Jetty Island 2012

We had to make our annual pilgrimage out to Jetty Island this summer.  We decided to give it a try while Scott's family was here.  The really fun part was that my brother Nathan and his family were here at the same time!  So, we had an enormous group!  We were hopeful that our run of bad weather jetty island trips had come to an end.  Earlier in the week, it was sunny and hot.  Unfortunately, Friday morning - not so much.  But, we persevered and got ready to go!

Jackson was super excited!  Grandma had given him a super hero cape! He was ready to go - cape and all!

Here we are piled in the car!

Here's Sarah and her youngest Benjamin.  He's about 2 months younger than Kate.

Me and Kate on the ferry ride!  You can see Nate and Shae in the background.

Adam couldn't decide if he should take his long pants off or not.  It was probably the coldest it's ever been in all the years we've gone to jetty island.  I'm not sure what Daris is doing here with Nate and Shae's youngest - Eli.

Megan - ready to play in the sand!

The kids found this great fort down the beach from where we got set up!

Megan in the fort

Sarah and Benjamin trying to keep warm with Grandpa.

Adam shed his warm clothes.  Not sure why!

A few crazies braved the water.  Here's Carman (Sarah's husband) and their oldest Emmalynne, giving it a very cold shot!

Laura and Sarah huddling together in the fort for warmth.

Megan and Talia (Nate's daughter).  These two are about 6 months apart in age, and they were so happy to find each other!  They are both pretty surrounded by boys!!

Jackson eating some graham crackers - still wearing his cape!

Me and Kate trying to stay warm.

The gray, cold day!

After about 2 hours, we decided we were done!  We've never been chased off the island before, but it was just too cold!  So, we hoped on an early ferry boat back to the cars.

A few of us rode on the top of the ferry.  Here I am with Zac.

 Jackson sitting next to me!

Jackson with Asher (Nate's 4th)

Adam, Noah and Talia (Nate's kids)

We were sad that our Jetty Island trip was a bust!  It was just too cold and windy to stay on the island.

So, we headed back to my house, got the kids cleaned up and dropped them all off at my moms and all the adults went out to dinner at Scott's restaurant (he had to work that day, so he didn't make it out to the island).  We had a fun time eating pizza and laughing together!  I really love Scott's siblings!  It's so fun to have married in to such a wonderful family!  

Tongue Tacos!

After playing frisbee golf, we headed back to Brian's house.  He wanted to take Laura's boys out to try tongue tacos at a restaurant by his house.  The menu didn't sound too appetizing to me, but we decided to join them on their adventure.  Brian lives in West Seattle and within walking distance of some fun places.  So, we walked the couple of blocks to the restaurant. 

Jackson was tired!  Brian was nice enough to give him a shoulder ride!

Megan and Jackson waiting for their tacos!

Kate and Grandma waiting for their tacos!  (she must have been teething!!)

Giving hugs to her brother!

 Still waiting!

Mmmm - tongue tacos!

True to his nature - Jackson tried the tongue tacos - and LIKED them!  He kept asking for more.  Someone even caught him on video asking for more tongue!  It was super funny (and a little gross!)

He ate all the leftovers!

I think the concensus was that the tacos were ok.  I didn't bother trying them.  I don't think I could get past the thought of what I was eating...   Food is always and adventure when Uncle Brian is involved!

Frisbee Golf

Scott's family gets together every 2 years for a family reunion.  We were lucky enough to get to host it this year!  Scott's siblings are spread out - 2 in North Carolina, one currently in Texas, then Scott and one brother here in the Seattle area and his parents are in Illinois.  So, it's nice when we all have an excuse to get together every 2 years.  It was so fun to have Laura and Sarah and their families join us here in Seattle.  We missed Jason, but he is taking some classes through the national guard in Texas and couldn't get away.

Since Laura's family had to come from so far away, they come a week before the reunion, and we did some playing in the area.  They stayed with Brian, but we tried to meet up with them a few times.  The first time, Brian took us took a park in South Seattle (or Burien - or somewhere down there!) and introduced us to frisbee golf!  Adam LOVED it! 

Here's the crew of golfers.

It was Zac (Laura's 2nd boys), Brian with Jackson on his shoulders, then Jared (Laura's oldest), Laura, Grandpa, and Adam is in the front.  Megan (Laura's youngest) is off to the side.

They had a little shop at the park where you could buy used frisbees.  I let Adam pick one out and he of course, picked orange!  Here he is with Jared.

Kate having fun while the big kids played.

Kate and Grandma!  (drooly girl!)

Jackson picked out a frisbee too!

Here's some action shots!  Adam had quite the wind-up!

Megan and Jackson wanted to climb this tree.  Uncle Brian took a break from playing to help them out.

