Kristjan Learns to Swim

For a while now I've been wanting Kristjan to learn how to swim-without his life vest. Every time Pete or myself attempts this, Kristjan just starts freaking out and cries. Today after Pete got home from work we all hit up the outside hot tub. I had Kristjan take off his life vest and told him that I wanted him to practice swimming. I figured since the hot tub is a smaller area than the pool yet still deep enough for him to swim that it wouldn't be an issue. Pete and I both reassured him that we would help him if he 'drowned'. We had him practice swimming from one side of the hot tub to the other. And he did it!! The boy can swim!! We just told him to relax and to not 'freak out' as he does. So now the life vest gets packed away. I'll have him wear Clifford's wetsuit for a while, since it helps to give a little bit of buoyancy in the water. I didn't think to bring the camera with us today, so next time we're at the pool I'll make sure to take some pictures of his big achievement.

Heather Lake

Early Friday afternoon we headed up to hike to Heather Lake for our first family backpacking trip of the year. Pete and the boys had previously been to this lake over Memorial weekend, but this was my first trip there. The hike itself was pretty easy, although there were LOTS of tree roots and rocks poking up everywhere on the trail. I'm surprised the boys didn't trip and fall. Luckily there weren't any casualties on the hike, although on the way down I tripped and fell on a sharp rock. It poked my right butt cheek pretty good and made it difficult to walk later that day. The lake was pretty. There was only one other group camping overnight at the lake; the rest were just day hikers. Our camp spot was nice, with a little trail that led down to the lake. The only awful thing about this camping trip were the mosquitos. It never fails that I return home with tons of bites. Mosquitos love my blood. I don't think Clifford got bit, but Kristjan did. Poor kid-he takes after me. Other than the bugs, the trip was very enjoyable. We're already talking about where our next hike will be.

Clifford's First Knife

This evening Pete decided to give Clifford his very first knife. (And if anyone is worried about this, the knife will ALWAYS be put up from Clifford unless we go on a backpacking trip or he asks us to use it while sitting on the patio with supervision. And he knows to never open the knife without asking Pete or me first). When Pete was done talking with Clifford on the set rules for the knife, Clifford came outside to where I was sitting and proudly showed me what his dad had just given him. He then continued to tell me the 'rules' that have been set in place for him. After finding some sticks, he asked Pete if he could use his knife. Clifford sat in his little camping chair on the patio for the longest time whittling at his sticks. And he constantly kept thanking Pete for his new knife, and would tell everyone we knew who would walk past our patio about his new knife. And so beings the new set of adventures with Clifford :)

Swimming Adventures

The sun has FINALLY decided to come out and stay out for more than one day. These are just two short videos of Clifford and Kristjan jumping into the pool.

Toy Story 3

We have been anxiously waiting to see Toy Story 3. I had plan on us going on opening day last Friday before Pete left for Chicago. Since going to the movies can be a bit expensive, we always go to a matinee. Unfortunately the only early showings the theater had didn't work for us. And since Pete made it clear that he wanted to see this particular movie as well, I said I'd wait to take the boys to see it until after he came back home from his trip so he could go too. So the first thing we did today on Pete's first day back was go to the movies. Toy Story 3 was EXCELLENT!!!! It's completely worth spending the money at the theater. And it's worth seeing even if you don't have little kids to take. I cried like a baby at the beginning of the movie and then again during the entire last half hour of the movie; the scenes were so sweet and touching. I ran out of napkins so I leaned over to use the sleeve on Pete's shirt to wipe my eyes. When I looked up at him HE was CRYING TOO!! (and this guy hardly EVER cries). I looked around and saw another lady crying too, so it made me feel better knowing I wasn't the only one. It was a really touching movie. And of course super cute and funny!! Go see it!

