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This weekend Greg and I had a fabulous 24-hour getaway... with nobody else but us! We left our kiddos in the capable hands of Aunt Jenene, and we snuck away to a bed-and-breakfast on Vashon Island. Vashon is an island right off Seattle, and can only be reached by ferry. We hopped on the ferry, and then immediately were enjoying the sleepiness of Vashon, where everything feels like the clock turned back about 30 years. We planned this weekend a few months ago, and Greg had this crazy fun idea of renting a convertible for the weekend. He did a little research and found a car rental place where we could rent this fun BMW Z-4 convertible... for less than $100/day. We thought it would be a fun splurge, and we enjoyed it so much. My racecar-lovin' hubby had a great time cruising the winding roads of Vashon Island. We were blessed with hot sunny weather the whole weekend, so we had the convertible top down the whole time. It was so fun!! Andrew and Hailey, of course, were crazy about the car, too. Greg took them for a spin that was about 300 yards down the street and back... (don't tell the cops on us...) It was a fun activity. The best part of the weekend was hanging out with my hubby! We had a wonderful time connecting; we laughed, relaxed at the B&B, visited a winery, had a charming dinner in old Vashon town, and watched the full moon rise over Mt. Rainier. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful hubby! Huge thanks to sweet Jenene, too!!
WE SURVIVED!!! We lived to tell!!! What is that, you ask? Our first camping trip! Whew- we did it... and had a wonderful time! Andrew and Hailey had the BEST time, and the whole trip was a success. We just returned from 1.5 days out with our friends, Gwynne and Randy Dalseg, and their twin girls Ellie and Sydney. Our campsite was on the Kitsap peninsula, about 75 miles from here, on the beautiful Hood Canal. We had a great view of the Olympic mountains, and the campsite had a huge grassy field that we loved using. The kids enjoyed the playground in the middle of camp, and used their sand buckets in the sand volleyball court. A&H had such a fun time playing with the other girls, too.We walked on the "beach" but only briefly, as it was full of big rocks and oyster shells. The grown-ups enjoyed a few games of Rummikub, a long game of bocce ball, and tossing the frisbee.Sleeping in the tent was our big worry... but the kids slept the whole night through. Whew... we were lucky. The big tent we have was so much fun, and A&H couldn't have had more fun giggling and jumping around on sleepingbags. We also had a nice campfire, and we had s'mores for the first time. Andrew secretly sat and pulled out marshmallow after marshmallow, and shoved them into his mouth. Little did we know he was doing that!We have to give a huge thank you to our friends Jeremy and Jodi Durr, who kept Greta for 24 hours while we camped. It would have been a much trickier overnight in the woods if we had her with us, since she loves to eat dirt these days. :) Thank you, Durrs! A few quotes from the weekend:1) Hailey: "Mama.... a rock just went down my throat...." Oh, niiiiiice, Hailey!2) Hailey, when changing her clothes into pjs: "Mommy, I didn't spill on my shirt today, so we don't have to put it in the laundry... and I can wear it tomorrow!" (Said about her favorite pink shirt, which was covered in so much dirt you wouldn't believe it...)3) "Andrew, do you like fish?" Drew: "um... I like goldfish. Goldfish crackers."
Hailey ate TWO ears of corn on the cob! She has Minnesota blood, for sure! Here she shows off the butter, salt, and pepper all over her face..
Drew = 100% Boy
My friend Emily did this fabulous project with her triplets, which included making hand/footprints into garden stones. I had to steal the idea! We did it tonight with Aunt Jenene and Aunt Christy's extra help! We have one for each of our kiddos, and we are going to put them in our garden, making a short path up the hill to the corner of our yard where the kids play with the birdbath. It was a fun, (but somewhat messy) project! Look for them next time you are over. :)
Today we took a special excursion.... to ride Thomas the Train!! I just took Andrew and Hailey, and we met our friends Sally and Luke there. We got to ride an actual train... out through the woods and over a big river. The kids loved it! We also did the bouncy house, watched toy steam trains, rode a little railcar, and enjoyed the carnival atmosphere there. I have to admit that I don't normally support the big marketing to kids that comes with popular characters like Thomas the Train, and so the kids know Thomas, but aren't really addicted to him like some kids are. But this event was fun!! 
On Sunday, July 11th, just 3 days before her first birthday, Greta had her Baby Dedication at our church. While we do support infant baptism, we have decided that we want our kids to be baptized in a few years, when they have a better understanding of Jesus and having faith in Him. So, we decided to have Greta dedicated at our church, which includes reading her "life verse" to the audience, and then having a prayer over her. It was very special to have it this past weekend because we had three families in our extended family here, so we felt very suppported.The life verse we chose for Greta is from Ephesians 1:17-19. It reads "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." (I have a video of the whole dedication, which I will post later, but here are a few pics.)
Here are a few more pictures of the Family Reunion weekend last weekend. Aunt Christy holds up the New York plates we gave her, since she is just now leaving NYC to head to Princeton for her PhD!!
Kristin Hicks holds baby Grets - they are second cousins...
Two fabulous Aunties! Jenene and Christy
The Hicks family - Susan, David, and Kristin (dad John missed the pic!)
Greg with John Hicks and Chuck and Jackie Davidson
A year ago tonight, I started to go into labor with our sweet lil Greta. We headed to the hospital about 4am, and then she was born at 1:37pm on July 14th. And wow, what a difference she has made in our lives! We all adore her to pieces...! Happy birthday, sweet baby Gret!So, this last Sunday, we had a "WE LOVE GRETA" party. It, of course, included fabulous cupcakes! You can see the damage caused by chocolate-on-chocolate! We had a fun BBQ party to celebrate our little girl, and it was a lovely day. In addition to celebrating Greta, we had a great FAMILY REUNION this weekend! Greg's extended family (the Hicks, Davidson, and Lang familes) were all in Seattle together for four days. We actually planned this 6+ months ago, so it was delightful to all be together. Some of the highlights included an afternoon of renting boats on Lake Washington, a men vs. women Cranium game (where the good gals won!), BBQs on our deck, and a handful of other games. We loved having all of you here, family!! I have more pics I will post later.
