The red salmon

When we were at Costco the other day, Adam picked out some "orange" salmon and put it in our cart. Later, I happened to find some "red" salmon that looked yummier to me so I exchanged it. As we were checking out, Adam noticed that I had switched the salmon.

A: Did you switch the salmon?
K: (Sheepishly) Yes. This kind looked better.
A: It's not. I've had it before. It's gross.
K: Let's just try it... if it's not good, I'll never get it again.

So tonight, we tried the salmon. Keep in mind that whenever Adam barbecues the salmon he picks out, it's soooo good. He prepped and cooked this salmon exactly the way he usually does and took the first bite. (I was hoping it was the best salmon ever... to prove him wrong of course :) He immediately grimaced and told me that it was terrible. So I was fully ready to try my piece and tell him how good it was... except that it wasn't. It was disgusting. So I apologized for switching the salmon and told him I would never get the "red kind" again.

The funniest part of the whole experience? Jacob LOVED the salmon. He couldn't eat it fast enough. In fact, after a few bites, he dropped the fork and started shoveling it into his mouth with both hands. Adam smiled and gave his big chunk of salmon to Jacob as well. Which he ate. He started eating mine next, until I stopped him... should he really be eating THAT MUCH salmon? We usually can't get him to eat more than two bites of anything we make (unless it's peanut butter and jelly, macaroni, hot dogs, or pizza). I guess now we can add red salmon to the list. Too bad we're never buying it again. ;)

Should we stay or should we go?

Here we are on Lopez Island with Adam's side of the family. Since this was a yearly tradition when he was younger, we all decided it would be fun to start it up again with a new generation. The biggest dilemma was that it started raining on Saturday afternoon. We briefly debated packing up... but Grampa got a fire going, so we built a shelter and decided to make the best of it. I'm really glad we did... because that evening was full of laughter, music, dancing, and all that fun campfire stuff.

Peeking out at the beautiful view on the ferry boat
Can you believe our car?! Adam fit a motorcycle back there!

We were really grateful that our neighbors had extra poles and tarp
Grampa lifted our spirits with some beautiful music on his harmonica
Jacob was laughing and dancing, so Grampa took a break and danced too
Then it was Gavin's turn to dance with Grampa
Here is Gavin with his cousin Evan and Aunt Marlys
Gavin and Evan are buddies and especially love to feed each other
This is Daddy's latest model airplane...
Jacob and Gavin love watching and track every movement in awe
We bought these crabs for $1 each from a boy who caught them that day... is that a good deal or what?

Bear Hugs

These aren't just any bears. Oh no. They were made by Mommy and Daddy uniquely for our two boys. When I was nine months pregnant with Jacob, we were walking in the mall and passed by a Build A Bear store. All of a sudden, we got this great idea to build a bear together for our newborn baby. We taped our voices so Mommy and Daddy each had a turn saying, "I love you Jacob!" We both kissed a heart and placed it inside the bear before he was stuffed. Here was the outcome.

We waited toward the end of my second pregnancy to make one for Gavin as well. Mostly because we didn't know for sure what his name would be until just days before he was born. It was even more special this time because Jacob was there to help us. He kissed the little heart and taped his voice alongside us. Gavin's bear sounds like this... "Love you Gavin (Daddy), Love you Gavin (Mommy), Wuv u Gaabin (Jacob). They love to walk around the house squeezing their bear and his paw. (The funny thing is, Jacob prefers Gavin's bear because it has his voice on it. ;)

Learning about God

I volunteer in Tiny Town 2 at my church. Gavin is in Tiny Town 1, just a door away from where I am. I love peeking in and watching him at play, eating snacks, and learning about God. Today, when I peeked in, I think my heart melted a little. There were the one year olds, sitting in chairs around a table, holding hands in prayer. One year olds. How adorable is that?! God must love looking down on these babies praying, to the best of their ability anyway. Seriously precious. :)

Jacob is really starting to understand and apply the bible stories he hears. Today, they learned about Jonah and the whale. He came running out to me with his craft, a giant whale with little Jonah in his mouth. Jacob remembered Jonah's name and told me that Jonah was sad in the whale's tummy. (Jonah even had a sad crayon face.) A few weeks ago, they were learning about how God will take care of them. At home, Jacob started saying, "God will take care of me, mommy." Then, just the other day, Gavin was screaming in his car seat. Jacob yelled over this curdling scream, "Mommy!! God will take care of him?!?!" Application. Gotta love it.

