Seven Months Already!

"Do what??? You're kidding me, I'm seven months old already? How did that happen?"

Well, it's true. Ryne turned seven months old yesterday.
So he had some banana to celebrate:

He thinks he like bananas in his little mesh feeder. I think they are too messy. But, hey, it was a celebration, right?

We tried to take some pictures in front of the flowers but he was too distracted by them. This one is still pretty cute, I thought.


Then as always, he did LOTS of crawling. It is getting hard to keep up with this guy! You might notice in the above picture that his poor little knees are all red from all of his crawling adventures.

And then, my favorite picture from Ryne's seven month birthday:

Seven months of life can really tire a little guy out! He fell asleep eating his carrots at lunch. This was the first time he's ever fallen asleep in his high chair. It was too cute.
Happy Seven Months, Ryne!!!
I love you, my little sweet tater!

It Was HOT Y'all!!!

See this face...
Can't you tell just how serious Ryne is when he says, "It was HOT y'all!"

Well, turns out he was right. It was 103 degrees on Wednesday here in DuPont...record breaking temps for our part of the state. Now, you have to understand that it never really gets that hot here, thus the reason that hardly any homes have air conditioning. Yes, my sweet southern friends and family, you heard correctly NO Air Conditioning! And we just so happen NOT to be one of the few homes equipped with a.c. Thankfully we had bought a VERY small window unit earlier in the summer to put in the loft just to help keep the boys rooms from being too warm for them to go to bed at night. Since they go to bed before the sun goes down in the summer it could have a tendency to still be a bit warm in their rooms at bedtime. Anyway, we had not needed to use it before this week. Kyle put it in for us before he left for camp last week and it was just in time. With the proper combination of window closing and blind closing in the morning, small ac running in the loft, extra bedroom door closed, window opening and fan running in the evening our house actually managed to stay quite comfortable.
And we found this week to be the perfect time for Kade to use his little inflatable pool.


Splash goes the dinosaur!
The first day that we put water in the pool was Tuesday and it was in the upper 90's outside. But the water was still too cold for Kyle or I to stay in it for any time.


Ryne enjoyed being outside in the sunshine investigating the grass.


Our flowers seemed to enjoy the warm sunshine, too!


Here is Ryne testing out the waters of the pool.
Side note here: I still don't have the pictures of Ryne's first swim from Kyle's camera but will try to remember to get those for you soon!


Kade didn't do a lot of sitting in the pool on day 1 with the chilly water but he still hung out in there for quite a while.


Ryne mostly hung out in Kyle's lap and watched Kade play.


Day two was a different story. This was our 103 degree day and the water was still cool but had warmed up enough that it was enjoyable to sit in and cool off. Ryne LOVED it!!
I think he would have stayed in there all day.


Kade was having fun jumping into the pool from our bench. I told him to make me the face that he was going to make when he jumped in and this is what I got. Silly boy!!


I would invite you all to come over for a swim sometime but you can see that our pool is a bit crowded with just the three of my boys. So, anytime we're gone you're more than welcome to use our pool. Ha!

Now, I must tell all of you sweet people from the south who are feeling sad for us enduring that 103 degree heat, it wasn't as bad as you think. We could breathe!!! The humidity was so low that the 103 didn't feel like some of the 83 degree days in the south with 99% humidity.
Even still, people up here are just not used to temperatures this high at all. We had a couple of people call and want to know if we were canceling Bible study Wednesday night because of the heat. They were serious!
We had Bible study and it was a great night and we managed to stay plenty cool.
THEN.......
We had a big power outage as soon as Bible study was over!
THEN......
Our house really started heating up!!!
THEN......
We had to drive the boys around in the a.c. so that they could go to sleep!
THEN......
We ended up staying in our car until about 1 a.m.
THEN......
It finally started cooling off enough outside that we could go in and open the windows and sleep inside.
THEN......
We woke up and still didn't have power Thursday morning. It was not looking good because it was about to start getting hot again and there would be no way to get our house to cool back down.
THEN......
The power came back on at 9:30 that morning. Just in time! On came the VERY small a.c. and all of the fans and our house was able to stay comfortable enough for us to live in.

