Denny Slide

We did a fun day hike today at the Denny Creek natural water slides along I-90 near the Snoqualmie Pass. From the parking lot, there is about a 1-mile hike along a mountain trail that leads to these natural water slides. The hike was just perfect for Matthew; he was able to walk all the way up and all the way back without getting too tired. In fact, he was quite the trooper heading up and didn't ever want to stop to rest (it helps that he is so excited to make it to the water). Seth got to go in grand fashion, riding in the backpack carrier.

The creek is snow melt run-off, so it's pretty cold. But that didn't stop Matthew from exploring a little water fall...


...some parts where the water was really moving...

...and even going all the way under in parts where it pooled up.


Seth stayed back in the wading areas that only went up to his knees. He thought it was so funny to walk in and out of the water, over and over again.



We even carried up a picnic lunch and had lunch up at the water slide area. We've been trying to do something each Saturday that is "family fun," and this was a great way to go to a water park on a hot Saturday without digging deep into the wallet.

Happy Birthday Seth!

We can't believe that Seth is already 1 year old. We are so lucky to have Seth in our family. He has been a much easier baby (although he is starting to make his preferences more strongly known), and he has been so much fun to have in our home. He is good at sharing his emotions, both good and bad; even though he lets us know when he is upset, he also gives good snuggles and loves when he is happy. He also has a very silly side to him that comes out frequently, like here when he thought he was so funny to put on and take off a hard hat over and over.


Matthew and Seth have been great brothers for each other. Matthew is very conscious of being a good big brother and taking care of Seth. And, we can already tell that Seth wants to be like Matthew in a lot of ways, and tried to emulate many of the things that Matthew does. Seth loves Matthew's goofy nature, and sometimes they can really feed off of each other: Matthew will do something goofy and Seth will laugh, Matthew will do something even goofier and Seth will laugh even harder, and they will continue until they can't laugh any more.

Seth didn't quite grasp the idea of presents yet. We tried to help him get the idea, but he just wasn't into it too much.



That was quite alright with Matthew, as he was more than happy to open the presents for Seth.

As usual, Julie went all out on the cake. The cake was a giant cupcake that actually took about 1.75 cake mixes! She bought a pan that has the shape of the bottom of the cupcake and the shape of the top. She did white confetti cake on the bottom with chocolate cake on top, and a layer of raspberry filling in between. She also found some giant star sprinkles that looked proportionally the right size for the giant cupcake.


Seth got to eat a whole big piece and made quite a mess. He was so tired by the time he was done that he was rubbing his frosting-covered hands in his eyes and hair.


We love watching him grow and develop, and we looking forward to seeing him change even more. He fits so well into our family, and we already can't imagine what our family would be like without him.

Here's a compilation video of some of the highlights of the day. Forgive both the poor filming and the poor editing!

Swimming Lessons

Today Matthew just finished five weeks of daily swimming lessons. He had a blast. He has come so far since in the beginning.

Thankfully, before he started Matthew wasn't afraid of the water, but he wasn't used to being under water, either. Within a couple of days he could do "bobs" and before long he was floating on his back.
During his first three week session, one of his favorite things to do was go on "airplane rides" to the deep end of the shallow pool.
During the second session, Matthew was moved to the more advanced group in his class. Frankly, I wasn't sure that this was a warranted move, but I didn't argue with the instructors. In this group one of their focuses was on jumping into the pool and then swimming in a forward crawl. Without exception, Matthew always OBVIOUSLY needed to relieve himself when he was waiting to jump. His little potty dance never got old and I was thankful to know that he wasn't peeing in the pool.
On the last day of class, the instructor put all the kids in life vests and they headed into the regular deep pool. Here Matthew sports his life jacket, along with swim cap and googles:


We're really proud of all that Matthew has learned and are exciting for him to hone all his new skills at Grandmother Ruthie's lake.

A Sad Tale

Jon purchased our (then his) car in the summer of 2002. He bought it outright with the money that he had saved from his work that summer and his job before his mission. Jon loved his car.
Fortunately, shortly after the purchase he discovered someone that he loved even more than his car. Jon likes to remind me that even before we were married he had relinquished his controlling interest to the car by letting me use it to drive to school while I was student teaching. He's also quick to remind me that after we were married it was always he that rode the bus (even an hour bus ride from Sandy to Provo while he was finishing at BYU) and me that drove the car, which I have to admit is absolutely true. It just ended up working better that way.

