Albuquerque Turkey

Here is Abby performing this darling little Thanksgiving song that she learned in preschool:

Wettest hour

I can pretty much guarantee you that the single wettest hour of Saturday was from 10:45 to 11:45 AM. Now, how would a mom know such a thing? I bet you can guess: soccer.

From the moment we left our home until the moment we got back to the van after the game, it poured rain. Emily's coach talked the other coach into playing a 15 minute first half, and I believe the second half was called off when the second girl on our team got mud in her eyes and ended up in tears. The field was a total mud pit!

When we arrived at the field, I wondered why on earth I had thought it was a good idea for Abby to join us on this adventure. But then I had a stroke of pure genius: Carson's stroller and rain-fly. Abby huddled for the entire game inside her own little cacoon. When we got back to the van she was bone dry from head to toe.

As usual, I didn't have my camera with me, but these are Em's clothes after the fact. The only reason you can see any gray on her shorts is that she wore her rain jacket, which hangs pretty long, under her jersey for the whole game. I guess it was a good teaching moment in how we don't melt in the rain!

A glimpse of October

A field trip to the Washington Arboretum with
Great Grandpa Gray:

Enjoying the day's sunshine at a park near the Arboretum:

Holding baby Lane at Great Grandpa Gray's birthday party:

Gracie's 2nd birthday ~ no Bdays go uncelebrated here!

Celebrating Great Grandpa Cooper's birthday:

Halloween night ~ a darling princess, a daring pirate, &

a dangerous dragon :-)

Fall field trips

We've had the flexibility to take numerous fun and educational outings this fall, including visiting a zoo, the Seattle Aquarium, the Arboretum, Fort Warden, taking a library tour, and getting a private tour of Uncle Mike's firestation (for which I'm still kicking myself over not bringing my camera).

Actually, I am seriously guilty of not taking my camera on many occasions this fall. Fortunately, my mother and mother-in-law are excellent photographers and are much more religious about photo-taking than me (something about keeping track of 3 children lowers the priority of having a camera). Also fortunate for us, grandparents are often a part of our field trip outings. What a lucky bunch of field trippers we are!

Here are the girls riding camels and feeding the Budgies (these darling birds that fly right up to you to eat the seeds you're holding) at Point Defiance Zoo:
















Exploring the bunkers, tunnels, forest pathways, and fields at Fort Warden in Port Townsend:



















The Seattle Aquarium:
(pictures to come, if I can get them from whoever had a camera that day!)

More September ~ Making memories with cousins

We had the delight of having Craig's brother, David, and his family here from Virginia in late September. I say "here," but really just mean in the vicinity. They spent the majority of their week in Port Townsend, and we taggad along :) Having just seen them in July ("just" sounds funny there!), it was fun to see them again so soon (bummer being across the country from one another!) All 6 cousins had a great time together. What fun memory-making it was!

(More pictures coming... I've got to bug someone for them - - someone who kept track of 6 grandkids and took photos that week!)

Looking back: September 2009

Labor Day Weekend:
Camping in the PNW. Good thing we cheated and rented a yurt in one of the state parks... it poured rain all 3 nights. But the day weather held out and our kids had a blast!

Our little soccer player:

The first day of school:
Here are Emily (6) and Abby (4) ready for their first day at Heritage.