Flashback: Christmas 2010

Some comedy and chaos for a morning laugh

Ehplains, Boats, and Balls, Oh My!

A big heat wave hit Seattle while our visitors were here. Funny how that happens. We set records when all you Texans came up for our wedding and we had 4 days of 90° and higher temps when you all came back. Interesting. We decided to take advantage of the heat and hit the lake. This was Piper’s first trip on a boat. I’m not sure she was too keen on it at first. She fussed for a second when we put on the life jacket, but got over it. She sat very stiff for a long time like the below picture. Just in my lap stiff as a board, only moving her eyes.

what are you people doing to me?

Then I handed her off to her momma and Mimi. She loosened up a little. Kind of.

seriously. this thing is uncomfortable. and why is there no car seat?

And then we started moving (7 knots) and she started saying “wheeeeeeeeeeeee” in this really soft voice. It made us all laugh, so she laughed with us.

ok. this is ... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ... fun.

We took the long way to Lake Washington and cruised the houseboats of Lake Union (as per usual with all of our precious, delicate cargo these days). All of the adults were wowed at the parking job of the big ole yacht between the two houses. Mimi or Melissa said “Holy Moly!!” and Piper repeated “Holy Moly!!!” over and over again. We tried to get it on video, but she was on to us.

holy moly parking job

Of course, Lake Union has the Kenmore Air landing strip, so there were tons and tons of ehplains ehplains ehplains to be seen. Piper has some excellent hearing and vision. Before any of us even knew what was going on she had spotted the airplanes and would tell us about them. I think she liked seeing the float planes so close up.

ehplain ehplain ehplain

She was very snuggly with her mom on this trip. I like to think that she was having so much fun that she was thanking her momma for bringing her to Seattle with lots of hugs and kisses.

lucky daughter, lucky momma

We even got her to wear her sunglasses for a little bit. She juts out her chin to try to hold them on.

cool kid

She looks like a Seattle girl to me, she knows how to appreciate that sunshine.

o my goodness, i love seattle!

We floated past Bill Gates’ house. Most of it is underground, but it’s a very large compound with several houses on the property. I like how low profile it is, quite beautiful!

maybe we can make this the family compound?

I’d say this girl was over her discomfort within a few minutes of boating. By this point, she was holding on to the Bimini top and checking out the world around her. She was singing quietly or calling out the ehplains the whole way around the lake.

let's rename this lake to piper's lake

More hugs for momma.

sweet moments

On the way back to the slip, we pulled off at the public docks at Ivar’s for some fish and chips. Once again pushing this little girl’s limits and she just went with it. I hope baby Lpod was taking lessons.

fish and chips at ivar's

We finished dinner and made way for the slip, I’d say Piper was pretty comfortable on the boat and with the life jacket by then, huh?

im the king of the world!

We caught a glimpse of the sun dropping behind the Olympic Mountains on our way back in. It was a perfect day!

august sunset over the olympics

I hope we’ll get to take the other cousins on a boat ride some time in the near future. They were sorely missed. Next time, ok? PopPop, you need to come check out your old friend Hot Water to make sure we’re taking good care of it.

Summer Streets

Melissa, Piper, and Mimi came up to Seattle last weekend for a quick visit. We had so much fun. It’s not easy to get to Seattle in the summer. It’s a lot more expensive if you are paying and the flights are significantly fuller if you are flying on a pass, making every single flight one of those “I guess I could be sleeping in El Paso for two nights” kind of flights. I grew up flying that way. It’s not fun. The only time that was fun was when we were stuck in San Francisco trying to get out to Honolulu. But really? We were all a little stressed about when we would get to Honolulu to truly enjoy SFO (not to mention I got a wickedly huge splinter in my foot from walking on a log on a freezing cold beach in SFO). I was 12, I remember it well. I even remember what I was wearing the day I got the splinter. Flying that way was actually was a lot of fun. I’m a master at plotting routes around the country and I understand the airline business well. My husband loathes it – I still feel like I need to be at the airport more than 2 hours before the flight is scheduled to depart. This drives him absolutely bananas.

As I began weaving you through my travels as a child, I forgot I was telling you about a visit from part of my family.
*focus, focus, focus*
What I was trying to say by telling you how hard it is to get to Seattle was to articulate how much it meant to me that they made it up here. Summer is fun in Seattle and we get a few rare visitors that time of year. So thanks ladies for making it happen, baby Lpod, Cott and I loved it!