This is Ryne with a flashlight that he found to play with. I took a picture in honor of our nice little power outage!

Last night it got really cool and today is not so bad at all. I think we are back to normal around here and maybe we have beat the heat!

But just in case it decides to come back, I went and got my hair chopped off:

Ryne Stats and an Afternoon at Camp

Went to the doctor for Ryne's well-baby check up last Wednesday.
Here are his new stats:
Length: 27 3/8 inches
Weight: 19 lbs 12 1/2 oz
HE IS GROWING!
His doctor said that he looked good and healthy and she'd see us again at 9 months!

THEN.........
The nurse came back and gave poor Ryne 3 shots!!!
The rest of that day and the two days following were not a whole lot of fun around our house because those silly shots (that I know are for his good) didn't make Ryne feel very good. We had a couple of pretty sleepless nights and I have to believe it was those shots.

BUT......
We are all better now. Happy as can be and busy as ever!
Busy doing what?
Well just take a look at all my Littlest Man (that's what I like to call him although I know I won't be able to get away with that nickname for very long) has been up to.

Working on his sippy cup skills:


Just about to get the sippy cup figured out. The tipping it up part is kind of tricky.

Snacking on his toes between bites at meal times:


Pretty good flexibility, don't ya think? And I guess those little piggies of his must taste pretty good because he keeps going back to them.

Just learned to sit up from the crawling position:

This is an "in motion" shot of him going into the sit from the crawl.

And he crawls all over the place:

Found out that he really like to climb under the table. I think he likes the challenge of maneuvering around all the table and chair legs that he finds under there.

AND HE LOVES TO PLAY WITH HIS BIG BROTHER:

Whatever Kade is doing, Ryne wants to be right in the middle of it. And so far Kade is doing a great job of sharing with him. Here they are sharing guitars and Kade is trying to show him how to make the "rock guitar" work while he himself is playing the "country guitar".

I can't believe how quickly Ryne is growing up. It is so much fun to watch him grow and see how much he is alike and how much he is different from Kade. I love getting to watch them play together. And I really enjoy watching Ryne when he is watching Kade. He adores his big brother and it is precious.


Now part 2 of this post
AN AFTERNOON AT CAMP

Kyle left us on Saturday afternoon and headed to Sunbreak's teen camp. He has been getting to preach for them this week. They are only about an hour away so Sunday afternoon after church we drove out to camp to see Kyle and it was a great adventure.

First we had lunch with Daddy. Kade had a hard time eating because he kept spotting people that he knew and would say, "look who I found!" I guess he thought that his Daddy would be the only person there that he knew.


Ryne slept through lunch and when he woke up to see his Daddy in unfamiliar territory he wasn't quite sure what to think.


We borrowed our little friend Aaron's chair and tried to have some sweet potatoes for lunch. But much like Kade, Ryne was too distracted to eat very much. He had new things to look at!

Then it was free time and recreation time at camp. Kyle thought it would be fun to take Kade for a swim.

Kade thought that was a GREAT idea and I wasn't sure that Kyle was going to be able to catch up with him once he took off.


Ryne and I mostly just watched and laughed because Kade was so funny.



He tried playing volleyball.

But just getting to the ball was hard work.


Ryne got to hang out with one of our friends Millie. Which was great relief to my arm. And he was having fun.

Even got to wear her shades. Isn't he one cool dude?

And I took the Ryne free opportunity to chase Kade and Kyle around and get some more pictures.

Here is the slip and slide:


I have to admit, this did look like a lot of fun and I was wishing that I had planned better and brought a change of clothes for myself.

Then venturing into the "deep" part of the lake.

He is too brave for me sometimes. Not scared of a thing, I tell ya.


A brief swimming lesson with Daddy.


And he found some fun noodles to play with for a minute.

And then he found the "just his size" hippo floatie.....

And he was off to the lake again.

In he went.

And hippo floatin was good stuff!

