Noah vs Wild

Okay, I knew Noah liked Man vs Wild but now that he is trying to do some of the things the guy from the show does, I am thinking I need to limit his viewing of the show. Today Kendall and I were sitting in the house reading. Noah had come in and asked if he could use the lighter, he seemed very excited, so we said NO! Then Emma came in with this little grasshopper. She told us Noah had caught it, ripped it's head off and wanted to eat it! Kendall didn't want him using the lighter to cook it, cause then it would taste like lighter fluid. So they brought it inside and cooked it on the stove.
Headless grasshopper being cooked on the stove.

Emma showing me the grasshopper Noah has caught.

Emily's visit

My niece Emily came for a visit this week. She lives in Olympia. We don't get to see her as often as we like, so I thought it would be fun to have her come visit for a few days. She is a year older then Emma, but they are both about the same size. I never grew up around any of my cousins and really don't know them. I don't want that for my kids and feel it's important that all the cousins get to know each other. Emma and Emily get along so well. They are getting to the age where they want to do "girl stuff" and so Noah kind of gets left out. But it has been fun having her here.
It's been really hot here so the kids spent Monday afternoon playing in the sprinklers to keep cool.

Then they came inside and Emma and Emily played dress up with the princess dresses.

Then today I took the kids to forest park to play in the water park. They had so much fun and were able to keep cool. There were so many kids at the park today, I think every day care center and kids' club decided to come here today!

Daniel wasn't so sure about this. He mostly stayed in the shade on the grass with me and ate all the string cheese and sandwiches I made.

Emily enjoying the water.

Forest Park also has a little petting zoo. The kids got to see rabbits, baby cows, pigs, goats, chicks, and ducks.

Daniel loved watching the noisy chickens!

I was a little nervous about taking Emma here. Last year when we came here she screamed the whole time and wouldn't walk around cause she was so terrified of the animals. But she did great and even pet the animals.

Emily was so cute, she would go up to each animal and say "oh, he's so beautiful!!" I think that was her favorite part of the day!

Daniel LOVED the baby chicks! He spent almost the whole time standing in front of their cage!

Daniel thought it so funny that this goat was on the table. He would just point at it and then laugh. We take Emily home tomorrow afternoon. It's been nice to have the kids off playing so well the last two day!

Camping

A couple weeks ago we planned to go camping as a family. I got sick with a bad cold the day before but thought I could just tough it out and go anyway. The day of the camping trip Kendall and I decided it would be best if I just stay home with Daniel and just rest and recover. So he took Noah and Emma camping. They were so very excited to go camping and I think it was a nice chance for them to spend some time with just Daddy. Kendall said they didn't hardly whine at all and were really good. (So my question is why do they whine ALL THE TIME with me? I never give in to their whining!)

There was a hammock set up, but it had a hole in it, Kendall said poor Noah got stuck!

Noah was trying to build a rock bridge that would cross the whole river! Kendall said he didn't get to far.

Emma enjoyed throwing rocks into the river.

They came home hot, tired, and very dirty, smelling like a camp fire. But they had a great time. Daniel wandered the house in the morning calling out their names looking for them. He was not use to being the only child in the house and needed a lot of my attention. But I did get a lot of rest and made a quick recovery!

Noah- The Photographer

Recently Noah has been stealing the camera and takes a bunch of random pictures of just about anything! Here are a few of his latest pictures:

This one cracks me up! I think he was trying to get Daniel in the picture too, but only ended up getting the top of his head!

Close up of Emma while eating a chip, with her hair in her face.

He told me he took this one cause Daniel's hand was so cute when he grabbed a chip.

The Zoo

We had the opportunity to go to the zoo recently. My friend Amanda is learning American Sign language so she can communicate with her niece better. Her class was going to the zoo and would be learning all the different signs for the animals. She invited us to come along. The kids were very excited to go and I was excited to learn some new signs. I have been trying to teach the kids a little bit of sign language as part of home school. Noah picked it up so fast and remembered all the signs better then I did. It was a long hot day, but we had fun and learned a lot!

Noah LOVED the snakes! I think it was his favorite part of the zoo. It was a very warm day so most of the animals were hiding in the shade where we couldn't see them.

