Last week we had a visit from Shelby. She came up to, hopefully, help with the kids a new baby, but apparently this little girl did not like those plans. So, instead, we played. The day Shelby got here, it was raining and cold. Surprise, surprise. But, I forgot the city was turning off power that day for work, so the house was about 63 degrees when we got home. It was a little cold. Luckily, we were only home 2 hours, and then the heater kicked on.

Wednesday, we stayed home so friends could come over, since that was the day their power was scheduled to be turned off. Thursday, we headed off to Pike’s Market. It was barely raining, so it turned out to be a good day to go. We grabbed some lunch and watched this band play while we ate. They were pretty good, and the girl would even dance on her wood to add to the music.

We bought a bouquet of flowers that Jameson picked out, but Ella insisted on carrying in the house. She almost tipped over, because the bouquet was awkward and heavy for her.

Jameson showed Shelby how to beat the asteroids and fight the birds in Happy Action Theater. Best game to get kids wiggles out before bed.

Monday came and still no baby. I figured I needed to be in the hospital by Monday in order to be out before Shelby left to go home. It turned out to be a gorgeous day. The only day, I think, Shelby didn’t freeze. So we walked to the park. That’s about 2 miles round trip. Plus, I was pushing the stroller. Shelby offered to push, but my point was to try to go into labor. When we got home, I vacuumed the house, mopped, swept, did laundry, and dishes. Do you think any of this helped? No. Oh yes, I contracted through all of it, but it did not help progress anything.

Really funny, though. Ella was watching the water shoot out of the ground, when it disappeared. She was checking out the whole, when the water turned back on and shot her in the face. I was laughing pretty hard. She shook it off, but made sure to steer clear the next time.

Tuesday, we took Shelby over to the Microsoft campus and met Kevin for lunch. We ate in their “cafeteria” which is ridiculous. Pretty much a mini mall but with a better food court. We walked her over to the store, and tried to go to the museum, but it was closed for something. Instead, we headed back to the Commons and played with the microsoft surface they have there.

After their game, we took the kids home and Kevin headed back to work. Wednesday morning, we took Shelby to the airport and dropped her off with no baby in tow. We had fun, though, so we can’t ask for more.

We told our friends we would watch their dog for the weekend for them, but we didn’t tell the kids. Honestly, I forgot about it until earlier in that day. They dropped the dog off after the kids were already in bed, so they had no idea. Friday morning, we woke up when we heard Jameson wake up… and we waited. We heard his footsteps go down the hall, and then heard the dog’s collar jingle. Next, we heard Jameson knock on our door, open it, and say, “Dad?” Kevin looked at him and responded like nothing was wrong, “Yes…” Jameson looked at us and said, “A dog just came in our house last night.” We laughed and told him he should probably let the dog out to go to the bathroom then. He closed the door, and ran all excited. Then we waited. We heard Ella a few minutes later get out of bed. From down the hall, we hear, “Hey Ella! A dog just came in our house last night!” She squealed and yelled, “Dog!” We were laughing. Good thing their not afraid of dogs. It was just pure excitement.

The poor dog. This dog was run ragged all weekend. There were many time I heard Jameson yelling at Ella to get off the dog, and then I’d find her like this.

See? The poor dog. He is a really good dog which is why I said ok to him being here, I was just worried about shedding. It wasn’t too bad, though, because he was de-shedded before coming. They came to pick him up Sunday morning before we left for church. Ella cried when Jack (the dog) left. The she whined the rest of the morning about the dog. One day my little girl. But having a dog for the weekend made me remember, we do not need a dog around this house any time soon.

This weekend, October 21st, Erin and Jeff came to visit! How do I know them? Well Jeff was in the first grade class next to mine. (His twin brother was in my class.) And Erin, I met a few weeks after college started when she started dating Jeff. Erin and I became roommates until Kevin kind of replaced her as my roommate.

I picked them up Friday at noon, and we headed over to Pike’s Market. The kids did pretty well as we perused, and Ella even did well for not having a nap. I took them to get grilled cheese from the best place around. We sat and people watched as the kids ate their lunch and we had mac n cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches. After the market, we headed back home to meet Kevin.

