The Giant End Of August Post

Well, we said good bye to the family that were here visiting,

the birthday's were all over, and

now it was time for a little family VAY-CAY!

We hopped in the car and booked it on up

to Deception Pass for a little camping adventure.

Here we see Mikey assisting Daddy with tent set-up.

"I love camping!  I love camping!

Oh, wait a minute.  That's not right.

I love marshmallows!  I love marshmallows!"

Not so fast, missy.

Dinner first.

"Whaddaya mean you didn't bring the parm?"

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Double mmmmmmmmmmm.

(We did end up eating marshmallows that night before we went to sleep.

Never fear.  I'll have Marshmallows: Round 2 pictures below.)

Because Katie had to leave her sword and shield at home,

she fashioned a new weapon using some

local sea weed.

Dah-dun-dun-dah!!!!

"Fortune and glory, kid.  Fortune and glory."

We spent all morning exploring the beach

and climbing on the rocks and driftwood.

After lunch, Little Man (with the help of Mommy's company) collapsed for a

nap in the tent.  Huzbend and Katie went off exploring.

When they came back, it was quiet time 'cause Mikey was STILL

asleep.

Katie busied herself

with a princess coloring book.

Huzbend busied himself with a nap.

After dinner that night, it was time for MORE MARSHMALLOWS!!!

Honestly, isn't that really why people go camping?

The next day we said goodbye to Deception Pass,

but not before stopping at its famous landmark.

The Bridge.

Here we are on the bridge.

You can walk across it.

It is high.

And scary.

This is what it looks like from far away.

Yeah.

You can walk on that puppy.

Camping fun was done.

On to the next adventure.

The AMUSEMENT PARK!!!!

First up, freezing cold water rides!

Whoooo-hooooo.....brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Marshmallows are to camping

as ice cream is to amusement parks.

With the ice cream polished off, it was time

for some rides.

We picked this boat on purpose.

You'll know why if you read the name on it.

Katie was tall enough to do a lot more rides this year.

Here she is experiencing "tea cups" for the first time.

Mikey wanted to hit the big rides too.  But no luck.

Just too small.  He had to stick with the lame-o kiddie rides.

"Can't this thing go any faster?  I

think I might RUN faster than this, Mom."

We did get to go on a ride that got you up high.

Mikey liked it.

With all the adventuring done for the week, we decided

it was time to chill at home.

If this doesn't scream rock star, I don't know what does.

This is what happens when you eat chocolate

Easter bunnies in the summer.

Next up it was a trip to the country fair.

Katie is REALLY into rides now.

The kids also fell in love with this calf.

We almost had to take it home with us.

Katie and Mikey spent about 30 minutes petting and talking to it.

"Mommy!  Wook!  A bwack cow laying in da grass!!"

As you can see, we spent a lot of time looking at cows.

All that cow gazing can work up an appetite for dairy products.

It was time for a little frozen treat.

Chocolate ice cream!!

(Well, really it was frozen yogurt.  It's the only thing 

they had in soft serve.  It's an allergy thing.)

You would think that we would be all adventured out by this time.

Nope.  Not us.

We were (actually, I should say Mikey was) invited on a "Potty Chart Reward Boat Ride".

We hopped on a ferry with our pals

Logan and Sienna (and their parents too).

Before we departed, little Baylor joined the party.

What a beautiful PNW day.

We got off the ferry on the other side and

sat down to have a nice

picnic dinner.

The kids had a great time running around like crazy.

Sienna and Mikey got to have some alone time too.

Phew.

What a month it was.

Mikey was so tired that one day

he took a matching game to nap with him........

......and ended up with turnips stuck to his head.

East Coast REPRESENT!

Granma, Aunt Kelly, Joey and Sophia flew on over for a week long visit.

We did the park, the zoo, the birthday party and

just plain hung out.

It was nice to watch Katie and Joey pick up where

they left off from the last time they were together.

It was also cool to watch Mikey insert himself into their games. It's only

a matter of time before little Sophia gets in on the action.

Here are some picture highlights......

Mi coche es su coche.

Peekaboo, we see you!

The Three Musketeers.

And here is their future d'Artagnan......

"Excuse me. Um. WHO are you and WHY do you

keep sticking that flashy thing in

my face? Don't you know that I have sensitive skin?!

Pish-posh! West coast. Hmmmph! Such amateurs."

We saw lots of animals at the zoo.

The favorites being bears and monkeys, of course.

They're your favorites too, right?

This thing that they are holding is a grizzly bear paw print.

I think it was as big as Mikey.

Can you guess what the other reason to go to the zoo is, besides

seeing cool animals?????

