Lincoln Park

I guess you could say this little outing has been in the works since April 21st...the day that Maddie got a kite from Pofo.  With our abysmal weather it has remained in it's box (I know, she did not take scissors to the box!) and we've been waiting for a decent day to go and use it. 

After reading in the paper that the tides were going to be really low this weekend and seeing that the forecast had a picture of a sun (and rain...but there was a sun) I thought it would be a perfect time to do a father's day picnic. 


My dad flew down from Whidbey and we all caravaned over to West Seattle. 

They had beach naturalists on-hand to answer any inter-tidal animal questions

Maddie of course touched everything

Allie of course did not. 

Uncle Sam, a future teacher, was quite helpful...to the poor sea creatures that Maddie poked a little too hard.

And then we brought out the kite.  Actually, I lied.  Kip had the kite out almost the whole time.  New, title:  And then we sat down to watch Kip fly the kite.

Awesome dad and husband.  I lucked out.

So did she

Happy Father's Day!

Goodnight!

Much of my day is spent refereeing these two.  It gets old.  Reeeeaaaaaall fast.  But somehow I manage to forget it all (the ear-piercing screeches that Allie's gotten good at too) when they love on each other. 

excuse the grainy cell phone pics.

Behold, some sister lovin'

The Evolution

I honestly can't tell you how long we've lived in this house but I can tell you we will be here awhile.  We love it.  Ever since Kip and I moved in together we knew we wanted to live on the north slope of Lakeridge.  We definitely bought a fixer-upper and while I think I'd be fine never remodeling again in my life, the benefits have been pretty great. 
We started here:

And then in September of 2008 (I think!) we began the second floor addition.

Spring/Summer of 2010 we tore out the crumbling driveway and walkway and replaced it with pavers

(They're not slanted...just a bad picture)

And then I tried to grow a hedge.  It failed miserably.

I was told to leave my hedge alone.  I didn't.  I couldn't.  I tore it out and bought espalier pear trees.

They were an improvement.  But not by much.

So for my birthday, Bob and B-Z got me a "garden design." 

And design we did. 

We have a terraced wall behind the tress now so our grass is level, the trees have since been trained onto the wires on the fence posts and we are happy as clams.

One day left

Only one more school day left...
Then she's off to pre-k, which, for the record, I am totally freaking out about.  I'm not sure I'm ready for it.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

What a difference a little vitamin D makes. Everyone was so HAPPY that the sun was out.  We managed to pack a lot into our weekend.


We played in our tent (we also convinced mama that a nap would happen in the tent...silly mama):

Allie discovered her "dile" shoes.  She is a woman obsessed.

Maddie rides her bike every second she gets.  We have yet to raise the seat for her.

Allie desperately wants to ride just like her big sister.  (I wish she would desperately want to wear (or not wear) undies like her big sister)

Only so many "Maddie, Smile!" pics one can put up with.

Baby sister found the abandoned bike helmet. Fortunately for her big sister did not see this.

Saturday we skipped our naps (not the best plan) and went down to the lake.

Aunt Jamie was there.  She even went out on the boat to check out the new ride.

Maddie could not have been anymore stoked about the boat.

Allie and Jamie?
Well, I'm not sure.

I couldn't decide which one of these pictures was more hilarious.

One of my more favorite pictures of her

Sunday we spent in the yard.  Zaide came over and helped us totally redo the front yard.  Fortunately she has a lot of patience, even though I know she wanted to shoot me a few times.  I learned quite a few things from our master gardener.  Who knew you can't just rip the tops off of weeds if you want them to go away?

Eventually the bushes behind the tree will grow tall enough to hide Maddie's peaches from the street.

I'll post more before and after shots of our big project later. For now I need to go and put some more aloe on my crispy neck.

Take two

Or 300...Kip is smiling in this picture but it isn't real.  I wanted a picture of the two of us to document that we do indeed occasionally leave our house.  Somehow I wasn't gifted with the self-portrait capabilities, or rather I was too gifted.  There were a lot of shots of my face and Kip's ear.  This was my LAST CHANCE before he threw me off the stands at the baseball game.

And lucky us Uncle Chris and Aunt Sophia watched the girls.  Mads and Allie had a bath in a GIANT tub, played with a new Thomas tent that Aunt Sophia was so nice to buy for them, and stayed up WAY past their (and Uncle Chris' and Aunt Sophia's) bedtime. 

Those are Aunt Sophia's undies...yes, she was going commando again and again I failed to pack a pair.  One of these days I'll figure this all out.

Or she will.  That's probably more likely.

Heleyna Holmes Photography

A miracle worker I tell ya...

Maddie had yet another ear infection (with oozing, stinking ears) that we had just been to the doctor for, no dinner and we were coming up on 7:30, and had to "perform" for a photo shoot.  Thank God Heleyna has patience because she definitely needed it with our ragamuffin group.