Ice, Ice, Baby

It has been EXTREMELY hot here in Washington. They do not believe in AIR CONDITIONING unless it is a large store. We are on the TOP level apartment building with the morning and evening SUN. It was over 100 DEGREES today. Needless to say, we were half cooked ourselves come dinner time. Before getting the kids in bed I gave them their usual BATH, but tonight decided to add our tub of ICE CUBES. The water was cold enough to take your breath away to begin with, then came the ice cubes. The kids loved it!!! Thank heaven for Ice makers.

Forks, Washington

This is on the ferry across the sound. It was so cute having them all intrigued with the water passing under them.

For all you Twilight fans, we went to Forks on Saturday. I was expecting a cute little town with nothing to do... it was a not-so-cute town with absolutely nothing to do. It was fun seeing the place spoken of in the book, and I'm sure it would've been better if we found the Twilight tours.

After stopping by the local burger joint we headed to La Push. The beach there was really fun. There was crazy thick fog, and a ton of huge trees on the beach(along with some locals getting high). Mark wanted to go at low tide so we could find some tidal pools, but we couldn't wait around 'till 10pm. We were there around 8pm and Mark was lucky enough to find a starfish on one of the rocks. The kids loved to feel it, and there were tons of crab shells on the sand. Abbi's favorite part was plucking out the eyeballs of the dead crabs.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Our nephew is here with us for the summer, and it was his birthday yesterday. I decided to be gung-ho with his birthday cake delivery. I had a duck sounding whistle, and dressed in a bathrobe, fuzzy slippers, nasty hair, and even threw on a facial mask. He seemed to like it ;] I had fun, all the sales guys had a good laugh, and Brando got a great cake out of the embarrassment.

Weekend Getaway!

Not quite the GETAWAY you would think.... I told Mark that I wanted to go to IDAHO for the week to try and find housing, but he replied with why not go TODAY? That was last Friday and off we went to find our housing in POCATELLO. I have been PRAYING to find something we would be COMFORTABLE with, and in our PRICE-RANGE. I was in DESPAIR after the first TWO full days of driving around and trying to find AFFORDABLE places that fit into a good SCHOOL for Abbi. NOTHING! There are not many good, clean, or even decent places there. We were out to eat LATE and "happened" to have a waitress whose husband is going through the Pharmacy program and they have 4 KIDS. She was an ANSWER to our PRAYERS. She told us WHO to contact for ACCEPTANCE into the program, WHAT schools were the best, and WHERE to find HOUSING. That night we drove around more and FOUND a cute townhome. The next morning we were able to CONTACT them and see the place right then. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! Everything we were wanting; new, clean, fenced yard, cul-de-sac, and a 2 car GARAGE. There are so many BLESSINGS and TENDER MERCIES in our lives. We are TRULY BLESSED!!!!

Thrift Stores have Clearance?!?!

My friend and I love to shop the local thrift stores here. They have a GREAT selection and on Friday they have 50% off a certain color of tag. I think I'm addicted. I can't feel guilty either, when we move back I won't have anywhere to find really cheap clothes for the kids, so I'm taking advantage of stocking up for the winter. SHOP ON!

This trip I found:

a Mudd jacket for me $6

matching pants for the girls from the Children's Place $2

a new swimsuit for Abbi $2.50

Winter shirts for Brooks $1

Strollers (that kept them occupied the whole time) $2

Dr. Martin sandals $6

much needed hangers $.99

Green Lake

We took the kids to Green Lake and rode around a bit in a paddle boat. I think it was quite entertaining. Brooks was trying to climb out the whole time, my legs were burning from the start (I had a big run that morning, o.k., and I'm a wimp) and the wind was against us so we couldn't get anywhere. We had a lot of fun making a memory though. The girls were great at paddling! Mark and I were amazed at how much their little legs could help us out. We love getting out as a family.

Fun on the 4th

We decided to visit Snoqualmie Falls which is only about 30 minutes from where we are. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect. Brooks kept looking up at all the airplanes and reaching towards the falls as if he could touch them. A little unnerving since there was a short fence separating us from a sheer cliff.

We have Jorelle to thank for a great 4th BBQ and fireworks show. She lives close to the lake where they were to have the show so we had dinner and then the kids had fun with sparklers until it was fireworks time. We had so much fun meeting new friends and watching Andrew lite fireworks with a blow torch. Where do we come from?!?! Nothing tops it off like a potty dance while holding a sparkler. Annabelle, you're something else girl. We love ya!!!

The Time Has Come

I finally got the girls in swimming lessons everyday. They LOVE it so much! I love to see how they do things for their teacher that they wouldn't even think about doing with me. Power to their cutie teacher!

CCCCCCourage!

Tacoma Half Marathon

I have finally gotten the nerve to train for a half marathon. I have wanted to do this for some time, but unfortunately there are not many of these held in Idaho. I decided to take advantage of being in a large city and having someone to train with. So in only 4 weeks I'm going to give it my best. I can't wait to see how I do. If I don't fall over dead after, I want to try the Pocatello half on Sept 5th. Maybe I can make better time and feel less nervous for the second. I'd love to keep this up, but I've had a lot of trouble with my knees. We'll have to see how they do for the 11 miles tomorrow. If they don't feel better, I might end up walking the whole 13.1 miles for the race. Wish Me Luck!