Adventures with Dad

Holly has been trying to get me to post for quite some time (and I actually wrote this a while back) so this will cover a few months of adventures with dad.

Ray (Holly's brother) and his family came to visit us in June. The Saturday afternoon they were here, we went on a short hike in Issaquah at the base of Tiger Mountain. We figured the hike would be easy enough for all the cousins and a nice way to enjoy what the Northwest has to offer. The kids enjoyed running way up ahead and throwing rocks into the lake. For me, it is almost like finding treasure when you come across a tree as big as this one.
Abigail, Carly, and Jason really enjoy going to the park (and now Katie too). So when the weather is nice and Holly is out and about, we seem to end up driving around to find a playground. As a result, we explored a number of new playgrounds in Snoqualmie this summer. For some reason, the kids think I am the best lava monster so I get called into the games of tag.
Jason and I went on two camping trips in 2011. Shortly after we moved, DJ invited us to come camping with the 11 year old scouts in the Mill Pond Ward. We had a good time at Game Farm Wilderness Park, though our neighbors did not quite understand what a curfew was.

A few weeks later, Jason and I headed to Ensign Ranch for our ward father/son campout. I love that we live even closer to Ensign Ranch now. It is just far enough away and tucked into the woods that you feel like you are in the wilderness but you still get the comforts of car camping and fun activities. I was a total slacker and picked up McDonald's on the way. We enjoyed some football that evening and slept in the platform tents that were already set up. Jason was thrilled to ride the tubes the next morning after a canoe ride.


I remembered that Thomas the Train was in town so the kids and I jumped in the van and headed down to the train depot. We picked up a free pizza from Sahara Pizza. We snagged a picture but I was way too cheap to pay to ride. I think it was sold out anyways.
I love that our backyard feels so much bigger. We have more room to run around
The girls discovered the joy of biking the hills. Jason learned to ride a bike before we moved but had not mastered any type of slope so he would chase after us as we went up and down the slopes.

I took the kids (Abigail, Carly, and Jason) on a fun hike to Rattlesnake Ledge. It is about 4 miles roundtrip with great views from the top. The lake at the bottom sure looked refreshing after a warm hike so next time we will bring our swimsuits. Definitely will be a repeat for us.






Chris Hineman, a friend in the ward asked me and Carly to join them at a Washington Huskies game. We had a good time seeing the purple and gold roll to a victory.


Carly had a friend from the ward over for the afternoon. They were looking for something to do so we went hiking down towards where the new church is being built. You can see Mt. Si in the distance.

We’re Late, We’re Late!

Abigail and Carly woke Justin and me up on Tuesday morning by running into our room yelling, “We’re late! We’re late! We’re 2 hours late!” Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t like to be late. In fact I’m known for being quite punctual. So for me to hear I’m two hours late for anything immediately snapped me into consciousness. Turns out that overnight we received a few inches of snow and school was delayed a few hours.

Shortly afterward, while Justin was outside clearing off his car to head to work, the trash collector came up our little hill and got stuck in front of our house. Justin was able to head down the hill without any problems, but the truck driver had to put chains on his tires and even then he had to reverse all the way down our street and the street after that until he could find a place to turn around. It took him nearly an hour to get back on clear roads.

When school starts late that also means the bus is on limited routes and doesn’t come into our neighborhood. The alternate bus stop is close to a mile away and across the main city parkway. Not wanting to get myself stuck by driving the kids there I decided to bundle everyone up and make the trek by foot. I knew Katie would struggle to walk the whole way and a since a stroller wasn’t an option we brought along sled for her to ride in.

Since heading home is uphill, I turned Katie around in the sled so she wouldn’t be heading up feet first. She was so good to quietly lie there while I pulled her along.

Did you notice her bare little hands? She took off her gloves about half way home and wouldn’t let me put them back on. She may have been cold by the time we got back to our house, but I had worked up a good sweat.

Basketball Season

Saturday was Abigail and Carly’s final basketball games – wrapping up their two month long season. Abigail played basketball for the first time in Auburn when she was in second grade. We missed last year because we were in the process of moving so she hadn’t played since. I’ve gotta admit I love the Upwards program that is organized by a local church in Auburn. The major difference between that program and here is that even in fourth grade you can’t take the ball from the opposing team (something Abigail was allowed to do even in second grade). I can understand the idea of teaching kids the fundamentals of the game before allowing it to become more competitive and aggressive, but seriously – fourth grade! At some point these kids need to learn how to actually play basketball. It was hard for Abigail to take that aspect out of the game when that was how she learned how to play (and for us as spectators to watch). Hopefully next year they will be allowed to up her defense a bit.

Abigail is an aggressive player (in this league she is borderline too aggressive) – it seems to just be her nature. She doesn’t give the opposition even an inch to move.

She’s also great on offense, often scoring the majority of the points for her team.

Once again, we opted against purchasing team photos and since I was usually across town at Carly’s games while Justin was at Abigail’s – I missed an opportunity to get a team photo of our own. Abigail’s coaches were fantastic though – so well organized and they did great teaching the girls while still having fun.

