Monday, August 28, 2017

More Summer Doings

 We watched the first Seahawks pregame at Adam and Chelsea. It was a really fun evening but then Paige forgot one of her favorite puppies at their house. She realized it once we were pretty much home and so we texted them and Chelsea would be coming our way in the next few days. Paige was pretty upset but we tried to comfort her and say that her puppy was having a sleepover and Nate suggested that Paige make a welcome home sign for him when he comes home. Paige loves to craft so the next day she went all out for her puppy.

Here are all the signs hung all over the house.
 She even drew a big puppy on her bathroom mirror and the little note on the bottom says "Pal I missed you so much. Love, Paige."
 She even set up a little party for when he came home. We were going to have lemonade and some candy treat and for her puppy she made some water and puppy treats out of paper.
 She was so happy to be reunited!
 On the 15th it was my birthday. Nate left a whole bunch of these notes all the places I go in the mornings. It was so cute and made me so happy. Paige and I loved finding them all.
 After breakfast Paige disappeared into her room and came out with this card. She is the sweetest girl and I constantly get cards and gifts from her. 
 Margaret took me and got my very first pedicure. It was pretty nice. I only got super ticklish a few times and had to cringe but most of it was nice and relaxing especially when they massage your lower legs and feet.
 I made some pavlova for my birthday dessert. It was so delicious!
 Anna gave me these beautiful flowers for my birthday and Paige put together the cutest little birthday present for me. She made me a hair bow and another card and as soon as Nate got home from work she had him take her to the store to get me some chocolate. It was a great birthday and family made me feel so special and loved!
Over the past few years Paige has been collected coins in her Cinderella bank. Nate and her are always on the look for a coin on the ground to pick up. Also Nate will find random change at work and bring it home to Paige. We finally took it to a Coinstar to get it counted and we are going to put it in an account for Paige.
 Look at all those pennies! She loved putting the money in the machine and seeing it get all counted.
 A couple of weekends ago we went with Dale and Margaret to Franklin which is a ghost town and a little hike by Black Diamond. It was a beautiful and green hike and there were lots of blackberries to pick as we were hiking.
 Franklin was an old coal mining town and here is the track for carrying the coal.
 There were just a few reunions and then a small area with gravestones. It was fun to try and find the headstones and it was really a beautiful little hike.
 This is part of the coal mine and they have this part where is goes WAY down. Paige enjoyed collecting rocks and then throwing them down the mine and listen very carefully to see when it hit the bottom or the sides.
 Then another thing we did during the weekend was take some lunch to Crest Air Park and watch the small planes take off and land.
 Nate found this little model plane at the thrift store so after we watched the planes we then went to Dale and Margaret's house so Paige could fly her own model plane.
 This past Monday on the 21st was the solar eclipse. We weren't in totality but it was about 95% coverage of the sun. We went to Covington Community Park where Nate was working. Dale and Anna and her kids also met us there and we got to visit and eat some snacks and then very few minutes look at the eclipse with our cool glasses and enjoyed the solar eclipse. It was a really cool thing to see. 
 That evening we went to Lake Meridian and did some kayaking. Paige has been wanting to do it by herself so I went out a little distance and Nate would push her towards me and I would straighten her out and she would paddle back to Nate. She really enjoyed this and it is always relaxing to be on the lake with the kayaks.
 This past week we set up a fort in Paige's room and we decided to leave it up for the week and Paige "camped" under it every night for the week. Paige loved it!
 This past Saturday we packed a lunch and enjoyed eating and playing at a park in Snoqualmie. It is a pretty awesome park and even has a little zip line. We then did some thrift shopping.
 Then that evening we took dinner to Flaming Geyser State Park. It was a beautiful evening and after we were done eating we hiked up to bubbling geyser.
 Family selfie at the little geyser- I love my little family so much!
 Then we just enjoyed exploring along the river and throwing and skipping lots of rocks.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Little Moments

 I love summer and as the days get closer to school starting it is making me wish that I could freeze time and just let these summer days last forever. I am not sure if I am ready for my little companion to be gone all day, every day for school. I love all the little, daily moments with her and here are some of those moments that we have had and enjoyed during the summer.

