Post-Thanksgiving Hike

We woke up to a beautiful day on Friday and went for a hike at Guillemot Cove. We were the first cars there and when we left, there were probably 20 cars there. It was a popular (if wet!) place to be on Black Friday.

The boys were of course in their element and had too much fun getting wet, dirty and finding caterpillars.

Your parents only had small walking shoes on, so Dylan (in your rain boots), these four boys, and I trudged through a small stream to make it to the stump house. We amazingly managed to stay kinda dry.

One of Archie's crazy poses.

On the walk back, we took a service road up since the trails were pretty muddy.

Fun hike!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving!

Your mom cooked almost everything and it was all delicious. They brought up a new roaster as a gift for us and so it was our first time trying it out. Worked great! Leo of course wanted to help.

The kids had fun playing in the house since it was really crummy weather all day.

Here is the Hero Quest with evil Zargon.

I realize now that I didn't get a picture of Archie and Dexter. They were pretty cute playing 'wrestling' and took off their shirts to go at it in the living room. Archie got pinned every time with a big smile on his face.

Here is the table ready to go. Can you see the turkey's hanging from the chandelier? Leo, Eleanor and even Dylan worked on those. We all fit around one table. Ivy napped through and woke up just in time for pie. I believe she did that last year, too. I joked that next year I'm going to put her in a 'My First Thanksgiving' bib.

Caveman Leo ate the only drumstick. I remember fighting with my siblings over the two drumsticks all the time, but Leo was the only one in this bunch that wanted it. He gnawed on it the whole meal. Almost everything on the table was gluten free - tasted great.

The Costco pumpkin pie was really good, but I would argue that the gf pumpkin pie I made rivaled it. I also made an apple pie. The boys loved them all - mostly they just wanted whip cream squirted directly in their mouths. This reminds me of the picture on the Japan Hostess blog I did... remember that?

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. 

We sure missed you being there and mentioned you many, many times.

Treehouse!

Or is it clubhouse? Anyway, guess what I put up - - all by myself - - today. Man, was it hard work. I think they look pretty good, though!

 

Here are some views from outside.

 

And, from inside.

 Hooks to keep them in place.

I decided to have the single window swing up instead of out. What do you think?

This one also has a hook.

It took me a couple hours while the littles napped to get them up. I only cursed your name a few times about not doing them while you were here :) Two of the windows stick a little at about 75% open, so I'm going to have Josh come look at them soon... I just couldn't keep waiting to get them up.

Wilson and I spent some time hanging up the clock and posters inside. I also put another coat of paint on the door and put some hooks for lanterns or hanging flower pots on both sides of the front door. I'll get some pictures of those details soon. It's starting to look almost finished!

Love you babe!

Goodbye, Nimitz

 You're off... again! After we dropped you off, we came home for some lunch and naps. The littles were up around 3 pm so we took off for Port Orchard to find your ship. It was pretty easy to see as soon as we hit the water. The kids were super excited that it was so close. We caught up to it and found a neat little park area to watch it go by. It was really moving at this point. Did you see us waving??

We watched the Nimitz go by and were saying 'hi' to it. After it got past us we started to say 'bye.' Archie got real concerned. When your ship when out of view, he lost it. I think he thought the ship would start heading toward us and you'd get off or something? Anyway, he could not be consoled, poor guy.

A kid who I would guess was about 10 years old came up to me as we were walking away and asked if my kids' dad was on the ship. I said yes and he thanked me for my service. I've never been thanked before so I said I'd pass it along to you and that you'd really appreciate it. His dad chimed in that he wanted to thank me, too, and it was sweet...

At dinner tonight we were talking about you and I said, well, it's pretty cool that Dad gets to sleep on a ship tonight. Everyone else is just in a boring old house. Wilson said, well, Archie gets to sleep in one, too. We all thought that was pretty funny.

Here is Archie in his bed. 'I'm on the Nimitz!' 'Ivy's on the Nimitz, too!' So cute...

Boys were pretty cute in their matching PJs.

Love you, babe.

Halloween!

Halloween (finally!) The buildup has been big this year. I spent the afternoon in Leo's classroom and had a lot of fun seeing him among his peers. His class is full of sweet kids and Leo is definitely one of the brightest and best behaved. That's most definitely my completely impartial opinion... but really, he was great in class.

Here was the whole gang for trick or treating. Not pictured is Nick who dressed up as Buzz Lightyear. Dads are so fun. Please note Ivy's change in costume. The care bear has gone missing and I'm still not sure where it is. Luckily, she was an adorable Elmo!

 Ivy hit about three houses total. Most of the night she spent in the stroller, eating candy....

 The kids were super excited at this baller house that was handing out full size candy!

One house had balloon animals and candy. We walked by it a half hour later and they were still handing out balloon stuff. How long did that take?? Wow.

Going through their loot was no fun at all...

Leo got about 25% gluten stuff and was so matter of fact sorting it out that my heart swelled. It helped that there is the dentist who will buy extra candy, so he is happy to sell some. I think I will try to convince the boys to sell most of it. They pigged out Halloween night, but since then I've been throwing in a couple for lunch and having a few after dinner. How long can that go on? It's got to go.

Archie, Ivy and I stayed out from 6-7pm and Wilson and Leo continued on with the neighbors until about 7:45 pm. They ended up hitting every house in Town's Summit and the streets at the bottom of the hill we got to last year. There was a light drizzle and it was pretty cool the whole time so I wasn't sad to come home and the boys seemed completely satisfied with their time out, too. I was happy it didn't pour on us. Oh, the haunted house on our street was really well done. They had a few friends over to help with the scares and made mulled wine. Anyway, we sure missed you on the big night.Xoxo.

Halloween is coming...

 We've had some fun in the nights leading up to Halloween. Here are the boys dancing in front of the Haunted Mansion projection i told you about. We had a lot of fun watching it.

The Y party was a fun time. I don't know why I like this picture of the boys in character, but I really do. Wilson looks so handsome!

 

The kids sure do have fun running around in their costumes. I love our little care bear...

Just another day in paradise

Besides Halloween, our days have been pretty normal around here. Archie is such a good sport when I see a nice fall tree I want him to pose under.

Isn't he so cute?

 

I found this scene in the backseat tonight after I dropped the boys off for piano. Swoon, Wilson is so sweet.

 Ivy's love for her babies has continued. I guess some things are taught along the way...

I told you about Leo's first $20 bill. He is so proud of it! I'm proud of him. He is such a hard worker on chores and being a helper. This kid is motivated!

Even though Archie is above the age limit for the music class (12-36 mo) I brought him anyway and he had a blast. Ivy was more outgoing with him there, too!

Not much too exciting in this post, but every day life is pretty good around here. Miss you, of course!