This was Carly’s first year playing basketball and she too was one of the strongest on her team. She scored in every game and was a great dribbler and defender.

It’s hard to tell, but there is someone from the opposing team taking the shot

Her coach left much to be desired, but thankfully a Dad of one of the other girls was able to step in and help teach the girls how to play ball. It would have been a very sad season without his help and organization.

Both teams competed well in their games, the girls learned a lot and are excited to play again next year.

Carly Turns Eight!

Carly’s 8th birthday was this past Sunday. In our family, celebrating an even numbered birthday means you can choose to have a birthday party with friends. Doesn’t it seem like we just had Abigail’s birthday party? All three of my girls have even birthdays the same year and they are each about six weeks apart so the first few months of every even year will be birthday party mania. Carly invited a few friends over to celebrate on Friday afternoon.

Since Carly loves to do crafty, creative things we decided to have a few projects for the girls to work on. Thankfully, one of my good friends (and also the mother of one of Carly’s friends) was willing to stay and help me out during the party. Each of the girls made a necklace out of a washer (sorry, no picture, we were too busy trying to figure out how to pull the whole thing off successfully). The girls also made a few animal bookmarks.

After playing a game and opening gifts, the final activity was cake decorating. My kids LOVE decorating cakes, but I rarely give them the opportunity. What better excuse than at a birthday party? It seemed like an easy activity til I realized I only had one small cake pan, which meant I was baking little cakes all day long. One. By. One. The girls had lots of fun decorating their cakes and were very creative (and some a bit crazy).

On Sunday we invited the Fletcher family over for dinner and birthday festivities. We planned on having everything ready at 4:30 or 5pm, right after Justin’s sister got out of church. When we got home from our church at 2:30 we found out they have 9am church so it was a bit chaotic trying to pull everything together, but it worked out fine in the end and it gave the kids more time to play with their cousins.

Carly’s cousin Hannah turned 5 today so we celebrated both of their birthdays on Sunday.

I thought Carly’s cake turned out well considering it was one of the quickest birthday cakes I’ve every made.

I made Hannah a little pink flowerpot cake similar to Carly's. Hannah thought that was pretty neat that she had her own little cake, but she was puzzled how we would get the dirt off the cake to be able to eat it. (the “dirt” was crushed teddy grahams)

Carly’s cousins gave her a big ball to play with outside and a fun hula-hoop which both got plenty of use that evening. Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher gave her some fun crafty things and a fuzzy blanket just like Abigail’s.

That night Carly got to talk to Grandma Kesler in Hong Kong. It was fun to hear Carly tell my Mom about all of her birthday festivities. I’m so glad she felt special and had a great time. Happy Birthday Carly!

Go Sounders!

We’ve wanted to attend a Seattle Sounders soccer game for years, but since the tickets aren’t cheap we’ve never gone. I follow a few thrifty/coupon blogs and last Wednesday they posted that the Sounders pre-season game that night was FREE. Happy Leap Day to us! We can rarely pass up a good deal so we headed downtown early so we could get good seats. We picked seats at center field and then waited close to an hour for the game to begin.

The girls were shocked to see how big the field was. I think we could easily fit six of Abigail’s soccer fields on their field.

It had been snowing at our house that morning so we all bundled up for a cold night. Katie refused to wear gloves all evening – her hands were freezing, but no amount of bribery would convince her to keep them on.

When the game started everyone in our section stood to cheer as the team entered the field. And they never sat down. I don’t mind standing, but with four kids standing behind grown men we had to get a little creative. Jason stood on the back of the seats in front of us while one of us stood behind to keep him from falling, Abigail spent most of the evening standing in the aisle, and Carly was just the right height to stand on her chair without blocking anyone behind us.

Because it was so cold and also a school night we didn’t stay til the end of the game. Justin hiked back to our free parking spot (way, way in the far distance) and picked us up at the stadium. Just as the kids and I walked out to meet him the Sounders scored – we were bummed to miss it, but it was fun to hear the crowd go wild. Sounder fans might just be the funnest sport fans I’ve ever witnessed. There were so many cheers and chants and nearly everyone was dressed in green and turquoise Sounders gear. So fun! Hopefully, we don’t have to wait until the next Leap Day to go to another Sounders game and hopefully it will be a few degrees warmer!

Happy Birthday Carly!

Mid-Winter Break

You'd think the experiences of the past month would make me a better mother. No doubt I've been reminded of the miracle it is to be blessed with beautiful, healthy children. My kids are awesome and I know I’ve been blessed way beyond what I deserve. However, I've felt like my patience has diminished instead of increased during these past few weeks, particularly with Abigail and Carly. I was looking forward to our mid-winter break last week with the hope that we could create some fun memories. I told each of the kids they could pick out a fun activity to do during the break. It was a brilliant idea - I couldn’t have hoped for a more successful and fun week with my kids.