Then I realized that I was getting lots of pictures of Kade and only had a couple of Ryne. So, here is my attempt at trying to catch up. But all Ryne was doing was showing off his sitting skills and eating grass. But he did look awfully cute doing it:




Then I lost my other boys for a minute. And this is where I found them:

A bouncy maze with a big slide at the end. I thought maybe Kade had gotten tired of the lake but I was wrong. He just wanted to take a little break and check out the bouncy maze. After going through it a couple of times he took back off to the water.

Then he was getting really brave and wanting to jump in.

And this is the very last picture that I got before my camera battery died.

But that wasn't the end of the story. We let Ryne go for his first swim before we left. Thankfully, Kyle had his camera and when he gets back home with that camera I will post pictures of Ryne's first swim for your viewing enjoyment.

Kyle finishes up teen camp tonight and we expect him home tomorrow morning. I will be very glad to have him back home with us. The boys and I have really done okay but we miss him! Having him gone has reminded me again how blessed I am to have a Daddy around who is so much help with our children. Bathtime, bedtime, naptime, mealtimes, okay...all times are much easier when he's around. Plus I really enjoy hanging out with my best friend when the boys go to bed at night. So sorry, Mr. Solitaire and Mr. Facebook and Mr. Text Twist, your time is just about up, my best friend is coming home tomorrow!

It Was Monk Monk's Turn

Last week was Monk's turn to come visit us here in Washington. We had a super great time. I really do love my kid sister and enjoy getting to spend time with her. I can't say how glad I am that it worked out for her to come see us this summer. I am going to try my best to fill you in on the week that we had. Some of the week was just normal stuff like grocery shopping but so nice to have someone to push the buggy full of babies while I pushed the buggy full of food. I know this will be a long post but I hope the pictures make it worth it. It is my goal to do better from here on out of posting more frequently instead of saving up whole weeks at a time to post about. Wish me luck in that endeavor. Anyway here goes:

Tuesday morning we picked Monk Monk up at the airport.
Then we headed to Olive Garden for a little soup and salad lunch.

Kade was glad that we had Monk Monk with us for lunch and he got to sit by her.


Ryne got to show off his newly acquired big boy skills of sitting in restaurant high chairs.

After lunch we did a little bit of shopping and then headed home.

We just did some hanging out at the house because Monk had already had a really long day!

And Ryne had to show off some more of his new skills....crawling!

On Wednesday is when we did the grocery shopping thing. And we did something extra special for Kade....lunch at McDonald's so that he could PLAY!!!

This is the only picture I took. He was trying to get a sweet little girl to help him climb up to the next level.
Then it was home and house cleaning to do so that we could be ready for Wednesday night Bible study at our house. Bible study was good!!!

Thursday was our girly day!

We went to the ladies Bible study at the local coffee shop on Thursday morning and that was fun. Then Kyle kept the boys that afternoon so that Monk and I could do lunch together and then have some relaxing time getting these done:


We felt fabulous!
Crazy side note here: When we went into the nail salon a gentleman came in behind us. Monk and I said that we wanted a manicure and pedicure and he said "I'll have what they are having."
Ended up in the pedicure chair right next to us. So why is this so crazy, you ask?? Within minutes we found out he was from ARKANSAS! Military guy just up for a week of training at Ft. Lewis. Stationed at Camp Robinson in Little Rock! Found out that he knew our good friend Bill Berry who is a chaplain for the military. What are the odds? Anyway, I thought that was just too cool not to share.

Got home from our girly (after a post nail salon pit stop for dessert) and started getting ready for some special guests that we were having over for dinner.

Kade got some Monk Monk time in while we waited.

Our special guests that night were Tim and Jahnet Sims and their sweet girls. They are missionaries to Thailand. Just happen to be back in the states for a bit visiting churches and they were in Washington for the week. We actually met three years ago when we lived in Arkansas. I was pregnant with Kade. They visited us then and Jahnet and I just connected and had a really good time sharing what all God had been doing in our lives. So we were definitely excited to get to spend some time with them again.

