Other July Stuff

So, you know how I've been talking about summer and stuff?

Well, it kinda disappeared for bit after our trip to Portland.

It got all rainy and cloudy and sucky.

That didn't stop us from getting in the car

and paying a visit to a certain "steamie".

This is what happens when you make an hour

long drive at 2 in the afternoon.

This is what happens when you fall asleep

with your Dad around.

And here is the star of the day.....

"BLUE CHOO-CHOO!!!!!"

Mikey was very excited to see all the "choo-choos".

Katie was not as enthusiastic as she has been in past years.

She was even overheard to say, "Mom, how come there's

nothing for me to DO here?"

But, she powered through - finding fun in the engines

strewn about the rail yard.

"Na-Na ride Blue Choo-Choo."

Thomas did a good job chuffing us up and down the line.

Sir Topham Hatt is right.....He IS very useful.

The next day was Huzbend's birthday.

While he and the kiddies went off to swim lessons in the morning,

I labored next to a hot oven to create this gem of a cake.

The "King Of Our Mountain" cake.

Okay, so it's not the prettiest.

I'm practicing.

I did have fun making the little fondant circles though.

As Huzbend likes to remind me, it's just cake.

It's yummy no matter what.

This is just a silly picture of a silly little

person I know.

Not one to be outdone in the silliness department,

Mikey had to get in on the action too.

Remember how I was talking about the rain?

Well, rain brings slugs. And lots of them.

Katie has found a new passion - building slug homes for wayward slugs.

Here are a few of her patrons:

"AWWWWWW. Aren't they cuuuuuuuttteeeee?"

Building slug homes is all well and good.

Most of the time it happens right before I make lunch.

Which means I have to call the kiddies in to wash their hands in order to eat.

Katie came in the other day and ran up to her bathroom to wash her hands.

The next thing I know I hear crying and panic.

"MOM, I CAN'T GET THE SLUG SLIME OFF MY HANDS!!!!!"

She was right. The orange slick was NOT coming off her hands.

So, for those of you who are thinking of taking up the slug home

building profession, here is the secret to removing massive amounts of slug slime.

Get some salt. Dump it on the slime. Wait a minute or two and then rub

it off with a dry washcloth. Then wash with soap and water.

Works wonders.

Katie loves her "sluggies."

I Hate Nuts

This has nothing to do with the post, but I wanted to share it.

This is Katie's free-hand Ariel.

Me so proud.

On to other not so great things.

I took Mikey for his allergy testing today. He's allergic to Peanuts and Tree Nuts. Again, with the life threatening. He'll need to have an epi-pen wherever he goes.

At least we're prepared to deal with it. It's not like we were feeding him nuts on the sly when Katie wasn't around. Everyone eats the same in our house, 'cept now we get to be paranoid about two kids instead of one.

This is not doing anything good for my worry lines and my accumulating gray hairs.

One more thing. Before he goes to sleep, Mikey has to make sure that Huzbend and I will, in his words, "no let guys or bees in Na-Na's room".

I get the "guys" part. Katie and Huzbend run around pretending to beat up on make-believe bad guys all the time. But the "bees" part I don't get. Who told him "bees" were bad? And why would he think they could get into his room? It's very hard not to scoop him up out of the crib and kiss him all over when I'm having the "guys and bees" conversation with him. It's just another one of those things you just never want to forget.

STP

This past weekend was our annual trek down to Portland.

Katie, Mikey and I took the easy way - by car down I-5.

Huzbend took the hard way - by bike for 13 hours.

Here are Katie and Mikey

waiting patiently for Daddy to arrive......

Huzbend had called to say he was going to arrive around 6pm.

We were set up at the finish line at quarter to.

Then the kids got hungry. I bent down to get them

some fruit leather (dried fruit strips).

I stood back up and Huzbend calls to

tell me he just finished.

Figures.

Good job, Daddy. Here. Have some pre-chewed fruit leather.

Might be a little dirty, 'cause I kinda dropped it a few times.

The post ride meal.

Concession stand pizza

and strawberry soda.

There's no rest for the weary.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, it was time to enjoy the

arctic waters of the pool.

Really. Who puts an outdoor pool in PORTLAND?!?!?

The next day, we headed to the Oregon Zoo.

Nice place. Cuddly bears.

"Na-Na no see frog."

Okay, so I didn't ride 13 hours on a bike the day prior,

but I did have to drive 3 hours in a car with two kids under 6 by myself.

Not fun. I was a little tired too.

Yeee-hawww!

Cowgirl Katie.

Yeeeee-hawww!

Cowboy Mikey.

Cowgirls don't just ride horses, you know...

So long, Portland.

I'm sure we'll see you again next year.....

and the year after that....

and the year after that.

Hmmmmmm.

