Some fun with Grandma and Grandpa

After our visit with the Christensen's the boys and I headed over to visit my parents.  We enjoyed an evening with them on Sunday night, my dad got out his ukulele and played "dance dance" for the boys.  I didn't get any pictures but it's pretty cute to watch my boys dance around the little apartment.  Monday we headed to Sequim for a drive through the Olympic Animal Park.  Usually these animal parks are kind of lame, you just drive through and the animals are off by themselves and it's not that exciting.  At this particular park you buy bread as you drive in and then as you drive through the park the animals come right up to your car to get bread...sometimes even putting their whole heads into your car to get at the bread.  It was so much fun.  Julian and I were laughing the whole time.  My mom and dad got a kick out of it as well.  I don't think the twins were big fans of large animals sticking their heads into our car...but it was just so hilarious!

Julian feeding a deer.  You can tell by his face that he was having a great time feeding the animals.

My mom and dad at a lookout tower at the park.

A llama looking for some bread

Julian was busting up laughing the whole time, he thought it was great!

That buffalo didn't mind at all that his horns were too big to fit in my car, he just stuck his nose right in the window!

After the animal park we drove to Costco for a quick lunch and then off to a park to let the boys get some wiggles out.

We went for a little hike around the park and my mom showed the boys how to cross this little stream on stepping stones.

Julian at the park.

After the park we made one more stop at a beach near Sequim.  It was such a beautiful sunny day, I'm glad we spent it outside:)

Grandpa and the boys skipping rocks.

Townsend waded out to pick up a giant clam shell

His prize clam shell

Emerson had to try and get one too

Julian didn't have to worry about getting his clothes wet when he waded out into the water:)

My mom and dad at the beach

Proof I was there too:)

We saw an American Bald Eagle...pretty cool!

The next day (Tuesday) My mom and I headed over to Bainbridge Island for a fun day with the boys.

We found a really fun playground on the island.

It even had a fun sandpit to play in

When Julian got tired of playing on the playground we spent some time feeding the crows our cheezits. It was pretty cool to watch the crows pick them up in their beaks.  They would pick up one and then stack it onto another and then stack those two onto another.  The most we saw a crow pick up was 5 cheezits!

After the playground we went to a yummy cafe for some pizza and then it was off to the Bainbridge Island swimming pool.  I didn't get any pictures but my boys love this pool because it has a fun slide and a rope swing and a high diving board.

On Wednesday my parents had a missionary conference they needed to attend so I took the boys over to Suquamish to visit with some friends.  The Richards live right on the water so we had fun playing and looking for crabs that were hiding under the rocks by the water.  After we left the Richard's I took the boys mini golfing.  We did all 18 holes twice, it was a lot of fun.  We were the only people on the course.

Emerson was super brave and picked up all the little crabs he could find.

Maddie Richards, Townsend and Emerson playing by the water

Townsend golfing

Emerson had to fish his ball out of a water trap:)

All three boys had a lot of fun

Emerson playing a game with Grandma on Wednesday night.

We were heading back home on Thursday morning but we had enough time to squeeze in one more activity with my mom.  We headed to the Navy Undersea museum in Bremerton.  There is a Navy base in Bremerton where my parents are Military Relations missionaries.  The museum was really neat but my boys had too much energy to really appreciate all the cool exhibits.  We only stayed for about a half hour and then we said goodbye to Grandma and headed home to Portland.  It's always lots of fun to visit with my parents.  I'm glad my boys get to hang out with their grandparents and get to know them a bit.  

Outside the Navy museum

Inside the museum my boys were little monkeys...too much energy for a museum!

Fun With The Christensen Family

On Saturday, June 15th, after my triathlon race was done we headed down to Tacoma and hung out with our good friends, the Christensens for a night.  My boys love playing with their son Max and Julian loves chasing the chickens in their backyard.  They even set up the badminton net for us.  We had a fun evening on Saturday with them.  We went to church on Sunday and then stuck around for some yummy Fathers Day dinner.

After dinner Hyrum drove back to Portland and I drove over to Bremerton to visit with my parents for a few days (but that will be a different post)

It is so fun to visit Aaron and Kari and their cute family.  I absolutely love the welcoming, relaxed, friendly atmosphere at their house.

On our way to the Christensens we stopped by Point Defiance beach for a nice walk on the boardwalk as well as some fun searching for pretty rocks.  It was a beautiful, clear day and you could even see Mt. Rainier off in the distance.

Emerson on the boardwalk with the Vashon Ferry in the background.

It was a tradition of ours, when we lived in Washington a few years ago, to always get a milkshake at this cute little diner near Point Defiance.  I love the homemade milkshakes and my boys loved sitting at the old time counter.

Watermelon is always a hit with the kids on a hot summer day.  This is Max, Eli and Emerson.

The chickens!!!

I got out some paints and paper for the kids to make Fathers Day cards for their dads.  Tessa really loved painting.

Maggie got bored painting on paper and decided to decorate her moms legs instead:)

The boys in the play house playing with Max's pokemon cards

Emerson playing badminton

Max shooting a tennis ball with this super cool flinger thing

Julian and Eli 

Beautiful Miss Maggie

Emerson, Max and Townsend

Some Fun Lasts

This time of year is full of "lasts", here are a few of our last school day events.

Julian's preschool class took a field trip to the Portland Aquarium.  This is Julian with his friends Lila and Isabelle.

He got to touch a sting ray!

