Welcome Baby Girl Hill

This sweet little niece of ours arrived during the wee hours of this past Saturday the 26th. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces. So adorable, we can't wait to call her by name! :)

Life is better at the beach!

Every year we SO look forward to a week at the beach. A friend my Mom works for, so graciously allows us to take over her beach house in Olympia each Summer. The house is huge with a hot tub, pool and slide none the less. But best of all the house is perch right on Puget Sound. It is so, so beautiful out there. You will see all sorts of wildlife daily. We saw several bald eagles while soaking up the sunshine, a doe and her fawn, little white rabbits and the seals in the evening popping there heads out of the Sound here and there. It's a lovely place to get away for a week and when it's over, home is only about an hour away. You can't beat it, and we look forward to returning each year.

This year we decided to really utilize the backyard (beach) and go clamming. It was REALLY fun and in less than an hour we (us girls, the guys were still working) had accumulated 3/4 of a 12 quart bucket. The clams were awesome and my back is still talking to me 3 days later! :)

This is my blackmail shot of Carlee...just reminising on all the good times...her peeing in my jelly shoe, or her dirty undies she slipped into my lunch box in 1st grade or my broken tea set, hidden under her bed...love ya Sis! :)

At one point while digging away, I looked up and saw Levi sitting on the stairs just soaking up the rays, taking it all in...

The boys LOVED swimming. Levi went from being petrified, fully geared up in water wings & a life ring or life jacket, all the while clutching onto me for dear life, to chilled out having the time of his life on his own. All the while still fully geared up no less. Greyson, on the other hand my fearless child, couldn't get enough! Life couldn't be better for him laid back in his baby floaty.

Really??

My darling son Levi is SUCH a boy...so why wouldn't be love to dig in the dirt with his bare booty, socks and NO shoes mind you...why not? This kid kills me...

"More mors peezz"

Uncle Chris had the pleasure of making a smore for Levi up at the beach house on Sunday night.

And, Grammie made many roasted marshmellows for Levi too...

Levi went sugar CrAzY and didn't go to bed until 10pm!

Forest Park

Greyson wasn't excited about crawling on the pavement, so he improvised with the monkey walk. :)

Aren't they too cute!?

Last week we headed out to Forest Park to meet up with our friends, Blake & Parker and their Mommy Wendy. LOVE Forest Park, it's your one stop shop...wonderful petting zoo, HUGE play area, fun water park and awesome 7 and under kiddo pool. Don't love the trek out there, but it's worth it every now and then. Check it out... http://www.everettwa.org/default.aspx?ID=534

Tooth Achers

The last few days have been a blur of whining and crying, with an occasional smile from Greyson. He is getting 4 new teeth on top. His two front (BIG) ones and the two incisors next to those. Poor guys is not happy, I wouldn't be all that pleasant if I was in his shoes either. He seems to only be happy nursing or eating. Here's my blueberry boy happy as a clam!

The Road and The Radio...

My intention was to blog each day while on the road, but that didn't seem to happen...so this life as is happened, day three - eight...

DAY three

We continued on our road trip to Whitefish, MT EARLY (3:45AM) Wednesday morning. Josh needed to be there by 11AM to golf with the wedding party etc. There was a little mix up with the directions :) and what would have taken 3.5 hours, ended up taking 6.5...(awesome). Thankfully they were able to push the tee time back and all was fine on that end. This meant that Kara and I would have to drop the guys off at the course, DRIVE the RV, find our camp site and if we were really feeling awesome (we so are!) set up. This entails engaging the jacks, leveling out, slide outs and making our overall "home" for the next few days. Truth be told Kara and I pulled it all off with flying colors and in about half the time the guys did. Women are so efficient. All the while I am certain the older lady across the way who watched us back er up...thought we were lesbians...that is until our husbands rolled in...awesome!


On the road again...

(Hey, look at that Gregor's got himself a tan!)