The school district has a free lunch program during the summer and one of the stops happens to be at our apartment. Paige loves going down every day during the week to enjoy a free lunch. It has helped her try new things and also drink milk everyday which she hasn't necessarily done in the past. 
There has also been some city events that have been held at our apartment complex and one of them was a type of safety fair and they had some hand outs and had police cars, a firetruck, and Paige's favorite part was a helicopter that she got to sit in.
Early in the summer Paige was riding her bike and Nate was shooting a basketball at Dale and Margaret's house and Nate spotted this little baby bunny. It had got hurt by a cat so wasn't as fast so Nate was able to catch it. We all loved taking turns holding it and it was absolutely the cutest little thing ever!
Another thing that Paige and I got to experience for the first time this summer was the taste of a slurpee. I know it is weird that I have never had one before but this summer we have now had about 3 or 4 and these two pictures are from the free slurpee day. 
We love going over to Dale and Margaret's house and just enjoy being outside and enjoying their yard. Pretty much every time we go there Nate and Paige love to go check on the garden and see how everything is growing and we all have loved eating the raspberries and blueberries this summer.
Another thing that Paige has enjoyed doing at Dale and Margaret's house this summer is hammering nails. It is really cute to watch her determination to hammer the nails in.
Nate found this little sewing machine at the thrift store and the day Nate got it Paige spent most of the day sewing away. She loves it and it is cute to watch her desire to sew at such a young age since I didn't learn to sew until I was in college.
Paige loves to do lemonade parties. She has a little tea set and will make lemonade for everyone. On this day she decided to just use already made lemonade from the fridge but spent the time getting a cup for everyone including her doll and made a great of strawberries and grapes for everyone and put them in little cupcake liners. She is so cute and creative!
During the summers once a week there is swimming at the Carters and we have gone and few times this summer and have loved it every time that we have went. I like to visit with the other ladies and Paige loves being in the water. She tried out goggles in the lake for the first time and looked so cute.
Last week it was really hot and our apartment doesn't have air conditioning so we decided to spend the week at Dale and Margaret's house. It was nice to be in an air conditioned house and Paige always loves being at their house and we enjoyed being by the lake and went swimming a few times during the week.

There has also been lots of fires in Canada which led to really smoky and hazy skies. That part is not fun but it made the sunsets really cool and made the sun all sorts of colors as it was setting. One evening we kayaked and watched the sunset and Paige enjoyed an evening swim.
 Swimming with her doll.
 She picked me a flower from a lily pad. She really is the sweetest girl and is constantly giving Nate and I gifts.
I love watching Nate and Paige interact. They have the sweetest relationship and can be so silly together.
 The pretty sunset- pictures really don't do justice. The sun could turn pink and red and you could sit and watch it set without it hurting your eyes.
 One day Paige decided to have an imaginary friend Sally and it was her birthday so she made her a cake out of play dough and the little balls behind the cake are the decorations. She even made a sign for her to be on the chair. When we sang to Sally and she "blew" out her candles Paige would take the little flame off each candle that she created.
 This past week we have gone on a few walks to enjoy the beautiful summer evenings. Paige has found she loves little frogs. We were walking around and could see them jumping and it was so funny watching Paige try and catch them since they are so quick and jump away. She had no fear in holding them which kind of surprised me.

This one was jumping up her warm and she just thought it was so funny. One time one little frog even jumped on her chin and it kind of surprised her but she didn't freak out and again thought it was funny. She is a pretty adventurous little girl unless it has to do with heights then she is just like her dad and is terrified.
 Another awesome thing about summer in Washington in about August it is blackberry season. We love blackberries and Nate and Paige especially do and love just picking and eating them. We have found a few good spots. Yesterday we went on a little hike and there were blackberries everywhere and so we kept our eyes peeled for the really good ones and Paige ate lots of blackberries on the hike.
 My favorite thing with blackberries is having them in vanilla ice cream. 
Only a little bit more time until summer is over and school will begin and we will try and filling up the rest of our summer with some fun adventures and enjoying the sun and the beautiful weather and the little moments together.