I also learned something thought-provoking in service today. Up on the screen were words about worship. How important it is. How so many people base their opinion about worship on whether their favorite songs were played. How if they weren't, they felt that worship wasn't good that day. The words continued. What if your focus wasn't on how worship makes YOU feel. What if it was focused on the OBJECT of worship. It's not about us. It's about what we offer up to God.

Wow. I get really caught up in that sometimes. Basing worship on whether or not I like the songs. Singing words without feeling them from my heart. Thinking that hymns are boring, when the words can be so meaningful and give us incredible insight. If our mind is solely focused on Him, we can use any song being played to worship. And let me tell you, once I wrapped my mind around that... worship was good today. Because it wasn't about me.

They really ARE listening!

I am constanting changing the radio station in my car. There are five or six pre-programmed stations that I listen to, but most of my time is spent searching for whichever one is playing a song that I like. I usually start with 105.3, but immediately push a different button once advertisements take over. Little did I know, Jacob and Gavin were in the back seat listening intently...

We were walking in the door one day when Jacob starting singing, "No way, no way, I don't like your giiirlfriend. Hey you, hey you, I don't like your giiirlfriend." I stopped and thought... wait a second. Is he singing what I think he's singing?

The real shocker came when Gavin played a role as well. This is what happened when the song "Umbrella" came on the radio. You can be my Cinderella, ella, ella, (and Gavin chimed in with) EH, EH, EH! Under my umbrella, ella, ella, (EH, EH, EH)! It was pretty funny, but maybe I should stick with Christian radio... I hear satellite doesn't have ads. :)

Betcha you haven't done this!

The story begins at a gas station yesterday, while I was vacuuming my car. I usually set my keys down in the center console, but for some reason I decided to hold them while vacuuming this time. Not a good idea. The vacuum had a super strong suction and once the tip of one key touched it, they were gone in the blink of an eye!

I sat there for a few seconds, processing what had happened. Adam was on a flight, with my spare key is on his keychain. I know, I know... a pilot's keychain is definitely NOT the best place for my spare key to be. Luckily, I have a garage door opener in my car, so I knew I could at least get into my house. I just had to find a ride there... The funniest part was, after processing it all, I continued to vacuum my car. I thought that I might as well finish what I came there to do!

Trying to be as calm as possible, I walked my kids inside the gas station and waited in line. Feeling completely ridiculous, I said, "So you've probably never heard this story before... " She said she had heard it all. :) I felt a little better when she told me that another customer had recently done the same thing. She wasn't sure if she knew how to get them out, but THANKFULLY, she found the right key pretty quickly. And there they were, at the very bottom of all of the dust and used cigarettes. Seriously, people vacuum cigarettes from their car floor?

Anyway, the moral of this story is... don't put your keys anywhere remotely close to where you are vacuuming. The end. :)

Tradition

My family has made camping in Leavenworth each summer a tradition for years. This year was especially exciting for me because Adam was able to go. (He has always had to work!) The camping spot we go to has a river, pool, playground, espresso/ice cream stand... what more could you ask for?! Oh, maybe the air conditioned cabin we rented this year. It was THE BEST. It made us realize that the simple life just may be better. There was nothing that Gavin could get into... no toilet paper rolls to undo, cupboards to open, toys to fight over, stairs to climb. Pure relaxation.

