County Fair

We managed to do the Fair this year in just a few short hours, but we managed to walk thru most everything - the display halls, the animals, did a few rides and had some funnel cake and scones too!


Jamie thought all the animal halls were too stinky so he walked around holding his nose! (And Abby thought the sheep bellowing were too loud so she plugged her ears in there!)

Waiting in line for the ferris wheel. The people that worked the ride were scary, but we did survive!


Jamie was so proud to have gone up so high!

Abby loved the carousel (and Jamie liked it too):



Dividing up the funnel cake:

The fountain park

Well, during the heat wave here, the fountain park was apparently the place to be, I couldn't believe how packed it was! Carrie and Jason wanted a chance to visit Fritz, so we all went there and then took the kids to the fountains. Jamie was sure brave and even stood under the falling water. Abby and Sydney just had a blast splashing around.





A sequence of Jamie getting splashed by the "burst" of water:










What were they trying to do here? Choke each other or what?

Ring-around-the-rosie:


Too sweet, holding hands on the way out:

Swimming and a shower

Carrie, Jason and Sydney came to visit at the beginning of August. They were only here for 5 days but we had a lot of fun with them and the cousins loved seeing each other.

Swimming at the lake the day they got here: both Jamie and Abby learned to swim so much better than they had been after we had so many hot days in a row! Jamie would jump off the dock by himself and swim to the float (with a lifejacket), and without a lifejacket he could jump off the inner dock and swim to shore. Abby learned to just trust her lifejacket and float around, doing a bit of a doggie paddle.





Picking cedar "berries" off the tree and throwing them in the lake (which the girls thought was really funny):



There was a big swimming party at my parents house while they were here and everyone really enjoyed it, especially since the lake was like bath-water (it was right at the tail of the end of the heat wave).
look at all those kids in the water!
Sweet Maribella with some sweet watermelon!

A mini-shower for Carrie and the baby while she was here:

thomas the train visit

We took the kids to see Thomas the train back in July. There were trains to play with and then we got to meet Thomas and then ride the train that Thomas was supposedly pulling (at least Abby really believed it and talked about it for weeks). We went to the Snoqualmie Brewery for lunch/dinner afterwards, they had really good pizza (and beer too I suppose).

The ferry ride:


meeting Thomas:


Riding Thomas:

Great views!

"God must be all out of boys"

That is what Jamie said to me when I told him he might be getting a baby sister and not a brother. Of course, we don't know yet either way, but I thought it was so cute when he said that! Last night, he asked me where God kept all the babies.

Here were our first ultrasound pictures (taken at the beginning of July). The ultrasound was done to confirm the expected due date so that when the C-section was scheduled, there was no chance it could be too early.

Letter to Otto

After reading Frog and Toad's "The Letter" (where Frog writes a letter to Toad that basically says "Dear Toad, you are my best friend. Love, Frog."), Jamie decided that he wanted to write a letter to his best friend Otto. So I wrote what he told me on a piece of paper and I'm pretty sure all the letters are on here, in one place or another. If you look closely, you can also see a picture of a gorilla that he drew near the top.
It says "OTTO, I HOPE YOU ARE MY VERY BEST FRIEND. DEAR, JAMIE."

a silly story

Here's another conversation I had with Jamie recently:
Jamie -"Mom, when I'm old enough to drive, I'm going to have a carseat in my car so that I can drive Otto places, and we can go to the movies".

me-"Otto is the same age is you, he'll be grown up too and can sit in the front with you."

Jamie-"Well, then I'll have a carseat for Abby because she doesn't grow very fast."