Full Car

Found this funny picture on my phone the other day.

It was on the way to "bring a friend day" at preschool a couple of months ago!

Lilly is 2!

Lilly's bike

Nehalem Bay

We went camping at Nehalem Bay this weekend and had a blast. To our surprise our kids slept great, Lilly did so much better than last year. We love this spot so much, I think it will become an annual tradition. They have great bike trails, a beautiful beach, a shallow bay to play in, and a river close by. Not to mention the cleanest campground bathrooms I've ever seen and hot showers. We rented kayaks to row up stream, but Lilly apparently hates boating. After rowing around for about 40 min. with a screaming baby we gave up on the idea. She does love biking though, so we went on multiple bike rides a day.

Eli's construction site

Some pics of all of us at the bay

Ben had to take the training wheels off of Eli's bike to get it on the back of the car. While he was loading up to come home we suggested to Eli that he try riding his bike without the training wheels. We supposed he'd give it a few tries, but not really get anywhere. To everyone's surprise he just took off. He had a little trouble getting it started, but could ride just fine. He didn't want to leave the campground because he just couldn't get enough of the freedom of the two wheel ride. This was yesterday, and now he's a pro at starting, breaking and turning. I couldn't be more proud, I really didn't expect them to come off until next summer when he would be 5. I have to admit I got a little teary when he took off that first time. Ben had already put his bike on the back of the car, but pulled if off and said "I have to go for a ride with my son!".
Congratulations Eli!

A Purple Bead

We went to a birthday party at the park yesterday and shortly after arriving there, we had to leave. Eli had a bloody nose and said he had a bead stuck up his nose. At first I thought he said "Bee", and was glad to find out it was a piece of plastic and not a bug. I stood up to take a look, and my sandal broke. I decided it wasn't such a big emergency that it couldn't wait a few minutes, I took Ben and Lilly home, got some shoes (you definitely need shoes in the ER) and drove to the hospital.

They were really quick about it, we were only there a few minutes before they got it out. They stuck a very tiny straw with a little balloon on the end up his nose. They pushed the end past the bead, inflated the little balloon, and pulled it out with the bead wedged in front of it.

Eli didn't think this was very fun, but loved the Popsicle they gave him afterwards. I hope this experience will discourage him from sticking anything else up there!

When we asked him why he did it he said "Kylie stuck a bead up her nose and it got stuck, I thought if I did it I could get it out"! We had actually hoped the experience of a friend having the same thing happen would prevent this kind of experience, but alas no such luck. We even had to call Kylie because Eli wanted to know what color her bead was, for the record it was green!

Scooter

All the neighborhood kids have scooters, and Eli's was made for babies. Everyone has been nice enough to share with him, but we decided it was time to get him his own scooter. At first we considered a Razor, but Ben and I both had this type of scooter as a kid and loved how fast it went. It also does great "off road", Eli's already riding it off the curb. I was worried he wouldn't be able to balance it yet, since he still has training wheels on his bike, but he's done great. Maybe this will even be good practice for biking without training wheels!

Hiking

Last Saturday we hiked Hamilton Mountain on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. Eli hiked the whole way, about 4 miles, and Lilly loved the backpack. We were dog sitting the Blaisdell's dog Lucy, so we took her along. The kids had fun taking turns holding the leash, she was the "leader". It was a great kid hike, some uphill, but not too steep. I'm so happy summer is here, can't wait for the next adventure!

Swimming Lessons

Eli has been in swim lessons the past couple of weeks, and loves it. He goes 4 days a week, and the other three days he asks daily if today is swimming. After our failure with t-ball I was a little apprehensive, but he's doing great! I guess we've got another swimmer in the family.

Summer Fun

I found Lilly in the hall this morning, changing her baby's diaper. Super cute!

Summer bike gang on our street. We're spending hours a day in the driveway. A little white trash, but so much fun.

New Life

After

Before

We finally got rid of the old, ugly changing table and put a new dresser in Lilly's room.

Of course it needed a little paint first!

Preschool Graduation

Eli's preschool had their graduation ceremony today!

The kids sang songs, received their diplomas and then we broke for lunch. We all had fun, and I'm happy to say Eli didn't have to use the bathroom during the presentation (like he did at Christmas, causing us to miss the singing). We've been so happy with his preschool experience so far, and can't wait for fall.

I can't stop laughing at all of the funny faces Eli makes when I try to take his picture. At least they're not of the back of his head anymore!

Congratulations Eli! We love you!

Dozer Day II

Ben finally emailed me the pics from his phone, so here's the rest of Dozer Day 2011!

Here's a random pic of Eli by a Front Loader, not sure where this was. Okay, Ben just told me this was at someone's house when we picked up our bathroom vanity off of craigslist.

I really love how happy Eli looks in all of these pictures! His love of heavy machinery is unwavering, it's an obsession really. We were at Powell's the other day, and he choose yet another book on machines. I told the checker I already knew more about heavy equipment than I ever cared to know. Eli really is his own person, this didn't come from us!

Dozer Day

Eli and Ben went to Dozer Day last weekend.
Eli really wanted to go last year, but got the stomach flu the day before and had to miss it. He's been asking every couple of weeks over the last year if it was coming up, well it finally came. They hold it in a Quarry in Vancouver, WA. Kids get to drive real machines, and play construction themed games. It's Eli's dream come true!

Lilly Lou

I'm not sure where she came up with this, but here's her "silly face"!

Lilly loves to try on everyone's hats. She empties out the whole basket, then tries on all the hats. Some work better than others, Ben's beanie is a little big. She's such a girl!