Here are some pictures from our evening:




Thanks Tim and Jahnet for fitting us into your busy schedule! We had a great time.

Friday was a big day! Whale watching day! It was an absolutely beautiful day. We had to drive through Seattle heading up for our whale watching adventure so we couldn't help but make a stop at the Space Needle.

Just look at that blue sky!


And the flowers in front of the Needle were very pretty, too.


It was a great day for the space needle. Lots of other people thought so too. It was the most people we have ever seen there!


But we took the time to grab a few pics.


And of course a nice little self-portrait.
Then we were on our way to Anacortes to catch our boat.

Can't even tell you how crazy the traffic was on this Friday, but we almost missed our boat. The company we were traveling with was fabulous. Had someone waiting in the parking lot flagging us into a parking spot and escorted us to the boat. They did a top notch job of taking care of us. And it was a beautiful day to be out on the Puget sound.

Here is a look at Mt. Baker.


And another look at Mt. Baker with a little seaside community in the foreground.


Got an up close and personal view of a Bald Eagle.


And this was a light house that we saw. Someone used to live in the house and take care of the lighthouse, however, a few years back the lighthouse became automated and the house is now empty. Still a pretty cool looking place to see.


This is a place called Deception Pass. Neat bridge to view from the water.


Cool shot of the flag on the back of our boat.


And this was another little island with a small lighthouse. There were lots of seals on one end of this island and lots of birds all over it. To the right of the lighthouse is a huge Eagle's nest and we got to see an Eaglet hanging out there. This is one of the only known Eagle's nests that is actually on the ground.


This was Turtle Back Island.


We saw some seals playing and enjoying the sunshine.


Sailboat enjoying the day.


Another boat heading out into the sound.


Kade and Monk Monk all ready to spot some whales.


Kade trying out the binoculars.

Looks like he got the hang of it.


Our family watching for whales.


And another sister self-portrait.


I really liked this shot of Kyle and Kade watching over the water.


Kade took turns watching with Daddy and watching with Monk Monk.
And after all of that watching......
NO WHALES!!!
It was still a fabulous day and we had a great time. AND we got free tickets to come back for life until we do see whales. We were only the second or third trip for them this year that didn't get to see whales and we were trip number 140. So, it was a fluke and we will try to go back next summer when Monk can come back and go with us again.

We got home super late Friday night so we spent Saturday resting up.

Our neighbors Stephanie and Justine felt so bad that we didn't see whales that they gave us our very own whale watching puppet show. It was hilarious. Check it out:





Sunday morning we went to church and had a good time and then on Sunday afternoon we made a visit to the park.
At the park we spotted some deer coming across the street and into the woods.


Look who thought he could catch those deer!

Monday was our last big adventure. Something Kyle and I have been wanting to do since we moved here. We went to Mount St. Helens!
It was an amazing experience.


At one stop Kade and Monk Monk found some swings to play on.

At our picnic stop, Kade found some cool digging toys to play with. He was needing his Grandaddy to show him how to really get some work done with them.


And here we are in front of Mount St. Helens.


We watched a really cool movie about the volcanoe and when it erupted. Kade had is very own nice little seat.


Kyle and Kade got to make an earthquake in the exhibit hall.


There were lots of pretty flowers growing where we were looking at the mountain. The mountain was actually about 5 miles away from us but it was as though you could just reach out and touch it.


And Kyle got this nice shot of a bumble bee on one of the flowers.


Monk taking it all in.

And, of course, a self-portrait. Looks like Ryne is trying to make sure that Monk doesn't fall off the mountain.


On our way out we caught a glimpse of this guy floating through the sky. Pretty neat sight.

And our last stop of the day was at an outlet mall that we saw on our way down. They were still open so we thought we should check it out. Got a few good deals and this cute picture of Ryne trying on a hat for us:

And that was the end of our adventures. I think that's a pretty cute face to end on.
Tuesday morning I took Monk to the airport and now we miss her!
Hope you enjoyed our grand adventures with Monk Monk.