Addison's "big-girl" bed

Addison has been ready to move out of her crib for quite some time, but somehow, we never got around to it. Kevin thought maybe we should get her a toddler bed to transition but I argued that we might as well spend the money on something she could use longer, so we started looking. Kevin is an avid Craigslist fan, so we "shop" that site frequently. We found several beds that we likes, but they were more than we wanted to pay or too far away. Addison kept asking for a "big girl" bed so Kevin finally told her she would get one when she successfully completed potty training. Once that happened, the impending purchase became more urgent!

We scored BIG on Craigslist today! First, we found a four-poster canopy bed that we couldn't quite tell the condition of from the pictures. So after work Kevin headed over to have a look at it and ended up bringing it home. Not only was it in great condition, but it matched the furniture she already had almost perfectly! While Kevin was looking at the bed, I started looking on Craigslist for bedding and found a set that had just been posted in University Place. I called the lady, who was quite surprised at the quick response, and we agreed to meet around 6pm. So, as soon as Kevin was home with the bed, we unloaded it and headed off to check out the bedding. I loved it immediately! It is just so colorful and perfect for our baby girl... who finally has her "big girl" bed!

Another day, another park...

This afternoon, when Kevin got home, we decided we'd all head down to our next park destination...Bradley Lake Park. It's only about 15 or 20 minutes from us, but it was the first time we'd ever been there and we LOVED it! They had two separate, but adjacent play areas with plenty of benches in between for parents to watch their kids.

Everyone had a ball going back and forth between the two. When they got tired of that, we decided to explore the lake part of the park. The kids each brought something to ride and Zachary and Addison traded off a few times. I really liked the smooth, asphalt surface...it made "riding" so much easier!

I don't know how far the loop around the lake was, but we went all the way around, stopping frequently to check out different things. We saw several people fishing from different spots along the shore and also from the docks that were there. There were lots of walkers and joggers, no doubt enjoying the shade of the trees.

One tree, inparticular, was a huge hit with our kids because it almost beconned you to come and sit on it! Of course we did, although Addison wasn't too sure about being left alone up there! We had a wonderful time and I was so happy that Kevin was able to join us. He doesn't usually get to join us on our summer destinations, so when he does, it's a nice treat for everyone!

Staying Home

As busy as our summer days always seem to be, and as fun as it can be to pack every last bit of entertainment into our schedules, it's nice (and necessary!) to "plan" a day to just stay home. For my kids, this usually means getting to sleep in and stay in pajamas late into the morning and sometimes past lunch! The whole day is relatively unstructures and we just do...well...whatever we want!

Today, Raymond went off to work with Kevin and Zachary and Addison had a day all to themselves. Funny how well any 2 of them can play together! After a late breakfast, we brought out the train tracks and played at this until lunch. Addison still needs help getting the pieces to connect, but she's perfectly happy to drive on tracks that Zachary has put together. I normally help out with the corners and trying to get the ends to eventually connect. Zach's favorite thing is the bridge and that is always where he starts!

On days we sleep in, I usually let both kids skip naps, so after lunch we finally got out of our pajamas and headed outside to try our hands at a little artwork on the patio. The weather here has been mostly overcast, with frequent rain. Even by Washington standards, it's been a wet summer so far, so we take every opportunity to head outdoors that we can. The kids love to be outside and we can hardly wait for warmer weather, then we can justify putting the pool up!

Puyallup parks

We are exploring local parks that we've never been to this summer. We already have our favorites, but you never know what else is out there unless you go and see!

Not a great picture, but the view of Mt. Rainier from Heritage Park was amazing. This is located near Rogers HS.

Nothing else about it was all that impressive. It is just a small play area in the middle of several baseball fields. My kids enjoyed, but I prefer someplace with more shade for mom!

We were all hot and sweaty after about 30 minutes, so decide to head off to find another park. As it would happen, the sprinklers came on in one of the outfields just as we were pulling out of our parking spot, so we seized the opportunity to cool off!

I wasn't sure if my kids would actually run through these huge sprinklers, but they didn't hesitate and had a wonderful time getting absolutely soaking wet!

After they got tired of the water and were getting hungry for lunch, we found our next stop...South hill Park. I really liked this park. The play area was nice and clean and there was a huge field were we could bring our dog or some kites to fly.

As an added bonus, there is a rather extensive, paved trail that winds around behind the park and through some woods. It apparently connects to Heritage Park, where we started! We took an abbreviated loop that was maybe 1/2 a mile, or so and enjoyed a walk in the shade. Definitely some place the kids would enjoy bringing bikes and scooters.

Summer Reading

We signed both Raymond and Zachary up for Pierce County Library's summer reading program. They got a neat poster to keep track of their minutes and when they've read (or had read to them) 10 hours, they can turn the poster in for a prize. We are hoping for the passes to the zoo!