Chicago

So Pete went on another business trip-again. This time he went to Chicago for AWWA. I honestly don't know what that stands for, but it's some sort of waterworks convention held every year. Last year was in San Diego; this year Chicago. And if I remember right, Pete mentioned that next's will be held down in California, close to where Disney Land is. Families can go on these trips but you have to pay for your own plane ticket and expenses (Pete's expenses are covered by his work). So maybe next year the boys and I can take a little trip :)

Anyhow, Pete left last Saturday morning and will return tomorrow night. I'm really anxious for him to return. It really hasn't been that awful at all being home alone with the boys, but it's just nice knowing there is another adult around to give you a 'break' when you need it. And it doesn't help that the weather has been cloudy and rainy (imagine that, here in Seattle!). But I've tried to keep the boys entertained with playing outside, swimming and the movies. The pictures below are of us this morning seeing "Planet 51" a the 'Free Family Film Festival' they have every summer (every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am you can go see a kid movie for free).

Good News!!!

1) Pete got a raise!!! It's so exciting. Pete works really hard at his job. And now we can 'upgrade' and 'improve' our life, which leads to the other good news....

2) We're moving!!! Well, actually we're just transferring to another apartment within our complex. But it's to a 3 bedroom (still 2 bath) literally across the parking lot from our current place! The current family that lives there is actually one of the maintenance guys who works here. Rumor has it they have to move because they're exceeding the max number of occupants who can live there (they have 7 kids!!!). From the looks of the place whenever I glance in there when taking the trash out, it's kinda trashed. So hopefully we'll get new appliances and a little remodeling done in there!! We move towards the end of July/beginning of August, but knowing how much I like to plan and organize, I'm actually going to start packing up our place TODAY! We also need to paint the walls back to white, so I'll start working on that as well come this weekend. The next month is going to be hectic for us (pete goes to Chicago, we're planning a camping trip and going out of town for the 4th; not to mention anything else I do with the boys during the week), so I have to get a head start now. I would like to paint the boys' new room again. Think it would be an odd question to ask the head manager "Since you have to paint the new place anyways, if I buy the paint, would you paint the bedroom blue??" :)

Sunshine and Sunburns

Yesterday was fantastic. The sun FINALLY came out over here on the westside and it was WARM!!! I have seriously been sun-deprived. It was great to get out of the house and not have to worry about it going to rain. So off to the beach we went!! Our favorite spot right now is Picnic Point in Edmonds. We spent a good 3 hours there. The boys and Pete worked on building a sand castle while I occasionally walked the beach to look for shells. Every once in a while we'd take a break and run into the water. Usually Kristjan doesn't want any part of that, but for whatever reason we couldn't keep Kristjan out of the water! He had a blast running in to the water, then quickly run back out.











After we came home from the beach we decided to head to the outside pool for a little swim. We all got a bit sunburnt, but the cool pool water felt so good to us. We tried working on getting Kristjan to learn to swim. He made too much of a fuss so we decided we'd try another day. Clifford is getting better and better at swimming. Right now he's working on diving. We swam for a bit before heading back home to get ready to bbq some dinner. I watched the boys play outside while Pete worked on getting dinner prepped and ready. Of course, the day wouldn't be complete unless one of the boys got hurt.




The boys were literally on their bikes for only less than three minutes before they crashed into each other. Clifford immediately started screaming. I thought he had hurt his ankle since it was at an odd angle under his bike and he kept twisting it to get it out from underneath. But when I got him standing up I realized his ankle was fine but his mouth wasn't, as blood started pouring out of his mouth!! "Oh Great!" was my reaction. I sent him to Pete while I got the bikes out of the parking lot. It turned out Clifford bit his lip really good when they crashed. Pete cleaned him up and gave him a popsicle. Everyone eventually calmed down, and the boys went back to playing outside with friends and we had a 'picnic' outside for dinner. It was a great day, ending with a relaxing evening.

6 Years!!

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary! We're going to celebrate by spending the day with our two sweet little boys and head to the beach!!