Mini-Hawks

Ragen and his buddy Jake just finished up the Skyhawks Mini-Hawks camp. They spent the week learning skills in baseball, basketball and soccer. Of the three, he says his favorite is baseball followed by tennis and golf. I guess we should keep up the tennis lessons and maybe try the golf camp next year!

Berry pickin'

Poor Maggie suffers from 2nd child syndrome. She isn't signed up for nearly as many activities as Ragen was at her age, she doesn't have many playdates, she was late to the game for swimming lessons, etc. Yesterday she had her very own playdate with her friend Alexandra from preschool. She was so excited to meet up with her friend at South 47 Farm in Kirkland for their FarmTots program as well as some raspberry picking. Thankfully it's an organic farm because she ate just as many raspberries off the bush as she put into her basket!

Searching for the ripe ones

Maggie with Alexandra and their bounty

She got to pick out any type of lettuce and help harvest it

Another milestone

Ragen reached a summertime milestone today...he went out to the raft at the Tennis Club for the first time! For years he's been asking to go to the "playground" in the lake (he calls it that because of the slide, diving boards, and blow up floaties) and the lifeguards keep telling him that he can go when he can swim out there by himself. This week he kept jumping off the diving board in the pool and swimming the 25 yards to the shallow end with no problem so I figured he could give it a try. So, with daddy there for support, they headed out. He was so proud of himself! He climbed up the ladder to the slide 3 times but came down via the stairs everytime. Apparently it seemed a little steep once he was up there. Maybe next time!

That's him at right center...the little head bobbing above water

He made it! (that's him on the right with Jeremy)

Troopers

These 2 kids are such troopers! Last night we had to be at Jeremy's cousin's wedding in Olympia...at 5pm...on a Friday night. With rush hour being so bad around here we left 2.25 hours early thinking that would be plenty of time to make the 60 mile journey to Olympia. WRONG! It took us nearly 3.5 hours to get there door to door. We missed the entire ceremony! We felt terrible. Although, we were so proud of our kids who only asked "are we there yet" about 10 times. We had to make one pit stop on the side of the freeway (it would have taken us an additional 30 minutes if we'd gotten off the freeway and then had to sit in the traffic on the on-ramp again). In case you're wondering, the pit stop was for Maggie, not Jeremy :)

Ragen & Maggie with Nana & Bumpa

Dancing together

Summer fun

We are loving this hot Seattle weather. Around 9pm, it's not so lovely but the rest of the day is so great! Yesterday we spent a few hours at the Reiff's house on Lake Sammamish. By the way, every time I have to write "Sammamish" I think of my longtime friend Kim Fricke who was a cheerleader at Sammamish High School - "S-A-MM-A-MISH - let's go!" Strange, I know. Anyways, Dee's daughter Grace wasn't even home but she let Liz and I invade with our kiddos and it was such fun!

Their next door neighbor has one of those trampolines in the water and before you knew it, Ragen was jumping off the dock and swimming over to it. It's crazy how he's getting so adventuresome and trying new things. I'm so proud of him but I also have a hard time not envisioning him as a little boy anymore. Maggie wanted to swim to it too but I stuck close to her on the air mattress. She's just like me - if any milfoil gets within 2 feet of her, she's shrieking like crazy!


Thanks for hosting us, Dee. Everyone had a great time and I'm sorry if it wasn't exactly relaxing for you!

A little perspective - this is the view from Dee's dock with no zoom

So proud to have made it!

Swimming back in for a break

Ragen & Josie

Maggie wanted a turn too

Bye bye baby crib

This rite of passage has been a tough one for me. Maggie is out of her baby crib and into a big girl bed. Well, big girl mattress. I haven't found the furniture I want yet but she's sleeping on the mattresses in her room.

As the new owners of the nursery furniture loaded up their car, Maggie ran over to hug her crib saying "Bye by baby crib. I love you." It melted my heart. I painstakingly shopped for months for this nursery set. We brought Ragen home to it. Both kids slept in it. It went with us to 3 houses. Lots of history with that furniture.

