Eric took Gabe on the Father and Son's ward campout this year for the first time and it was a
success!!! From the precious little I got out of my boys, I gather it was a blast! Here are the details: first of all, the campsite was next to a 20 foot drop off straight into a raging river... um ok, who picked that site? For some reason I can't quite fathom, Eric grimly told me that if Gabe had fallen over the edge, he would have been
gone, like swept away, never to be seen again! It was
that fierce of a river! I suppose the fact that he relished telling me that, means that he was looking forward to a hysterical mom-reaction and I'm proud to say I was acceptably blase about it. (But I don't like to think about it... geez.) Anyway, dinner was cooked over the campfire, mountain man style. Hotdogs on twigs, no less. Eric did have a civilized tin foil dinner, thanks to you-know-who, of course. The hotdogs were actually the dinner of their camp-mates the Allen's but that didn't stop Gabe from partaking. Ironically it was exactly what Eric wanted to bring for dinner (after all what could be easier than a dinner of flame broiled hotdog wieners?) but I prevailed with the tin foil dinner- still easy but slightly more nutritious. The evening went perfectly - by 10pm it was Gabe that climbed up into Daddy's lap and told him he wanted to go to bed!! So Eric took him into the tent, got him in his pjs and tucked him into his sleeping bag. He said Gabe was thrilled with the whole process and couldn't wait to sleep in his bed in the tent! The night went well, the boys were up with the sun, had a hot breakfast that the ward provided, and finished the day with a hike. After the hike Eric told me that Gabe asked where they were going now. When Eric said "home", Gabe asked "home to our campsite?" Our little man was not ready to go back to real life and wanted to keep camping! We have a little camper on our hands, yay! :)
Nyah and I stayed home for some good ole girl time! Nyah really enjoyed this pb and j for lunch. Since I was the only one home to see how funny she looked, I took some pictures so I could share!
After that we took advantage of a quiet and empty house to do some much-needed mopping! We turned on some great music and boogied our way through our chores. Nyah loves when I mop. She is fascinated with the Shark and all that steam it puts off. Whenever I put it down for a minute, she goes over and holds the handle for a "turn". She also will get down on the ground and lay her cheek against the steam-warmed wood. Too cute! It was fun to have my little girl as a companion all day. I know we are going to have a lot of wonderful times ahead together!
I have included these two movie clips too and here is why. First of all I think Nyah is just adorable and love watching her toddle around with that enormous tummy sticking straight out in front! :) I love how it shows her walking over and touching the cord with one pointy finger - so Nyah! It's also fun to see her giggling one minute, then crying dramatically the next, then hugging me the next!! :) But most of all I love how each video shows how affectionate she is with me. She is ALWAYS coming over to hug me throughout the day. It just melts my heart. I love her so much!!
Isn't the coastline beautiful behind me?
I had to add this picture even though Eric is not happy about it! :) He fell asleep on my shoulder on the way there but when I had to lean forward to get something I was surprised to see that he really wasn't leaning on me at all! He stayed completely asleep all slumped over to the side with his head in mid-air - it was so funny I had to take a picture!! 
Now on to the exciting stuff! There are several pods of resident orcas in the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands as well as transient orca whales that come through. The orcas we saw were one of the resident pods (the whale people can identify them by their dorsal fins). It was thrilling to see them. Truly exhilarating to catch the first glimpse of dorsal fins in the distance and puffs of steam from their blowing. Eric and I were glued to the side with our eyes searching the water constantly for another glimpse. The highlight of the trip was when we got to witness an orca whale jump clear out of the water and splash down - it's called breaching. We got to see it THREE times!! It was so cool! Of course I didn't get a picture of that with my wimpy camera. Mostly I only got shots of the big dorsal fins (they can get up to 6 feet tall!) which is just not as exciting to see in a picture as it was in real life! The best I could do was this. Which I'm still proud of! :)
This whale was rolling on the surface of the water - I think that is actually a pectoral fin.
We had lunch at this fabulous little restaurant - it was so fun, check out the backgrounds of the pictures. It was rustic and old world with weathered brick and wood, brass gas lamps, huge sails and rigging, and even a replica of a sail boat at the entrance. (Actually it was the replica used in the movie White Squall. The owner of the restaurant is a famous animal trainer for Hollywood.) I ordered The Ploughman's Platter of rustic bread, cheese, meats, pickled onions, and relishes served on a wooden platter! So cool! 
Finally we headed for home. What a day!!! 
We have some little rhododendron bushes in our front yard that finally bloomed! It's mid June and yet it barely feels like Spring here in Seattle. The weather is getting nicer but it's still chilly when the sun is not out. Anyway, our rhodie flowers are so beautiful, I snapped some pictures of them with my cute kiddies yesterday morning while we were out enjoying a moment of sunshine. Aren't they pretty? I love the how they fade from hot pink to a such a light pink, it's almost white. The flowers are lovely but of course it's those darling kids that make the pictures so sweet! :)
Last Saturday was so beautiful that we just had to hit the beach! We went to the closest ocean beach - about 25 minutes away - and just soaked up the sun while Gabe splashed around with his little buds Brooklyn and Troy. Even though it was a little chilly down by the water and the water itself was downright frigid, he was in heaven. He absolutely loves everything about the beach. Every sparkling rock or fragment of shell is an exciting find and the miniature waves are just thrilling for our little man! It was so fun to just relax with friends, watching Gabe running around having a blast. Even Nyah was more than content to sit next to me playing in the sand. I'm looking forward to a lot of beach days this summer!
This last one is so cute with Troy's serious pose in the foreground. He wasn't going anywhere near that freezing water! :)
Gabe and Nyah are definitely opposites! They truly adore each other and play great together but their little personalities are very different. Gabe was (and is) our cautious little man, whereas Nyah is a whole different story. I actually have to make sure she doesn't do anything crazy - something I never had to worry about with Gabe! :) She is constantly climbing (and falling off) anything within her reach, she taught herself to go down the stairs (and within a few days was zipping down them full speed-see the vid!), she started experimenting how to get herself off our bed, which is quite high, and now does it no problem by backing up and gripping the sheets with her little fists as she drops to the ground.
