4th of July

If you want to see all 63 photos I took of the day, you can click on this!

We had an excellent 4th of July. Went to church in the morning. In the afternoon, we attended the parade:




This is my favorite picture!

After the parade, I put the final touches on the raspberry pretzel jello salad that I had prepared the night before for the party we were attending that night. Note to self:Spray whipped cream might be convenient, but it will surely melt and run later on.


Later that evening we left for the party that was a few blocks down the lake from us. The neighbors were setting off a lot of fireworks, and Jayden was very overwhelmed by it all. I think it was partially due to the fact that he was tired, but Mark decided to take him home and put him to bed.


Isaiah and I took a little boat ride on the lake before they shut it down for the fireworks. It was pretty smoky coming back to the dock because of all the fireworks being ignited. The man next to Isaiah is Captain Ken. He is a sailboat enthusiast. After we got back to shore, he taught Isaiah how to tie knots. They really bonded.



Kyrie and Isaiah were the only kids at the party, so a lady there gave them all her sparklers to play with and we got to play with some personal fireworks.







At 10:00, they shot off the fireworks over the lake. It wasn't as big a show as last year, though.



It didn't matter too much because we got to enjoy all the other fireworks that the neighbors were setting off. ;)



Happy 234th birthday, America!

Another schnuzzling post

So it's been a while since my last post. I would like to blame it on all the fun that I'm having on our vacation in Seattle. Mostly it's because it was easier to post all the pictures that I've been taking on Facebook.

I saw a post on another blog I follow about sleeping babies, and it reminded me of this picture that I took of Jayden about a week or so ago. Once again, he has fallen asleep in a funny place in a funny position- holding a SpongeBob card. And yes, this poor child is only wearing a diaper. I am lucky to get him to wear that. He is fully clothed when we go anywhere, but as soon as we get home, he is asking,"Shirt off? Pants off?"



Well, we've been here for about two weeks, and we are planning on staying through the end of July. It's a pretty long vacation, but we're fortunate to be able to do it since Mark can work from anywhere and we have a basement apartment to "live" in. Since we've been here, we have gone on hikes along the Puget Sound, attended an International Festival with Taiko drumming, Hula dancing, aerial arts, juggling, bouncy castles and train rides, and more. The kids have been swimming at the Club pool a couple of times(it's still hasn't warmed up too much here). Kyrie has reconnected with her friends, and has been to the Seattle Center on three different occasions with her neighbor friend. They've ridden the roller coaster there a couple of times. I'm amazed at her bravery. She must get it from her dad- I don't like roller coasters.

Today I took the kids to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. I don't think the 3D effects were very spectacular, but will warn anyone(especially mothers) who hasn't seen it to bring a tissue or two. It was definitely good writing. I also liked the cartoon short that came before it.

We're looking forward to the 4th of July(as I type, I can hear some fireworks being shot off in the neighborhood). Church in the morning, parade in the afternoon, and a BBQ and watching the fireworks from the neighbors' house(they live on the lake where the firework display will be shot from). We had a good time last year- such a good time that Mark wanted to make sure that we were here for the 4th this year.

Hopefully I will get around to posting more while we're here. I have a lot of pictures I haven't shared yet. And probably will have more pictures and fun times to report as the month progresses.