(Oh the black beans and the "clean-up" that went all wrong when big brother wanted to do it!)

DAY four

Upon departing CDA, Idaho we also left our internet connection. :( Is it symbolic that my demeanor started to feel like I had lost connection? This location wasn't as nice as CDA, no river and no nice grassy area for Greyson. But tons of lovely rock gravel. To which he couldn't put enough in his mouth. Ugh...
Highlight: There was a small window where Greyson was sleeping and Levi was playing around with rocks outside while I sat and watched.

("Um hello, I'm just a wee guy...")

DAY five

Happy 30th Birthday Gregor - being the camper extraordinaire that he is, I'm pretty sure this is the best 30th birthday he could have asked for!

(Love these of the boys!)

After a big breakfast made all on the grill (FYI french toast made right on the grill is pretty darn good!) we headed out to Whitefish Lake. Levi had a great time playing in the sand, that is until Greg introduced him to 'Mr. Lobster'. Apparently to a 2 1/2 year old he looks rather "scawy" moving around with the breeze...this picture pretty much says it all!

We enjoyed a great lunch in downtown Whitefish and headed back for the rehearsal & dinner.

DAY six
Wedding Day
While Josh stayed back with the boys, I headed into downtown with Kara & Greg to check out the shops. Is it bad this hour and a half was one of my favorites from the trip?? :) There are some cute little shops and who would have thought a shop in Whitefish, Montana would sell $135 flip flops!?!? Yes, flip flops people...I wish I had my camera to prove it. INSANE!! Anyway, I found myself a cute little pair of Hudson jeans on sale. Love it!
The wedding was beautiful, under a tent outside, right on the water. Perfect. Levi really stole the show at the reception. The kid pretty much cut it up and rock out all night on the dance floor. Mind you he solely consumed fruit punch and cake all night...awesome! Whether he was bobbing around on his own out there or swinging around with Clara the flower girl, (adorable) Levi seemed to think the night was just for him. He had the time of his life. It was a great wedding, so fun, fabulous food and all the drinks you could (or couldn't :) handle.
Congrats Jason & Jessie!!!

DAY seven

Up early (again) we headed back to CDA. It sure was nice to pull back into that park. For an RV park it appears to be the cream of the crop. Something this "camper" is all about! :)

After some sunshine and river time we biked into town. This was one of my favorite things we got to do while in CDA, it was so fun to put the kids in the bike trailer and head out. They loved it and I loved the exercise. We checked out the shops and then strolled the worlds largest floating boardwalk (really). CDA is actually a cool little town, very similar to downtown Kirkland with the waterfront and fun little shops.

(This fun toy store had a carousel, which Levi was TERRIFIED to attempt until brother did - can you blame him, check out the horses eye! Yikes!)

Upon arriving back to the RV park, there was a wedding going on...kid you not. I think we all almost ran into one another as we did double takes and craned our necks to check it out. I mean this is a nice park, but it IS still an RV park. All I have to say is, I believe I may have seen something of this sorts via an e-mail fwd??? :)
I'm so ready to go home, can't wait for tomorrow...

DAY eight
I LIVE IN A MANSION!!!
Never again will I complain about the 1300 sq. ft. we live in. I LOVE MY HOUSE!!!
We headed out of CDA around 7am, for our 5 hour drive home. I was/am exhausted and rather dreading this drive. It started out 'okay', but about 3 hours into it I started in on "how much longer." The mere sounds/whining of my kids voices was starting to feel a little like fingernails on a chalkboard. Being in such close proximity for nearly 24 hours a day was definitely peaking for me. Thankfully both boys fell asleep (I even cracked a magazine) for about 10 minutes. Until they were quickly awakened when we had to stop for gas - CRAP!!! By this point I am so tired and edgy I can barely wait to pull into our driveway. We made it though and what an adventure it was. One I will never forgot, nor need to endure ever again! :) Wow, I need a vacation...
~Thanks Kara for all the great pics, click here to check out additional pics and their blog~