And hold a bird, which he thought was pretty cool:)

I started a "Mommy and Me" playgroup and for our last get together we had a Hawaii themed party.  All the kids got to make a lei out of candy and fruit loops and flowers.  It was a lot of fun.

After our art project we went outside for some water fun.  It was great getting to know the ladies in my neighborhood a bit better, I think I'll continue this play group next fall.

Julian and his teacher Miss Christy on his last day of 3 year old preschool

Julian with his assistant teacher (also named Miss Christy)

Emerson on his last day of school with his teacher Miss Delplanche

Townsend on the last day of school with his teacher Ms. Marshall

The boys have been on summer vacation for a little over a week now and so far we have traveled up to Washington to visit Grandma and Grandpa, they watched me run a triathlon, we went to a splash park and for a few hikes...and the summer is just getting started!

Triathlon #1

For some unknown reason (temporary insanity?) I signed up for 3 separate triathlons this summer.  I have never raced in a triathlon before and I don't know what made me think I should start, I guess I just wanted a goal to work towards in the hopes I would be motivated to stay fit.  Well, I finished my very first race on Saturday, June 15th.  This race was up North of Seattle so I drove up on Friday with the boys and checked into a hotel.  Hyrum came up after work on Friday and then stayed the night with us and watched the boys while I raced.  I was super nervous, especially for the swim because I had never raced in a lake before and I had been training in a pool (which is much different than a lake) but I survived and am super proud of myself for finishing this race.

 Me and my friend Cynthia before the race.  I was one of only about 4 people that swam in just a swimsuit.  Most people had on a wetsuit or at least a triathlon suit.  I felt pretty awkward.

After transitioning from the swim to the bike.  Hyrum took this photo as I was on my way out to start the bike leg of the race.

Coming in after 9 miles of bike riding.

At the finish line after the run leg of the race.  I was soooo happy to be done! 

My cheer squad

Cynthia and I after the race.  She beat me by 7 minutes!

This is mostly for my own records but just so you know:

Swim 1/4 mile: 12 minutes 6 seconds

Bike 9 miles: 36 minutes 24 seconds

Run 1 1/2 miles: 16 minutes 38 seconds

I will do this same exact race at the beginning of September so I will see how much I have improved... or gotten worse

A Day of Fishing

So I'm not really into fishing at all.  I don't like hooking worms or catching fish and watching them flail about because they can't breathe...but a nearby lake was hosting a free day of fishing and I thought my boys would have fun so I signed up.  The lake provided the use of fishing poles and bait as well as a ride out onto the lake in a boat to try and catch some fish.  I think all the boys had fun but we didn't even catch one fish so I think they were also a bit disappointed.  The lake sponsors this each year so maybe next year we will have better luck with the actual catching of some fish.

Townsend on the boat

Emerson fishing from the shore

Julian was too young to go out on the boats so I just stayed with him on the shore

He had a lot of trouble casting so I was helping him.  He only lasted for a bout 5 casts and then he said, "OK, I'm done."

Right as we were leaving they called one of our raffle ticket numbers and Emerson won a brand new fishing pole:)

Sisters Weekend

I have 6 sisters, so 7 girls total in my family.  We don't get together very often so it was a real treat this past Memorial Day weekend to meet up with all my sisters.  We are all spread out over the US so we decided to meet up in Michigan.  I flew from Portland to North Dakota where I stayed the night with my youngest sister, Paige, and then together we drove to Michigan...about 15 hours!  Luckily we had a pretty good book to listen to and also, luckily, Paige isn't afraid to drive fast:)  My oldest sister, Eryn, lives in Michigan so we used her house as our base and had a lot of fun sitting around playing games, watching silly movies, eating yummy food (thanks to DeNae mostly who did all the cooking and makes a FANTASTIC Thai chicken pizza!) and basically laughing and laughing.

With 7 girls in our family there have been moments of drama in our lives but I'm so glad that we love each other and that at the end of the day we will always have each other.

My wonderful hosts in North Dakota...Paige and her man Zach (love this photo!)

Confucious says, "When driving 15 hours in a car one must eat burritos..."

..."and deep fried cheese curds"

DeNae, Eryn, Kristen, Riann and Paige (where're your sunglasses Nae?)

I kinda liked this picture of me and DeNae

Paige bonding with some of our nieces

Girls lunch...the hummus at this restaurant was super yummy

Sisters can't get together and not get pedicures, right?

One night we played "minute to win it" games...it was lots of fun.  Kristen is trying to empty out a whole box of tissues in just one minute...

Eryn totally rocked the cups and plates stacking game...

Tanya dominated the ding dong stack...

And another one of Kristen, I just love the concentration on her face...get that noodle!!!

I love all my sisters and I'm so glad we got together for the weekend.  It was fun catching up on what's going on with all of them and mostly just fun talking and laughing.

PS

After driving 15 hours from Michigan back to North Dakota, Paige and I pulled into her driveway around 10:00 PM ready for bed.  She had given her garage door opener to her husband before we left town so we couldn't get into the house through the garage.  No problem, Paige has a key to her front door.  Ooops, Zach locked the storm door so we couldn't get to the front door, and Paige didn't have a key for the storm door.  What to do?  We waited until about 11:30 when Zach got home from work and then he busted out the glass on the storm door so we could get in.  Quite the exciting ending to our weekend:)

This is Paige's "I can't believe Zach locked the storm door" face

It was the first time I had ever witnessed a house getting broken into and was quite thrilling I have to admit:)