Artist Point

Several weeks ago, we joined Auntie Kim, Uncle Thane, and Elias for a drive up to Artist Point. It is basically a parking lot at the end of the Mount Baker Highway that is only accessible for a few months every year because the rest of the year it is under snow. I read something that said it can get over 30 feet of snow/year and that the ski resort on this road has the longest ski season in the country because it usually gets so much snow!

Since the road was open and the sun was shining, we decided to check it out. From the parking lot are gorgeous views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan, as well as several different hikes. We decided to do the Chain Lakes Hike...we thought we were just doing a mile or two. It turned into somewhere between 5 and 6 miles! But the weather was beautiful and the girls did great!

 Auntie Kim and Bapa helping Annaliese and Elias throw rocks into the lake.

 Lunch Break...I carried Haleigh in the Ergo for most of the hike. Kim took over at the end. Haleigh got really hot and decided she was done hiking before we reached the end of the trail!

 Cousins!

 Uncle Thane, Auntie Kim, and Elias

 Bapa and Mama

Annaliese has talked for months about peeing outside, ever since she saw one of her friends at the Barn pee outside. I told her once she got really good at using the toilet, then she would be able to try peeing outside. Well...that time came on this hike! Kyle helped her pee in the great outdoors. She came running back to us yelling, "I did it! I did it!" and her pants only got a little bit wet:)

A little of this and a little of that

In between the blueberry picking, the tractor show, and the fair have been more normal days filled with the normal day-to-day activities that happen with a 2 1/2 year old in the house. That means lots of playtime outside, lots of singing ("Do you want to build a snowman?" and "Cinderelly") accompanied by 'dancing' and a few other outings to get us out of the house.

Last week we visited the Marine Life Center which has several salt water tanks; we were able to see an octopus, several sea cucumbers, sea anenomes and starfish. They also have a small touch pool; Auntie Kim and Elias came with us and she was able to convince Annaliese to touch a few of the different animals.

Auntie Kelsey and Mallory came too:) Checking out the octopus!

When we stick around the house, we find all kinds of fun things to keep us busy!

Haleigh loves having her diaper changed! And she has recently started eating her toes during this process! 

Hanging out with cousin Elias

Annaliese was super excited to help brush my hair this morning!

Using two mowers at once proved to be a bit more challenging than she expected!

We gathered pinecones to put in the back of her 'car.' Then she decided they were too dirty and needed to be washed. But after washing two of them, Annaliese didn't like that her hands were getting wet and dirty...so she decided the rest could wait until later!

Haleigh sitting out on the grass while we collected the pinecones...she is getting better and better at sitting up on her own!

Date night:)

That about sums up life according to my phone pictures:) We went on a gorgeous hike last weekend; hopefully I will get some of those pictures up soon. Those pictures were taken with the good camera:)

The Fair!

Last week was the week of the Northwest Washington Fair. My mom bought tickets awhile ago for the entire family to go together...unfortunately, Ben and Kyle had to work and were unable to join the rest of us for a day at the fair!

We met at Kim and Thane's house for an early lunch (around 11:00) and then headed to the fairgrounds. Rain was predicted for the day (should we be surprised???) and it was a bit overcast but thankfully, the rain held off and the clouds kept it from being too hot!

We started off at the kiddy carnival, thinking it would be fun for Annaliese and Elias to try some of the rides. Turns out, they weren't quite tall enough for the majority of them!

But they could go on the carousel! So that's where we went. Turns out it's a good thing they weren't tall enough...neither of them were too sure about actually being on a ride!

At one point in the middle of the ride, Annaliese gave me a big smile and said, "This is fun!" but she never loosened her grip on me!

That one ride was enough for the day, so we moved on to the tractors and the animals. 

Mallory was tucked in the Ergo all day:) She missed most of the animals.

 Getting ready to give these camels a bottle of milk. The camels were about 1 1/2 yrs old.

 We watched this horse show with Clydesdales. The sound of theirs hooves as they entered the arena was incredible! And then to watch them prancing around with their fancy harnesses on was impressive. Here there were 3 horses, but we saw as many as 6 on one team! 

 Annaliese dancing...the rest of us were watching an Alpaca and Llama Obstacle Course (sorry no pictures of that. It just wasn't that impressive, although it was rather amusing)

 We stumbled upon the Rascal Rodeo, which was events for Special Needs kids. They had these little ponies there, and they were supposed to race around the barrels.  These two little munchkins would run in circles around the same barrel around and around and around again. It was hilarious to watch!

 Annaliese and Elias 'racing' around the barrels.

Haleigh, all snuggled up with Grandma

By the end of the day, everyone had had a good time, there were no major breakdowns by any of the children (although Haleigh was in her third outfit of the day) and we could all say we enjoyed the fair! And although you can't tell by looking at any of the pictures, Auntie Kelsey was also with us:)