Beach

A few weeks ago the boys and I went to Clayton Beach with our friends Jessica, Noah, and Isla. It was great fun! Quinn didn't like the squishy layer of seaweed between us and the water but once he got past it, he had fun wading.

Quinn and Noah found a stick and pretended they were a train. Noah was the engine and Quinn the caboose. Quinn is making the whistle sound with his arm in this picture.

Nolan likes sand and Isla likes Sophie.

Family Visits

July was a busy month with family visits. First Grandpa and Grandma visited (Grandpa for only a day :(), then Grammee and Grand Al came, then Rich's aunt Laurie and her family. August is looking to be just as busy with visits from Uncle Dave, Uncle Bill and Heather, and Grammee and Grand Al again! We love having family and friends visit us and the boys love it too (especially Jack).

Grandma has the touch!

Nolan was fascinated with Grand Al's mustache!

Reading a book with cousin Patrick.

Quinn's favorite game right now is "Where's Quinn?" He likes to hide behind his hands, under a blanket, around the corner, you name it. Nolan loves this exersaucer we're borrowing from friends. We love it too! It's nice having a place to put him where we know he out of the way of toddler feet and doggie paws.

It's all fun and games until someone...

Gets a hickey on their chin. We thought it was so cute that Nolan loves to suck on my chin until I looked in the mirror and saw that he gave me a hickey on my chin! I'm a little more careful with letting him do that now.

Beating the heat (ha!)

When it's 88 degrees inside the house, you find ways to keep cool. Today it means hanging out in your skivvies in front of a fan. Jack is one hot dog! Nolan is having a great nap (still sleeping as I type this) with the fan white noise and breeze.

Cabin Fun

The first two pictures were taken at a friend's birthday party on Lake Whatcom. Fun times! The last picture was taken a week or so ago and is such a rarity!

July Camping

As you can see, I'm a few weeks behind in posting :). We went camping over the July 4th weekend- Nolan's first trip and Quinn's third. We like to get out of town for the holiday because Jack doesn't do well with fireworks. Those of you who have been here in late June/early July know this is an understatement! We went up to Silver Lake, a county campground near Mt. Baker. Overall it was a success though we did learn somethings and make mental notes of what to bring next time, like Nolan's own sleeping bag and pad. And more towels. There were some fireworks but they were far enough away that Jack did ok. Rich's death grip on him also helped! Both boys were asleep at the time and we wanted to keep it that way! Here are some pictures from the trip...


Jack took refuge from the sun under the picnic table. Good thing we didn't give him a bath before going on the trip!


A trip wouldn't be the same without at least one poo incident. Nolan took advantage of a time when I had his diaper off. He was pretty proud of himself.

I (heart) Sophie

Nolan is teething like crazy so we got him Sophie the Giraffe (or Sophie le girafe as she is known in her home country). He LOVES her. He goes absolutely crazy chewing on her head, legs, feet, neck, you name it. Jack would love her too if allowed :). As soon as Nolan is done with her, which may be a year from now, Jack will get his turn! I have to say, Jack has done really well with Sophie and all of the other kids' toys.



Rich and Quinn ran a hydro experiment, aka built a water toy, in our backyard a few weekends ago. Quinn had a great time floating pieces of wood down the pipes. Notice how the hose has to come from our neighbor's house because we don't have water hooked up out back. Our pipes burst during the December cold snap we we haven't fixed it yet. Needless to say, our veggie garden isn't getting watered very often!