A New Season

School is finally over. Summer is here. Time for late night movies and summer fun activities. And so far we are totally loving summer in the Pacific Northwest!

I'm still sleeping with the window open ... even when it rains.
I'm extra happy when mornings start out cloudy.

Listening to the birds chirp in the morning is the best! but before I get out of bed I make sure to thank God for another day and thankful for all His blessings and protection.

We've been to the library quite a bit. Once we attended story time but Riley wasn't really interested. All he did was walk around and play with puzzles and likes to talk nonstop. Even though he loves to be read to at home he's more of a hands on kinda kid when we're at the library. He still becomes shy when people look at him and when someone talks to him he still covers his face or hides behind me. This is another reason why we've been to the library more often lately ... I want him to get used to being around people and to learn to say hi and become more open.

Nathan's {and Sydna's} last day of school was last Wednesday. I attended an assembly at his school. Yes, that tall girl is in Nathan's class -6 grade. I wonder how much more she's gonna grow.

It had been a few months since I stepped foot inside a mall. I finally decided to go because I realized that Riley didn't have swimming trunks. It was a great thing I went too because all the children's shops that I went into were having awesome sales so I ended up getting him a few other things.
He was asleep when I was shopping for him so he didn't see what I got him until we got home. I knew that the Woody and Buzz shirt I got him at Old Navy was gonna be a hit and sure enough once I showed it to him he smiled and kept saying "woody and buzz shirt -put on". He laid on it, somehow thinking that by him doing that he would be wearing it, lol.

Jacob made pizza on Thursday ... came out good as usual. We watched game 7. Unfortunately San Antonio lost. I'm not really a Spurs fan but I wanted them to win instead of the Heat. I changed the channel as soon as the game was over ... didn't care to see any of the celebration junk.

While we watched the game Riley watched Little Einsteins on Jacobs phone.

Friday was Kids Day at a park in the city that we'll be moving into. What a great way to welcome the 1st day of Summer.
This was my first time going on an outing without Jacob in a very long time. I didn't like it. I hate that he missed out on a lot of Rileys cuteness but I tried to capture them all in pictures for him to see later.

At first Riley didn't want to go inside this inflatable because the air that came out scared him. Nathan was having a hard time getting him inside so I had to help ... I may have pushed him in a little, lol.

Once inside he was fine and smiling. Nathan had to hold him and helped him out along the way.

This picture cracks me up because Nathan was laughing hard ... he was having a hard time lifting Riley since he was on his knees. Then Sydna noticed that Riley was missing a sock so she went in to get it. These kids are so goofy and constantly crack up when it comes to helping out with Riley. I have to sometimes tell them to behave because then Riley starts acting silly too then it's nothing but chaos.

There were so many booths that I really didn't know where to begin. There was this cool gorilla/dinosaur inflatable for the older kids but Nathan didn't want to go on it. I think Nathan may have a fear of heights.
While we walked around I was searching for a booth that was giving out balloons ... because little kids love balloons. The day was cloudy and in the mid 60's, perfect! Got Sydna and Nathan Hawaiian shaved ice. I gave Riley some but he didn't care for it, weird.
I finally spotted a booth that was giving out balloons. Riley chose a red one.

And about ten minutes after he got it the darn ribbon that was tied to his wrist became lose and it flew away. Surprisingly Riley didn't make a big deal of it. Wow! Probably because he was starting to feel tired.

Of all the booths around the kids decided to be hands on at a gardening booth ... where they had WORMS! I hate worms and anything slimy or that slithers. Totally the most disgusting things ever!! Nathan purposely kept calling me and showed me a disgusting worm. I had to walk away. I'll get them back. Sydna has an insect phobia and they're both scared of spiders. They should know better than to mess with their momma.

Saturday morning we drove by our house. I didn't take a picture. The front porch and driveway were done. More progress. That was nice to see.
Saturday was also grocery shopping day. Loathe.

Got home, ate lunch, then put the groceries away. That's another thing I don't like ... having to bend down to put stuff away. It's annoying.

