Cougar Rock Camping

A very happy 4th of July...

Our little clan took advantage of the holiday weekend by adding an extra day of vacation and heading out to the "Lake House" for four days. It was a-maz-ing. The boys had a blast doing what boys do... catching bugs, finding snakes, swimming, riding 4-wheelers, throwing pop-its, and watching fireworks. As usual K and I split our time between relaxing and manual labor. K hung a rope swing for the boys and weed-whacked a trail. We brought a new set of red resin adirondack style chairs for around the fire-pit. Lovley! The weather was beautiful and perfect for swimming. I was super proud of Ky for braving the crystal clear (but c-c-c-cold) water by jumping right in off the dock. By day 2 he was confidently jumping (with his life jacket on) even where it was over his head. Cam didn't go in the first day but that was mostly because there were dogs hanging out. By day 2 he was playing in a raft and comfortable walking in up to his chest (with life jacket). I even dove in a few times... heaven! We discovered that the Tienda in downtown Mossyrock actually has a tiny restaurant with ACTUAL AUTHENTIC Mexican food. Hooray! We were also treated to 5 different fireworks shows (including our own). Several of our lake neighbors had a lot of friends down to camp and hang out this particular weekend as usual. The Gibbs had a large group and they put on quite a show on Sunday night... the past few years their shows rival some professional ones I have seen. Then we set ours off early Monday evening along with more from the Gibbs group, some we could see out on the point, and a SPECTACULAR show that who knows set off from the tiny island by the water tower. Seriously - it went on for ages and they were professional quality fireworks carefully planned out. Beautiful! It was fun to just hang out on the dock and catch up with old family friends and lake neighbors. I love, love, love our time at the lake and wish we could stay there all summer long.

Happy Halloween!
This year we had a little Scooby Doo (C) and a vampire who looked a bit like Freddy Munster (Ky). C loooooves all things Scooby. I think he has a crush on Daphne. I tried to talk Ky into being Shaggy or Fred, but he was set on being something "scary" this year. We chose vampire (so original I know). He did NOT want to sit still for makeup so we didn't quite get his whole face finished. He was still pretty adorable - I mean scary. Grammy C and Grandpa F came down to watch the fun. We didn't carve our pumpkins until Halloween day. C wanted scary and Ky went with the ultra-classy "puking pumpkin". Gross - for sure, but it was a hit with all of the trick-0r-treaters. K did a great job decorating the front yard so our house was pretty popular... fog spewing pumpkin, ghost lights, orange porchlight, giant spiderweb, and a battery-operated bat with glowing eyes that flew in circles around the porch all night. The boys had a great time walking around our very busy neighborhoood collecting their loot. We usually meet up with friends, but went solo this year. It was too hard to keep us last year with the big kids running from house to house, while C was practically getting left in the dust. It was nice to get some quality time in with K's mom and dad too since we won't see them again now until March or so. They are leaving early for Arizona this year. The boys will miss them! Anyway, despite having a cold that just won't quit - I had a lot of fun. It was a great Halloween!

Day trip to Bellingham, October 2010
Grammy C and Grandpa F wanted to have a special day with C so K, Ky and I dropped him off at their house and then drove north to B'ham! It always feels a little like going home once you hit town. We drove around aimlessly for a while, then visited our friends B & J and their adorable little guys. Lunch at Boundary Bay was decent... it did dawn on me that people in Bellingham (or at least those hanging at the brewery for lunch) could definitely stand to shower a bit more often. The "granola" hippy chick thing was cute for a while, but I have to say I am completely over it now. You can save the earth AND still have a shower, peeps! We wandered around the shops in Fairhaven, walked along the boardwalk in front of our fave hotel (Chrysalis Inn) and hit a new store I now love downtown "Diggs". Then to wrap up the day I FORCED K to drive home along Chuckanut and stop at one of my favorite spots in the whole wide world... Larrabee State Park. The tide was high sadly, but Ky and I scrambled around on the sandstone cliffs as much as we could. K looked like he was about to have a heart attack so to save his nerves we didn't go far. No fossils, but Ky was happy to find a dead crab. It was a beautiful day as you can see by the pics above... I heart Bellingham!

Maris Farms, October 2010
My favorite pumpkin patch! And this year we brought Grammy, M and S along for fun. The boys were so excited to show their Grammy and cousins around the farm. Highlights: jump pillow, mineshaft slide, corn maze, corn box, and of course the fresh roasted corn! C can take down an ear of corn with unbelievable speed. M was a little shy at first, but I think she had fun with her rowdy older cousins. Back at our house she took a liking to one of our outdoor Halloween decorations... a spooky, rubbery black cat. She packed that thing around all day saying "Niiiiiice" and patting its head. I think she even gave it a kiss or two. She is a beautiful little girl with attitude! S, K, and C played great together as always. I love how much they love each other.

JJ Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Friday, October 29th... what a great day to hit the pumpkin patch! Our gang got very lucky and we had a momentary break in the weather. C's preschool class hit Thomasson Farms and it would seem that all of the kiddos had a blast. C chased his favorite girl around the farm, jumped in the corn box, stomped a rotten pumpkin, made big bubbles, and had fun on the hayride. Lots of cute kiddo photo ops!

The end of a 7 year chapter...

The end of August also marked the end of a chapter for our family. C started at a new child care center closer to home on September 1st. We had been at Bright Horizons since K was a baby back in 2003. It was an emotional day for everyone... endings are always tough. I am grateful for our time at Bright Horizons - some of my most cherished friendships are people I met there over the years. K still to this day considers his group of friends from there his "best" friends. We had wonderful teachers and we will miss them very much. That said, the new center is much closer to our house and seems comparable in almost every way. C will be in class with kids that he may actually go to kindergarten with. It will also allow our bank account to breathe a sigh of relief. Bright Horizons is easily the most expensive child care center in our area. The price was only going up and we finally decided that it was time for a change. Luckily for us a few of C's friends from his BH class decided to make the switch along with us. When all was said and done he ended up already knowing 3 friends in his new class. So far so good and our fingers are crossed that it keeps going well.