LABOR DAY ~ Saturday

Saturday we went to the Seattle Aquarium which is built right out onto a pier in the Sound. It is amazing! We had so much fun we bought a year family pass. Actually the family plus pass which means we can take someone for free every time we go. Any takers?? We are planning on lots of friends and family coming with us over the next year! I thought it would be a fun thing to do during the rainy winter. It is just so fun to even be downtown and on the water front. Since we are forced to live away from family right now, at least we are in a great city!

Right when you walk in there is this huge wall of glass with about a million fish swimming behind it. Very cool.The tide pools had to be my favorite part. They were incredible! I tried to get Gabe to touch something but he would just say "NO WAY! NO WAY!" :) Oh well, hopefully he changes his mind eventually because it was so fun to touch the anemones, starfish, and sea cucumbers.Gabe LOVED the jelly fish. That is actually a loop that you can walk through. The jellyfish float around and around. It was pretty neat.

Eric and Gabe enthralled with the river otters. They were another favorite of mine. They would swim furiously around, pushing off rocks and glass as they turned, then would float on the surface and play. I could watch them and the sea otters all day! (Sea otters below)Gabe was pleased to finally find Nemo and Dory! When he saw Nemo he said matter of fact "There he is"! He knows them both by name and loves to point them out in any aquarium we come across (usually at Dr offices).Another absolute favorite for Gabe was the this fake Orca dorsal fin. In fact all the kids seemed to be drawn to this thing. Who would have thought a big plastic spike would get the little guys so excited?! Obviously the aquarium people are pretty in tune!

Sea lions are huge!!

Aren't you all excited to come visit and see the Seattle Aquarium?!! :) We are ready for you!

LABOR DAY ~ Friday

It would be hard to pack more into one weekend than we did over the Labor Day holiday! Eric took Friday off for our plans to head to the Olympic Peninsula for a weekend of camping in the rain forest. Well, when the forecast predicted cold and rain (and lots of it), we reluctantly nixed that idea. But since we didn't want to give up on seeing the national park, we decided to make a day trip out of it. Of course the peninsula is big enough that it would take a month of vacation to just get a taste of everything... so we narrowed down our options to driving up through Port Angeles and on to Hurricane Ridge. Friday was sunny and warm - a perfect day! In fact it was so nice that by the time we got to the campground that we had planned on staying at, we were so mad that we didn't just pack our stuff and try it for one night. (I felt better about our decision though later that night and the next morning as I listened to the rain pouring down!!) It was breathtakingly beautiful. The whole experience, in fact. Wow. There aren't words to describe how gorgeous the Olympic Peninsula is. Hurricane Ridge has panoramic views of the Olympic Mountains to the South and the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the North. We couldn't have picked a better day since it was so clear. I could not stop taking pictures! We were thrilled when we realized how close we live to such a wild and beautiful place. Next summer can't come soon enough! Eric and I are so excited to explore it all!The ferry ride across to the peninsula was an adventure in and of itself! Gabe was thrilled to be on a boat ("it's a BIG one") on the waaaater!

HURRICANE RIDGE

Had to put this darling picture first. There is a story behind those bare little leggies. You guessed it, he peed through his pants in the car. They were soaked! So for several hours he ran around like some half-naked peasant child! Note the deer in picture. I told him to go a little closer for me to take a picture of him so he proceeded to run straight for it with me getting more and more nervous the closer he got. Eventually I was yelling for him to stop and come back, running myself! He got the hint and booked it back to me. Below are pictures of the story unfolding! Plus, some pics of a buck and a doe and tiny fawn we saw too. As you can see, the views were spectacular. Cameras just never do it justice...The views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. That is Canada in the distance.

Snoqualmie Pass

We love Saturdays around here since we get Eric to play with all day! This time Eric and I decided to check out the hiking a little closer to home so we headed up Snoqualmie Pass. The plan was to hike in the morning, then let Gabe nap in the back of the 4runner while we relaxed, then we would build a fire and have tin foil dinners and roast marshmallows and still be home by (almost) bedtime. As you can see from the pictures we got to enjoy some beautiful country. First we did a nature walk so Gabe could hike along side us if he wanted. Then we hit a real trail and hiked for awhile with Gabe in the backpack. It was so beautiful. I love the mountains here! The moss and ferns make everything so green. So anyway, we finally found a spot in a campground to let Gabe nap and make a fire (after talking the camp hosts into letting us trespass for a few hours!) Only Gabe didn't sleep and we were kicked out by 3:30! So we headed home, threw our tin foil dinners in the freezer, and went to BJ's for dinner! It was such a fun family day even if our careful plans didn't work out yet again! By the way, our trusty dog did join us but is in no pictures...there were far too many cool things to sniff out on the trail!

That is the underside of an overturned tree behind us. The root system even had huge boulders embedded in it!Not the safest bridge in the world...at least for little guys!! (Daddy was very nervous!)

