Kent Cornucopia Days

After Acacia's party I had to work at Kent Cornucopia Days so the kids came with me to do crafts in the kids area. Afterwards we walked around a bit but it was just sooo hot. All they wanted was a sno-cone...

Another birthday party

The birthday parties never end! But that's okay because they are all such fun...



















Today we went to a 4 year old birthday party at Libby Lu which is basically Little Girl Heaven (ie: think PINK and glitter).

We were meeting up with the kids there after our kidless time and we arrived early. Early enough for the Libby Lu ladies to ask Andy if he'd like them to do his hair. He's such a sport, he let them give him a random girlie mohawk thing--with pink spray and glitter even! It was quite a sight.

(Trent and Stuart, the kids specifically wanted to make sure you saw Andy's fancy hair and I assured them you'd see it on the blog :)

You might need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the pink mohawk better...



















Slightly more the target audience (more so than 34 year old men). Asia and cousin Eva--little rock stars!














After getting all dolled up they did a little fashion show. The birthday girl, Acacia, is on the left--a happy little princess! (Acacia is Eva's cousin on the other side of the family. We've all known each other for a long time so even though we're in-laws of in-laws, we're all one big family)

Asia was pretty funny, I knew she was loving it but yet she acted a bit too old for the whole thing. Ehh, deep down inside she still loves pink ;)














After the girlie goodness we went over to Acacia's family's new condo (welcome back to Seattle, guys!!) to open presents. More pink...














The party was over so it was time for the kids to say goodbye to Auntie Emily and Eva. The kids had a blast with them the last few days.

Although we heard that little 1 1/2 year old cousin Day was seen as a bit of a problem because he liked breaking up their lego and other toy setups. Obviously Asia and Ezra aren't used to having a little one in the house :) He just wanted to play with his big cousins I'm sure!

DINKs!!!

I had to work all day Friday at an event so we arranged for the kids to go to Bainbridge Island to spend two nights with their cousins. We felt like a pair of DINKs (Dual Income No Kids for those of you--like Tara--who'd never heard of that ;)

It was fun, but we missed the kiddos. The house was just too darn quiet! Yes, we're pitiful. But we did have a nice dinner date. Originally we were going to spend the evening doing some home improvement projects but we realized that'd be a lame way to spend our kidless time.

Sprinkler park

We are so proud of our little city--we have a brand new little sprinkler park downtown. A very cool (okay, yeah--literally) place to play on a hot summer day.

Trying to conquer...

...the 12 foot jump rope

Awesome pool party

The neighborhood gang went to a very fun birthday party (happy birthday, Simrunn!) at a local water park/pool place.














The slides are so awesome!














Awesome for kids and adults :)














Yup, this sums it up--happy little people.

Happy 4th

Our first stop was to our friend Chris' house where her family and neighborhood had their annual 4th of July bash. She's definitely the most patriotic, July 4th-loving friend I have :) Look at her cake! It was DELISH. Andy's going to post this on his flog. If he ever gets around to it, that is...














Then we had our own neighborhood bash with a bunch of friends and ended up going up the street to do some of our own little fireworks. The view from up there is pretty cool b/c you see fireworks displays going off all around the place.
And the best part? No crowds or traffic!!














I love blurry fireworks pictures--they look so dramatic!














Happy 4th

Cowboy/girl

Asia's doing a week of horse riding camp in August so we decided to get her some awesome cowboy/girl boots. (never mind I think the camp actually supplies them with riding boots, but oh well) The kids (and I) were fascinated by this Western store. There were toy rifles, cowboy hats and everything!

This picture looks SO wrong to me (We're SO not gun people), but the kids thought it was pretty cool. Oh my. Yee haw.














After the Western store we went down the street to the cupcake shop--much more my kind of hangout :)

Getting geared up for the 4th with this patriotic cupcake!

Another camping trip

While I met Andy at the bonsai garden the kids were finishing up another fun night of camping with Opa and Oma. I happened to check in with them just before I got home and found out they were at a nearby McDonald's having ice-cream in the parking lot before they headed home. So I dropped in for a quick visit.

Bonsai garden

Andy's office is near the Weyerhaeuser headquarters and they have this random (in my opinion) lovely bonsai garden on the grounds. We've meant to check it out for years and finally one day I met Andy at lunch to go have a look. It was lovely!

This tall Dr. Seuss-ish one is Andy's fave.


















I loved how this one had two colors of trunk.

Good times with the principal

We heart our principal! Well, x-principal as of now... Him and his lovely wife, Shawn, are moving to China to be the principal and 1st grade teacher at an international school there. Our school will miss him dearly...














Yes, good times were had by all. 'Nuff said.

Time to play on the beach

After cheering the cyclists off we spent a while hanging out at the beach. A lovely hot summer day...














I LOVE this picture of my boy.














What's up, rockstar? Here's Asia doing a commercial for Sierra Mist ;)

Sea to Sea

Around 200 people are taking part in a bike ride from Seattle all the way across the country to Jersey City. The ride is called Sea to Sea and it's to "end the cycle of poverty".

We know a few of the cyclists, including one of my parents' closest friends in Vancouver, a 77 year old woman named Agatha! She is incredible. She's biking "only" the first two weeks of the ride, from Seattle to Denver I think it is.

This picture was taken the morning they began--the tire dipping ceremony in Puget Sound all the way over here on the left coast.














My parents, the kids and I had to be there to see Agatha off! What an inspiration.














For you Nigeria-days people who look at my blog, this is Uncle John Vandersteen leaving the starting line. I hadn't seen him in, oh, 25 years or something!!














There goes Agatha...














And another old friend from Nigeria days, Uncle Lou Haveman.

Ryan & Kristin's wedding

Our family with the happy new couple! CONGRATS


















Asia had fun spinning and spinning...

KidsQuest

I was a brave, brave woman--me and six (!!) kids off for an afternoon at a fun kids museum...














WHAZZUP

Another try...

Nope, still no luck with two wheels...

Cool new bed

I've been eyeing this cool loft bed at Ikea for years now--wanting it for Ezra when he got old enough. Now that he's a big first grader he's totally old enough. It's so high that I can stand under it!



















Andy is just the right height to peek over the edge to say good night.

Half Birthday Party

June 21 was Ezra's half birthday, the 22nd was Kaden's. So we decided to use that as an excuse for a little sleepover party. The kids each made their own pizza with the dough Andy had made from scratch.

Would you like a little dough and sauce with your cheese?!














Lovely!

Last day of school fun

The kids got out at noon so a few of us went to open play time at the local gymnastics place. Here comes summer!!














That afternoon the neighborhood got together for a belated birthday party for Sylvie. She wanted a National Treasure themed party and her dad did a smashing job of setting up a huge scavenger hunt for the kids. It was a H-O-T afternoon but all the kids had a great time on the hike over to a park across the Green River.


















The birthday girl with the treasure chest they found at the end of the hike.

Fun Run/Walk 2008

Every year on the 2nd to last day of school all the 1st-6th grade students and teachers walk around the surrounding neighborhood--just over a mile. No idea how the tradition started, but it's great seeing all the kids out there getting some exercise.














Afterwards all the kids get to mill around with their friends and have a giant all-school recess. Shortly after I took this picture of Asia and her girlfriends the entire school broke out into a round of the Cha Cha Slide.














Some of the 2nd graders with their much-loved teacher.