Wiki Wiki Walkathon

Today was the Wiki Wiki Walkathon at the kids' school. The sun was shining and the kids had a great time! They did a few laps, played with friends, got Jamba Juice, baked treats, candy and popcorn, and tried to win some raffle prizes (shucks, not this year.)

Ellena and her buddy, Luci. The girls had so much fun together!

Pops was in Boston the last few days and arrived home while we were still at school. He joined us at the walkathon and the kids were much happier to see them than this picture shows. They must have been pooped out from all of their laps...

Baltimore Trip

Mom and Pops got to sneak away for a quick trip to Baltimore to watch the Ravens' home opener against the Browns. Driving into the City, we got our first glimpse of M&T Bank Stadium.

Our first meal in Baltimore - had to hunt down the best crab cakes!

Found the yummiest steamed crab at LP Steamers- so good, we had to come back for another meal before we left!

Great club level seats.

Got to meet Ray Rice! Highlight of the trip (besides the food)!

Holo Holo

Here are a few pictures of the kids going holo holo (all dressed up!) The above picture is before they were off to their school's picture day. Lots of gel and fancy shirts for the kids!

We celebrated Grandma Madeline and Grandpa Joe's wedding anniversary at our favorite Italian restaurant, Tropea. Evan got to wear his new dinner jacket. My goodness. He looked sharp. Ellena didn't want to change out of her Ravens Purple Friday school clothes, so she threw on her fancy sparkle boots.

Washington State Fair

The kids received free passes to the Washington State Fair from school, and I got one from work, too! So we decided to try it out (we had done the Evergreen State Fair a couple years ago) and see what it was like to "do the Puyallup." There was a petting zoo area and this turned out to be one of the kids' favorite activities of the day - petting the soft bunny!

Petting a chick that was a few days old.

Evan was so brave! He rode a sheep!

There was a catch and release fishing activity for the kids. Evan caught one pretty quick.

Ellena took a while, but she finally got one! And she even touched the fish!

It was a great day - the weather was fabulous and we had lots of fun. A few weeks after the fair, Ellena was telling us about an assignment in school. She had to pick the best event of her life - she chose the Alice in Wonderland play from this summer because she got to be on stage. Evan couldn't believe that was what she chose. He said if it was his list, he would have said, "First Disneyland and second Washington State Fair." I guess he really enjoyed himself at the fair!

First Days of School

Wednesday, September 4th was Evan's first day of 2nd grade! He got his mohawk cleaned up and Pops added a hashtag on the side.

Thursday, September 5th was Ellena's first day of Kindergarten! We also had a Ravens game that night, so the kids wore their jerseys to school.

It's going to be a great school year!

Back to Work!

In a whirlwind of events, I went back to work! I interviewed for an Educational Assistant position at an elementary school 5 minutes away from the kids' school and was offered the job a couple days later on a Friday. I started work the following Tuesday before the kids started their school year! It was a crazy time, but work is going well. I'm slowly starting to learn the names of the children and teachers. I will be assisting the Reading Specialist and doing reading groups. We don't have kids yet, but that will start up soon! I also supervise recess and the lunchroom and do some afternoon crossing guard duties. It's part time and I still get to drop the kids off at their school. The workday flies by and the kids enjoy their new afternoon activities (since I can't be there to pick them up). Thank goodness for good friends (built in playdate twice a week) and after school program twice a week, which they love. Even though I can be there by 3:30 to pick them up, they ask to stay til 5 PM because they have so much fun. I'm off on Wednesdays and have been going to all of the regular doctor check-ups that I was pushing off in the summer. It's been a busy time, but we're all having a blast. Thank goodness Pops can help out a lot and is always supportive!

Final Days of Summer

Just a few more days before school started up, so we tried to squeeze in a bit more fun! Grandma brought up a hair wrap from Aunty Joyce and Ellena loves it!

The McCommons brought back these awesome tie-dyed hoodies from Orcas Island for the kids.

This is Ellena's thinking face. She had to decide if she wanted to use her last quarter to ride the horse or the carnival ride at Crossroads Mall. She decided on the horse.

This is Ellena's smile when she found out she was getting Mrs. Ellis for Kindergarten!

After having lunch at Genki without Pops, we had to go back that weekend to satisfy his sushi craving!

