Long Overdue and Over Much Too Soon

When we got back to Tekoa on Thursday afternoon I got to have a very long overdue and much too short visit with my friend Ashley, but a little visit is definitely better than no visit!  We were best buds growing up and it was so fun to see our daughters together.  I'm certain if we didn't live thousands of miles apart these two would be quite the pair.  We hadn't seen each other in nearly 4 years... the last time Ashley was pregnant with her youngest, Amelia and who knew Bryce was even going to exist.  Ava and Claire had met before and have seen pictures of each other but they didn't really remember playing together.  They totally hit it off.

 

History was totally repeating itself as the girls played with the old Barbie house that Ashley and I used to spend, quite literally, hours, playing with at their age.  Then when it was time to go, they were totally trying to plan a sleep over.  Whispering in each others ear, making those big eyes at us.  We had to laugh because it was exactly what we used to do when we were kids.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't possible that night... Claire had the rehearsal that night and wedding the next day so we felt like sleep was of the essence.  Hopefully another time we'll be able to actually have the aforementioned sleep over.  Summer 2016?  What do you say?!!

 

On Island Time

After our biking adventure on the Hiawatha we drove to Lake Pend Oreille to stay with my longtime friend Molly and her family.  We don't get many chances to hang out, and when we do it's usually only for a couple hours so it was really nice to have a couple relaxing days to catch up!

 

We'd originally planned to take the scenic route through Montana and into Clark Fork and arrive in Hope the back way... but since we didn't finish our bike ride until nearly 4 pm we decided we'd better just go back through Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint.  TJ met us at the marina in Hope and we had dinner at Sweet Lou's before a quick boat ride over to the Island (Warren Island) and the cabin.

 

The next morning Bryce was immediately up for throwing rocks of course.  I'd told the kids that the Island has the best skipping rocks you've ever seen.  The beaches are all rock and nearly every single rock is flat and smooth.  Of course we had to bring a few extra special rocks back home for our collection.  We found some really good heart rocks, too.  Now we just need to figure out what to do with all these rocks we have from our various travels (the ocean and McKenzie River last year... now Pend Oreille... a few random camping trips).  It's quite a collection.

 

Molly calls this the Hillbilly Dock.  It's a stripped down pontoon boat.  It made a great place to relax and visit and jump in.  Bryce spent a lot of time "washing" it for them one day.  Not sure how much it was really appreciated but it kept him happy and we all liked that!

Bryce found a good book to read.

The kids were pretty happy to hang out with Pedro the Pug.  I think Juan likes him (or vice versa), too.

Molly took us for a sunset cruise around the island.  It has changed a lot since I was last there several years ago (various new "cabins" - cabins that are much larger than my house!). 

We were so much on island time during our visit that we ended up staying one more night than originally planned.  We'd planned to drive back home on Thursday afternoon... but the weather was perfect and after sitting on the dock, enjoying a beverage the conversation soon became, "Well, we don't really have to be back tonight... we could just drive back tomorrow morning..." And the rest is history.  You can see why it's so hard to leave.

The cabin hasn't really changed in essence since I first went there with Molly back when we were in 6th grade. Oh my goodness that was a long time ago! There is nothing better than going to sleep/waking up to the sound of the lake outside your door. I have so many great memories of being there with Molly and her family. It was fun to make some new memories now that we have our own families.

When in Tekoa...

Claire, Bryce and I spent the first week of June in Tekoa helping take care of my mom after her back surgery.  We had some fun while we were there, too!
We took a walk up to the grade school. Claire played at the playground and rolled down (part way) the big hill.  On the way home she balanced on the wall by the old car lot.

We also took a walk down to mom's work... one of the salesmen gave Claire and Bryce cool new John Deere hats.

Best Dad Ever!

Love you Dad and wish we could be with you today!
I think this top picture might be from a Father's Day past at good old Lake Mary Ronan.

Double Thanks Mom!

Look Mom!  Claire has been wearing some of the clothes we dug out of the trunk!  So glad you remembered they were there.  Now we need to find a picture of me wearing these to compare.  You must be quite the seamstress as these have held up for a LONG time!  Love you!

