Low Tide

Today was one of the lowest tides of the year, so we packed up and headed to Constellation Beach in West Seattle.  It turned out to be a really nice day, Blake and Lauren had a blast.  When we arrived I noticed there were about ten people from the Seattle Aquarium out helping kids identify different sea creatures and telling them about the Puget Sound.  Blake couldn't get enough!  

 We got there just before the tide was at it's lowest. 

 Guess who stopped by for a little visit? 

 Go Cougs!

 Blake spent almost two hours with the different "Beach Naturalists".  As the tide was coming back in and everyone was wrapping up for the day one of the Naturalists gave Blake a coupon worth one free admission to the Aquarium.  Good job buddy!

 While Blake was scoring free tickets, Lauren was busy practicing her beach yoga.

Three hours later the tide was in.

Father's Day

(Better late than never post.)  Grandma and Grandad were able to come up to celebrate Father's Day this year.  The kids were so excited to see them both.  Here are a few pictures of Blake and Grandad playing a little ball.  Chad was pitching. 

Lake Washington

We put the boat in the water on Saturday.  It was a perfect day to kick off our boating season.  Unlike last year, Lauren wanted to go slow and Blake wanted to go fast.  Now if we could just string together a few warm days we'd be all set. 

boxers in boxers

These two thought they were HILARIOUS doing their little boxing routine in Blake's boxers.  I should have taken a video.

Monsters

Lauren has been scared of monsters in her room lately.  This is how I found them tonight, she was much happier hanging out with her big brother.  He let her stay for about 15 minutes before he gave her the boot!

Graduation

I can't believe it's over.  I couldn't have dreamed of a better preschool experience for Blake.  The difference between age 3 and age (almost) 6 is remarkable.  Blake was such a tiny little guy when I dropped him off three years ago.  I've watched him grow into the person I knew he would become...with some surprises along the way.  Blake loves public speaking and he can be such a ham!  He is a complete class clown, cracking jokes when ever he can. He is becoming quite the math wiz (thanks to Daddy, no doubt) but he'll tell you the best part of school is the playground.  Blake seemed to love every moment of school and is really excited for what's ahead.

Graduation was a very special evening, it was a packed house.  Thanks so much to Auntie and Leo coming along to cheer Blake on.  

First day of school, 2010

Children's Garden Graduation, 2013

I'm not really sure I can put into words how much it meant to me to have one of my mom's dearest friends as Blake's teacher.  If there was ever a time and a place my mom would have been watching over, I'm sure this would have been it.

The 5's class - the Honeybees

Leo slept through most of graduation, but woke up for a quick photo op!

"Look out world, here comes Blake!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7l4_pIiWFw&feature=youtu.be

School's out for summer!

 "Now it my school" was all we heard from her on Tuesday.  Glad she's excited!

The little sisters - class of 2016.

CG Sleepover

At the Children's Garden the 5 year old's sleep over is a rite of passage.  Blake has heard about it since he started school and it was finally his turn last Friday night.  I was really looking forward to taking Blake.  When we booked our tickets to Europe I made sure we'd be back in time to take him.  As luck would have it, I was in the ER with Lauren.  Chad raced home to pick up Blake and Georgia from our neighbor's house, pack, and take Blake to his sleepover.  It was a cowboy themed evening complete with a cookout, s'mores, square dancing and a campfire.  The next morning parents were invited to come watch the giant water fight before bringing our tired, wet children home.

 They all had camp names - Banjo Blake

 This is Bonnie's last year of teaching.  She said to have one of each of Claudia's grandkids on her lap brought her to tears on an already emotional night for her.

 The Children's Garden's walkways are lined with bricks that have different family names on them from the last 35 years. I love looking at them, there are a couple dedicated to my mom, some from families I used to babysit and so on. It's not clear, but Georgia is pointing to one that says "Claudia, Leslie & Alison".  Good job Chad for thinking to get the pic!

 Ready for the waterfight.

 Blake's best buddy, Cade.

 Staying far away from the waterfight...

 Hey Banjo Blake, you're running the wrong way!

 Again, Banjo Blake seems to be hiding out.

Way to go Cade :)

The kids had a really great night.  The last kiddo went to sleep around 12:15 a.m. and the first one up was at 5:15 a.m.  Blake's teachers are pretty amazing, I know this is an exhausting bunch!

Tough Girl Part II

Georgia, Leo and Alison came over to play on Friday.  All was going well, we played with the neighbors, had snacks and got to catch up on each other's travel a little.  Then I heard Lauren cry, the kind of cry that sends you running.  When I got to our play room Lauren was crying, face down in a little ball. I reached down picked her up and turned her over.  To say she was covered in blood would be an understatement.  She was gushing and I couldn't see the whites of her eyeballs.  I couldn't tell where she was bleeding from. Because Chad works long hours, I've always had a game plan in my head of what I would do "if". I passed Alison on the stairs and went running down the street screaming for my neighbor, Tricia.  Her husband came out and from my tone he knew something was wrong.  So did another neighbor who is a retired doctor.  We wiped Lauren down a bit and saw that her eyeball was still in her head (thank God) and she was bleeding from her forehead.  Alison brought Blake and GG to my neighbor's house and she took Lauren and I to the hospital.  Can I just say Leo is a dream baby?  He slept, woke up to entertain Lauren at the perfect moment and then went back to sleep when I needed Al.  It was great to have my sister with me, she went into her Children's Hospital mode asking all of the right questions (I was a little more deer in headlights).  Our good friend happens to be an ER doc at Overlake.  He wasn't on call but he called ahead to make sure we were well taken care of and he also came by to check on Lauren. Lauren ended up with two stitches and she didn't shed a single tear. The doctors and nurses were very impressed.  She is doing pretty well today.  She knows she needs to take it easy for a couple of days and hopefully with enough "Team Umizoomi" and "Mickey" we can make that happen.

Lauren, your Auntie stopped on the way home to get you a well deserved milkshake.  You are one tough little cookie!