I'm very excited to do Maggie's "big girl room" and I love seeing how proud she is of herself to be a big girl. It's just hard to see that wonderful chapter come to an end.

A funny Ragen moment in the crib - 11 months

Maggie's 1st day home in her crib

Last night in the crib

Crazy sleeper

4th of July

Surprisingly enough, I did not wake up to "Happy Birthday America" this year. I think this might be the first time in the 12 years Jeremy and I have been together.

We started out the day with the neighborhood bike decorating & parade. The kids had lots of help from Mark & Melissa to decorate their bike and scooter. Luckily this year the fire engine wasn't called away so we were able to do the parade behind the engine which Ragen thought was fantastic.

Ready to start!

Uh, daddy? Could I get a helmet that fits me? I can't see!
Ragen stayed at the front of the parade next to the fire truck

Elijah, Maggie, Ragen & Tiana
Sweet Maggie Girl

After a power nap for Mags, we headed over to the Seattle Tennis Club for our annual 4th of July festivities. This year was so much fun because with the kids being just a year older, they handled things much better and we all could enjoy ourselves a little bit more. The Stryer family is always there which is fun and this year Mark and crew were with us too.

First we played on the beach

Then we went to the lawn for some bouncy houses, snow-cones & pony rides

Maggie's first year actually enjoying the pony ride

Bumpa & Mags
They wised up this year and put a bar out on the lawn :)

Ragen & Davis with their matching airbrushed tattoos

Then up to the other lawn for dinner - the entire crew except my dad
Maggie & Riley killing time in the gym waiting for the 10pm fireworks

Waiting for our fireworks show to start

Davis & Maggie thought it was too loud

Touring Lake Washington

We took Mark, Melissa, Tiana & Elijah along with my parents out on the boat on a gorgeous summer day to tour around Lake Washington. This was a great way to show them some of the Seattle sights from a unique perspective. We cruised across the lake and went through the Montlake Cut, making sure to point out Husky Stadium (Elijah is a USC fan - boo!) and also the spot on the Montlake bridge where Jeremy was crazy enough to jump off in college. Then we had lunch at Ivar's on Lake Union and also got to see some of the Duck boats launching. On our way back to Bellevue, we went by Bill Gates' house and tried to stress the magntitude of it all. We also stopped in Meydenbauer Bay to swim. This is the spot where Mark and I used to hang out with our friends during summers. I was shocked that both Maggie and Ragen were totally comfortable jumping off the boat and swimming around in the open water. We all jumped in except for Mimi & Bumpa. It was so cold but once you got used to it, it was great.

Mark, Keri, Debbie & Barry

Elijah, Ragen, Mark, Melissa & Tiana

Captain Tiana
Maggie kept jumping in and swimming to whoever was closest
Ragen, Elijah & Tiana

Uncle Mark's big news

It's been a whirlwind few weeks around our house. Summers just seem to get really busy and on top of that, my brother Mark visited for a week in early July. The most exciting part of the visit was set in motion a few days before when Mark proposed to his girlfriend Melissa. We are thrilled for them and are happy to welcome her into our family. As an added bonus, she has 2 kids - Tiana and Elijah who are nearly 13 and 10 respectively. These 2 were absolutely wonderful with my kids and are incredibly well mannered and polite. We are excited to grow the extended family!

Once Mark and crew arrived, there was lots of Seattle sightseeing to do as the kids hadn't been here before.

Elijah, Uncle Mark, Melissa, Tiana at Pike Place Market

Top of the Space Needle - Elijah, my mom, Mark & Tiana

My kids are always asking when they'll have cousins so now they will!

All week, we'd find one of the kids being super sweet to one of my kids - here's Elijah reading Maggie a book about princesses no less

Maggie really wanted Tiana to paint her nails

Nana & Bumpa had us all over for dinner so the boys were playing Wii