Cheese and Alki

We had a jam packed Sunday. We started off our day by going downtown to the cheese sale at the Palace Ballroom. Saturday night there was a cheese competition that Zaide and Nonna went to. The competitors did not want to pack all of their stuff and trek it across the country so it gets sold for insanely cheap. We have SO much cheese. So much is an understatement. Our fridge is filled with what Kip and I estimate to be close to $1500 worth of cheese. We had pizza, macaroni and enchiladas tonight. It's been fun to have people over every night to try and eat all of it! Sunday we're having a cheese party.

After our adventures in cheese we headed off to Alki beach for a BBQ. Madeline took a dip in the sound. It was FUH-REE-ZEE-NG. I got one drop of water on my ankle and felt like I needed a hot tub! Are you shocked that she stayed in for awhile? Allie loved crawling around on the rocks and exploring.

8.29.10

8.26.2005

I wanted to write something sweet and memorable for this five year anniversary but really, these pictures tell it all. What we have created in the last 5 years together has been amazing and I am looking forward to the next five!

So much going on here!

okay, okay so she's standing on a table you think to yourself as you view this post. yeah, but she got up there herself. To get bubbles. What is going on??? Allie took her first couple of steps on Sunday. We were at the gym waiting for Kids Club to open up and there she went, 4 little steps into my arms from Kip's. She was so proud. It was adorable. Today she did it again. Give it another month and this little one is going to be totally DANGER CITY. Although, look again at that picture up above and maybe we can agree that this one can no longer be considered Cautious Carla?

Who wants to come over and teach her the proper method for going DOWN the stairs? We're not having a ton of luck in that department and while Children's Hospital is very nice I'd prefer to not go back.

Oh yes we did...

And it was SO much fun!

we've come a long way from pooping down the slide

Maddie lost her last float today! She's officially a swimmer. She swam the whole 30 minute class with no floats, and even went down the slide. We are SO proud. Right after her lesson we took her to target to pick out a new train for her collection. Seriously, for months we've been saying "when you lose your last float you get a train." And you better believe she made sure to collect ASAP.

Holy Heat Wave!

And loving every second of it!

8.16.10

Under the Big Sky

Saturday August 14th Kip, Maddie, Allie, my dad and myself loaded into a friend's airplane and headed over to Eureka, Montana. The flight was uneventful, smooth and loaded with beautiful scenery.

Kip and my dad sat up front, with Kip flying. I sat in the back, plugged in my ipod and tried my best to ignore Madeline for an hour and a half.

Unfortunately we left pretty close to right after the girls had woken up so neither took a nap on the way over.

We arrived in Eureka around 9:00 AM and were picked up by my cousin Johnny, his wife Vicky, my aunt Theresa (who drove down from Calgary) and my aunt Pat (who drove down from Vancouver) And off we went to join the 50th wedding anniversary celebrations.

It was about 80 degrees over there so we decided to go and cool off in the river. The river was chilly. Allie does not like chilly.

Maddie? She was okay with it.

Allie preferred to sit and throw rocks. Nakedini of course.

Around 4:00 we headed up to get ready for the big party. My aunt Joyce and uncle Tom were having a catered dinner in the barn. A perfect place to take 800,000,000 pictures

Maddie of course found a dirt pile to slide around in. This is Cleary, her 2nd cousin (?) behind her.

And what dirt pile comes without a timeout or two? None that Madeline plays with.

Cousin Bridget snapping away

A few pics of the family. Of course Maddie did not want to leave her pile of dirt to join. (Thanks Bridget for taking pictures!)

I was obsessed with this barn. So beautiful.

Give Allie a table to crawl under and she's happy as a clam.

The flirty head-tilt

Allie and second cousin Ryder

The guests of honor

We left Sunday morning around 630 to head back to Seattle. Allie fell asleep for the whole flight. Madeline in her true style fell asleep with 10 minutes to go. Another beautiful, smooth flight. It was a great trip to Montana and loved seeing all of my family that we don't get to see that often. Can't wait to be under the Big Sky again.