Sunday Night at Home

Saben is modeling 2 of the items we recieved at the circus on Saturday.
Seth tried on the hat also, but it kept falling over his head.

Too many cooks, didn't spoil the waffles at our house!

Bedtime stories with Papa!

Some Scenery Pictures From Jetty Island

I liked this picture of the castle we made with the low tide flats behind it.
Rose hips from a wild rose on Jetty Island.

Driftwood, grasses and yellow flowers.

Jetty Island on Sunday

Even though the weather wasn't very sunny, we went out to Jetty Island and had a great time. It was overcast most of the time, but since there's not any shade out there, it was nice to not have to worry about being in the sun to much. The first thing we did was have lunch. We caught the 12pm ferry to the island, so Annika was getting hungry. She knew we were going to have a picnic, but thought we should eat before we got on the boat, then when we were on the boat, she thought we should eat on the boat, (even though it only takes a couple of minutes to get to Jetty Island). We had about a 5 minute walk from the ferry to the picnic area and she did fine on the walk, but as soon as she saw the tables, she was ready to eat.
After lunch, we found a "fort" that needed a few more logs to make it complete.

Saben peering through the side of the fort.

The tide was way out and since it was windy and on the cool side, we didn't play in the water. Annika and I made a castle, that according to Annika was the "best castle ever"!

Annika seemed to be into singing songs that she would make up while she was at our house this time. Going down this path on the way to the beach when we first arrived, she sang, over and over "Walking on the sand, walking on the sand, etc. The second time we went down the path, she had a feather that she ran along the grass and sang, "Tickling the grass, tickling the grass.., again she sang the same words, over and over. It was really cute and reminded me of when Kari used to make up her own words to sing when she was around that age or younger.

There was a craft time while we were there. The kids were supposed to make bugs with their clothes pins and pipe cleaners. I helped Annika make her bug, which we named "Jetty", while Saben added 2 sticks he had found and made a space ship instead.

Annika thought Grandma needed to get inside the fort, too. It was much easier to get in than to get out, since I just had to slide in backwards to get in. Getting back out was up hill and more of a struggle, but I made it!

Teeter- totter time! See how far out the water was! You can see some people standing at the edge of the water in the distance.

A cool tree root to climb!

Saturday Fun Plus the Circus

Saben and Annika both got brave enough to ride on the mower this time. Maybe they didn't want to be out done by their 20 mo. old cousin?
Everyone could ride at once this way!

There were a bunch of pre-circus activities. The first thing we saw was a tug of war with the strong man. As we sat down to watch we noticed that they were adding kids to the line every few minutes. Saben got grabbed to help pull on the rope, but I wasn't ready with my camera and the picture I got was very blurry. There were clothes they could try on also, the jacket Annika has on was pretty heavy, especially for a 3 year old. It was even heavy for me to lift and put back on the hanger.

Several guys on stilts were walking around,...

...some acrobats were performing,...

...and an elephant, named Kelly Ann, painted a picture while we watched.

Snacks! Always a highlight especially when you can get your whole arm in the popcorn box!

I thought it was funny that they had such a variety of animals in the same ring. The ring to the right had ponies running around in it and I don't remember what was in the ring to the left, another mixture of animals, I think. There were all the normal circus acts also, including the tightrope, the trapeze, tigers, elephants, and some I don't associate with the circus like guys riding 7 motorcycles around inside of a big metal ball. We had a lot of fun once we got inside, and we had great seats, in row 4 right in front of the center ring. It wasn't as much fun to have to line up outside by the protesters, but we just ignored them and went on in.

End of Camping, Then Home Again

This is the cabin that we stayed in. We almost didn't get to stay, even though it had been reserved for us. When Todd and Betsy were checking in, they found out that, even though Seth is less than 2 years old and would be sleeping in a pack and play, not one of the beds, he was considered to be the 5th person in a 4 person cabin. The ranger said that he would let it go this time, but next time we would be sent home if we tried to put 5 people in a 4 person cabin. We all thought that was totally ridiculous, but he was very adamant, that it was the rule and we were breaking the rules.

The cabins were pretty nice, they seemed to be fairly new and it was a nice way to camp since we don't have a tent or trailer any more. Plus, you could see the water through the trees.

