Celebrating Gretchen's "2nd 20th Birthday"

This is what Vaughn called it and I think it's pretty great. And who wouldn't want to be celebrating their 2nd 20th Birthday anyhow!?
Gretchen wanted her birthday to be spent this year all together at Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, doing what the Wileys do best - camping. They have gone here for years and as kids have many fond memories camping at Fort Casey. So, it is appropriate that Gretchen would want to spend a weekend celebrating here, making more family memories.
We woke up Saturday morning and went to our favorite little breakfast place in Coupeville (you have probably never heard of Coupeville, but it's actually very quaint and a sweet little town) - Knead and Feed. Some of us got breakfast and most opted for the gigantic sweet treats and coffee. We got a marionberry bear claw and a walnut caramel roll. Oh yummy! It was a perfect weekend to be camping also - the weather was perfect. Not too cool and not too warm. The kids spent a lot of time playing in the sand, collecting rocks, making a fort, and our daughter's favorite, throwing rocks in the water. We spent Saturdays afternoon celebrating Gretchen's birthday with a good ole bbq with all the fixins, and a special cake made just for Gretchen. Afterwards we decided to try to walk off some of the fatty goodness we had eaten by walking by all the gun implacements and to the lighthouse, and just walking around and enjoying the views.
We had to finish off both Friday and Saturday nights with campfires and smores (to add on what we had walked off that Saturday).
Other than not getting the amount of sleep I would have liked, it was a pretty great weekend. The kids had so much fun together and we got to do a whole lotta relaxin.

The Daredevil of the Family

Lilah has proven several times that as a 2 year old she really has no fear. She'll climb up to the highest slide and slide down with the biggest smile on her face (and want to do it again). She will go head first in the pool even though she has no idea how to swim. And, she can definitely hold her own at the water park with all the big kids.
Last week during one of our few sunny and warm days we joined Julie, Samson and some of her family for an afternoon in the sun and water. We went to this little water park play area. Like usual, Lilah was ready to go and ran immediately under all the waterfalls and sprinklers. She didn't care that she was completely soaked and water was running in her eyes. Samson played in it a little too, but I think he liked the swing way better. It was his first time and he just swung there with his mouth open real wide (which pretty much means a happy boy). :)

4th of July: Sunshine and a Scrooge!

Last year by 4th blog title was- 4th of July: Sparklers and Scrooges. This year it is almost the same.
We opted for a relaxing day instead of running around and being social. We just got back from our weekend away yesterday, so had some catching up to do around here and were really just to have one more night at home hanging out before Lance heads back to work.
This year it was so very beautiful. We went to the Kirkland parade which was great - and I think Lilah liked it better this year (she was only scared of the firetrucks that were super loud). She even did some dancing with a little 2 year old friend that sat next to us. The sun was shining with a wonderful ~70ish degree weather. Nice.
I am however still a firework scrooge. Yep, I hate them. There is not one thing I like about them other than possibly I may enjoy a sparkler or two. Other than that, they suck. And, they give me ulcers worrying about if they will wake my daughter up. That's the main reason why I dislike them, other than they're just dumb.
The positive part about all of this is that we just recently got annexed into the City of Kirkland, where fireworks are BANNED!! Whoop whoop! Julie joked with me today that I probably will have the police department on speed dial tonight. I may just do that for those fools that break the law and set off fireworks tonight.
So, that's where the "Sunshine and Scrooge" comes from. I will be happy when tonight is over and the sunshine is out tomorrow and all the firework stands go back home. ;)

Leavenworth

We just got back from our camping trip to Leavenworth. It was (for the most part) a very relaxing, beautiful weekend. The weather was perfect. Lance and Erik golfed Saturday morning at Lance's favorite course over by Lake Wenatchee. We spent a lot of time playing outside and swimming at the pool. Lilah is like a fish. She was shivering and shaking and still didn't want to come out of the water. I think she thinks she is like one of the big kids. She just screams with excitement as they're playing and screaming, and then has to copy whatever they're doing (including a face plant in the water). We could hardly get her to come out of the pool. It was a great time with family - we did a lot of sitting around, chatting, eating, and just enjoying our time together. If you know me, it's hard to just "sit around". I'm constantly doing something productive - laundry, blogging, making lists, painting my nails, responding to emails, planning some activity or event, or making more lists. Lance is much better at relaxing than I am. So, it was nice for both of us to just be able to leave work and lists at home for the long weekend.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

We celebrated an early birthday for Mimi with bbq hamburgers and all the fixins, along with some raspberry filled cupcakes. It was a decent day out, so we all played and sat outside. Lilah really loves Mimi and Van (she calls him "Bane"). I think she said hello to Van at least 50 times, and doesn't let him get too far away from her before she starts searching for him. It was a nice afternoon spent relaxing and hanging out, telling stories and being entertained by our daughter. :)

I Really Love Me a Little Shepa

I watched Shepa the other day while mama got to get a massage. It was such a pleasure. He is the happiest little guy. I was hoping for some good ole Shepa and Lilah time, but Lilah took an extra long nap and only got to play with him for about 15 minutes before Julie got back.
Shepa and I had fun though - we sang, bounced, he played and sucked on some of Lilah's old toys. I got to tickle his rolls and just squeeze on him.
When Lilah woke up to me holding Samson in her room she was so excited that she started jumping and squirming in her bed. She was very sweet with him - kissing and hugging Samson, sharing her toys, and trying to tickle him. They were so sweet I had to capture the moments. They are for sure going to be good buddies.

Sandbox

Our newest Craiglist purchase - a new, very used sandbox. Lilah loves it. Here's her first afternoon playing in there. I think that night she had sand in crevices we didn't even know she had.