Even before Jon started real work last summer, we've knew that a new car would be on the not too distant horizon. However, we were optimistic that the new car would be a second car and that Jon would be able to re-claim his rights to his car, thus enabling him to drive to a transit center to take the bus (Seattle parking is too expensive for him to give up on the bus). With this hope a couple months ago we poured our "car new car savings" into giving the Accord a new bill of health. Nearly every replaceable part was replaced. At that point we began again to save for a new car, hoping to come close to buying the car outright or at least with very minimal car payments.

On Tuesday, our dreams of a second car were shattered, literally. While driving down the street after swimming lessons, the boys and I collided with a car that pulled out of a driveway out into the street to head in the opposite direction. Though I braked extremely hard when I realized the driver was headed into the street (with new brakes, mind you), we were unable to avoid a collision. The windshield cracked and the air bags deployed. Luckily, the boys and I were fine.

The Accord, however, most likely will be a "total loss." Though we haven't heard officially, the tow truck driver, the auto body shop, and our capable personal injury attorneys (aka Dad and Dave) all seem to concur that the car most likely will have to be scrapped, and thus our dreams of a second car and a low or no car payment. But we are trying to look on the bright side. It will be nice to have a car the is bigger, newer, and safer.

So, here's a few pictures of the wreckage:

Splash!

We've been trying to find all the splash parks around Seattle to play at during the summer. Eugene had so many sand and water parks...we kind of took them for granted until we moved away from them. We've found two favorite splash parks so far, and the boys love them. This one is near Grandma Ruthie's house. It has a lot of sea animals that intermittently squirt water. We've gone there on a couple of occasions.

Seth enjoys being able to walk around and hold onto fun things like whales.

(Don't judge me for Seth only wearing a diaper . . . I swear I packed the swimmy diaper and swim trunks!)

Matthew is always looking out for when the water cycle is over and the thing needs someone to push the button to restart it (the button is actually a pad with a kid-sized hand print that he pushes in).


Matthew's favorite activity is catching some of the water in his bucket and then pouring them over the fake rock formations to make his own waterfall.


It's all fun and games until someone get squirted unexpectedly by a water-breathing dragon nostril.


Seattle has been incredibly hot this year, with many days in the last few weeks being in the mid 80s to low 90s. I know the rest of you think that is just summer, but our average July highs are in the 70s, so we are really dying up here!

Let's Go Sounders!

Jon and Matthew went to a Sounders game today. The Sounders are Seattle's MLS team in its inaugural season. Even though they are an expansion team, they are in second place and looking to have a good run in the playoffs.

They started off by riding the bus to the game. Jon already has his monthly pass that he uses to get to/from work, and Matthew is free. In addition to being free, riding the bus was an adventure to Matthew (probably more fun for him than sitting through the whole soccer game). Again, Jon forgot the camera, so it's a good thing his Blackberry can take decent pictures.


Their seats were in a corner of the stadium that was in direct sunlight and has little breeze. One guy sitting near them that has season tickets there said, "Welcome to the oven!" when they found their seats. Matthew took it all in stride, and started studying the free program and watching the warm-ups.



The sun finally fell far enough to give them shade by the start of the second half, but the damage was done. Matthew's cheeks were red and his little head was super sweaty.


Matthew's favorite part of the whole game was the confetti that they sprayed before the game, after each Sounders' goal, and at the end of the game. The confetti rained down on the stands and the field (you can see it on the "pitch" in the picture below if you look closely). Matthew even saved a handful of confetti in his pocket to take home and show Julie. Matthew wanted a picture of the confetti and took this one himself.


The Sounders won the game 2-1 over the 1st place Houston Dynamo. It was a fun game. Poor Matthew had more sun and heat than he could handle. Later in the evening, we were at Grandma Ruthie's house for a picnic dinner and he threw up his dinner. We got him cooled down and hydrated again, and he it acting and feeling much better.

Cleaning Machine

First it was this:Then, today:

Really putting his back into it!The satisfaction of a job well done.