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.