Saturday, June 27, 2009

C.G. and Grandaddy Were Here

Last week C.G. and Grandaddy came to see us. On Thursday evening Kade answered the door and was so happy to see Grandaddy standing there. He said, "Come on in, Grandaddy!" I think he was trying to figure out how Grandaddy got there without us picking him up at the airport. We always pick up our family at the airport, but this time my Mom and Dad made the drive from Arkansas to Washington to visit us!




Where's C.G.? Well, she had to make a dramatic appearance for Kade's sake!

See, he sure was glad to see that Grandaddy didn't leave her at home.
From this point on, it was all out adventure......

C.G. had gotten Kade a snowsuit for next year and I came upstairs to see what was going on and this is the scene I found:

Kade just had to try on his new snow suit so that he could get ready to go skiing!

Then of course he had to model it for everyone, but before he could do that he had to make sure he had his snow boots on as well. C.G. told him that she didn't get him any snow boots, to which he replied, "I got some in my closet, they right up there, right Mom?" And of course, he was right! We had bought him some snow boots for next year and they were in his closet right where he said they were. (I don't even remember ever showing him those snow boots????)

On Friday we got to go to Fort Lewis for a deployment ceremony for a couple of our friends.

Got there early and had a picnic.


Couldn't get a picture of the entire field of soldiers from where we were sitting but it was pretty amazing. Lots of men and women getting ready to ship out in service to our country.



Ryne was enjoying the festivities.


These are our friends Dan and Amanda and their sweet girls.



Kade liked running around on the parade field after it was all over.


Grandaddy and C.G. remembered a prize they bought for Kade on their journey up to see us......pretty cool hat,huh?


We had a nightly concert series going. Here is Kade with special guest Grandaddy.

Saturday was our Seattle day.

We started out here:

Pike Place Market
We certainly were not alone at the market this day.

There were others wanting to see fish being thrown.....

and no doubt some came just for the free hugs.....

or fresh seafood.....

or maybe they were just there to pick up a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers!
Well, for whatever reason, they were there....they, meanings gobs and gobs of people! Crowds are my Dad's FAVORITE!

Can't you tell?


There were some cool musicians out at the market so we did stop to listen for a minute.

Ryne was cool as a cucumber (where did that saying come from?) hanging out in his stroller. He probably could have stayed at the market just taking in the sights, but the rest of us had had enough.

Next stop: SPACE NEEDLE
If you have been keeping up with us then you know that Kade's most favorite place to go is the space needle. He was very excited to be taking C.G. and Grandaddy to "his spot".


Here's Grandaddy checking out the view of Seattle.

And a shot of Kade with C.G. and Grandaddy at the foot of the Space Needle.

Then it was dinner at Ivar's down on the sound where we could watch the big ferry boats come and go. The kid's menu there come on a diver's mask. It's a good thing they gave us two of those....

One for C.G.

And one for Kade.

Then we stopped for a picture with the sculpture of the sea captain feeding the seagulls.


And we headed back to DuPont....Seattle Saturday a done deal!

Sunday was Father's Day

Kade told Grandaddy on Thursday night while we were having supper, "I got you a red car card, Grandaddy." And Grandaddy finally got the red car card:

Kade picked this one out because it had a red car on it and Grandaddy has a red car in his garage.


And of course Kade had to open his Daddy's gift for him. Tried singing "take me out to the ballgame" for him and really didn't understand why those two pieces of paper were such a good gift for his Daddy. (two tickets to see the Yankees play in Mariners)

Then we all went to church.

It was a good day and Ryne and Grandaddy really seemed to be enjoying themselves!

Monday was "the mountain" day. We headed to Mt. Rainier. Was beautiful when we left DuPont. When we got to the mountain it was very cloudy and quite cold. The views weren't very good but we made the most of it and had a good time anyway.


Kade checking out a display with Grandaddy.

Isn't this a cute picture? Truth is, sometimes Kade really does need this much help to stay on the beaten path.

A pose in front of a section of a really old and really big tree!