Any changes that goes on in our day messes up Rileys sleeping routine. He used to fall asleep on my way to Sydnas school but since I'm home during that time now he hasn't and when I tell him to lay down and go to sleep he whines. He's stubborn. If he's completely exhausted he'll fall asleep on his own but typically we have to rock him to sleep which I really don't mind at all.

He's such a crazy sleeper. We lay him one way and when we check back on him he's moved ... legs hanging from the couch ...

... or completely on the opposite side.

It was mostly sunny on Saturday so around 5:30 pm we left and headed over to W Seattle. In my opinion that's the best place to see the Seattle skyline, on Alki Beach ... such gorgeous views! And the feel of W Seattle totally reminds us of back home. It was crowded as it would be expected on such a sunny gorgeous summer day.

We found parking just a couple of blocks from Tully's Coffee. I was in the mood for Tully's and the only one in W Seattle was smack in the middle of where all the tourists were. We got out and first walked a little.

He threw a few rocks then we walked across the street to get coffee.

We then drove to Lincoln Park. It's away from the touristy area so the park wasn't crowded at all. We've been to this park before. Nathan likes it because there's a zip line. Jacob and I like it because the "beach" area is just down the hill. The atmosphere is very relaxing and of course the view.

He was laughing because he thought he was being cool holding on with only one hand.

After he had his fun we walked down to the water.

Nathan and Jacob are always trying to perfect their rock skipping technique and the first step to skip rocks successfully is finding the smoothest flattest rock possible ... or so I'm told.

Riley's not interested in perfecting anything. All he cares about is throwing rocks in the water and hearing a loud kerplunk.

Sydna was letting me know that she counted eight jellyfish.

It was crazy because when we first arrived we didn't see any but as soon as 9:00 pm came around we began seeing a large amount of jellys. The sizes varied ... there were some as big as large plates to golf ball size jellyfish. And since jellyfish can't swim the tide moved them towards the rocks where they became stuck and eventually died.

Gross.

These next three pictures are cute.
Riley threw a rock and he got happy when it landed in the water. Then he gave his daddy a high five. So sweet!

There were clouds but it was clear enough to see a gorgeous sunset over the Olympic Mountains.

I'm still in awe at how bright it is at 9:15 pm. It becomes dark just before 10:00 pm. I don't mind it at all. It makes for fun summer nights.

Sydna took this picture. Not bad.

I couldn't get a good shot of the super moon on Saturday but I got a pretty picture of the night sky while on the freeway.

We have been wanting to go this church for a while but honestly we've been too lazy or I make other plans that would have otherwise taken place at the same time as going to church but on Sunday we finally made it a priority to check this church out.
It's a small Christian church about two minutes from where we live now. They just moved in to the building in November.
We arrived about fifteen minutes early and there were hardly any cars in the parking lot. That made me a bit hesitant but when there was about five minutes left we got out and walked inside. We were greeted and one of the greeters asked us if it was our first time since he hadn't seen us there before. He introduced himself. He saw that we had kids and immediately informed us about the childrens ministry and nursery and introduced us to a lady that walked us over to the nursery. Sydna and Nathan wanted to stay with us in the sanctuary but we did register Riley. He was the only toddler there at the time. I sneaked out ... Jacob stayed in with him for a little while longer.
I believe it was meant to be for us to attend church on Sunday. The message really cemented teachings I constantly talk to my kids about. The pastor felt genuine and used the proper words to get the message out. Kept us all interested. I could tell Sydna and Nathan were soaking it all in. Both Jacob and I felt at peace with this church, we felt comfortable. I was also happy that Riley did so good at the nursery. Once he realized Jacob was gone he didn't cry and he began talking with the teacher. There were also more toddlers so that made me comfortable knowing he wasn't there alone. I just hope that as we continue to go and the kids become comfortable with the people that Nathan will also attend his age group class and Sydna as well.


Jacob better get going on mowing a.s.a.p. before these dandelion flower heads turn into the seed heads that cause so many allergies and look like snow flurries.

Happy week to you all.