4th of July

It was a gorgeous 4th of July weekend here in the PNW.

On the 2nd, the sun was out and the temps were perfect for.....

POOL TIME!!!!!

Katie was having so much fun, Mikey

decided that he didn't even need

a swimsuit. Just a diaper

and his hand-me-down Crocs.

"Na-Na fwimming."

Here's Katie doing a little

kiddie pool dance.

That evening, Daddy and Katie had

a camp out in the backyard.

Besides the barking dogs and the early fireworks,

they had a good sleep.

I was excited to get the bed all to myself that night. But, alas, it

was not to be. Mikey woke up just about every hour and I ended

up sleeping on the armchair in his room most of the night.

I'm not quite sure what his problem was, but I did notice the next morning that he had

a bunch of miniscule splinters in his feet from running through the bark

mulch with his Crocs on. Poor little dude.

The next day was Sunday. The sun had disappeared, but

it was still mild and there was no rain.....

So, off we went to find some waterfalls.

Katie and Mikey did great on the hike.

Our picnic lunch.

Is there such thing as hiker's crack?

Finally, it was the 4th.

We headed downtown to watch the local parade.

The sun was out in full force and - gulp -

it hit close to 80 degrees!

Watch out!

During the parade, Katie made a new friend.

Mikey was in fire truck and police motorcycle heaven.

After the parade, we headed back home for a little R&R.

We had lunch, hit the kiddie pool and sprinkler, took naps,

played a little WoW, etc.

Then it was dinner and off to see the local firework display.

Here's Katie waiting patiently.

Here's Mikey munching "hoppies."

(aka bunny crackers)

Right before it got dark, I pulled out

my secret stash of glow sticks.

You know us Moms, we just happen

to carry glow sticks around

for just such an occasion.

Katie and Mikey had a great time.

Katie actually cuddled with Mikey for the entire show and

gave him a constant rundown of what color each firework was

and accompanied them with an "OOOOOOOOOO".

Sigh. What a great holiday weekend.

Summer Is Here!

Well, actually, these pictures are from June.

June in the PNW is not really summer.

Yes, summer does officially come in June, but not here.

June is usually mostly cloudy with rain showers off and on. The temps.

range from the upper 50's to 70 or so.

There are usually only a few genuinely summer-like days.

Here's one such day. I think it was like 60 something out this day.

That didn't matter to my little mermaid. It was......

.......Pool time!

Mikey likes to look at the sprinkler while it's on and play with

it when it's off. But, in his words, "No Like."

On another non-rainy day,

Mike and I visited a park that was home to some farm animals.

Mikey liked the animals, but was more interested in the

tractors he saw and the garbage truck that

came to empty their dumpster.

"MOOOOOOOOOO."

He enjoyed watching this turkey strut his stuff.

"No touch gobble."

After we spent a good amount of time feeding rocks to the

chickens (Mikey says they like to eat rocks),

it was time to head over to the fields to find the horses.

"NA-NA, RUUUUUNNNNNNN!!"

If you were wondering where Katie was all this time,

well, she was at summer camp.

This week was "Adventure" week.

Here's what she was busy doing......

"ARRRRRRRRR"

Huzbend was busy gearing up for his big ride to Portland this past month.

Here we are waiting at a playground for him.

We were "road support" on this particular training ride.

He did 100 miles that day.....all by himself.

Psycho.

An update on the kiddies:

Katie has developed a very strong independent streak.

She wants to do everything herself (which is not always efficient, much to my dismay). She's had us take her training wheels off her bike, she's enjoying summer camp and making

new friends, she's learning how to swim, expressed interest in spelling and growing like a weed.

The problem is that this independent streak also has a downside.

When she doesn't get her way, there's lots of screaming, fighting, and all sorts

of tantrums going on. I don't know what the deal is.

She can be very stubborn and rude one minute and so

sweet and accommodating the next.

It's a little disconcerting and hard to deal with.

Mikey is making great strides in his communication skills.

He can put together pretty big sentences now and seems to pick

up a new word a day. He is all sorts of cute.

Don't get me wrong, he too has his tantrums.

And on a sad note, I found out yesterday that he has food allergies.

I fed him a bite of protein bar - no nuts in it, just soy - and waited.

Within a minute or two, he told me his mouth was "HOT" and started itching his throat. An hour later, he began to sneeze and cough, his nose began to run

and he threw up all over me.

It was almost the exact same as Katie's first reaction.

Katie was there watching it happen and she was so calm and reassuring to him.

She helped get my phone, and some things to help me clean up when I was busy holding him to calm him. I was so proud of her.

So, the next step is to have him tested. I plan to have that done as soon as possible. I'll be sure to give an update.

And so, June-uary, as they call it here, is over.

Summer is (finally) here!

Huzzah!