The kids and I sitting on a big alligator statue (only you can't see the alligator in the picture).

Noah and Emma outside the monkey cage.

Mana's Visit

We have some changes coming into our lives soon. My Mom is moving up here the middle of August and will be staying with us for a little while. She was up visiting this past week and looking for work. We are so excited to have her closer. Can we say free babysitter! Yea! (Just kidding mom).
My Mom (Mana) with the grand kids.

Mana, Emma, and Emily making silly faces!

Noah wanted us to take a picture of him making a silly face too!

Family Visiting- Kayak Park

On Saturday my sister Jessica, her daughter Emily and my brother Joshua all came up for a visit. We took advantage of the sunny warm weather and went to our favorite place, kayak park! We packed a lunch and then let the kids play and wear themselves (and us) out.

These two girls were so darn cute the whole weekend! Emily is a year older then Emma, but they are the same size, both have blond hair and look just like they could be twins.

Daniel, doing what he does best....eating of course!

Daniel discovered the slide and went down it for the first time ever.

Emma and Emily were inseparable the whole time. Usually it's Noah and Emily playing together and Emma gets left out, but it was the opposite this time. Poor Noah was having a rough time by the time the weekend was over.

Emma and Emily splashing in the water.

My Jessica and Joshua brought up their dog and he really enjoyed the water!

I love this picture, the dog had just come out of the water and started shaking the water off right onto the girls!

Emma and Emily playing in the water. Can you tell what Emily wants to be...

Daniel loved squatting in the water, it was sure cold!

Daniel was a little puzzled about the little waves crashing over his feet! He just stood there watching and wouldn't move.

Noah had big plans for uncle Joshua! There is usually a little log cabin type fort made of driftwood and Noah wanted to make it bigger with the help of my brother, and Kendall.

When we got to the spot it was all taken apart and so they had to start from scratch.

It was hard work building the fort! Those logs were heavy!

It was a long day for little Daniel who fell fast asleep on the way home.

Hiking With Friends

Kendall had a 3 day weekend so we decided to take advantage of it and do something different. My friend Amanda told me about a place she called the ice caves that are about an hour from our house. It's a little over a mile hike round trip and an easy trail for kids. So Friday we decided to go check it out and Amanda, her husband Chad and their kids came too.
The view was so amazing! I love the mountains!

Here we are happy to be out of the car, eating a little snack before the walk to the glacier. Everyone is in good spirits so far, it's a little warm, but that's okay.

Break number one, still in pretty good spirits. Emma is starting to tire but Noah is still going strong! He was very excited to go on a real hike. I have to pause in the story of our day to tell you about Noah's new fascination with a certain show, called Man Vs Wild. It's basically about a man named Bear (who names their kid Bear??) who shows you how to survive in different situations in the wild. Noah likes the fact that I get all grossed out when he eats things like yak eye balls, and drinks animal blood. But anyway...it is an interesting show and Noah LOVES it. When we started out on the hike Noah kept saying things like "Wow, this is just like on Man vs Wild" There was a group with a guide and the guide was showing the group about how you can eat certain plants, one being leaves from an evergreen tree. Noah wanted to taste it so he could be just like Bear, until we reminded him of how he is very allergic to pine trees.

Noah, Emma and Abi taking a rest, we are almost there, who knew 1/2 a mile could be so tiring?

Emma was happy to finally see our destination. We could feel the cooler air blowing off the snow and ice and it gave us new energy to reach our destination.

The light reflecting off the snow was blinding!

Noah went exploring and found a little ice cave (just like the ones in Man vs Wild, of course).

We had fun on the ice and snow and then headed back home. By this time we were all hot and a little tired. Emma thought we were the meanest parents ever because we wouldn't carry her down the hill. She whined half way back down the trail, till I sat her down and told her I would leave her there if she didn't stop. It took me walking away for her to think I would really do it. So the rest of the way was peacefully quiet.

Almost done!

Noah found this tree and just had to check it out!

We made it! And I didn't even have to leave any kids along the way. After the hike we headed for home and stopped by a little soda shop and got the kids ice cream. It was a long hot day, but so fun. I've decided our kids are in need of more exercise as an easy mile hike nearly did them in!