had our first hike of the summer!) last Saturday. We hiked up to Fragrance Lake, a 1.9 mile STRAIGHT UP THE MOUNTAIN hike. We packed a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed once we made it to our destination after our grueling trek. We contemplated jumping in the lake, but we didn't quite have the summer weather we were hoping for. We treated ourselves to some real banana shakes at Win's-Drive-In in Fairhaven afterwards...a really nice summer Saturday.

1 grandma, 4 sisters, 3 fellas, 2 babies & 1 dog

last weekend we celebrated the long 4th of july weekend on shaw island. we met my mom & sisters there and stayed on my aunt & uncles property. we walked, rode bikes, ate, sat by the fire, played croquet, watched fireworks, napped and did lots of just hanging. it was refreshing to get out of town and breathe some of the fresh island air. also, i must mention that we all walked onto the ferry, so we were quite a sight with our stuff!