Eric found the perfect fort for a little boy! Gabe is standing on a rock in this picture but otherwise, the entire hollow trunk was taller than him inside. Eric and I are obviously kids at heart because we were getting really excited about the possibilities! It was so cool!

our "hiking" adventure

This is a pretty funny story... Eric and I wanted to go hiking again and this time Eric really wanted to check out Mt. Rainier area and Crystal Mountain area. Sooooo we get in the car Saturday morning prepared for our 1 hour drive. Luckily Gabe had his aunt Caitlynn as a backseat buddy. We couldn't leave Denali home from our adventure (she lives for mountain excursions) so we packed her in the trunk! It sounds awful but she has lots of room and we open the little window thing between the backseats for her too. The cozy backseat: Well the drive was beautiful, absolutely. The fact that it was more like 1 1/2 hours was still ok... but then we finally get to a trail head and get everyone out of the car, excited to go when... we find out no dogs allowed! Well, there's no way we can leave her in the trunk and Eric refuses to tie her up somewhere (someone will definitely try to steal her...!) so what do we do? Turn around and head back for the car! Man!! That hike looked like the most beautiful country ever too... grrrr. The path started by crossing over a bubbling stream on a tree trunk bridge then slowly climbing up a mountain full of moss covered trees and feathery, green ferns with the dappled sunlight filtering through the pine needles... just gorgeous. Aaaah well. So we then proceeded to go back down the canyon road to a campground where we all piled out again and went to the bank of a shallow river. Gabe was delighted to throw an endless supply of rocks into the rushing water and the rest of us got to enjoy the fresh mountain air while we followed our little guy's example and had a rock-skipping contest! It was still a fun outing... even though 90% of it was in the car! We definitely made the most of our time together in such a close space though... it was a real party! :) (This video shows Gabe dancing and saying "party!!" while pumping his fists in the air! He was doing it so much better before I started the camera but here is a sampling of the silliness! You may want to pause the music to hear him - go to the bottom to see the music player)

keeps me smiling

My little goofus loves to see himself in the mirror every night after we pull his shirt over his head to make shirt hair! He is always SO excited and laughs so hard when he sees himself! This evening we didn't even get to put his fresh diaper on before he insisted on the mirror!!

Gabe is just so funny - he keeps Eric and I laughing every day! Yesterday there were a few moments I don't want to forget so I'm going to share them with you all! To start, Eric and I stayed up late Saturday night hanging out with friends and then going over our talks for sacrament meeting before bed. Consequently, when Gabe woke up bright and early we were both pretty zonked! Eric went and got Gabe out of his crib then crawled back into bed. This is what I heard next:
Gabe's nasally little voice "NOSE, Daddy! TISSUE!!"
"ok, go get me a tissue and I'll wipe your nose"
scampering of feet...
Eric saying: "Gabe this is way too small! Go get a bigger tissue please" (Gabe is in the habit of trying to use the tiniest scrap of tissue to wipe his nose...I'm talking about no bigger than a dime-size!)
scampering of feet....
Gabe proudly saying: "This a BIG one, Daddy!! This a BIG one!!"
At this point I have to open my eyes to witness him trailing toilet paper across the hall and into the room! It was so funny! My little boy of extremes!

Then later in church we were sitting in Sunday School (relieved that our talks were over) and we had Gabe with us since he has a cold. Well, it was time for the closing prayer and Gabe stood there reverently folding his arms with his head bowed.... until about half way through the prayer he loudly announced "AMEN!" and looks around for a minute before saying it loudly again! Eric and I are shaking with laughter trying to tell him to be quiet. Like a good little boy he obeys and folds his arms again...at least for another 30 seconds before he looks up again and loudly says "AMEN" again!! By this time we were dying and luckily the prayer ended soon after Gabe called it. It was so funny!

Bellevue Botanical Gardens

Gabe and I went to these beautiful gardens with a big group of moms and kids from our ward. It was so fun! The little guys had a blast running around like monkeys and the rest of us had a great time enjoying the gorgeous scenery and talking together. It reminded me of Thanksgiving Point Gardens - a favorite place of mine at home and one I really miss. I can't wait to go again and take Eric.

We drove with my friend Raelynn and her 2 boys. Gabe and Ethan are little buddies now and entertained themselves with biting their socks off on the way home!! They think they are so hilarious!

Beatin' the heat

Actually there is no beating the heat here lately but we have been trying our darnedest!! With record breaking temps of 107 and 85% humidity coupled with NO AIR CONDITIONING... you can only imagine our suffering! There has been hardly any rain this summer too - crazy weather for Western Washington. Right now it is 7:30pm and 82 degrees in the house. The humidity makes me feel like I'm slowly suffocating! Thankfully, I think the worst is over now. Gabe and I did our best to avoid the house during the week by going swimming, over to friends houses (with ac) to play, going to the mall, the library, taking multiple costco trips -even the grocery store was a favorite. I wish I would have taken a picture or two of Gabe sleeping in his diaper with fans going day and night. Poor little guy! The heat was bad during nap time but just awful by bed time (even though we put him to bed later than usual during the worst of it). At bedtime I would fill the sink with cold water and let him soak his feet and play in it for awhile. He would end up soaked head to foot and shivering by the end! It didn't last long but better than nothing! He was a trooper through it all and never complained. He would only say occasionally: "hot in here, Mama"! What a cutie!At a blissfully cool mall in Bellevue with an awesome area called Kids Cove full of stuff for kids to play on. It was PACKED with kids! It seemed like every mom in the Seattle area had the same idea we did!!Last night playing in Cedar River. That felt good!

On Wednesday, ironically what I think was the hottest day, we went to a farm openhouse fun day for kids. It was really neat with all kinds of things to do. Unfortunately we were so hot it was hard to enjoy anything. Gabe was so red-faced I kept pouring the water down his throat and trying to coax him into the shade (to no avail). He did however find a sprinkler and stand in it until his clothes were soaked! His face was like "Ah ha! This feels really good, I think I'll stay!" I had to drag him away eventually. Here he is with his new buddy Ethan - they were both just soaked with sweat but wanted to go, go, go anyway! And a few pictures of Gabe petting the animals. He stands as far away as possible and reaches out to touch for just a fraction of a second and calls it good. You can only imagine the kind of photography skills it takes to capture these moments!

My little tough guy wasn't afraid one whit of that huge, gorgeous horse. He wanted to ride him!!