picnic at work

Eric's group at work held their annual picnic for families. The kids have way too much fun at these events. Between yummy food, a bounce house with a slide, a balloon man, blow-up baseball, giant balls, and harness jumping they were pretty entertained.

That sums Layla up pretty well--a pink sword. Let her join the boys in their play, just make it pink.

We had finished reading The Hobbit a few days before. With that on his mind, Kyler wanted the Elf king crown.

Thanks for the fun, microsoft!

These Days

Layla greets me every morning with a smile and a "good morning, I got my grumpies out".

We met Kyler and Kacin's teachers at their back to school night. I just can not believe they are headed into 4th and 5th grade.

I am not ready for summer to end next week. I don't want it to happen yet. Can't we have another month? The only thing that consoles me is the fact that maybe it will mean quieter afternoons for me and some sort of schedule for my littles.

I took each of my kids on a date for some back to school shopping. L got a little shafted though because her "date" ended up being with all the boys, too. We had some time in the morning to run some errands so last minute I took everyone to a store, too and that's when she picked out her backpack for preschool. And all the boys got some things too. I think I owe her an ice cream date now.

Perry has learned to love the trampoline. He asks to go outside and jump everyday. He has gotten good at jumping and landing on his bottom.

Sometimes my mommy guilt sets in. I start to focus too much on the mistakes I make and not enough on the fact that I am trying. Within that trying sometimes I do good and sometimes I completely fail, but the point is I keep trying.  I'm grateful that within families there is so much love and forgiveness.

We stopped and walked around Lake Tye on our way home from Leavenworth. Walking around a lake was one of our things on our list of 101 for the summer. {to be real, that list has caused me a bit of anxiety. Maybe more on that point later.} I'm glad we put that one on the list though. We walked. and talked. And my older boys held my hands as we walked. and talked. And that kind of thing doesn't happen too often anymore since they've "grown up". It was one of those perfectly wonderful moments of motherhood.

It's been 8 months since our adoption. We FINALLY got Layla and Perry's birth certificates in the mail. Not having those birth certificates has held up a lot of other paperwork we need to do. And it's just really nice to see our names listed as their parents on that official document. The only problem being, they misspelled our last name on one of the certificates! Ay yi yi. Hopefully it will be less than 8 months to correct that little mistake.

Pike Place

There is so much to take in at Pike's Place Market--the bright colors of produce, fresh flowers, jewelry, and art. You observe the variety of people, from all sorts of walks of life, browsing, vending, or performing. You get big whiffs of fish, or the much more pleasant donuts, depending on where you stand. You dodge through crowds to get to your sample of chocolate pasta. It is busy, noisy, and oh so fun.

Of all the things to see, hear, or experience, I think we found Perry's favorite one--the street performers. Particularly, the musicians.

Perry watched intently, clapped or sang along at each one.

Then he decided to join their ranks and earned himself 50 cents for his dance and song.

Pike Place from Laura on Vimeo.

An older man, after laughing and snapping pictures of Perry's performance during the music, handed him two quarters. We have ourselves a little performer here!

Another favorite sight of the market is the gum wall. The germ-infested, bright and beautiful gum wall.

Kalaloch

Kalaloch has become my happy place. It is such a beautiful place to relax and enjoy trees, sunsets, sand, and water. And last year it signified that we CAN vacation and camp as a family, so it holds a dear place in my heart for that very reason. And we love being surrounded by good friends while there.

We camped right next to the Dabell's for our 4 nights there. Layla loved having Ava there. The other day Layla included Ava when she named off members of our family. She likes her sweet friend.

And Kacin liked that Dickson humored him for a few min. when he asked for a ride in the hiking backpack when we went on a short hike near the campsite.

Superman!

It was quite windy and chilly our first day on the beach, but that didn't stop anyone from having fun.

The boys tried out our new skim board.

The littles were quite content throwing rocks and running from the waves.

Uh-oh.

Rescued by daddy.

We spent a morning on Ruby beach when the tide was low.

We did some hiking and picnicking in the Hoh Rainforest (and climbing over the bridge to cool down in a creek).

 It was a warm day and we couldn't resist finding a spot along the river to play. Even if we had to jump in in our clothes.

That night, we gathered on the beach for a bonfire at sunset. Now that was a gorgeous view to soak in.

The Schilaty crew

The girls: Laura S., Me,  Mindy (and baby Everett)

The next day, we ended up at a nearby lake. All the boys took "showers".

Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach.

Kite flying

We had a much bigger campsite than last year. Perry did sooo much better than last year, too. He wasn't stuck on the cars this time. We went on lots of bike rides around the campsite. Kyler and Kacin spent a lot of time with the Nielsen's and their cousins. They even had a secret boys spot in the trees near the beach. Layla was a pill to get to sleep at night. We cooked much better meals and were much better prepared than last year. We played games with the Nielsen's, once at their campsite and once at ours. We ate s'mores with oreos instead of graham crackers. We had a great spot for our hammock. I did a lot of reading (well, more than I have been able to do for a long time). And by the end of the week, everything was covered in sand.