One Weekend Left...

until school starts! And I am going to have to stop keeping these crazy hours! Although I am sure I will still be up late most Friday nights. Today we hit our errand stores: WalMart, Target, and Costco. All the kids had naps this afternoon, even Julia, since she had been crabby in the stores. I think she needed that nap too. When she woke up, she said she wasn't feeling well. She threw up, just once, and felt better after that. Wednesday morning when I went to get Lauren up, she was throwing up in her crib--just once and that was it--she even ate a little breakfast. I think Julia must have caught that bug. After supper we drove to her school. They posted class lists at 3:30. We found out her teacher is going to be "Mrs. F.", who I had requested, as Julia's first grade teacher recommended for her. Julia said, "Oh, Mrs. F is a nice old lady." I replied, "Old?" And very matter-of-factly she said, "Yes. She has gray hair. A lot of it! She looks like a grandma!" :)

Other funny school-related conversations: While at Old Navy in WA, looking at clothes for Julia. I saw this cute (at least I thought so!) sage/celery green babydoll top. I showed it to Julia, and asked her if she liked it. Her: "No! I don't like that smeary green!" Later I asked her why called that green "smeary". She said because it looked like snot that is smeary........! See why it is better shopping for her online?!

Then, Wednesday, the kids and I walked to the library, through the park. Julia commented to me how next week we would be going that same way to walk to school. I told her yes, and how we were going to have to get up reeeeeally early for school. Austin pipes up from the jogger stroller, "Is that before the sunset, Mommy?" Julia promptly corrected him, "You mean the sunRISE, Austin!"

Here is the second installment of pictures from our vacation. Friday, August 10, was the only day of our trip I took no pictures. It was my mom's birthday, but we celbrated on Sunday night. Friday we did our shopping at the mall, and then that night went to a wave pool in Canada (just across the border). I didn't care to get mall pictures, and wasn't about to take my camera to the wave pool. The kids LOVED the wave pool! Julia and Austin both say they want to go back. That night Alyssa slept over. She and Julia slept side by side on the top bunk bed. The next day the kids played in my mom and dad's yard. They drew with sidewalk chalk, tracing eachother's hands and feet.


Brian played hide-and-seek with them. Here is Austin, hiding.


They gave eachother horsey rides. At one point Julia was riding on top of Austin who was on top of Alyssa. That didn't last long!


That afternoon we went out for lunch at Dairy Queen with Doug and Annette, and returned Alyssa to them. We all went to the Marine Life Center at the Bellingham marina. The kids liked the touch tanks. I wanted to get a picture of Julia holding up a sea creature, but she obeyed the rules and would NOT lift one out of the water!


There was this fish tank with a bubble we could crawl in and see the fish swimming around us.


August 12: This was taken before church. That night we went took my mom out to dinner, with Scott and Kim, and Colleen and Marty, to Outback Steakhouse, as my mom requested. After dinner we stopped at Marty and Colleen's to visit. We watched "Happy Feet" on their huge TV, and it ended up being a late night (as were most on this vacation--that just seems to happen!).


August 13: We went with my mom and dad to Clayton Beach. The tide was very, very low, and we could see tidepools. There were lots and lots of sand dollars on this beach. I don't remember ever seeing sand dollars on a WA beach before. There were big ones and tiny, 1" diameter ones, and every size in between. We saw live ones and dead ones. We saw anemones and starfish.


Here is Austin making an anemone squeeze up around his finger.


A family picture on the hike back to our car, and Julia with her shell treasures she collected.


August 14: Brian wanted to go on a little hike this day. We went to Lake Padden and walked around the lake. The kids got tired, but were excited to see the park's playground near the end of our hike. Lauren wasn't so much tired; she just wanted to explore every pebble, stick, leaf, etc., not keep hiking! Grandpa carried her much of the way.