Walking to the next hole with Zac.

Another wind-up shot!

It was a lot of fun walking around the park watching them play.  Adam loves his frisbee and once in awhile he'll pull it out and ask to go play again! 

Funny Pictures!

I have been a horrible blogger of late.  I have a long list of events/life happenings to blog about, that hopefully will get done soon.  Here are just a few pictures of the crazyness of life lately...

This was Scott and the boys this past Sunday afternoon.  We have church from 11 til 2, which is smack dap at Jackson's nap time.  Every week we debate about putting him down for a late nap, or just putting him to bed early.  We skipped the nap this week, and once he calmed down and actually sat still for more than 2 seconds, he quickly fell asleep cuddled up with dad.  Adam then crawled over to Scott's lap and fell asleep as well.  Looks comfy - huh!

 The boys love their little sister! Friday morning, Scott heard some noise from Kate's room and went in to find all three of them in the crib playing.  Adam and Jackson were playing with the animals and showing them to Kate, while she squeeled with delight!

 And this is how my baby girl sleeps.  She loves this little pink bear/lovey.  Every time we lay her in the crib, she reaches her little hand out for the bear, puts her other thumb in her mouth, and closes her eyes.  She's just like her brothers, and loves to smash her face into a blanket or the bumper on her crib.  I have pictures of both boys in a similar position.  I'll have to dig them out.

Kate is officially 8 months old today!  She is so much fun!  She has beautiful blue eyes, and a smile that can soften the hardest of hearts!  She refuses to do any moving on her own - still isn't even rolling over much.  She's content to sit in the middle of the floor and have things brought to her and for some reason, willing people are not hard to find.  We've been trying to tempt her to move by placing things just out of her reach, but she stubbornly refuses!  She has perfected folding her body virtually in half from a sitting position and has an incredibly long reach!  She is still sporting two little teeth in that little mouth of hers.  I keep expecting to see some pop out on the top, but despite all the drooling and gumming of anything she can get her hands on, nothing has appeared.    We seriously adore this little girl and are so happy to have her in our family!
We are looking forward to a double reunion of sorts coming up in the next two weeks!  Scott's family (minus his brother Jason and fam, which we are bummed cannot join us), will all be diverging here starting next Monday.  We've got a week of hanging out in the area, followed by a week at Lake Pend Orielle near Coeur d'Alene planned.  At the same time, my brother Nathan and his family, along with my Grandparents will be arriving to spend some time as well.  Tiffiny is flying in for a weekend (so the entire Conrad  clan will be here) so we can do some family pictures.  It promises to be a fun filled two weeks!  I add it to my list of events to blog about!! 

Fireworks!

We had a great big BBQ to celebrate the 4th.  We've had several friends ask if we were going to do it again - Scott's smoked ribs have been in high demand!  So, we decided to go for it.  We invited 8 families, thinking that several of them wouldn't be able to come.  Turned out that there was only 1 family that was going out of town for the 4th - so we had a crowd!  Luckily, the weather was nice enough to be outside.  We had lots of good food, and had so much fun eating and talking and playing!  There were lots of kids and lots of running around and playing.  It was great fun!

When it started getting dark, a few people left, and the others stayed for the fireworks.  Jackson enjoyed the show with the head phones...

 I spent a lot of the evening inside with Kate - she didn't really enjoy the noise - so I didn't get many pictures.

We did have to do the roman candle line up, which was a hit with friends who hadn't come before.  Here, my mom and I are lighting the fuses at the start of the line up.

 And here's Jackson participating - with dad's help. 

 The line up...

We really enjoyed celebrating our coutries independence with lots of family and friends!  That's the best way to celebrate!

4th of July parade

It was fun to be home on the 4th of July again this year!  The Terry family invited us to the Edmond's parade.  They do a kiddie bike parade first, so we decorated bikes and then headed to downtown...

 Scott made some fun head stuff

 Jackson had just gotten his new balance bike a few days before the parade.  He did an amazing job riding it!  He loves his new bike!

 Kate enjoyed the ride in the stroller.

 Buddies - waiting for the parade to begin

 And more waiting...

 And more waiting...

 Finally - they were off with the crowd.

 There were tons of kids on bikes!  Adam was so funny to watch.  He couldn't ride very well because it was so crowded that he couldn't really pedal.  About half way through, he started waving.  He would hold on to the handle bars with one hand and wave with the other, then quickly switch hands.  We got it on video, but once again, I can't get videos to go from my phone to the blog...  Here are a couple of pictures.  You can see his hands out like he's waving...

 After the kiddie parade, we headed back to a spot the Terry's had saved for watching the parade.  Here are a few pictures of what we saw...

It was a fun way to start our 4th of July, and something we will plan on doing again!