Grandma and Seth sitting on the swing on the front porch of the cabin.
Seth thought it was fun to pretend to go to sleep on the beds in the cabin.

We even got to have a fire in the fire pit.

Ken and I brought our bikes and went on a bike ride on the trail that goes along Padilla Bay. Seth was excited about the bikes and wanted to put on my helmet and sit on my bike.

Thursday afternoon, we came back to our house and all slept at our house that night. Seth discovered the tractor and wanted to ride on it. We took turns giving him rides on it, he loved it and wanted to continue to ride it, even when we were tired of driving it. I was surprised that he liked it, since Saben and Annika have never wanted to ride it because it makes to much noise.

Friday, we babysat Seth, while Todd and Betsy went for a hike. We put him in the wagon and walked down to the playground in our development.

He enjoyed the 3 different types of swings they had down there. We also went and saw the horses at the barn, which he petted with some trepidation after I showed him it was OK to pet them.

Afternoon on the Beach

Wednesday afternoon, we joined Todd, Betsy and Seth at Bayview State Park by Anacortes, where we rented a cabin for the night. The cabin was only available for one night, but we enjoyed having it for that night. We headed to the beach shortly after getting there and getting the cars unloaded. It's amazing how much stuff you need to bring for just a one night stay! We needed to bring the usual camping items except for a tent, so the 2 cars were loaded with stuff for our stay.

Seth really enjoyed the beach!

Walking in the water with Mommy.
Bending down to pick something up.

Chasing the seagulls, but no luck catching them!

2 strong men and a happy toddler!

Papa and Seth sitting in the sand.

Papa and Seth trade hats.

Weekend in Wenatchee

Friday was my mom's 80th birthday, so I went to Wenatchee to celebrate her birthday with family and friends.

Once again it was a challenge to get a good picture of 3 kids, especially to get smiles on their faces. This was the best one I got of Isaac, Kiera, and Seth.

Lara has been a part of a group in Wenatchee, called the "Short Shakespeareans" for 3 years now. It's a group of kids that do a Shakespear play every summer and this year Lara had the biggest part she has ever had. The play they did this year was "As You Like It" and Lara played the part of "Melancholy Jaques". She had a lot of lines this time and got to say the line "All the world's a stage..." It was fun to watch her, she did a really good job and remembered all her lines!
Afterwards, Melia got her picture taken with Lara.

Saturday before going to mom's birthday luncheon, we visited Dad. Seth liked the shirt with the mule on it that Dad was wearing and enjoyed exploring the house where Dad lives.

Seth also wanted to help Dad push his walker down the sidewalk.

The newest member of the family napped during most of the birthday party. This is Jayden and her mom, Andrea.

Shaun, Andrea and Jayden left before we got around to taking some family pictures. This is my parents 5 great-grandchildren that were there. (They have a total of 8 great-grandkids.)

All the children, grandkids, and great-grandkids that were able to be at the birthday party.

Other Birthday Activities

One of my birthday gifts was tickets to go to a dinner theater in Mt. Vernon on Saturday night. It was a murder mystery using the TV characters from the "I Love Lucy" show. They changed the names slightly, Lucy and Ricky's last name was Bicardi instead of Ricardo, and Fred and Ethel's last name was Schmertz instead of Mertz. They didn't look a whole lot like the TV show characters, but it was a fun play and the food was pretty good. Ken, Tim and Mary Beth all guessed the right answer to who was the murderer, but I guessed wrong.

This is the guy playing the part of Ricky Bicardi.

Tim and Mary Beth went with us to dinner and the play.
Mary Beth brought me some of her roses for my birthday.

Sunday evening we went to Todd and Betsy's house to celebrate both my birthday and Todd's, which is today. Seth really enjoys sitting in cars and pretending to drive, just like Saben did at that age.

Seth showed us how to play with his water table.

Papa showed all the grandkids how to make ice cream. He had lots of help putting ice in the ice cream maker. Todd made a wonderful meal for all of us and we contributed the dessert.

Saben enjoyed breaking up the ice with a mallet.

A good-bye hug for Seth from his cousins.