Little Cousins

I love watching cousins interact.  Especially the little ones.  It is very entertaining watching them figure things out.  They move from loving each other one minute to defining their territory the next.  And then look up at us like we're crazy when we bust up laughing.

 We were all waiting to see what Logan's reaction would be to Melita's curiosity.

It wasn't the one I was expecting!  He must be used to his siblings helping themselves.  All was well as long as Melita didn't go after the sippy cup.  That got the response I was expecting!

The Dig

Back when we were dating, we would often meet at my sisters place.  On one such weekend, we introduced Ryan to clam digging.  As you can imagine, he found it to be highly entertaining.  We joined Lance and Laurie for several digs when we were first married but it's been a few years since we'd last gone.  It was fun to get in on a dig this last weekend. 

Let me qualify that. 

Ryan had great fun digging, the kids had a ball playing in the sand, and I decided that I still find clam digging to be cold and wet.  Please don't get me wrong.  We will likely go again.  I will likely get my tag, again.  And since they don't do summer digs, I will still wait until the very last possible moment to start digging.  And I will still find it to be cold and wet.  There's just no way around that.  But for some weird reason, it is still fun.

A future clam digger.  He got to help Ryan pull out a clam and he was quite proud of himself.

 See Mommy?  This is how it's done!

Headed out to dig with Auntie Laurie.

Lance and Jake after a big one.  The closer you get to the water, the bigger the clams are.  It also means that you are more likely to get wet.  If you're not wearing hip waders, that water comes rushing in and fills your boots.  It's cold.  Trust me on this one.  

The girls were very excited to see Lance's clams and Lane was very proud of his Daddy's contribution. 

 My girl in pink.  She wasn't so sure about the clams but she loved playing in her new mud boots!

Everywhere you look, there are people digging clams.  That's quite a few pounds of clams coming off the beach.  We came home with 10 pounds of clam meat ourselves, so now our freezer is stocked.  Clam chowder anyone?!

A Big Weekend

For us, a weekend on the coast means a mad dash from this to that, trying to fit in as much as possible.  One nonnegotiable criterion is to spend one night in a hotel with a pool.  I'm not sure who gets the bigger kick out of it, Ryan or the kids.

Just after this picture was taken, Logan got his face wet and he was done.  He didn't want anywhere near the pool.  On the other hand, his siblings were much more inclined to swim all night.

My animated little MJ.  She kept up quite the commentary about her Daddy retrieving dive toys. 

The next morning we headed out to the Museum of Flight in Seattle.  We only had a couple of hours before meeting my aunt for lunch and it turned out to be the perfect amount of time for the kids.  Ryan and I could have spent all day in here, especially in the wing housing the planes from both World Wars. 

The main hall filled with every type of plane imaginable.

Lane was in awe of all the planes/helicopters and he loved being a pilot!  Morgan wasn't quite as impressed but she hung in there.(:

The WW1 and 2 exhibits were fascinating and Ryan and I both felt we could have read every placard and watched the dozens of videos that put a human touch on this chapter in history.  This part of the museum was more difficult to explain to the kids and I found myself struggling to help an inquisitive 4 year old understand a very simplified version of an adult concept.  I came away with a new thankfulness for our vets who gave their lives (and the others who survived but whose lives couldn't help but be changed because of their experience) so that our country remains free.

From the main museum we walked onto this covered pedestrian bridge to the sound of Peter, Paul and Mary's famous "Leaving, on a jet plane..."  Of course that meant Mommy had to sing along.  Thankfully our kids aren't quite to age where we embarrass them yet.(;

Pretending to be the President.  This particular plane was used by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.  The current Air Force One plane is 8 feet WIDER than this one.  That would be an amazing plane to see the inside of!

The view of Seattle's harbor from Pikes Place...just before we got soaked in a downpour.  Welcome to winter in Seattle!

We spent the evening being highly entertained by my childhood friend Sally and her husband Matt. 

It was SO nice to be together again!  Our time sped by and then we piled back into the van to make the trek to Auntie Laurie and Uncle Lance's house...

where we woke up the next morning bright and early to cheer on Kort (with the ball).  He even made this basket!

 Then we hung out and read books on Auntie Laurie's IPad...

and wished the rain would go away so we could go outside and play.

It did, eventually, and we got in on some great clam digging...coming up next!

The Crazies Continue

We survived our crazy morning (see previous post) but the next night was even crazier.  It involved the arrival of a visiting cousin (and her parents), very excited children, a big sister tripping over her little brother, a scream, blood and ended with a trip to the emergency room.  Conveniently, we had built in babysitters who cleaned the dinner table and took care of bedtime duties with the boys.  A BIG thank you to Uncle Geoff and Auntie Jocelyn!

