Weekend at the Beach

Laur and Doug wanted to spend a few days of their visit at the beach.  Shawnie was kind enough that she let us spend a few nights at her beach house.  Since Oley was not supposed to be home from Scout camp until Saturday he found someone to bring the boys home and came home a day early so we could get to the beach.  Ad and I did all the shopping and then were off for a fun filled weekend!

It was a packed house so our family and Laur's family slept in the backyard in tents and let Robyn, Liz, Mom and Grandma and Grandpa use the house. The wind was a little bit chilly down on the beach so the girls just wore diapers and their jackets.  We had fun filled days of playing in the sand, putting our feet in the ocean, and flying kites.   Ad loved the sand!

Laur asked that I take a few family pictures. . . unfortunately they did not turn out too well.

As always all good things must come to an end.  I needed to be back to work on Tuesday and so Oley stayed an extra day with my family to do some crabbing and enjoy the beach shops.  Ad was not a happy camper that I had to go, but she soon realized she has Oley wrapped around her finger and loves spending time with him.  I love when family is able to come visit and we are able to go explore the beautiful country we live in!

Away at Scout Camp

I have not been looking forward to this week all summer long, the week Oley would leave Adelé and I for an entire week to take the boys from the ward to scout camp.  Since I needed to take time off in August for girls camp and we wanted to trial how well Adelé would do with a babysitter for when Oley goes to school in September we had Kim watch Adelé.  Surprisingly she did seemingly well!  Little to no crying on the 3 days that I had to drop her off, which was a real blessing.  I will say this week has given me a whole new respect for single parents and a whole new appreciation for everything that Oley does around the house. 

Somehow we made it clear to Thursday and were still smiling.  

 Ad missed her dad so much that she became the ruler over the PS3 controller. 

My family had come up to visit Grandma and Grandpa and go with Oley and I to the beach.  So on Thursday I met them halfway and we explored Pike Place Market. 

 While we were waiting for the family to show up, Ad and I took pictures of her.  I love her studious look in this one. 

 Adelé has always got to be the center of attention especially when there is food around. 

 After eating a snack she wanted to chase the pigeons with Ryker.  She was squealing as she would chase after them.  It's kind of wrong how acclimated these birds are to people, I was worried that they were going to let her touch them or worse yet they would poop on her.  But she loved it and it was bringing joy to everyone there. 

Water Baby

Adelé loves the water and it was finally warm enough for us to be able to put water in her pool for her to play in.  Whenever she is in the bath she will stick her whole face into the water and then pick it up and laugh.  It worries me that she is going to inhale a bunch of water and drowned herself every time, but she thinks it's hilarious.  The swimming pool was no different.  She loved splashing and getting her whole head wet.  I am so glad she loves the water!

Our Jabber Baby

Adelé loves to jabber!  She carries on full conversations with everyone and no one really understands what she is saying, but it's so cute.  She recently has started saying "Uh-Oh" really well.  Everything gets an "uh-oh".  She loves to show you where her Tickles (toes) are and says "tickle tickle" as she points to them.  It's amazing how many new words she picks up on every week.  She loves to be the center of dinner conversation.

After watching Ryker in Boise she is a pro at walking now.  As soon as she figured out how to stand herself up from a seated position on the floor she is a champ! So much so she thinks that she is big enough now to go down the stairs facing forward. . . not sure if I like this courage yet. 

Every time we get in the car she grabs her phone and talks on it, she is becoming a little person.

Fun in Boise

To continue on with a fun filled weekend Oley wanted to try the pizza challenge that Matt and Doug did in Boise about a year ago.  Once the boys were ready we were all off. 

That's a whole lot of pizza, which I am glad they did not ingest the entire thing.   This was how they ended.

Once our pizza trip was done it was off to the splash park. 

Ad had so much fun that she was falling asleep as I was trying to dry her off and put her clothes back on so we could go home.  Silly kid!  She got a nice nap in the car while we waited for Laur to get her cell phone figured out.  The boys wanted to float the canal bed by Laur's house so we had to stop and get flotation devices at Wal Mart.

 Not sure I would trust Oley's clearance find to carry me but that's what they chose.  Laur dropped them off at the canal and they had a fabulous time. 

It was a crazy busy day and we were all exhausted.  The next morning we attended church with Laur and Doug and then headed home.  Ad was not happy at all to be leaving. 

4th of July in Melba

Lauralynn was told that the 4th of July festivities were better in Melba than Boise so we took her word for it and enjoyed the small town celebration.  We started out the day by attending their parade - and yes it was a small town, lots of kids riding bikes, lots of old people in cars, and beauty queens.  Thank goodness they did have horses though, Ad loved the horses.

As we were walking to our car after the parade we walked passed a family putting their horses away.  We asked if the kids could put them and they said yeah let them sit on them if they want.  Ad was in heaven!  She loves horses.  It was the highlight of her day. 

 The kids were exhausted from sitting in the heat all morning so we headed home to give them naps. 

Once Doug came home from work we headed back out to Melba for the firework show.  As tradition we packed a picnic dinner to eat while waiting in the park for the fireworks. 

Oley had bought some sparklers.  The boys loved them, Ad wasn't so sure about them.

Once the firework show began it was a pretty impressive showcasing for such a small town.  They had these crazy fireballs that they would light off in the sky.  It was pure craziness! All and all it was a great holiday and I am glad that we decided to travel and spend time with family.