Final Post

Well, this officially brings an end to the Party in Tukwila. Tomorrow is moving day. We are all packed (mostly) and the new house is ready for us (pretty much). We have so many good memories of this house. As I packed up tonight I was thinking about Nov 1 2003 when my mom and Anton's mom unpacked the kitchen for us while 9-month-old Monica played with the empty boxes. We've had parties, movie nights, backyard volleyball games, bridal showers, thanksgiving dinners, and much more in this house. I hope another family enjoys it as much as we have.

August 12

Today, Jack's real birthday, we played with a new water toy, ate ice cream sandwiches, and had a pajama dance party.

We seem to do a lot of major things on the twelfth of August. Four years ago Jack was born. Last year on this day I had abdominal surgery. And this year I attempted to pack our entire house by myself while 8 1/2 months pregnant. I didn't quite finish the whole house, but got through all but two rooms (basically). I hate to think what we'll be up to next year on this date!

Jack's 4th Birthday Party

Saturday we hosted Jack's 4th birthday party at View Ridge Park. The weather had been sunny all week, then along came the rain just in time for the party. Thankfully we had a large shelter at the park, plus lots of Seattle-born kids who don't mind getting wet!

Happy birthday, little man!

Friday at Camp

Friday we gathered up our kids plus Kyle and Tyler for a day trip to Parsons. We had an awesome time... the perfect break from painting and other such activities.

Julie and her daughter Sara brought out one of their goats and chickens for the kids to hold:

We played on Pier Beach after lunch to stay out of the way of the Patrol Competition.

Sticks, rocks, logs to climb on. What more do boys need to be happy?

We took a two-mile hike up the dump road to the nature trail and had awesome views. In my state-of-excessive-growth I wasn't much faster than the toddlers, but hey-- at least I made it without going into labor. "Dr. McNellis, please report to the clearcut..."

We headed home right after campfire. All four kids were asleep by the Hood Canal Bridge.

Pt. Defiance Zoo and Jefferson Spray Pool

Tuesday we took a much needed break from working on the new house and joined our friends the Rutherfords at Pt. Defiance Zoo. Here are a few highlights from the trip.

These two monkeys were hilarious. The black one was swinging all over the place like he was performing for us. Meanwhile the older white one just looked at him like he was crazy.

We were at the zoo right when it opened and got to see several of the animals get fed. The walrus dude talked to the visitors for a long time about this 330-pound wonder named "ET." I learned more than I ever needed to about walrus care! (But no, I will not be adopting one.)
At the aquarium part, everyone in our group crowded in to watch the sharks get fed. But I was literally so tired that I dozed off on a nearby bench. Pregnancy + moving houses = exhaustion!

We ended the zoo portion of the day with a ride on the carousel.

We next headed to Jefferson Park for a picnic lunch and a romp through the spray pool. Monica, Jack, and Hayden had a blast. Alex was content just to watch the chaos around him.

Henry Moses Water Park

Friday, for a special treat, we joined the Martins at the Aquatic Center in Renton for a picnic dinner and water park fun. Monica was the only one of the four kids tall enough for the giant water slides, but they all enjoyed the lazy river, wave pool, and other attractions.

Northacres Park

Last Thursday I took our kids plus Abigail and Oliver to Northacres Park in Seattle. Meanwhile Sara and Nick were home finishing up packing for their trip to England. I was excited to see this park, which coincidentally is almost exactly in the middle between the Carters' house and our new place. The website promised forest trails, a playground, and construction on a new spray park to be completed next summer. Unfortunately, construction has apparently not started yet because all we found was an abandonded wading pool:

The kids played on the playground (which was pretty old and sparse) and then had a snack. They did like the cool "climbing wall" though.

After that we took a hike on the trail and watched the dogs in the off-leash area. (Kind of like a free zoo!) We only managed to walk around half the park, as the trails were rather confusing. So, not the greatest park we've been too, but maybe the new spray pool will liven up the place next summer.

