Summer!!

Hi Friends and family! It's been (another) whirlwind of a few months - the big event in our life is that we've moved to Olympia, WA, just a couple hours south of Seattle. Tish has been really liking her new job at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and we are all settling in to Olympia. We miss our friends in Seattle so much (come visit us!) but Olympia is awesome and we think it's a great fit for our family. Highlights include: a fantastic Children's Museum, a great walkable downtown and easy access to fun nature (the Ocean! the Olympic Mountains! Puget Sound! Mt. Rainier!) that we are just beginning to explore.  We also had two kiddo birthdays! Melina turned 4 (!!!) and Elliott turned 1 (!!!). After having totally failed on a birthday last year (sorry kiddo!), we vowed to do better this year and had a party 3 weeks before her birthday so we could celebrate in Seattle with her friends.  We also got to see our dear friends by taking a trip to Vermont! It was quite the operation to travel as a family of 4, but both kids did great. Here are some photos of our last couple of months in Seattle, a bit of Olympia and our trip to Vermont.

 Sashaying with Ivy at dance class! 

 This happy boy!

 Swimming with Elliott! This kiddo loves the water.

 The steps of our beloved house in Seattle (sniff sniff)

 We had a visit from Bubbie! Walking down the path on the way to the zoo.

 Snuggles with two kiddos!

 Elliott looking out at the world (and Melina) from his spot in our old house.

 The bat mask (which we still play with all the time), cape from T-Ma, wand, crown and big sister book! What more could one want for magical powers!?

 This kiddo loves clapping!

 Icing her birthday cake  - she wanted a unicorn!

 I did my best. :-)

 A party of flying unicorn 4 year olds!

 Besties.

 Elliott lounging in style.

 Getting ready for pin the horn on the unicorn.

 Four years old!

 Teacher Ryan!

 Teacher Devin! I don't know how we got so lucky to have such amazing teachers in our kiddos lives in Seattle... but we did, and we are so grateful for the time that we had with them. 

 Melina and Elliott with Teacher Diane!

 Teacher Maria!

 Melina became fascinated with my shoes.

 Sweet post-bath baby.

 Our first visit to the Hands-On Children's Museum in Olympia - we spent the first hour playing in the pool out front. 

 Salmon sculptures!

 A five minute drive home to get fresh clothes, and then back at the museum!

 It has awesome stuff for kiddos his size too.

 Melina was so intrigued by the stage and dressup part of the museum. There was a group of much older kiddos using it and I was worried that they were going to exclude her and that would be hard... but they were extremely sweet and "wrote" her into the skit they were doing. She was utterly enchanted and thrilled to be included.

 We also have some pretty awesome dressup clothes at home.

 This guy! Has been quietly getting better and better at walking... and working on a few words:

"Cado!" (Avocado)

"Gago!" (Goggles - he loves to put them on)

"Wa Wa" (He says this in this strange, low and slightly demonic voice... it means water)

"Ball"

"Heho" (Hello)

 These two!!

 Sprinkler in our new yard.

 Four year old celebration with our PEPS friends!! Thanks again Diana for the amazing cake.

 We made strawberry jam (against our better judgement because we were barely moved in - but you know what they say... make jam while the jammings good!)

 And then both kiddos had their actual birthdays (12 days apart)...so another cake was warranted.

 This one was a mermaid cake.

 Elliott had his own cupcake, which he loved!

 He was also very taken with this wig given to Melina from Grandpa Rock!

 We had a visit from Auntie Claire and Cousins Will, Kate and Ty! Will carried Elliott to see the wolf sanctuary.

 Hanging out with Auntie Claire

 Beautiful wolf.

 A Big Tree (and a small baby).

 Running full tilt.

 Cousins!!

 At the beach.

 Ivy came to visit!!

 In Vermont!

 Our crew gathered around the table.

 Making play-doh cupcakes.

 Such a beautiful place.

 First post-baby headstand! (Yikes - clearly it needs some work - but so nice to at least start down that path again).

 Okay science nerd friends! Look closely at this photo - there is a spider that is exactly the same color as the flower chowing down the fly that has come to visit the flower! Amazing! 

 So happy! 

 Making smores.

 Melina's first nail polish! She was SO excited.

 Paddle  boat adventures.

 We visited the Cabot cheese factory.

 And, thanks to our friend Mary, we got to visit the Circus Smirkus summer camp.

 

 The circus visit inspired some of our own acrobatics!

 Some of us were better at it than others. :-)

  

 We got to see Cynthia and Ben!!!!

Running in the rain.

Everybody slept on the plane ride home.

Super trooper traveler!