We were glad the doctor could glue the cut shut instead of dealing with stitches.  She was a brave little munchkin.  Thankfully.   Because see that chipped, discolored tooth?  It was re-injured when she chipped the other front tooth last Fall (no pun intended) and it has since become infected.  It's slated to be pulled next week. 

So while Daddy, Uncle Geoff and Lane explored a new trail on the snowmobiles, we girls (and Logan of course) had a low key Saturday in an attempt to follow doctor's orders ("I know she's 3, but maybe try to keep her toned down for a few days to avoid re-injury..."  Tall orders, Doc, but we'll do our best!).

I didn't take many pictures but here are a couple:

 Playing with Trio blocks with Uncle Geoff.  I think Logan was more interested in taking things apart. 

Morgan was very happy with the blanket the nurse sent her home with - it's her new favorite.  She had fun sharing it with Aislyn, too.  It was fun to be with Aislyn and to see her walking now.  Hard to believe that she will turn 1 next week!

Thanks for coming G, J and A!

One Crazy Morning

It is a little disconcerting waking up to the sound of running water.  I've never been much of a morning person and since the kids have come along, they have become my alarm clock.  Instead of incessant beeping, I'm usually woken up by spirited voices, crashing toys, silly giggling, and, on the off morning, "Mommy, it's light out.  GET UP!"  Running water was a new one.  It got me going pretty quick too. 

What I found was enough to make me want to go back to bed.  My daughter was in the process of trying to clean up all the Aquafor she had spread all over her face, hands and sink...with limited success.  So I cleaned her up, sent her packing and got to work on the sink.  Before anything else could go wrong, I rounded up the troops for breakfast. 

Now there is a very lovely thing about kids getting bigger.  They can dress themselves!  It's liberating really.  So off the big kids went to go potty and get dressed while Logan played and I got the kitchen cleaned up.  Pretty soon I heard, "No Logan.  NOOOO!  MOMMMYYYY!"  With some trepidation, I headed down the hallway to find my youngest busy playing in the toilet.  With the bath toys.  In yellow water.  Yuck.  Logan got a good cleaning and the bathroom got cleaned up.  Again.

With all the kids clean and clothed, I set about getting myself ready for the day.  Lately Lane has been finding the act of falling really funny.  It gets him giggling.  While I was busy putting in my contacts, I heard Lane fall in the hallway.  Since he was giggling, I didn't take much notice.  The problem occurred when baby brother copied what his big brother found so funny.  Except he fell on Lane's head.  Giggling was replaced with crying.  Being the very sympathetic mom that I am, I told Lane he'd be fine and began putting my second contact in.  Only to turn around and see my eldest holding his bloody nose. 

I got Lane cleaned up, gave him an extra hug and looked at the clock.

9:30 AM

Then I started giving myself a peptalk.  "Can't get much worse.  But if it does, only 12 more hours until I can crawl back into bed..."

Oh, I love motherhood!

The Roman Nose

Are you ready for some more snowmobile pictures?  Oh well if you aren't...they're coming at ya anyway!  Just thought I'd forewarn you.(:

Ryan found a second snowmobile on Craig's List last month and so last weekend the two of us headed up into the mountains to try them out.  It was cold.  It was snowing.  Views were non-existent.  We had fun but were glad the kids were being entertained at home.

Yesterday was a different story.  We woke up to beautiful clear blue skies, with balmy temperatures in the 30's.  A perfect day to take the whole bunch up the mountain. 

Ryan's been mulling over how to tow kids behind the snowmobile and decided to adapt the Burley bike trailer into a towable sled.  It worked. It's a bit squished with the kids bundled up but it must not have been too bad...

since this is what we found when we stopped for lunch.

  

The cool thing about being in the mountains is that there is no shortage of sledding hills.

  

You just want to be sure someone is waiting to catch you.  Otherwise it's a long hike back up.  

Daddy's turn to go sledding!

Now it's Mommy's turn.  I've not had a whole lot of experience with snowmobiles.  Some of our family friends had snowmobiles growing up so I remember riding a few times.  But the two times I remember best resulted in riders either falling off or bailing off the sled after telling me to hit the throttle.  (In my defense, I was probably 10 or 12 at the time.)  Thankfully I've improved a bit since then.(: 

Our ultimate destination - the Roman Nose lakes.  We watched a guy ride his snowmobile up through that saddle.  It's crazy what some of those guys do! 

 What a beautiful playground!

I could use a little more sleep Daddy - it's hard work playing in the snow!

  

Taking one last look at the Roman Nose. 

And finally, looking out towards the valley we live in. 

We asked the kids about their favorite part of the day.  Lane's reply was "sledding and playing in the snow."  Morgan thought for a minute and then blurted, "hot choc-let and apple sly-der, Mommy!"  I think they definitely hit on the highlights!