Late July Pregnancy Update

Well, only one month to go! I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone... and how much there is left to do in our lives before this little guy makes his entrance. Everything is continuing to go well and in general I still feel the best that I have in any pregnancy at this point. Of my current complaints, heartburn is high on the list. Thank god for Pepcid AC! In fact, when we were camping we had a pretty spicy chili for dinner one night and I just decided, why wait for the eruption of fire, let's just take Pepcid WITH the meal! Another issue of course is discomfort, especially while trying to sleep at night. Trying to roll over in bed is like small earthquake taking place. Meanwhile Anton and the cat have so little room, they are practically sleeping on the floor. Anyway, none of this is unexpected and in the grand scheme of things: very little to complain about. We are increasingly excited to hold our new son and begin our lives as a 5-person family.

Daily Swim

The weather has been warm. I am hugely pregnant. And my kids love the water. All of this adds up to the necessity of finding a place to swim as often as possible. Without Hood Canal right off our front porch this summer we've had to be a little more creative with finding places to swim. Yesterday we were guests of the Greaves at their neighborhood pool and had an awesome time.

Today we brought a picnic lunch to Great Nana Josie's (complete with cupcakes!) and then had a swim in the lake.

Day Sleeper

Our kids seem to have opposite sleep preferences. Monica goes to bed early and is up at 6 AM playing in her room. Jack would prefer to babble and sing in his room after bedtime, but then sleep in the next day. This photo was taken yesterday at 9 AM. Sweet little guy... still sound asleep!

Kramer-Martin Campout: Day #3 Mount St. Helens

On our way home Sunday we went to Mount St. Helens National Monument. I'm embarrassed to say having lived here all my life, I have never been there, so we were ALL excited for the trip. It was definitely as cool as everyone says and we had perfect weather for it. Since the mountain blew on Anton's 5th birthday, we considered the trip a makeshift birthday party for him.

Here's Jack and Tyler all ready to see "the bolcano!"

Informational movie about the blast. The kids thought it was so awesome to get to go to the movies on a camping trip.
Mount Adams in the east. The view of the volcano was spectacular and we all found the science and story of the mountain fascinating.

We had a great Kramer-Martin campout. Time to plan next year's adventure!

Kramer-Martin Campout: Day #2 Camp Baldwin

On Saturday we visited Camp Baldwin, BSA. Tim's brother Greg joined us for this part of the trip as well. Tim worked at Baldwin for four years in high school and college. We had a great time and I have now checked yet another camp off my list to visit (I'm trying to hit all the camps in WA and OR in my lifetime). Here are some photos of our visit. The first is the staff dining hall. They do all provisional cooking at Baldwin (meaning the patrols cook and eat in their campsites all week). The idea of having 3 staff meals a day sounds good to me!

Their waterfront area is minimal and I believe the lake is man-made. They don't offer many program items here, but then again, troops probably don't choose Baldwin specifically for the aquatics.

Baldwin has mountain biking and mountain boarding right near their climbing wall. There is a makeshift mountain boarding course set up, which I'm sure is a big attraction for the scouts.

Campfire bowl:

The camp is huge with lots of hills. The kids did very well hiking around, but someone needed a ride from Dad towards the end.

At last, the corral! Baldwin has a horsemanship program with around 40 horses in residence. The kids had fun watching them and feeding them.

As with all my scout camp visits, here's a mini evaluation....

Negatives:

-As many troops have described to me, Baldwin is very hot and dusty, being on the east side of the mountains. Not my idea of a great time, but they can't do much about it.

-As with Camp Hahobas, the camp lacks a central lodge or historical building that encompasses the heart of camp. However, because of winter snow I had to remember that they tear almost everything down in the fall making it difficult to have many permanent structures

-Aquatics was fairly nondescript as I mentioned before. The lake is pretty, but the camp is not particularly scenic. Campfire bowl doesn't have a view for example.

Positives:

-HUGE property that extends to outpost areas. Lots of potential here and it sounds like they make good use of it with hikes and horse overnights.

-The horse program seemed awesome and is clearly a defining feature of the camp program.

-While I'm not wild about provisional cooking, Baldwin clearly has a good system down that works well. I doubt this will be the death of the camp, the way it was at Omache.

-Several interesting programs (like mountain boarding) that will attract older scouts.

-I did not see their staff in action (although some of them looked awfully young compared to what you see at Parsons), but just by visiting we could tell there were elements of pride and tradition that is so important in delivering a quality program.

We were exhausted after our trip to Baldwin. The kids were real troopers and we all left hot and dusty. There was time for one more swim in Trillium Lake before dinner and another campfire.