Around the House

Like father, like daughter...  Little K is a noisy sleeper.

One of A's favorite things to do at home is put things to sleep.  She will cover up every single stuffed animal or doll that she can find.  It sort of looks a little morbid, like a little cemetery through her bedroom and strewn about in the living room.  There will literally be twenty five individual stuffed animals each covered up under their own small swaddling blankets.  The living room and A's bedroom are often covered in lumps...

If she can corral the boys, that is her absolute favorite.  So in the midst of tucking her animals in, if she catches sight of C or K she will command them to "Yay down!"  (Translation:  Lay Down)  On this day, A was in her glory.  She had both boys raptly doing exactly as she bid.  "C, Yay down!"  "K, Yay down!"  And they did...

In July we went to a going away for two of my very favorite families from the Ops squadron on base.  During the presentations, my friend Lana gave A some lipstick...  A loves chapstick and lipstick, I don't know why but she pronounces it, "sippy."  When it comes to sippy for A possession = ownership.  The instant it is in her hands, no matter where she found it or who it had previously belonged to, she instantly announces, "My sippy!"  Hoping to maintain possession or at least prolong the moment when it will be taken from her, she will often quickly attempt to tuck said sippy down her shirt.  Alas, it generally just falls out the bottom.  Not sure where she picked up that habit...I never tuck things into my bra.  Anyway, Lana was more than happy to oblige A, pretty sure Lana encouraged some of what followed...

You can't really tell in these pictures, but the sippy is all over her face.  She gets some on her lips, but then keeps going, getting pretty good coverage on her cheeks and chin...

Oh Gilcreast and Sullivan Families we will miss you!

Nature Reset

On our way home from the Dirty Dash in Eugene, A reached her travel time threshold. Outside of Oakridge after a very short nap (she does not nap well in the car) she was making incoherent demands, and whining, and sort of crying, but mostly just acting like a newly minted two year old.

I knew we had to reset or the next two hours would be miserable.

So we pulled over for a short hike to Salt Creek Falls.

From the top of the falls, which is very close to the parking lot, you can hike down to the base of the falls.  The boys had to make the hike, but I wasn't sure about doing it with little K and no carrier.  Johan and the boys hiked down, A, little K, and I hiked behind at our own pace with no intention of going all the way.  We were making decent progress on our own, until a scowly faced lady walked past me on her way up.  At the time that she passed us I was carrying both girls, and wearing shoes that were never intended for hiking.  Rather than lauding me with praise, complimenting me on my strength and patience (among other things :-)  )  she frowned at me, mumbled something about me not being able to make it, and pointed out that I should not have my baby on such a steep trail.

Well, humph!  I didn't even want to go to the base, and I really was sweating and pretty miserable carrying both girls, but I just smiled and picked up my pace.  Now I needed to make it, and I am certain I would have...had it not been for the creek that we had to cross.  A got completely distracted and was having so much fun in this little flow of water that my resolve weakened, and little K and I were content to explore the "wawa."

The boys found us at the creek on their way back up, and I had help hauling my girls out of there.

It is always amazing what a little time in the woods can do for your spirit.  After our "nature reset" the rest of our drive home was uneventful, we even had time for some geocaching at a rest stop outside of Chemult.

Dirty Dash

Hey, K, you have something on your face.

At the end of July my sister flew out from DC to run The Dirty Dash with us.  She is about 4 months pregnant BTW.  Great day!  The boys had a ton fun of crawling through mud pits, climbing over walls, and  conquering monkey bars.  Props to Johan who was on the support crew, he stayed with the girls.  He said he has been through basic training, so he doesn't need to play in the mud.  If the Dirty Dash is basic training, sign me up...

My friend Jill and her son J did the race too.  Here are some shots from our fun day:

A, busy collecting rocks with Nana and Hector (dogs: Bo and Mattie too).

These two boys are so much fun!  They love to laugh, to play, and especially COMPETE!  Good sports too.  I LOVE YOU C and K!  Thank you for playing with me!

Washington Visit

The boys and A spent last week in Washington with Johan's parents.  His sister and her two kids were up as well.  Johan, little K, and I joined them for a long weekend.  Johan's parents live on a beautiful lake and have a fun pool.  So the kids enjoyed a lot of time in and on the water.

The boys attended a Geoduck soccer camp at Evergreen State College during their visit.  They liked the soccer camp, but they loved eating at the college cafeteria, and swimming in the Olympic size pool.  The facility was gorgeous.  They had the big pool and right next to it was a 12ft deep diving pool.  I don't know if the boys have ever had access to such a deep pool.  After the first day only Kobe had been able to reach the bottom with the aid of some diving bricks.  Both boys marveled at the pain of the water pressure on their ears.  By the second day though, both were adept divers and could reach the bottom...although the pain remained.

I didn't get to see them at camp until Friday.  When I got there, K was already headed for the shower, but C wanted to show me some of his moves.

Here he is showing off on the diving board:

Some shots of the kids playing on scooters in Oma and Opa's driveway.

The trip highlight was of course being pulled around on the lake.

On Saturday we went to the horse races.  A loved the excitement of cheering, and the boys loved the excitement of gambling!

Here is a shot of big K and little K.  WOW look at those eyes!  I really think that A takes after C and these two have very similar features.  Big K takes little K's breath away.  She loves to laugh, but he can make her have go crazy cracking up...  She can glimpse him walking into a room and that is enough to make her giggle.

A and her cousin A waiting to see the horses.

My boys, patiently allowing me to take a picture between races.

On the way home we pass through Portland.  At 3:00 on Monday afternoon we pass through this...  One more reason to love Klamath Falls!

Johan's mom had a toddler bed for us in Washington, so we brought that home.  Here is A on her first night in a "big girl bed."  It honestly brings tears to my eyes to see her lying there, so big already.  I marvel at what she has accomplished in just two years.

Time flies...my baby girl in a big bed!

Tomatoes

We do not have green thumbs...although we heartily admire those who do; and in another life when we have more time, land, and gardening expertise I am certain that we will have a bountiful garden.  For now we will bask in the success of the five tomato plants that we started in the middle of June when the snow stopped falling and the ground thawed.

Yesterday the boys picked a big bowl full of fresh tomatoes.  They had to pick quickly, A was consuming tomatoes almost as fast as the boys could pick.

"Anya do it!!!"

A is now two, going on twenty-two.  She insists on doing everything herself, from getting dressed, to wiping her nose, to eating her messy pasta.  Usually it is pretty funny and she says it in a sassy/bossy exaggerated tone, that the boys have taken to mimicking.  Actually all of us have picked up A's accent and sayings for a lot of things.  K will nicely hold a door open for me, only to mockingly announce, "K do it!"  In the same fashion that A informs me of her intent to do something herself.  Today in the Costco parking lot I asked A to, "Hold Mama's hand, please."  She quickly responded, "NO!  I hold my hand!"  And she hurried off, holding her own hand.