Sunday, October 14, 2018

Bellewood Acres Apple Orchard

This past week both of the girls' classes had their fall field trips. Haleigh's class went to the apple orchard at Bellewood Acres and Annaliese's class went to Don Cramer's Western Town Pumpkin Patch. They were on the same day and since I had to work that night, I was only able to go with Haleigh. But it sounds like Annaliese had a good time:)

At Bellewood Acres, they took us on a tour through the orchard, talking about the different varieties of trees (they have 12,000+ apple trees!) the irrigation system, and the wind machines and methods to 'keep the apples warm' when the temperatures drop. We then moved into the area where they wash and sort the apples, dividing them into the ones that go to the stores and the ones that get made into apple cider. Next, we walked over to the juicing parlor and watched them make delicious apple cider. They also make dried apple chips and apple pies (the ladies there can make up to 84 pies a day!) 



We ended our time by picking a few apples, sampling a few different varieties of apples and sipping on some apple cider! It's always a fun field trip! 

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Fall festivities have begun!

Bellingham has lots of fall festivals and activities to celebrate this time of year. We started the season off by heading to The Green Barn, a little store in Lynden that sells local produce and health-food types of items. They had pumpkin painting, caramel apples, pumpkin bowling and a candy hunt set up for the kids. I took Annaliese and Haleigh and we met up with Kim, Elias, and Malachi. Besides all of the bees flying around, everyone had a good time. We headed to Berthusen Park once we were done so that they could eat their caramel apples, but nobody ended up wanting to eat them and instead they ran around and played for a bit!


Auntie Kim was helping Haleigh. There were lots of toppings to dip the caramel apples in!







Bowling! A little pumpkin was the bowl and the gourds were the pins!

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Hiking the Chanterelle Trail

There is a relatively new trail starting from the North Lake Whatcom Trailhead and last weekend I took Annaliese and Haleigh and met up with the fam to check it out. It was a little chilly but turned out to be a great day for a hike. It was basically 2 miles uphill and the girls did great. Haleigh went up ahead with Ben, Kelsey and Mallory and Kelsey bribed them with crackers to keep them going. Annaliese stayed back with Grandpa and helped encourage Malachi and Elias! At the top was a gorgeous view of the lake! We ate lunch at the top and then took a road that was much steeper but half as long to get back to our car. 




Haleigh and Malachi scrambling over some rocks






All the cousins (minus Lydia)

We felt like we were way out in nature on the hike up...
but the road down was under the power lines! 

Grandpa with Haleigh, Elias, and Annaliese

She's Two!

Lydia turned 2 last week! We celebrated with a little birthday party with family and spent lots of time practicing how to say 'two.' She is such a happy little lady, except for when she's not and then she can throw quite the tantrum! She scrunches her nose and says 'neeee' anytime she thinks someone is taking a picture of her, likes to snuggle for no more than 5 seconds at a time, still sucks on her two fingers backwards (her pinky and ring finger) and likes to mimic her daddy!


Sleeping: Lydia is an amazing sleeper! She goes to bed between 7:00-7:30pm and sleeps until somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30. She sleeps with her blankie and the sound machine on. Her room is super dark (room-darkening curtains and no night light!) and she likes to help close the blinds before she goes to bed! She naps every day, usually in the afternoon, although over the past 2 weeks she has been taking a morning nap as well. She must be growing!!

Eating: Lydia loves to eat! She's becoming rather particular though- she doesn't really eat bread but will lick off the inside of a sandwich and clump all the bread together and set it aside. Eggs are hit and miss. She likes breakfast sausage, cereal, raisins (or craisins!) applesauce, and cheese. She also loves strawberries, chips, and black beans. She wants to have whatever Dad has on his plate, but she doesn't necessarily eat it once she gets it!

Clothing: Most of Lydia's clothes are now 24 month/2T. Pants are a bit big and have to be rolled up but the smaller size was just a bit too snug! She loves shoes and always wants to be wearing a pair! She's the only one of the girls who like flip-flops and can walk amazingly well in them! I'm amazed at how opinionated she is about her shoes- if I pick the wrong pair, she won't keep them on so now I have to ask her to go pick out her own shoes! She is currently wearing size 5. Diapers are size 4; we've talked about starting to potty train her but haven't actually started the process. Anytime I ask her if she needs her diaper changed, she wants to go sit on the toilet first, although she's usually already gone in her diaper.

Talking: Lydia's vocabulary is still very limited. Within the past few days, she has started to make more of an effort to repeat words that we are saying. However, it is clear that she understands what we are saying to her and she definitely knows what she does/doesn't want! She follows directions and most of the time, is a better listener than either of her sisters. 

Activities: Lydia loves to be a part of the action and doesn't like to miss out on anything. She loves playing outside, swinging and going down the slide, snuggling with her blankie, putting on shoes, and playing with her puzzles. If her sisters aren't around, she will also sit and play with her new doll house. Lydia and Haleigh have recently started playing with their babies and also playing 'kitchen.' She dislikes her sister's taking her toys from her, having her diaper changed, and when I wear my hair in a bun. 










We celebrated her birthday with a small party with Grandpa and Grandma, Auntie Kim and Uncle Thane, and Auntie Kelsey and Uncle Ben. They all came over for homemade pizzas and time to play outside. It was pretty low-key and Lydia didn't have any idea that it was all for her!