On Friday during the day, we ladies did a little shopping. Poor Piper was still pretty off kilter from the all day travel the day before and the 2 hour time difference, so we got her home for a good, long nap. That evening, our neighborhood had “Summer Streets” where the city of Seattle shuts down a major street to all motor traffic and the businesses stay open late, sponsor artists, have food tastings, art showings, etc. It’s always a neat community feel and fun to get out in the neighborhood. We loaded Piper up in the BOB (check it out Carolyn, Cindy, Janet & Pam!!!) and walked over to the neighborhoods major “retail core” to check out the festivities.

testing out the bob

There were many performing artists participating while we were out there.

some strings for our walk

We got there early with the stroller brigade. As we were walking back toward home, the streets were really filling up. This year’s went all the way into one of our sister neighborhoods and was a little over a mile long.

listening to a live singer and hanging out on the curb

At one point, I was wondering if “torturing cats” was one of the arts on display out here, but then turned to find this little boy marching with a clarinet making an awful racket. It made us laugh really hard. I like that he chose the Better Hearing Center for his choice of business to torture. I hope no one discovered their hearing aid was turned too loud during his performance.

boy disrupting pleasant live music

We made it home, happy baby in tact and ready for bed.

just missing mimi

But not before we got some giggles for Uncle Cott. He’s so silly.

A Plum Weekend

We had some lovely visitors this weekend.

ham

We ran them ragged.

silly ham

But you could never tell from the next few posts.

flirt

Stay tuned for some fun times on a hot Seattle weekend…

It’s Raining Babies!

The Lpod packed up to spend a week in Texas to visit with family. The timing might have worked out exactly when niece#2 (of 2009, of course) was born! We had so much fun seeing everyone. Of the gazillion pictures that were taken, some of them ended up on our camera, so I thought I would share.

The only thing I missed taking pictures of was the wicked water volleyball game on the 4th. Such good fun.

While we waited in the hospital, Uncle “Cott” entertained the very *VERY* busy Abby. The two of them definitely enjoy each other’s company. It’s impressive to watch (of course, that is when Abby is not scolding me for walking into a room — “No, AnKim”)

magic tricks with a two year old

Abby got to go back and meet her beautiful baby sister, Katie. On her way back she was sure to let the entire hospital know about it.

running back to tell us baby katie was born!

Even Uncle Cott and AnKim were able to go back and meet sweet Katie.

cott, kim, and katie

One of the days we got to go down to the Riverwalk and hang out with Amy & Stewart (Amy is Scott’s sister) and their awesome kiddos. Maddie is a little over 2 1/2 years old and doesn’t sit still very long. I got lucky for about 2 minutes while she rested and shared some of my french fries.

maddie and kim

Devon & Tanner kindly humored me while I took pictures. They are sweet boys.

devon and tanner

Christian, Tanner, Devon and Maddie. All three boys are so fun to be around. Amy & Stewart are excellent parents!

christian, devon, tanner, and maddie

Back at Mimi & Pop Pop’s house, Abby was helping Mimi bake one of her famous cherry pies. While mom was making the crust to go on top, someone felt the need to scoot the chair to the other side of the kitchen, grab a chopstick, and taste test the cherry filling.

mimi's little helper

That taste came from Cott’s piece. She’s really very helpful.

taste tester

More adventures. Cindy gave Abby some “big sister” shoes after Katie was born. This was such a great gift – a tower of high heeled shoes in four different colors. She has not stopped wearing them since she got them. Even when she goes to the potty.

trouble in high heels

One of the best moments of the trip was seeing the cousins and sisters all meet for the first time. Baby Katie & Piper are 17 days apart.

sweet cousins

Abby is such a good big sister and cousin. She is taking her role seriously and loves both of them – it’s fun to watch.

big sister and cousin abby protecting the girls

We tried to get a pic of everyone. Of the little ones, Katie was the only one cooperating. Piper was hungry and letting us know about it and Abby was…well, being two. I love my sisters and all of their sweet girls.

mel, piper, me, abby, sharla, katie

Cott and I are very, very blessed. We have amazing family and friends…our hearts are full of joy and happiness after such a good week of visits.

Next up? A 2300 mile road trip from SAT to SEA! Stay tuned…..