summer odds & ends

uncle grant & aunt whitney came to visit us in august! whitney had never been to seattle and we always LOVE hosting my brother, so we had fun showing them around town. jack's crush on aunt whitney is still holding strong, btw. :)

the pirate ships were back on lake washington for labor day weekend! we'd seen them sail before but never got to tour them till this year. jack had to wear his pirate gear, naturally. 

our friend rose came back to visit us, all the way from california! these kiddos are so cute. jack used to be outnumbered back when he, rose & emery were just babies together -- but now that there are two little sisters in the mix, he's toootally the low man on the totem pole. can't wait till hudson can help pull the man-weight around here. 

annnnd we got bikes! yay. made it out on our first family bike ride on the very last day of summer, just in time. can't wait for next year (and a car hitch) so we can start exploring bike paths far and wide. 

outdoors in august

time to catch up! august was a fun-filled month for us -- summer in seattle is truly the BEST time of year, and we took full advantage of the gorgeous weather to get outside as much as possible.

the first thing we checked off our summer bucket list: a family hike! we picked an easy, kid-friendly mini hike up to franklin falls, loaded hudson into our hiking backpack and were off. everyone loved it and we only had to stop for a snack break twice. :)

then, we REALLY crossed something off the bucket list by taking our very first family camping trip. i had never officially been camping before and was pretty hesitant to try it, but b was gung-ho and outfitted us over the past year with all the gear we could ever want or need. we drove up to deception pass, a beautiful spot on whidbey island, and set up camp on a thursday afternoon. 

it was so much fun. the boys LOVED our campsite -- jack jumping off rocks and exploring the woods, hudson crawling through the dirt. ;) we cooked dinner over our campfire and walked along the beach. and then.....it was nighttime. let's just say that the whole night part of our trip pretty much sucked. none of us slept, and b & i both ended up sharing our sleeping bags with a kid. other than the night, camping was awesome! we got up bright and early the next morning for a couple more hikes, had breakfast and packed up to go home. 

end verdict: i liked the whole experience way more than anticipated, and poor b came home swearing to never camp again until our kids are way older. overall, totally worth it and i have such good memories from our little family outing. 

the boys and i also got in one final berry picking day over at a farm in bellevue. it was huge, with rows and rows of blueberry bushes -- jack loved racing down the aisles with his little friend. i think it's so cool that i can teach my kids where their food comes from at such an early age. 

we loooove summer in seattle. almost makes those nine months of gray worth it. ;) 

#mondaybeachday

i am trying to stick to a routine this summer (more about that here) and i set a goal in june that we'd hit the beach at least once a week. so far i've done it! between lake sammamish, lake washington and the puget sound there are tons of beaches to check out within 30 minutes of our home, so yes i will gladly take advantage of that opportunity.

i've got my beach routine down to a science -- we leave right after hudson's morning nap, bring a picnic lunch and our gear, and come home in time for afternoon nap. that gives us a good four hours to dig in the sand, swim in the water, and usually play on the playground. (most of the beaches we go to have a nice play area right next to the sand.) jack traditionally HATES water but has really warmed up to swimming in the lake -- i think he feels more comfortable if he can touch the bottom. my least favorite part of beach days is dealing with hudson -- he crawls around and gets super dirty, but is too little to do much else. once he starts walking i think our beach trips will be perfect.

the birthdays 2014

on july 12, jack turned 4 and i turned 30! a big day in the wells house, per usual. my typical rule is that i don't throw jack's party on the 12th since it is MY birthday too, but since it fell on a saturday this year i figured what the heck. i only had one major meltdown (the morning of the parties) and other than that it was pretty good. :)

jack had a dinosaur birthday party! i did a couple fun crafty things for it, like these spray painted dinosaur jars and a dino footprint sign, but it was pretty low key. (at least by pinterest standards -- do NOT search "dinosaur parties" on pinterest unless you want your head to explode.) the biggest hit was letting the kids hammer away at tiny plastic dinos frozen in giant ice cubes. we had a pinata, played some games, ate cake and ended at the park. jack said he loved it, and still talks about his party, so i guess i did my job!

we cleaned up the party, went out to dinner, and then it was MY party time. :) since i was turning the big 3-0, we decided to go a little bigger than normal -- i felt a little silly, but hey, we never do stuff like this so why not? we rented a limo and invited four of our favorite couples to come along for dessert at elliott's on the pier and an improv show at pike place market. (yes, they made me get up on stage.) it was SO fun and we got home at 1 am, reminding me that i am definitely 30 and not able to stay up that late. haha. 

it was a perfect birthday and i'm so lucky that b was fully supportive of both those crazy parties -- he always wants to make july 12th a special day for me AND jack, and he totally came through. yay for birthdays!

4th of july

the fourth of july is always my favorite holiday and this year did not disappoint. b & jack spent the morning at the skate park while i prepped a few festive dishes and listened to neil diamond; after lunch we headed over to our friends' pool to hang out for the day. from THERE we changed clothes and went to lake sammamish to a beautiful beachside bbq. we left that around 9 pm to put the boys to bed (it doesn't get dark here until 10 pm and there was NO WAY these two little dudes were going to make it that late) and listened to our local fireworks show from inside our house. it was a perfect seattle holiday with my little family -- and about 100 friends. :)

more june stuff

just to recap the highlights from last month. we sold my beloved honda accord (THAT is a crazy story in itself but i will spare you the gruesome details) and while my parents were in town we bought a toyota highlander! i was so glad my mom was here to watch the boys because we ended up sitting in a car dealership for like 5 hours and that would NOT have been conducive to children.

anyway here's the new ride. she's a beaut!

then, that next day, i ran my third half marathon! this was the second time i'd run the seattle rock & roll marathon and my time was better than before by five whole minutes...but still, TWO minutes over my goal time. i was not happy. :( it is a scenic course through downtown seattle, along lake washington, past the sports stadiums and up a big freaking hill (or three) at the end. brutal. oh well -- at least i had fun. my friend jessica ran it too so it was nice to have a friend to hang with at the starting line. we didn't run together but ended up crossing the finish just 30 seconds apart!

the start line is sheer chaos -- 18,000 runners!

it was so great to have b, the boys, and my mom & dad at the finish line! (well, my mom was actually there throughout the race -- she dropped me off at the start and cheered for us on a bridge near the end, screaming her trademark "woo woo!" just like she did during my marching band days. :) so fun.)

hudson is 1!

this cute boy turned ONE on june 18! it's true what they say about things going faster with the second kid -- i feel like he was just barely born and now he's already been here for a year.

we celebrated his actual birthday with shots (sorry, buddy) and a little family party at home. he was so excited about his birthday balloons, not so much about his party hat (which lasted three minutes for these photos and then was never worn again).

this guy is the cutest, wildest one year old ever. he's into everything, always climbing onto something or getting himself stuck somewhere he can't get out. i delight in seeing what he picks up on -- he folds his arms for prayer whenever we sit down at the table, he holds cell phones up to his ear and combs his hair with a baby comb, he very clearly shakes his head for no and points for yes. he just barely started saying "eese" when he sees something he wants, too, which i think means "please" and it's just too adorable. he does sound effects whenever a toy or animal catches his eye, and learned how to drive himself forward on our fire truck push toy. hudson is obsesssssed with b, and with jack to a slightly smaller extent. he's getting his four front teeth but has a giant gap between them. we love this boy!

then, that weekend, my parents came to visit and we threw him a real birthday party! i made some pretty hilarious decorations (you can see more of the party over here), we opened a few presents and he got another cupcake. it was a fun and simple day.

happy birthday, huddy! we love you!