One of the highlights of Leavenworth are the outdoor plays they have each summer. The Sound of Music is presented every year in the crisp, cool air with actual mountains in the background. Being there, in the ambiance of it all, takes your breath away. This year we saw Camelot and you can imagine our surprise when we discovered my mom had gotten us front row, center seats! (If you knew how much I LOVE musicals, you would know how excited I was.) We felt like we were literally on stage and I had chills through the entire production. It was priceless.

Here are some pictures of our family in Leavenworth.
Wrestling cousins
Here, I'll hold the wand and you blow
Running in circles together
The only way we'll sit still long enough to get a picture
See mommy? I can ride Jacob's bike too!
Until Travis wants a turn...
Daddy made me go all the way in the river with him

Sy found some friends at the river

You gotta help me roast this marshmallow Daddy
Sharing a s'more with Grammy

SO BIG!

Gavin is all about being a "big boy". It is very important to him that he proves this to us in a variety of ways. If I give him a snack, he sets it on our little toddler table, pulls himself into the chair (which usually takes a few attempts ;), and finally enjoys his snack with pride. He is also insistent on using a fork for whatever he is eating.

The most exciting development is all of the words Gavin is starting to say. It seemed to happen out of nowhere! One day, he could only say a few words... now he is picking up new ones daily. Some of the latest new words are: baba (I want something to drink), dipuh (which he says with a smile when I am changing him), chee (whenever I get the camera out), plee (for please, usually when he wants something to eat), bebe (when he sees a baby or sometimes referring to himself), ookee (cookie, a "must have" word for any toddler :), uh oo (thank you and love you), ahgee (doggie). Even more exciting, he can put two words together like baba plee (milk please), up plee, bebe diapuh, hi dada. This age can be so high maintenance, but this cuteness makes it all worth it!

Gavin's rocking chair is by far the biggest feat he has obtained. It took him awhile, but his big muscles prevailed and he was able to pull himself up. He was so happy to once again prove what a big boy he is to mommy. Tadaa!

A family adventure

On Thursday, we took the boys to Wild Waves. The weather was beautiful, Adam had the day off... time for a family adventure! Since the boys are still so young, we weren't sure if it would be worth the money. However, Costco had pretty cheap tickets so we decided to go for it. It was actually a lot more fun than I was expecting!

Wild Waves does have a huge water play structure for little ones. The only problem was, Jacob wasn't the biggest fan of water bursting out of random places at unexpected times. He finally braved climbing into this crazy fort, when I saw several employees holding buckets of water up above everyone. I gave one a "please don't dump that on my son" look, but he took it as a "please don't dump that on me" look and drenched both of us. So Jacob and Gavin played their hearts out on the mini waterslides outside of the big fort. These simple waterslides entertained them for a LONG time. We could also take them in the wave pool and the innertube river ride. Since it was so hot, there wasn't even shivering between activities! ;)

The funniest thing was that when we were in line for the innertube river ride, Gavin ran right up to a stranger and wrapped his little arms around his leg. This man picked Gavin up and Gavin nuzzled into him. Knowing full well he thought it was his daddy, I nudged Adam and motioned to this display of affection. Adam was cracking up and said, "Gavin, did you get the wrong Daddy?" You could actually see Gavin's little brain working. He looked at Adam and was like, wait a second. If you're my Daddy... then. who. is. holding. me?! He took a double-take, his eyes widened, and his arms immediately burst out toward Adam. It was funny... I guess men in swim trunks all sort of look alike to a one-year old. :)

Jacob was even more excited when we got dressed and headed for Enchanted village. There were tons of cute little kid rides that both Jacob and Gavin could go on. From kangaroos to spaceships, boats, cars, and roller coasters... they loved it. The best part was that there were no lines for any of the rides, so they could get right on as many times as they (or the parents) could handle. Sorry I don't have pictures! We didn't bring the camera inside. :)