Reminiscing of Summer Past

We had an awesome summer in Seattle. Here's a conglomeration of all our recorded summer adventures:

Hiking in Discovery Park

Discovery Park was just a few miles from our apartment and it was beautiful. 530 acres of gorgeous trails that lead to the sound and a beautiful lighthouse. I'm really glad we had a Thayne-less date night (Thank you, Taylor!) so we could hike all the way to the sound. The trails going down to the water are not exactly stroller friendly.

The Olympic Mountains across the Sound

So bummed you can't even see it, but Mount Rainier majestically loomed behind me on the horizon... 

Believe it or not, the scene was even more beautiful in real life

Carkeek Park

We took the kiddos to Carkeek a couple of times and enjoyed hunting for little crabs, anemones, clams, jelly fish, and other sea life in the Tide Pools.

Time with Family

One of our very favorite things about living in Washington is the ability to drive over for weekend visits to Spokane and for the Spokane family to come to us. Here are various pictures with family in Seattle and Spokane

Laine, Tara, and Jill working on teenage-afying Laine's room

Playing with long-lost and very missed Utah cousins

Oh how I've missed this sweet girl! And those cheeks!

Enjoying wide-open spaces. Thayne was outside every chance he had

This is how Tyler likes enjoying the outdoors :) He had been helping my Dad chop down trees for firewood that morning and was taking a well-deserved nap on the swing

One happy boy

Woodland Park Zoo

If I remember right, his pants were fleecy on the inside and just got too hot

Friends coming to visit

Jason and Suzy! Only a week later we would have had a house with space for them to stay

This is definitely borrowed from the wonderful Martha. An awesome weekend with the Ralphs

Another steal from Martha. I forgot my camera that weekend and couldn't leave out pictures of the sweet twins

Lots of Trips to Various Parks

Our Cacoon Babies

Not even the cold could deter them, so we had figure out how to make it work

 Spending Time with Laine

This deserves a special segment. Laine was an absolute angel. She coincidentally came just days after we found out we were pregnant and stayed for two weeks. It seemed like the day I found out our Little Miss was on the way all the symptoms started to hit. Thayne didn't cause any symptoms until about 10 weeks, but Little Miss brought it all at week 6. I was so tired and was having a really tough time keeping up with Thayne. It felt like the one thing he needed was the one thing I didn't have; energy to play. All the sudden his favorite and staple lunchtime meal of chicken nuggets made me want to puke. The thought of making dinner just about brought me to tears some nights, though food was the one thing I REALLY needed and wanted. How does that work? I just felt like my body was spending everything it had on a new endeavor and had very little left over for my daily activities. Then Laine came.

 She kept me going and filled in the monstrous gaps I was leaving. She was patient with me the days I just felt really yucky, and was so much fun on the days we went out to play. We had lots of opportunities to talk and I loved getting to know and love my awesome sister Laine even more. Everyone should be her best friend. She's that cool. By the end of the two weeks, Tyler felt even more adamantly that Laine was the little sister he never had.

Here is a summary of our time with Laine:

The best pizza she's ever had!  

Playing at the park

Laine and Ty tested out the playground equipment and found it satisfactory

Notice Laine takes him down the slide while I swing with him

Laine at the Space Needle

We explored the Bastille Day Celebration downtown

Laine was really excited about the rising bridge (so was I), she felt like she was in Inception

At the Ballard Locks

There were lots of Ice Cream trips 

Visiting the Freemont Troll

Finding cool parks with Siri 

Finding decorated statues

Visiting Pike Place the same day as Will Ferrell 

Introducing Laine to Sushi 

More beautiful parks on the Sound

Showing Laine Snoqualmie Falls and our hopeful future home

Fun walks with cool trees growing on stumps

Shopping at stores we'd only heard of and never seen

An anemone

More finds at Karkeek Park

Laine in ocean water (in the Sound)

Taking Thayne on the Salmon Slide

Pike Place flowers

Legit crab meal, on the waterfront, with bibs

Picnics in the park