So Many Things

I have been a little bit of a slacker this past week or two with posting our adventures and activities. We have had a rather busy week or two and it has been fun! It started off with having Charlie and Katie for almost an entire work week the week before the 4th, and we loved it. Kayden had so much fun spending time with both the girls and I had fun watching all three of them have fun. 

Katie spent the night Tue through Fri and I had Charlie Mon through Friday with her spending the night Tue and Wed.  On Tue and Wed night Kyle let the kids throw a few boxes of pop its and do a sparkler or two, and they loved it.  Kyle even lit a few fireworks for us to see.  It was nice to have a pre-fourth of July firework show!

June 26th

During that same week we had a kids craft day at my house, where the girls, along with Ashlie and my sister's step-daughter came over to make a craft. It was fun, but Kayden was less interested in doing his craft and more interested in playing, which was fine. Who can blame him, most of the time it is just the two of us, and when other kids come over, he is all about playing.  It beats playing games and ball with his ol' mom!

My sister's step-daughter, Kaylah, left for a friends house before I could get a picture of her with her finished project! :(

July 3rd

Every year the local race track puts on a fireworks show that Kyle and I have made a tradition of going to and this year was no different!  The show is always before the actual fourth of July, sometimes it is the night before, like it was this year and sometimes it is the weekend before.  Christy, Dean, Charlie, Cindy, Jim, Katie, Ashlie, my mom and dad, and of course ourselves all met a a nearby parking lot that had a view of the fireworks and hung out until they started.  When we arrived, Dean and Christy were already there playing a game of Go Fish.  I'm not sure who actually won that game, Christy was the first to get mates to all her cards, but Charlie had the most matches, so not sure what the rules are on that!  I should brush up on my Go Fish rules, as I am sure Kayden's turn to play is right around the corner!  :)

After the card game the kids goofed off and us adults chatted.  Kyle and Dean brought some more pop its and sparklers.  The kids never grow tired of those fireworks, maybe because they are the only ones they are allowed to play with!



This is where Kayden was telling me no paparazzi!  There is a slight disagreement about who taught him this, Kyle says it was him and Christy says it was her.  We will probably never know exactly where Kayden learned it, but it is cute nonetheless.



It was a lot of fun watching the fireworks, and sadly I didn't get any pictures of them!  What kind of photographer am I anyway!  :)

July 4th

We hosted a fourth of July party at our house this year and I think the total number of guests was around 30 or so.  It was a lot of fun, unfortunately though, a lot of people had to work the next day so they didn't stay for fireworks, but that is ok.  I probably wouldn't have been out so late either, if I had to get up and go to work early the next day.

So, anyway, a month or two ago, on pinterest, I saw a pin from a lady who created a water blob and I thought how cool would it be if we made one of those!  So, Kyle, Kayden and I headed to our local hardware store and bought the necessary supplies for this water blob, plastic sheeting and duct tape!  It wasn't super hard to make, just took a bit of time.  The kids absolutely loved it and had so much fun with it.  We had to batch a few holes, but overall it held up ok.  The kids had about an hour of entertainment from it.

The kids weren't too sure about it at first.  Ashlie didn't understand the point of it until we explained it to her.  The boys on the other hand, just went to town on it.  Leave it to boys!  :)

Kyle was so excited for our party, it was fun to see him get excited!  When we were buying some stuff for the party he saw silly string and thought it would be fun for the kids.  So, we bought one for each of them and a few extras and let them go to town.  It was a big hit and not just with the little kids!  :)

After silly string the kids got to light some sparklers.  I tell ya, they never grow tired of them! 

Once it got dark enough we were able to light off the big fireworks.  We bought Kayden some ear muffs (not sure if that is the correct name or not!) because prior to the fourth Kyle had lit some loud fireworks and Kayden didn't really like them.  He seemed to do really well once he was wearing his ear muffs though!  Those things might have saved the fourth of July!



Christy made these cool glow stick mason jars and lined them along Jim and Cindy's driveway where we were sitting.  It's something she found on pinterest!  I have more than just myself addicted to it!



We had an awesome fourth of July!  It was a ton of fun, lots of friends and family came and that is the best way to celebrate any holiday!

July 5th

On Thursday the three of us headed out to watch Katie's baseball practice.  She did awesome and I think she is made to play this sport!  Can't wait to watch one of her games.

Katie got bored, like most kids her age, sitting in the outfield waiting for something to happen.  Always fun to watch kids entertain themselves. 

July 6th

On Friday, we (me, Kyle, Kayden and Cindy) headed to a small town near Mt. Rainer, called Elbe for a train ride.  Kayden is very much into trains right now, he even made a choo choo train out of all the shoes we have under our staircase.  So, Kyle and I thought he'd have a lot of fun riding a real train.  Elbe is about an hour or so away from our house, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed that way.  We got there and unpacked our lunch.  Kayden wasn't too interested in eating though, which isn't abnormal, the kid isn't a big eater!  He wanted to pick flowers, he brought two back for me, Cindy and himself.  He offered some to Kyle, but Kyle turned him down. 

Kayden wanted to wear the flowers in his hair, so I put one above each ear, he was happy, Kyle was not.  :)



Waiting for the choo choo train.





The train was a little too loud for Kayden.  Luckily, he didn't get too scared to board!




This is Mt. Rainer



Kayden was loving the popcorn we had bought from the snack station on the train!




The train stopped at Mineral Lake, there was a BBQ made out of some train parts and attached to it was a bell that you could ring.  Kayden loved ringing the bell.  I regret not getting a picture of the actual BBQ, it was pretty cool.



Kayden had a great time on the train and the rest of us had a great time too.  I have to admit, if Kayden is having a good time, generally I am too!  There isn't much more to being a parent than seeing your child happy!

And Finally, Yesterday, July 8th

If you live in the Seattle area you know that our summer doesn't actually start until July 5th, and this year was no different.  We were fortunate enough to have nice weather on the fourth and are even more fortunate that we have continued having good weather, and if the weather man is right, the weather we have had will continue for the next week.  So, in honor of our nice weather, Kyle and I decided to go to the beach.  We invited Christy, Dean and Charlie too.  Dean didn't go with us, but did eventually meet us at the right beach!  My friends, Dawn and Sumitra met up with us too.  It was fun.  We started off with a picnic lunch, nothing better than eating PB&J on the beach!  After lunch, Kayden and Charlie played in the sand a bit before heading off to the wet sand and looking for shells, sand dollars, crabs, etc.  They didn't find a whole lot of crabs, but they did find several sand dollars and shells. 

We have had a busy couple of weeks, but it has been so fun!  I hope we continue having fun this summer and can get to the beach again and maybe have another BBQ or two!