Raymond wasted no time in starting. Actually, he is quite an avid reader anyway, so this was just an extra incentive.

We also discovered that Borders has their own reading program...Read any 10 books (from anywhere, you don't have to buy the books from them!) and they'll give you one for free! Raymond wanted to be sure it was fair to count the same book/reading twice (for both programs) so he asked the librarian. She said that would be a GREAT idea, so he's pretty excited!

Free Thursdays

In my quest to have a fun but frugal summer, I discovered that on the 3rd Thursday of every month, the museums in Tacoma are free! The only catch is that admittance is only free at specific times. So with the help of Grannie and Grandpa and an itinerary of what I hoped would be our day, we headed downtown to see what we could see.

We decided to meet at 11am and park at the Tacoma Dome parking garage so we could ride the Tacoma Link (which is always free!) Addison was so excited to be riding a "train", I think we'll have to take another trip down just to do that!

The Farmer's Market was our first stop, since it closed around 2pm. We didn't want to miss any of the goodies! The kids would have stayed at this fountain all day if we'd let them. The weather was perfect...not hot and not raining!

Grannie treated everyone to pretzels from Hess Bakery. I remember selling these same pretzels for German club a million years ago... Raymond got the JUMBO version and then didn't want to eat it in public because so many people commented on it! Funny kid!

Our first stop was the Tacoma Art Museum, which opened its doors for free at noon.

I was a little worried about the kids and whether they would be able to handle this, but I thought we'd try it. The art museum is obviously not strangers to kids because they gave each of my kids a sketch pad and pencil at the entrance and this kept them relatively occupied while we were there.

At the end of our "art tour", we stopped in at the kids' studio and all three kids enjoyed using various mediums to create their own artwork. It was really pretty neat. They had several "suitcases" full of different things and you just choose one and take it to your table. We stopped on their balcony on our way out to have our picnic lunch.

Our next stop was the Museum of Washington State History. We timed it perfectly, since it opened for free at 2pm. We had been here before, so knew better what to expect; lots of interactive, hands-on stuff for my busy kiddos!

Addison loved the dress-up area!

Here is Grannie, helping the boys with a map jigsaw puzzle. Raymond has become quite a history buff and wanted to read everything. The younger kids didn't have the patience for this so we'll have to send Ray back with daddy so they can take their time! In fact, we went outside to let them play while we waited until 5pm for the next museum free time to roll around.The boys found a "secret" hiding place under the bridge. On second thought (could be bums down there) we decided they shouldn't probably be playing down here, so headed on to our next destination...

Next stop, Glass Museum!

Raymond took this at the bottom of the Grand Staircase. Such beautiful glass artwork!I took a lot of pictures on our trip, but obviously none inside the museums! I eventually turned the camera over to Raymond and Grannie really got a kick out of all the pictures he was snapping. Apparently it reminded her of me! She asked if I remembered that first Kodak disc camera they bought me. I wonder how many rolls of film they had to develop over its lifetime! Anyway... I, personally, am very thankful for digital cameras now that I have my own kids!

More Chickens!

Our chicks are only a few days old and we love to catch a glimpse of them hanging out with mom. Or in this case, hanging out ON mom!

In addition to our own, very cute chicks, my friend Kristi brought over some slightly older chicks that they had been raising at their house. Chickens are messy and they decided to bring the "mess" to us.

No problem, we have plenty of space. We were a little worried about how well the two flocks would interact, but all has turned out fine. They leave each other alone, for the most part.

We now have a total of 16 chickens so by next Spring, we should have a ton of eggs!

A wet start to the summer

I absolutely love summer break. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy teaching, but come June, I'm ready for vacation! There is nothing quite like the seemingly endless days of summer when I get to spend time with the kids, our friends and venture out into the great unknown. I have some destinations already in mind, but I think we'll wait for a little better weather. Today, we are home, enjoying a downpour and occasional thunder clap. The kids were already wet and dirty from our trip down to the barn to see the new baby chicks, so I left them outside to play in the rain!

Eggs today, chicks tomorrow

Our chickens have had a rough winter...we are down to 2. Well, we were until one of them decided to sit on a clutch of eggs. We decided to see how it would turn out, so we marked several and didn't collect those. As it turns out, she knew what she was doing! We now have 8 very cute little chicks. Momma Hen is very protective, so we haven't gotten too close, but the kids are really excited about watching these little ones grow!
As an added bonus, a friend of ours wanted to buy baby chicks from a feed store recently. She lives in town, so we agreed that her chicks could come here once they were ready. They've enjoyed them for several weeks, but now it's time for them to go. Looks like we'll have 6 more, slightly more mature chicks by the end of the week...Hope they all get along!