Kayaking

Last Saturday we went on a Kayaking trip with our friends, Richard and Yumi and their boys, and another couple named Dave and Michelle.

The weather was wonderful for kayaking. It was warm but not too hot and slightly overcast. The water was at low tide when we got to the dock. (By the way "low tide" doesn't really smell as bad as most people make it sound).

This was my first time really kayaking. I learned a lot of things such as: how to paddle correctly, how to look cute in a spray skirt (sorry didn't get any pictures of it), how to get unstuck from sand (since the water was so shallow in places) while remaining in the kayak, and most of all how fun kayaking is to do.

When we got on the beach we had dinner and enjoyed some time relaxing around the campfire.

What a cute couple!

We stayed and watched the sunset. Then we kayaked back in the dark. We had some headlamps that helped us see along the way.

My favorite part of the trip was when we kayaked around the edge of the man made island and Puget Sound came into view. It reminded me of the Lewis and Clark expedition when they finally reached the ocean. "Ocean in view!" I think I got the same feeling in a smaller way of what it was like to see the vast ocean expand before their gaze. Beautiful!

Our Family's Little League

We started teaching the girls how to play baseball. They're pretty lucky because they get to learn from a post-Little League pro. Aaron played baseball when he was young and was really good.

Perfecting the starting position. (Very important for a good "Hit")

Aaron told the girls this was "up and ready". So whenever he says "up and ready" they get in position to hit some dingers.

Nice Hit!

Even Daddy got in some practice time.
Aaron made sure our pink bat has some nice "hit marks" on it.

Midnight baseball anyone?
(the lighting on this picture makes it look a lot darker than it really was.)
I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures of Madelyn and Alia because I was the "bathroom break" escort for the night. I'll post some more baseball pictures again though I'm sure. This has turned out to be a really fun family activity.

Snow in April

So these pictures are really from the end of January, but since it snowed yesterday and looked pretty much the same I thought I could put them up on our blog. Besides I think they are so cute I wanted to share.

Playtime and Geology

Last week we had a fun day with our friends.

First we went to a performance by a man named Alleyoop. His sings songs for children - some original songs and variations on well know children's songs. For instance his "Seattle" version of the Eensy Weensy spider repeated the "down came the rain" part about 4 times.
In this picture he told the children to turn around a show a silly face to mom or dad.


(The performance was done in a Pottery Barn for Kids - that is why there is furniture all around)

After the performance we went to a park at the mall. We ate lunch and then let the kids play. My friend Dawn and I liked the fact that the grass is astroturf so we didn't have any real grass stains to clean afterwards.

(Alia is holding our niece, Bella, who we babysit on Thursdays.)



After the park we went to a place called the Scratch Patch. It is a room filled with polished stones. The children can sit and play in the stones. At the end you can buy a bag with some of the rocks the children have collected. My girls really enjoyed it. I even had fun sitting in the rocks and sorting through them.



Ashlie ended up picking out mostly green rocks and a green bag. Green is her favorite color.

Our Favorite Things

Since we're just starting this blog, I thought I should share a picture of one of our favorite places near where we live

This picture is in back of the local library (it happens to be across the street from where we live). My girls and I love playing back here. There is a large grassy area and a wilderness trail that surrounds it. This is a picture of the girls playing in what they call their "hideout".

On the trail with a couple friends of ours.

We absolutely love our library! We currently have 50 books checked out. (Mostly books about the desert which is what we are studying in science right now.)

My Talented Craftsman

Aaron made this bookcase recently as gift for me. I simply love it. He spent many evenings working on this to get it to turn out as nicely as it did. I think it looks great. He is excited to have entered the woodworking world and is beginning to think about what he will be building next.