A Day at Riverfront Park

On the Tuesday of our visit to Washington we went to Riverfront Park in Spokane and met up with the Harelson family.  When I was a kid it was a tradition to get all the cousins together for a day at Riverfront Park.  It was fun to go back!  I remember riding this "Red Baron" ride when I was little!

Claire and mommy on the tug boat ride... it wasn't exciting enough for Claire.  She kept trying to find someone to ride on the Octopus with her (I think she was too short anyway).  I made the mistake of riding on the Tilt-a-Whirl with she and Cole when we first got there and knew better than to go near that Octopus!

 

On the Ferris Wheel with Tara.

There was a mama and baby ducklings sitting on a rock below the bridge - that is what everyone was looking at.

My favorite part - and I think Claire's too - was riding the Carousel.  It was just as beautiful as I remember.

Claire had fun picking a different jeweled horse to ride each time (we rode several times).

Aunt Peggy trying to get a ring... Tyler got the golden ring twice in a row which was really nice because Aunt Peggy didn't have a wrist band so he gave the free rides to her.

I was so happy the old Garbage Goat was still there!  The kids thought it was pretty cool to feed it their garbage.

Isn't the Clock Tower pretty?

Looking back at the Carousel from the bridge.

Riding on the Tour Train.

One last ride before we had to leave for the day.

The Pavilion.

No More Baby in the Cradle

I had to take a few pictures of Bryce sleeping in the baby cradle before I took it down.  I was a little sad to think I won't ever have a baby sleep in that cradle again.  He moves around enough now that I think the movement of the cradle was waking him up sometimes, so I decided it was time to graduate to the next bed, which is actually just a pack-n-play (thanks Gina!) still in our room.

An Advent Calendar for Claire

This year I was able to pull things together in time to do an Advent Calendar for Claire this Christmas season.  It's going well after the first couple of days and Claire is excited each morning to see what is in the "pocket" for the day.  We also have a super cute calendar on the computer that Aunt Becky and Uncle Don sent to Claire so Claire has lots to look forward to each day!

This is the Advent Calendar my mom used for Patrick and I when we were kids (I think it was from Avon).  She gave it to me quite a long time ago.  Last year we had a little star that we moved to a new pocket to mark each day, but this year I really wanted to do it like my mom used to and have a little treat in each pocket.

In the interest of being thrifty I "transferred" some Halloween candy (yes, we still had some left!) into the calendar... that filled the majority of the days.  Other days have a small goodie like mini-bubbles or a lip gloss.  There were still a few empty pockets and I had a few things I've bought on clearance over time saved up but they were too big for the pockets of course... so I made a little tag to open a special gift and then wrapped the gifts.  Each tag has a picture on it and there is a gift with a corresponding picture so when you draw the snowflake tag, you get to open the snowflake gift.  Of course when Claire saw the gifts she really just wanted to open one... the first day had a couple chocolate coins which were slightly disappointing as a result.  Lucky for her, the next day had a tag to open a gift!  I'm pretty sure she's going to ask to open a gift every day until Christmas... it will be a lesson in patience... for both of us...

The gift turned out to be a Gingerbread House kit.  Claire looked forward to making it all day.  She decorated it beautifully (I helped with the icing).  She kept getting mad at me when I suggested putting things on differently than the picture on the box.  She wanted it to look just like the picture.  The other "gifts" in the calendar don't require any activities (they are things like a book or a necklace)... but I think the next time we do the Advent Calendar I might include a few other activity things.  Like to make cookies or decorate the Christmas tree or maybe even go to "Dairy Queens" which she always wants to do... I just want to keep it things that we would probably do anyway so I don't set myself up to fail or for it to become one more thing we have to do when we are already busy with other holiday stuff.

As much as I like this calendar and how it's working out this year, I also have a plan to make another Advent Calendar that wouldn't require spending any money to fill the pockets or committing to projects that might end up feeling more like a burden in busy years... so hopefully by next Christmas I also will have a calendar like this ready to go!  Here are some others that are inspiring the one I'm going to make too, here and here.  I'll keep you posted on any progress I make on that one... ha ha!  Happy Holidays!

Thanks Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!
Here's a picture of me with my favorite mom's in the world.  I love you!

And her are some pictures of my mom in years past.  She's the best!

Brand new mom.

Before she was a mom.

Baby mom.  She's cute!