We decided to take them to XXX Burger. The food is good, maybe not worth the hype, but the rootbeer is delicious. Everyone loves their floats, including Ella.

Ella took a dive off the couch earlier while trying to wrestle with Dad and Jameson. This explains the big rug burn on her forehead.

Erin and Jeff loved all the decor, along with their food. I think they froze, though.

Jameson was happy to hang out with Uncle Jeremy who was visiting, also.

Ella devoured Kevin’s rootbeer float.

Saturday morning, I took Jeff to Kerry Park to get a picture of the Seattle sky line. Unfortunately, it was a true Seattle day with rain and clouds, and you couldn’t see the Space needle. After trying to take some pictures, we went to check out the Troll. I hadn’t ever gone to see him, but he wasn’t too hard to find. I guess 4 artist carved this. See the VW Bug he’s holding? And the hubcap for an eye? Kind of creepy.

The street is even named after him. I would hate to be the houses living across from this, though.

After the troll, I took them to see the Ballard Locks. The leaves were gorgeous, and the train tracks were raised. Not sure why. I never saw a boat that big where they would need to be raised to pass under it.

After watching a few boats go through the locks, we found these stairs. I’m not sure why they lead into the water, but it made it easy to test the water. I didn’t head on down, but Jeff and Erin went to see how cold it was.

Ella just hung out in the stroller. She loves to ride, but not be strapped in.

On the way home, we found the glass pumpkin patch. I was a little concerned taking the kids in, but it turned out ok. All the pumpkins are glass blown by local artist. I think even the small ones were still at least $30.

After a busy day, we headed home for some dinner. We picked up a baby-sitter got the kids settled, and headed out to Maple Valley. They do a spooky forest that Erin wanted to go to. You walk a trail through the woods, and walk in and out of themed huts. It was lots of fun, and I did jump. It was even funnier with Erin screaming and jerking my jacket every time. The forest was creepy anyway, because it was slightly raining. This left a fog over the forest. We had lots of fun, didn’t get too wet, and made it home to get warm all in one piece.

Sunday morning while we went to church, Erin and Jeff borrowed the Golden Dragon (Kevin’s car) and checked out downtown Kirkland. I was surprised they found their way back. Learning roads here is a nightmare. Once we got home, they packed up and we headed to the airport.

It was a fun visit, and I’m glad we were able to fit so much in to just a few days.

A friend from high school move to Seattle the same time we did. I have hardly seen her, shame on me, but I finally met up with her the beginning of August. She emailed saying another friend was coming up to visit, and asked if I wanted to meet up with them. It was a beautiful weekend, and so much fun to see these girls!

We got to talk and catch up. Thanks Danielle and Amy for giving me a chance to leave the kids behind and have fun.

While we were on Trek, my Dad got to play with our kids. Some of the things they did…

(Taken by my dad)

“Taking care of my grandkids is a breeze. Play cars with Jameson, Ella slept till 9, now a little breakfast. But it’s only been 2 hrs out of 3 days. It’s going to be an interesting time! :)”

“They’re so innocent when asleep. 🙂 (they both have been so good to me)”

“Spent the afternoon at Ballard’s Lock watching the boats go thru and listening to some chamber music in the park.”

I am told they went to Burger King and McDonald’s, along with the Ballard Locks. I guess an orchestra was playing outside, so the kids got to dance around. Dad also found a love of wet wipes.

We made it home Saturday by about 5 pm. Ella and Jameson were so excited to see us. They did not want to sit still for a picture with Grandpa, though.

Thanks for all your help, Dad!

Thursday, May 26th, the sun actually came back out. We hadn’t seen it in a few days. While the other kids were napping , the two older boys got to play outside. Our grass grew like crazy while we were gone, and the boys loved to play in the jungle out back. They added their dinosaurs to the jungle, and then had to feed them.

Kayden and Jameson were being real men as hunters and gatherers. By the way, I got in trouble for taking this pictures and getting too close to the animals. It was not ok that I wanted to take pictures, and Jameson made that clear.