"ICE FREAMMMMM!!!"

Oh.

And a ride on a vintage carousel.

You forgot that one didn't you.

Most of the vacation was spent saving the kingdom

from various nasties.

Katie, what is best in life?

Katie:

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you,

and to hear the lamentation of their mommies.

Joey:

That is good. That is GOOD!

BRING IT!!!!!!

After all baddies were dispatched it was time for some cuddles.

All good warriors love babies.

Thanks for coming to visit us!

Katie's FIFTH Birthday!

Katie had been planning her birthday party since 2010.

She laid it all out for me.

"I want my birthday party to be at "the bouncy house place" and I

want to invite all my preschool buddies.

I want my cake to be a Lady Sylvanas cake.

I want Lady Sylvanas on it and I want purple frosting and chocolate cake."

So it is written, so it shall be done.

YEEEEEE-HAAWWWWWWW!!!!

Here are Katie and Cousin Joey taking a quick break from all the

crazy jumping action.

The kids weren't the ONLY ones

having fun......

It was time for one last slide before heading on up

to the party room for snacks, cake and, of course, presents.

Katie picked her favorite snacks to serve at the party.

Pirate's Booty, Cuties and juice.

Yum.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, a woman that should need no introduction,

the leader of the Forsaken of Azeroth, the Banshee Queen herself.....

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner!!!!

Only respectful cheers and applause please.

Cat calls will be answered with the thud of an arrow piercing your

puny mortal chest.

It was an ugly cake. But we hit all the marks:

Lady Sylvanas, check.

Red velvet cake, check.

(Totally unplanned drippy, creepy, undead looking) Purple frosting, check.

We hit a few extra marks as well:

White chocolate skulls and bones, check.

Edible green slime in cauldrons, check.

White chocolate Horde insignias, check.

Neon green steps up to dais on which to worship her evilness, check.

So, it wasn't what I had imagined the cake to look like.

But, I guess it didn't matter.

Katie loved it and we got lots of comments on it.

One mom stated that it was "refreshingly morbid".

Awesome.

This is what it looked like when it was all said and done.

Then it was on to presents.

Katie got to sit on a giant inflatable

throne.

She decided to share with

a decidedly unsafe amount of friends.

The presents from her friends were great.

We went from this sword below.....

....to her first Barbie and everything in between.

Then it was time to pack it up to head home and open

even MORE presents, this time from family.

Ariel dolls, a beautiful Ariel nightgown, art sets,

a Princess electric guitar, new pink sandals and all sorts of stuff.

She had quite the haul.

With the help of a very talented friend

we were able to give Katie her

very own replica of Lady Sylvana's cloak.

Again with the awesome.

To top it all off she got her very

own baby Murloc.

Meet Gurky.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE!!!!

He's 2!!!!

A while back I asked Mikey, "What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?"

He said, "Blue. Blue cake. Blue pizza."

Okay. Not sure about the blue pizza, but I could do blue cake.

It helped that I had an assistant.

Well, not so much an assistant as a "lick the

peanut/tree nut/egg free cupcake batter girl."

"Official Pre-Bake Taste Tester" would be a good name for her.

With a little help from the internets for some advice on

coloring cake batter, I was able to come up with

these beauties.

SUH-WEEEEET.

Then I whipped up a batch of quick blue-tinted butter frosting and swirled it on top.

I was so proud.

Best lookin' batch of cupcakes I ever made.

We had a nice little play date party.

It happened to be at the same park where we had Katie's 2nd birthday party.

It's a great park for that age range.

One of the cool parts of the party was watching Katie play with

a friend of hers knowing that they were at the exact same park 3 years ago.

Hannah has a little bro in the same

preschool class as Mikey.

Here's Katie and Hannah in 2008.....

......and in now, 2011.

A good time was has by all. There was lots of swinging, sliding, bouncing,

sand digging and ball kicking.

Katie actually "pumped" herself to a start on the

swing for the first time that day.

Not to be outdone, Mikey wanted to swing on

the big kid swing too.

"Na-Na wear Choo-Choo hat!"

And then after all the action and some snacks it was time for cupcakes!

"MMMMMMMMMMM!"

There was blue everywhere.

As it should be.

After blue CARS cupcake fest, it was time for presents.

Mikey had a lot of help from the resident five and almost-five year olds.

They directed his every move and helped him to

open all of his presents in about 4 minutes.

I'm lucky I got any pictures at all.

After the party we came home and

opened all the family gifts.

THANKS TO EVERYONE!!!

He was SO excited.

For dinner, we went and had Mikey's favorite.

Can you guess what that was?

Then it was home for Birthday Party - Round 2.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, BLUE GUY!