The boys and I stayed in the car while Kyle and my parents hiked down to a big waterfall. Kade was asleep and Ryne was ready to eat and I had seen the waterfall before so it worked out great.
Then we went to the visitor's center at Paradise and had a picnic. We planned on an outside picnic but it was about 36 degrees and very cloudy and rainyish so we opted for an inside picnic.
Then we checked out the new visitor center.

Kade enjoyed the displays.

And Grandaddy tried to help him do some telescope looking.

Oh yeah, they still had about 5 feet of snow there and had just gotten 2 inches the night before. C.G. told Kade she would play in the snow with him so off they go.

Trying to get in all the play time he could before Grandaddy and C.G. left, when we got home from the mountain Kade decided he needed to ride his new bike that C.G. got him at a yard sale on Saturday.

So Grandaddy gets him all geared up in his new helmet.

And he's off!
Well, Kade doesn't really do much pedaling yet. He enjoys sitting there and ringing is bike bell while wearing his helmet. If somebody pushes him every now and then he likes that too.
I'm sure it won't be long and we will have a hard time keeping up with him as he wizzes down the sidewalk 90-to-nothing. Thanks for the helmet, C.G.!!

And what was all she wrote folks....

On Tuesday morning, Grandaddy and C.G. were all packed up and heading out. The boys were getting their last hugs and kisses in. We sure did have a great time! Wish it could've lasted longer. That was Tuesday morning and Mom and Dad made it back home last night (Friday) late. What a trip!! Thanks so much for coming!!!


Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!!

Today is Father's Day!!! I'm so thankful that Kyle and I both have incredible fathers. And my baby boys Kade and Ryne have one incredible father, too. It makes me sad for people who haven't been able to experience the love of a great Daddy. I am so thankful that all of us, no matter how good or bad our earthly fathers might be, can experience the love of the Perfect Father! A great big Happy Father's Day to my God, who has given all of us the gift of His perfect love.
I have had the privilege of spending Father's Day with my Dad. He and Mom have been here visiting since Thursday. I will fill you in on our adventures soon.
So, in honor of our fabulous Daddies.....here are some pictures:

Kade and Ryne gave their Daddy tickets to see the Mariners play the Yankees. And Kade sang, "take me out to the ballgame".



Kade, Ryne and Daddy


Grandaddy, Ryne, Kade and Me


Paw, Daddy and Kade

WE LOVE ALL OF OUR DADDIES!!!!!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

For the next 18 years....

Here is a scene from our kitchen just a few days ago. I realized that this is only a taste of my life with these boys for the next 18 years. Not sure whether to laugh or cry? I think I'll choose to laugh!

So Far In June....

We are almost half way through with June now. How did that happen so fast? It is already June 13th! What have the Lewallen's been up to in June?
Well see this cute little guy:

When we got him home from our trip to Arkansas he got to have green beans as his first real food. See if you think he liked them?


Yep, he thought they were yummy. So far now he has had green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. Seemed to really like everything but peas. He's still growing and being loud and busy.

As for Kade:

He has been busy playing with his new friends. While we were in Arkansas we got new neighbors that moved in across the street. They have two little girls and Kade has become big buddies with them. Naomi and Meagan have been over several times to play and we see them almost every day.

Naomi thought it would be cool to hold Kade for this picture.

The weather here has been super nice. Lots of days to play outside.

And here is Kade putting his dump truck to work.


He was unloading clover flowers that he picked to go into Naomi's new garden.


Just look how hard these three were working on this new garden. Don't worry, all of those pretty flower petals were ones that had fallen off and they gathered them up from off of the ground and not directly from our pretty azaleas and rhodies!


Ryne isn't quite big enough for all of the gardening so he likes to hang out in his exersaucer and watch it all happen. And when he gets bored he just chews on his cow for a bit.

June is Washington is really nice. We are enjoying ourselves tremendously. Wednesday night and Thursday morning Bible studies are trucking right along. We've had new people joining us for the past several weeks which is pretty exciting. I'll try to remember to share more about that sometime soon. God is amazingly good to us and we are getting to see Him work in the lives of other people that we are ministering to and that is very cool. We are getting ready to "go public" with our new church plant and the website is almost ready to go. You can check out what's there already at www.lifechurchdupont.com.