legos

Great Binny and Grampy bought the boys their first set of real Legos (aka very tiny itty bitty plastic blocks) and they were thrilled! Elliott is getting some new teeth in so photo below pretty much sums up the day :) The Legos did help distract him a bit and Nick is so excited to have something other than Duplo to build with. We spent the afternoon playing with toys and eating good food like salmon, dark chocolate and ice cream. Pretty much a typical visit to Binny and Grampy's house! Oliver remembered everything from last time we were visiting so it was fun to see him get so excited about going to his great grandparents' house.

Oliver was all smiles

scavenger hunt

Nick and I had a great time participating in a scavenger hunt put on by our crossfit gym last weekend. Ten teams of four competed in a 90 minute, approximately four mile hunt. Oliver gave us our team name Bucha, which is short for kombucha. We came in sixth and were able to complete the mandatory tasks even with the boys in tow. Here are some photos of the goofy task we had to complete.

Ready to go!

Team Bucha, just before the start

first task was getting the whole team in a paddle boat

then we played at the playground

and all fit under an umbrella

took prom pictures with strangers

took a picture in front of the "now playing" list at a theater

I climbed a tree

played thumb war with a stranger (okay, so she is actually my neighbor, I cheated a bit on this one but I didn't know she would be at Green Lake)

chicken fought in front of a lawn bowling park

took a photo in front of an official zoo sign (upper left)

three of us hung from rings

I had to kiss a stranger over 70

finished!

blueberry picking 2013

We made our annual trip to Bybee Farms yesterday to pick blueberries.We had a fantastic time and I actually got to partake in the picking a bit more since I wasn't wearing Elliott and watching after Oliver as much. It was really hot in the bushes and you can see in the pictures below that Oliver quickly took off his shirt. The boys did great! Elliott picked his fair share and was probably more focused than his big brother, who proceeded to talk his way through the picking. Oliver was so busy telling us what a good helper he was, or how he wasn't a good helper, or how he picked so many blueberries and a few minutes later how he hadn't picked very many, that his bucket remained pretty empty for a while. Then he thought it would be fun to hide unripe blueberries in our buckets, among other shenanigans. In the end, I think he did end up picking at least as many as he ate. We came home with 20 pounds, in just about 90 minutes of picking! We've enjoyed eating many and sharing them with our friends and neighbors.

video: july 2013 fun

I finally had time to edit a few video clips I had took last month. Most of them are from our camping trip though there is a clip of the boys giving Nick a bath, and Elliott singing "motor boat, motor boat, go so fast".

camping in Darrington

We had a wonderful time on our four day camping trip to Darringon last weekend. My friend owns property that backs up to a campground so we had the perfect spot. Dense, lush forest, two acres fenced so dog and kids can run wild, river on the property and a five minute walk to the bathrooms and water at the campground next door. It was Elliott's first camping trip, and Oliver's first in two years (we didn't go last year since Elliott wasn't walking yet) and the boys couldn't have been more excited! One of their favorite things was "trying" to fall asleep with their daddy in the tent. Two naked boys running around wild in the tent, with Nick laying in there with them lead to many hours of roughhousing and not so many hours of sleeping. I'm pretty sure they are still catching up on lack of sleep. We went on two beautiful hikes and Nick and I each wore a kid when they got tired so we could actually hike some as well. Oliver tried fishing for the first time and didn't seem too disappointed that the trout weren't interested in the piece of hot dog we put on the hook (didn't have bait).

The only downside to the trip was the amount of mosquitoes and bites I received. I came home with over 100 bites (not joking!) so before we go back next weekend, we have some serious mosquito bite prevention research to do. In researching mosquitoes Nick discovered that 10% of the population produces a pheromone that mosquitoes love, and I apparently fall into that 10%. How did I get so lucky?

Anyway, here are some of the pictures from our trip:

nap attempt, cuddling accomplished

all the hiking and swimming wore Miss P out

boy with a stick

relaxing

fire time

the boys built a teeny tiny fire, probably 10" in diameter

on a mission with the shovel

exploring

looking cool!

hiking in the river bed

attempt #2 at fishing

she loved the water!

the river

feet in the river

playing with dirt

boy in the water

Oliver's funny faces

playing fetch

always trying to escape through the fence

beautiful hike to Boulder Falls

mixing mud

family photo attempt

cutest hikers ever!