Summer vacations

I have not updated this blog in awhile...we have been busy!! Mostly with fun stuff. We took a weekend trip up to Lopez Island in mid-August. Erik's parents took the kids up on Fri. night (I had a wedding to go to) & then Erik & I came up Sat. morning. We stayed until Tues. It was a WONDERFUL weekend to be on the island, as that is the weekend it was in the 90s here in WA. I don't know what the official temps were up there, but it was hot. Hot enough that all my kids went into the water (which is cold).:) We had a great time!!

This past week we drove down to Eagle Crest in Redmond, OR. This trip created memories, unfortunately, like our Palm Springs trip...SICK!:( We got down there on a Sat. night, & Sun. morning Kellen woke up with a fever of 103.5. This lasted for 4 days. On Monday we were on our way to the swimming pool, & Kaarin threw up in the car.:( She threw up 3 more times, but fortunately that was the end of it. Thurs. morning I woke up sick with the flu, & we decided just to head home early since no one else was sick (yet) & to just be on the safe side. Bummer!!!! I'll make a brief list of the highlights & lowlights of our trip:

Highlights:
*We got to go to a really cool petting zoo, where they had a zebra, a wallaby, pot-bellied pig, goats, alpacas, etc.!!
*Annika & daddy went in the spray park!
*We did go swimming a couple of days...
*We had really good weather
*The kids did great in the car both ways
*All 3 kids slept in the same room, & did a great job!


Lowlights:
*Kellen's fever
*Kaarin throwing up
*There were fires in the area, & the winds picked up on Thurs. & the smoke smell was REALLY strong!
*We were (attempted) scammed by 3 kids who were about 8-10 years old at McD's our first night there...they told Erik they were hungry & had no food at home & wanted him to buy them some food. Erik talked to the workers at the counter who said that was not true, & that those kids were in a lot...she finally came back & talked to them & told them to leave or she would call the police!
*We couldn't take our bikes with us -- we discovered the night before we left that our back rack doesn't work on Honda Odyssey vans...:( Turns out it didn't matter, anyway.
*We spent A LOT of time in our room watching movies.:( Again.
*We didn't get to stop in Portland on our way home to visit our friends Tom & Karin.:(
*Coming home early from vacation, that didn't really feel like vacation...:(

Hello?

Are you there? Yes, I am here...I know! I know! It's been a long time since I've posted anything!! That is partly because we have been SO BUSY (now that the sun & summer have arrived) but also because we haven't really done a lot.:) Does that make sense?! We've really been enjoying our time at home, spending time outside. We've gone to the pool a few evenings, & it has been a blast. All the kids love it -- yes, I said ALL! Kellen has gone in each time, & this last time he only waited about 10 minutes before changing.:)

So, we have a few vacations coming up, to close out August, & other than that just plan to keep enjoying the weather while it's here!

Here are a couple of kid highlights:

*Kellen is using the potty again, probably about 80% of the time we're at home!! This is a big deal. He has still never used any other potty than ours, but we'll get to that. At least he'll use ours. He still, however, refuses to wear his underwear...

*Annika sang the ABC song for the first time today!

*When I put Kaarin in her crib for nap or bedtime, she pats the rail & says, "Da done! Da done!" Yeah. Nice try, sweetie, but you can't be all done if you haven't started yet!

*Annika has been working hard at using the potty, & has even gone #2 once!:) She isn't quite ready for underwear, she still has too many accidents.