Braids

I finally convinced them to grow their hair back for a while. They loved these braids so much, I think they are pretty much convinced. Plus, now they take showers on their own and wash their own hair (with a little help rinsing now and then). Three girls' heads of hair is not quite as overwhelming as it used to be! And still fun (don't hate me, Holly).

One crazy weekend

I got back from Arizona late on Monday night, and unfortunately Derek had to fly to Denver for work on Monday afternoon. He was gone through Thursday night, and then I left Friday afternoon for a conference called, "Fresh Grounded Faith" in Bothell. This bad timing was not planned! However, check Heather's post here for how great the conference was. Sara and I stayed at a hotel in Bothell, then left the conference early on Saturday morning so I could rush back, throw on a dress and drive with the family to Vancouver for a family wedding. We made it to the wedding with about 2 minutes to spare. But we hadn't been to a wedding in so long and I was glad we could make it!

The wedding was on a golf course, and it was just sprinkling when I took these pictures. It pretty much poured the rest of the time. But it was really warm and muggy.

 

Here is Addi a short time later, running barefoot in the rain, chasing bubbles. Whose child is that??

Of course, dancing was the girls' favorite part. I only had my little camera, so these are some of the best pictures I was able to get. Still cute, dancing with Daddy.

And Grandma and Grandpa too.

We stayed in a hotel in Vancouver that night, then drove home in the morning. There was a lovely few hours at home before we headed to meet my sister, Megan and boyfriend Paul for dinner and the Train concert.

It had been POURING down rain most of the day and things did not look good for an outdoor concert at Marymoor Park. We came prepared with towels, raincoats, etc. but amazingly enough the sky cleared and we had the most beautiful night! The moon was bright in the sky. Paul is still getting used to how I take pictures of everything... I'm not sure he knows what to think of me, but he is getting used to it :)

We love Train, and these concert tickets had been Derek's birthday present back in July. I repeat, I did not intend to pack all this into one weekend! But it turned out to be a pretty great weekend.

Arizona

I have been seriously spoiled by some seriously fun travels lately. This is how it goes for me - lots of fun, all at once, then a whole lot of NOTHING for months! I don't mean to plan things all close together, but somehow it just kind of happens. However, all of my other fun did not take away from a great getaway to sunny Arizona with some great friends. I loved how relaxing this trip was, and I so appreciated hours by the pool reading and not worrying about any little people. The 103 degree weather (at times) didn't even bother me, especially since we had such a lame summer and I knew Fall was right around the corner. I couldn't soak it up enough. Add to that shopping, eating, reading a whole novel, playing cards, watching chick flicks, and trying to track down (or stalk) my BFF Becky Higgins, and it was just about perfect. Perfect would have been running into Becky at some of the stores we know she frequents, but it was not to be this time. A few funny notes on the pics below-

*Sara lost the fight to the cactus she is sitting in front of and I got to pick "pokies" out of her backside
*Not sure why we ended up with a number of pictures of Holly and I drinking from our straws??
*Sara and I read "The Help" at the same time on this trip. Kind of fun to read a book at the same time as someone.
* Aren't we good with our self-timers on the cameras? I especially love the one in the parking lot with our shopping bags in front of Nordstrom. Pictures in parking lots aren't nerdy at all:)

 Thanks so much, Andrea, for inviting us and hosting such a great girls weekend!

Addison's first day of preschool

She is only 2 1/2, but since her Mommy is the teacher, Addison gets to start the three's preschool class with me this year. Hailey did the same thing and did two years of the three's class, and it worked wonderfully. I love that they are still with me, but getting to play and do all sorts of fun things for two mornings a week. I think since they are girls, it is a little easier to join a class that is older than them. You can hardly tell Addison is the youngest, and she is having so much fun going to "school" like the big girls.

She insisted on bringing a backpack like her sisters, although there was nothing in it and it was HUGE on her. She also thought she needed a waterbottle and paper, and wondered if I would be picking her up. The highlight was when she called me Ms. Amy at one point during her first week!

Sara and I did little birds this year for our class names.

And here is the whole class lined up after recess:

Once again it hits me, my baby is getting to be a little girl.

Oh, and we appear to have a pretty good class this year - Yay for us!!

Hailey the Writer

Symantha never liked to write much. She loved to tell stories, but all through homeschooling kindergarten, it was like pulling teeth to get her to write. Reading is much more Symantha's thing. Hailey, on the other hand, will sit for hours and write. She tediously sounds words out and has the longest attention span for writing. A few weeks ago, she created a whole book of some of her favorite songs where she wrote all the lyrics out on page after page! It is a crazy amount of writing and she calls it her "Music Book". Here she is working on it:

And this is one of the songs she included, "See See O-Playmate". This is actually one of the shorter ones, but if you know the rhyme, you can follow the words and see how she sounded everything out. I especially love how her "with" is "wif". She missed a couple of lines in this one, but she ends it off on the last line with "Forever more, more, 1234".

I loved the performance she gave for us when she was done, singing each song from her music book. So cute.

Canada, Take 2: Vancouver, BC

Derek and I took the train up to Vancouver, BC for our anniversary on 8/26-8/29.  We spent three nights downtown and fell in LOVE with this place. So much to do, so clean, so friendly, so beautiful.... I warn you that there may be a little (or a lot) of gushing in this post. We could not get over it, and I have to say it was one of my favorite anniversary trips. And that explains why I haven't gotten around to blogging it yet - this is going to be a long one.

We loved the train ride up there. Most of it was right along the water. And I didn't have any problem with motion sickness:)

And here was the view from our hotel window.

It was cool seeing little pieces of the Olympics.

We did a ton of walking and exploring. Definitely didn't need our car, and we had fun making a list of all the modes of transportation we used on this trip: train, taxi, subway, bus, boat, chair lift, tram, zipline, bicycle. I think about the only thing we missed was a plane. This was a very "active" vacation, but there was a great mix of relaxation, as well. 

It rained one morning, but didn't slow us down. There is a Starbucks on every corner and we explored Granville Island that day. It cleared up within a couple of hours, and we got to check out a wooden boat show.

Then, there was our day of adventure. Grouse Mountain is just right across the water from downtown Vancouver, and it feels like you have entered the Wilderness. Here is the view of it from downtown:

And then you have to take the tram up to the main lodge and ski lift area.

There is the most amazing view of mountains on one side and Downtown Vancouver on the other. It was another one of those moments where I couldn't take enough pictures. But I will spare you.

We went on a Zipline course throughout the mountains. It took about 2 hours and I LOVED it. Here we are in our gear, ready to go.

 It was a course of 5 ziplines, and they got increasingly longer and higher. The longest one took around 40 seconds and the fastest one hit around 45-50 mph. I felt very adventurous.

After ziplining, we headed back across the water and rented bicycles to explore Stanley Park. The word "park" doesn't really do this 400 acre place justice. It was so awesome. Beaches, pools, hikes, art work, gorgeous views and a seawall that you can ride around on your bike. I could not get over it and kept taking pictures while riding my bike. That is some skill, let me tell you. I had what they called a "cruiser" for my bike, but Derek would not be caught dead on one like that. Not quite "manly" enough for him:)

Around every corner was something new.

And here I am, riding my bike and taking more pictures.
Like I said, totally safe. Glad I didn't fall over the wall.
But it was worth it!

After our ride, I was seriously giddy. We continued walking, talking, shopping, and eating, as we had done for three days. It was all perfect. And I will now stop gushing. Except for one more little thing - I love hanging out with this husband of mine and love our anniversary tradition.