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bang Bang treated the kids to a membership at a museum of their choice. They chose the Museum of Flight. They can't wait to take their grandparents there on their next trip!

Grandma & Grandpa Visit

Grandma and Grandpa came up for a visit at the end of summer. We had so much fun and ate a ton of good food! Even though we had just visited the Pacific Science Center a few days ago, the kids insisted they wanted to go back and take Grandma and Grandpa there. So that was one of our first adventures and it was the best idea! Everyone had a wonderful day in the Seattle sunshine! Grandpa LOVED the IMAX Air Racers movie and the kids loved showing Grandma and Grandpa their favorite exhibits - dinosaurs, butterfly house, Imaginate, etc.

We had fun playing Bingo together and Ellena discovered a special button on Grandpa's watch that made it glow. She was very sad when it was time to say goodbye, but she now talks to Grandma about once a week and they have half-hour conversations about their days.

Ellena's Choice Day

Blue Moon before the 5:30 AM gym workout.

Today was Ellena's Choice Day. We got a few errands done in the morning and then went to feed the ducks at the duck pond.

After, the kids played at the playground.

After lunch and a quick nap (for me!), we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at the pool! Pretty fun Choice Day, Ellena!

The Blueberry Brigade

On August 9th, we went to the Mercer Slough blueberry farm. We love berry picking and wanted to be sure to get in one blueberry picking this summer! We picked up our buckets and were told Lots 1-4 would have the best picking. We walked out and found most of the bushes picked through, so we ended up trying Lot 5. Not a ton like we've found at Remlinger in the past, but still pretty good. Here are the pics I took of the kids as we started picking.

"Evan, you're slouching! Stand up straight!"

So I get this.

And I guess if you're going to stand up straight, you might as well salute. Look at Ellena watching her big brother. We're getting a lot of Monkey See-Monkey Do this summer.

 Ta-da! 2 saluting monkeys ready for berry picking duty!

Evan's Choice Day

Summer vacation is quickly winding down! We had nothing planned for today and tomorrow, so we decided to make today Evan's Choice Day - we do what Evan wants to do. He chose a visit to the Pacific Science Center. We've been here often with our annual membership, yet today we were pleasantly surprised with a day of firsts! To start off our day, we went to see the IMAX movie, Flight of the Butterflies in 3D. It was our first time in the big Boeing IMAX theater (we are usually in the smaller Paccar theater.)

We spent most of our day in the Imaginate exhibit because it will be closing soon. We then went to the bug area. There was a docent out with a hissing cockroach that you could hold. Another first! It was the first time Evan held a roach! Ellena and I pet him, but didn't want to hold him ourselves.

The docent suggested pretending to eat the roach - makes for great pictures!

We then went to the butterfly house. Today was the first time a butterfly landed on Evan and on me! Very exciting!

The butterfly on my leg.

Evan liked this butterfly.

It was a fun day of firsts! Tomorrow is Ellena's Choice Day!

Old Friends and New Friends

Today we got to spend time with old friends and new friends. What a special day. My friend, former co-worker and maid of honor, Jen, relocated to Chicago years ago. We try to get together when she comes home for a visit, but it has been a couple years. Pops saw her most recently on a business trip to Chicago last year. Today her close friend hosted a bbq so that we could spend time with Jen and her fiance, Chris. So we got to meet Chris today and get to know about their wedding plans and hear the engagement story! So much fun and always so nice to be together again! Congratulations, Jen & Chris!

Game Day & Food

Thursday was the Ravens' first preseason game. Ellena insisted on wearing her jersey that day to her 5-year check up. What a super fan!

Burger King has 50 cent ice cream cones, so we went and got some on a busy, hot day. One thing about Evan... he loves food. I don't know of a kid who has such a distinguished palette and gets so much enjoyment out of food. When he finds something he likes, he eats with gusto. At Great Wolf Lodge, we were being seated for the breakfast buffet. He asked the hostess if they had an omelette station. At Burger King, he was demolishing his ice cream cone and got to the paper on the cone. He was peeling the paper off (and I was just about to ask if he needed help) when the paper came off, but the cone dropped to the ground. The poor guy. He was so upset about throwing it away. The next day we were brainstorming ideas for his daily journal entry. I listed all the highlights from the day before including getting ice cream. He said, "No, I don't want to write about such a sad time."