Summer of Jackson

I'm a bit behind. Last weekend, Snohomish had their Kla Ha Ya days, which apparently means "Welcome" and is just a big community festival. We had to go to a memorial, so were only about to attend a few of the events, but Jack had a good time. Friday, we went to a kids fair, and Jack got to check out some ambulances and fire trucks, play games, and eat too much candy!

Saturday, they had a fun parade. Jackson really enjoyed this experience, but again there was too much candy :) He especially liked the fire trucks, horses, and Clifford the Big Red Dog on the school bus.

 On Saturday, we also attended a memorial service for Mike's great Uncle Raymond and met lots of cousins and a couple of great aunts.

During the week, we did lots of fun things.  Jackson got to do some painting to help make Grandpa Don's birthday present...

 And, he helped in the kitchen (making scrambled eggs)...

 And he has swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursdays with Miss Grace and Miss Shae...

 We also visited 3 different preschool/daycares trying to make sure Jack is set for fall. I think we've found the one (finally!). And, I should have my new job ironed out in a day or two.  I'm going to a meeting with them on Tuesday.

Finally, I decided that I have too many recipes on my Pinterest boards that I've not actually tried, so I decided to try one yesterday. I read them to Mike and he chose the Raspberry Almond cake, so I made that yesterday. It's pretty good and I was able to use fresh raspberries. The season's pretty much ending, which is too bad; I've enjoyed the fresh berries of all kinds.

Today, we spent the day running errands and tomorrow we're going to spend time doing chores around the house. And I have to do some training. 

Summer Staycation #1

We weren't very good at taking pictures last week, but here are a few from the week that we took. There were lots more activities that I didn't document. We had a really good time.

Rolayne and Steve were able to come up for an afternoon while they were on their vacation through Seattle. Their kids are getting so big! Austin starts kindergarten in a few short weeks. MacKenzie is just a couple months younger than Jack. 

 We also had Marty and Susan and Ari come up for the day, and they sat inside chatting with grandma, Jeff and Fran, and Mom and Dad.

 Jack had lots of fun having all the cousins around.

 Another day, we went to the beach at Deception Pass state park. Poor Tommy had to have a plastic bread bag over his cast so he could get down in the sand. Grandma enjoyed sitting by the water watching the boys play while Mike manned the BBQ and we had a good picnic lunch. Grandma got roped into helping the boys over lots of drift logs.

 While there, we also checked out Fort Casey with its old gun station and lighthouse, and then we took a very short ferry ride home.

That's about all I remembered to use the camera on, but I did find a few more things on my cellphone. 

Jack playing with grandpa Jeff.

 At Redhook brewery, the taster flight had very generous pours.

 Grandpa brought airplanes for Jack and Sam to make:

 Tommy liked playing with great Grandma's cane, but crossed the line when he decided to taste it.

 One day, we stopped by Snoqualmie falls to take in the view.

We did lots of other fun things, including the Great Wheel of Seattle, the aquarium, the boys went on a Boeing tour, we toured a little in Snohomish, went to the outlets and Cabelas in Marysville, bought lots of fresh berries, and went on a fishing trip (sort of).

Zoo Day

Since the rain took a break today, we decided to take a break too, and we met up with Colin and his boys at the zoo. We had a fun morning wandering around, checking out the animals, and visiting with the cousins.

After we got home, I painted a couple walls in the guest room while Jack had a short, late nap. Then, we took Aspen for a walk, and then I mowed both lawns and did some outside work while Jack played in his sandbox (AKA, the mudpit, because days of rain have turned it to a soupy mess).This all made me late, so I didn't head into the house to make dinner until about 6pm. Jack stayed in the backyard playing. I went in the kitchen to get out ingredients, and looked up two minutes later to see Jack smearing mud all over the sliding glass doors. So, by time I cleaned that up and fed the pets, it was close to 6:30 and I still hadn't started dinner, so Jack and I ended up going out for a quick dinner. This didn't work out so well.

First, right after we ordered Jack had to go potty. I left my notebook and pen on the table to indicate we were coming back and headed off to the restroom with him. While we were gone--all of 3 minutes--the busboy cleared our table and took our drinks. Sigh. They got us new ones and lucky hadn't cancelled our food ticket yet, so that was only a minor bump. Then, the minute our food arrives, Jack manages to stab his finger with his fork and make it bleed. Major drama...he cried throughout the meal, didn't eat, and showed everyone within a 5 table radius his owie, while I tried to scarf my food as quickly as possible and just get out of there.  I'm reminded why I don't go out with him much. I think we were gone and back in about 45 minutes, including drive time to the restaurant!

I'll be very glad when Mike gets home from his business trip tomorrow!

Summer Weekend

After a hectic week full of interviews and job stress, we needed a fun weekend, and luckily the weather obliged and was absolutely gorgeous. Saturday, we went for a drive just to see what was around and scope out some hiking and camping spots for future use. We were enjoying the drive so much we ended up going all the way to Leavenworth, a mountain town that's a Bavarian village about 2 hours away. We arrived in time to hear a guy play a cool, long Alpine horn. 

 Of course, in a german town, we had to have cured meats for lunch. Mike had a bockwurst and Jack and I had kielbasa sandwiches and a very yummy soft pretzel with cheese fondue.  The restaurant had about 30 different kinds of mustard to use on your sandwiches. I tried pineapple mustard and a thai chili mustard (too hot!). Mike had Dusseldorf mustard (no idea what that means) and a horseradish mustard (very spicy!). And of course, he also had a german beer.

 We also went to the park both Saturday and Sunday so that Jack could play at the Splash Park.

 We got this neat trailer used off Craigslist so that Jack can ride behind my bike. It's taken 3 weeks of tears to get him used to and liking the trailer and helmet. He was really scared of the bike at first, but the biggest issue what that he hated wearing the helmet. However, after a few tries, he's decided he likes it. We've been using it to go back and forth to the park.

 Sunday, we also went for a hike. We meant to go to a park that has beach access, but it turns out the beach is a 1.25 mile hike on a steep trail. We went about 1/2 mile down and the trail was getting rough for Jack. I continued on by myself to the end, and then came back for Mike and Jack who played in the creek while they waited for me. The trip back up was rough because it was steeply uphill!

Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend, and a good break from all the other stuff that's been going on. Tomorrow, I have to make phone calls and probably sign papers for a job, and turn down the others offer. It's been really hard to decide which job to take.  Oh well...the choice is made for better of worse.