Abigail’s activity of choice was to go roller-skating. We initially asked her to pick something else out, but on Monday decided to give in and headed to a roller-skating rink in Bellevue. Justin opted not to rent skates for himself, I don’t know how to skate, and Katie is too little. So that left the three big kids. They had a blast. The girls received rollerblades from their Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher for Christmas 2010 and by the following summer had the wheels worn ragged. They have been asking to go skating for years so this was a dream come true for them.

This was Jason’s first time, he started out pretty shaky, but after tightening his wheels a bit he was able to get around pretty well.

We kept someone by his side though for support and his sisters were really sweet to help him out.

We invited Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher to join us for Carly’s activity of choice – bowling on Tuesday evening. Justin couldn’t recall ever bowling with his Dad so it was fun to have him join us.

To our surprise Grandpa actually beat all of us in the first game with Grandma right behind – a humbling first game for Justin. By the second game the grandparents had lost their steam allowing Justin and I to take the lead (were talking low 100’s here so it’s still not much to be proud of). Abigail got good enough that we think the next time we bowl she should go without the bumpers.

Carly has a wicked curve ball making the bumpers essential.

And our little man sure can pound that ball down the lane.

Our sensitive boy had his feelings hurt shortly after we started the second game and refused to play anymore so Katie was able to jump in and take over.

On Wednesday morning Abigail surprised me by straightening up most of the house on her own – she’d pulled a similar stunt on Sunday by cleaning the kitchen and family room while the rest of us were laying around upstairs. I couldn’t think of a better way to start the morning. The girls were each invited over to a friends house that afternoon and while Katie napped I took advantage of the time and got several things accomplished on my to-do list. A fun and productive week – what could be better?

I found it funny that on Wednesday night Abigail looked around the house and exclaimed, “I had everything clean and now it’s a mess!”

Jason’s original activity of choice was having pizza for dinner and a movie night. Earlier in the week I let him watch Cars 2 while I cut his hair and Justin brought home pizza for dinner another night so it seemed he'd already had his special activity without any fuss. If there was any chance Jason would have felt he got the shaft that was put to rest when we invited one of our favorite families over on Friday night (including one of his best buddies). Usually we'd let the kids stay up and play til around 9pm then put them all to bed so the adults can play games or visit, but everyone (including Katie and two 2-year old twins) happily played til after 11pm.

Like I said, I couldn’t have hoped for a better week with the kids. It was so fun to go out and do some fun things that we are normally too cheap to do, but seriously, what’s $20 when you think of the memories and family experiences we created. Hopefully we can continue to make having fun as a family more of a priority. There’s no one else I’d rather hang out with.

Tubing

On Saturday, February 11th Justin took the three big kids tubing up Snoqualmie pass with his sisters family. This is something I’ve always wanted to do, especially since they haul you and your tube up the hill for you each time, but being only ten days post-delivery/surgery it was out of the question.

Their time slot was two hours, but apparently they were only able to go down the hill seven or eight times. Having spoken to a few other families that have been, it sounds like we just went at one of the busiest days/times.

Of course the kids loved it, but Justin didn't think it was worth the hefty price. Hopefully, when Katie’s older I can convince Justin to go again so we can all give it a try.

Blogger Discovery

Have you noticed lately that the pictures on the blog look grainy and distorted and that the sizes were inconsistent? I have. I noticed it the most with Abigail’s birthday post {link} – I fixed the first picture on that post, but look how terrible the second photo looks. They looked much more splotchy on the blog than in Photoshop. Well, today I finally took the time to figure out how to prevent blogger from changing so much. Not sure if it’s the easiest method, but when I create a link from the Picasa album where Blogger automatically stores my photos instead of directly uploading from my computer they look much better.

Here’s an example (though this isn’t the best picture to begin with) – you’ll notice the most difference in the skin on her face.

Splotchy skin - Uploaded through Blogger from my PC

Much improved - URL from Picasa pasted into Blogger html

Unfortunately, I can’t justify going back and fixing all the pictures from previous posts, but hopefully you’ll notice a difference from here on out. If anyone has a better explanation or way around this please let me know.

Father/Daughter Dance

On Saturday, February 4th the girls attended our community Father/Daughter Dance. I think they were all surprised (including Justin) with how much fun they had. The event was planned really well, fun decorations, lots of tasty treats, and goody bags for all the girls to take home. Abigail was excited that half of her basketball team was there with their dads. She had fun hanging out with her teammates and it was a nice opportunity for Justin to get to know some of the fathers. Turns out that their favorite part of the night was dancing with Justin, in fact I think there was a little disagreement throughout the evening regarding who's turn it was to be Dad's dancing partner.

Maybe next year we'll invite Grandpa Fletcher so they always have a dancing partner.

Stay Tuned

I don’t like my last post and I’m bothered that I haven’t gotten around to posting anything less depressing since then. We just wrapped up a fun-filled winter break so there are happier memories to share. I’m a tad-bit anal though about posting in chronological order so bear with me while I try to get my act together this next week. Until then I’ll push my previous post a little further down the screen and leave you with a picture of our adorable Katie who can always make me smile.

Last Sunday her sisters discovered that Katie’s hair is the perfect balloon magnet.

LOVE this girl!