Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Lavender and Frogs
The Saturday before last - Avery and I stopped by the Lavender Festival on our way to buy groceries in Marysville. Avery like it especially because it reminded her of going to a Farmer's Market; which it was in a way. We ended up buying some local honey, and I nearly bought some cupcakes as well but we had just eaten a cup of homemade Marionberry sorbet (see below!).
For the curious . . . yes, this did end up all over Avery's clothes. "Uh oh, mom . . .it's messy."
Last Saturday we went to Kla Ha Ya Days (still not sure how that's pronounced) in Snohomish. Paige and Devan, Mike's cousin and her husband, hung out with us that day as well. The picture above is of Avery going forth to spray a frog. They had an activity where, for only 5 dollars!, you got to spray and tickle a frog with a feather to make it jump the furthest. Avery had a very active frog, so she didn't get a chance to spray it much. It was over in about 30 seconds and felt a little anticlimatic :) But she did get a cute frog hat!!
Mike and Avery with Paige and Devan.
So what if she didn't get to spray her frog . . .she's still queen of the amphibians.
The Saturday before last - Avery and I stopped by the Lavender Festival on our way to buy groceries in Marysville. Avery like it especially because it reminded her of going to a Farmer's Market; which it was in a way. We ended up buying some local honey, and I nearly bought some cupcakes as well but we had just eaten a cup of homemade Marionberry sorbet (see below!).
For the curious . . . yes, this did end up all over Avery's clothes. "Uh oh, mom . . .it's messy."
Last Saturday we went to Kla Ha Ya Days (still not sure how that's pronounced) in Snohomish. Paige and Devan, Mike's cousin and her husband, hung out with us that day as well. The picture above is of Avery going forth to spray a frog. They had an activity where, for only 5 dollars!, you got to spray and tickle a frog with a feather to make it jump the furthest. Avery had a very active frog, so she didn't get a chance to spray it much. It was over in about 30 seconds and felt a little anticlimatic :) But she did get a cute frog hat!!
Mike and Avery with Paige and Devan.
So what if she didn't get to spray her frog . . .she's still queen of the amphibians.Saturday, July 12, 2008
Fourth of July!
I forgot to post pictures from the 4th of July - so here are a few. I couldn't quite get a smile out of Avery in the first pic.
Here Avery and Phoebe are staking out their spots for fireworks watching. We went to go see a fireworks show at a friend of a friend's house because the guy spent a few thousand dollars buying fireworks and rigging a raft thing in the middle of their lake with timers and fuses. It worked pretty well - just needed a few adjustments during the show. The downside was that because we were on a lake, I got about 15 new mosquito bites.
So funny. 
I forgot to post pictures from the 4th of July - so here are a few. I couldn't quite get a smile out of Avery in the first pic.
Here Avery and Phoebe are staking out their spots for fireworks watching. We went to go see a fireworks show at a friend of a friend's house because the guy spent a few thousand dollars buying fireworks and rigging a raft thing in the middle of their lake with timers and fuses. It worked pretty well - just needed a few adjustments during the show. The downside was that because we were on a lake, I got about 15 new mosquito bites.
So funny. 
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
FREMONT SOLSTICE FESTIVAL
So, the weekend before mom came, Avery and I went down with Rachael to Fremont for the Solstice festival and parade. I was excited because I'd heard that the costumes were really fantasic and a little nervous because clothing is also optional. Luckily, the nudity was pretty minimal and often at a distance so it didn't turn out to be an issue :) Here are some pictures and a video of the parade.
So, the weekend before mom came, Avery and I went down with Rachael to Fremont for the Solstice festival and parade. I was excited because I'd heard that the costumes were really fantasic and a little nervous because clothing is also optional. Luckily, the nudity was pretty minimal and often at a distance so it didn't turn out to be an issue :) Here are some pictures and a video of the parade.
MOM'S VISIT
Avery keeps saying "hooray hooray!" because this is what mom said a lot while she was here visiting for a week. We had such a wonderful time, and even though it makes me sad that we live so far away - it makes it that much more exciting to see mom and everyone else when we do get to see them. This shot is at the sculpture park in Seattle and mom and Avery just happened to be twins that day. We went to the park right after I picked mom up from the airport.
This is also in the park at a little cove on the beach. I'm holding Avery because she wasn't too sure about standing on the "messy" rocks. She's going through a clean phase right now, which makes it really difficult to use public restrooms in particular :) 
This is at a place called the Country Village that runs train rides for kids during the spring and summer. Avery rode it this day by herself for the first time - she had made a friend in the bouncy house and sat next to her the whole time. You can that she was pretty excited.
On Saturday, we went to my Uncle James' cabin and spent the day with James and my cousin Cheyenne and her family. Avery was in charge of holding the flag and is doing her best here to "hold it high." We're so grateful that James, Cheyenne, and Will are so generous with opening their cabin up to family and friends. We had a great time. The next day, we took advantage of being so close to the Olympic Nat'l park and did some hiking. There's a neat road that goes to the top of Mt. Walker (appropriately) which has really stunning views across the Hood Canal and Kitsap Pennisula, all the way to Seattle and Mt. Rainier. You can kind of get a sense of it in the next couple pictures. We also took a hike to the base of a waterfall; I misread the trail description, which I thought had said "meandering" so naturally I thought it would be easy. It turned out to be straight switchbacks down and then back up from the water, but it was beautiful and worth it, I think :)
It was really sad to see mom go. Avery says she wants to go to Mama Nell's house tomorrow, but I told her that we had to wait for Christmas (and then Avery said, "And go to Santa's house on the water and eat breakfast?" I have no idea where that came from or what that means!). Thanks mom, for such a good time and for all the dishes that you washed. See you again in a few months :)
Avery keeps saying "hooray hooray!" because this is what mom said a lot while she was here visiting for a week. We had such a wonderful time, and even though it makes me sad that we live so far away - it makes it that much more exciting to see mom and everyone else when we do get to see them. This shot is at the sculpture park in Seattle and mom and Avery just happened to be twins that day. We went to the park right after I picked mom up from the airport.
This is also in the park at a little cove on the beach. I'm holding Avery because she wasn't too sure about standing on the "messy" rocks. She's going through a clean phase right now, which makes it really difficult to use public restrooms in particular :) This is at a place called the Country Village that runs train rides for kids during the spring and summer. Avery rode it this day by herself for the first time - she had made a friend in the bouncy house and sat next to her the whole time. You can that she was pretty excited.
On Saturday, we went to my Uncle James' cabin and spent the day with James and my cousin Cheyenne and her family. Avery was in charge of holding the flag and is doing her best here to "hold it high." We're so grateful that James, Cheyenne, and Will are so generous with opening their cabin up to family and friends. We had a great time. The next day, we took advantage of being so close to the Olympic Nat'l park and did some hiking. There's a neat road that goes to the top of Mt. Walker (appropriately) which has really stunning views across the Hood Canal and Kitsap Pennisula, all the way to Seattle and Mt. Rainier. You can kind of get a sense of it in the next couple pictures. We also took a hike to the base of a waterfall; I misread the trail description, which I thought had said "meandering" so naturally I thought it would be easy. It turned out to be straight switchbacks down and then back up from the water, but it was beautiful and worth it, I think :)
It was really sad to see mom go. Avery says she wants to go to Mama Nell's house tomorrow, but I told her that we had to wait for Christmas (and then Avery said, "And go to Santa's house on the water and eat breakfast?" I have no idea where that came from or what that means!). Thanks mom, for such a good time and for all the dishes that you washed. See you again in a few months :)