Deception Pass - Abbie

Collecting rocks, a Duvall tradition!

We went to Deception Pass with 7 families, probably close to 20 kids the weekend before last. We stayed in the group sites, which was PERFECT! Although the weather cold, especially at night, the kids had an unbelievably wonderful time exploring the woods without any boundaries. I decided to blog each child's experiences separately to shorten up the post. We love getting together with these families. Our kids always enjoy each other and the adults laugh alot and with everything I had been going through with the new job, laughing was such an answer to prayer.

Abbie roasting marshmallows.


Kyley and Abbie at the beach, toes in the sand.

Abbie, Hadley, and Kyley in the shack on the bunks.


Marshmallow face again!!

Finding rocks on the beach.

Still new to blogging can't figure out how to delete multiple pictures.

Hadley, Kyley, and Abbie exploring....

Cute girls again!!

My Abbie Grace!

Changes....

I haven't been able to keep up with my blog as much as I would have liked lately because I took a new full-time job teaching full-day kindergarten at Meridian Elementary in Kent. It was a VERY hard decision to leave my school I love of 11 years, staff and parents as well. I shed many tears and couldn't talk about it without getting choked up. It has been a whirlwind packing up my old room, moving, cleaning my new room (oldest building in the district), setting up my new room, learning the ins and outs of my new school, and trying to get my own kids ready for their first day. I worked many 12 hour days. We also did kindergarten pre-assessment, full-day kindergarten training, and got trained about our refugee kids from Burma (very interesting, ask me about it sometime). School starts on Wednesday, I am nervous and excited. It is hard to be new. I was well-loved at my old school and knew everyone. Here, I am a stranger. It is not easy for me. It is a growing and learning experience. Financially it is the best decision for my family. I look forward to the many stories I will be able to tell. I have a potty in my room, so that should be interesting...

Summer Beauties

Well, maybe the first one isn't so beautiful.... But here are a few more pictures of my girls at Lake Roosevelt. This isn't one of her finer moments, but it is pretty funny. She is actually pounding on the tent because she is mad, she has quite a temper for 21 months. I am hoping that the "terrible twos" have hit early and we will be done when she hits two. Right??!?? She has her moments, but as you can see from the next few pictures, she has an adorable side as well. We love her to pieces.....

What a cute face!!

Look mom, I can be cute.

Look at me pose and be even cuter....

Abbie on the boat.

Fishing on Lake Roosevelt

Of course every family vacation we go on has to include fishing. It is one of Jim and kids favorite things to do together. Jim and James had tons of luck, in fact, James caught the biggest fish of the weekend. One of the young boys with us thinks he needs to change his last name to Roddy so that he can catch more fish. Here is a few shots of the gang fishing.

Abbie fishing with her Hannah Montana pole.
Our buddy Todd, poor Todd hasn't ever caught a fish, but being with Jim was able to get a nibble but while reeling the fish in, he lost the fish.

James with one of his many catches.

Abbie hoping to catch one.

Jim, James, and Blake.

Lake Roosevelt Camping

We left Enumclaw Thursday morning and headed to Lake Roosevelt for a four day camping weekend. The kids were beside themselves with excitement. I was a little nervous on how it was going to be with a 21 month old, camping?!?!??! She did horrible the first night, didn't sleep until 11:00. The next day she didn't nap her usually nap, but got enough to help her be a little less grumpy. She learned the word boat and water on our trip. She loved playing in the sand and going in and out of the tent. The older two, did amazing. They loved every minute of it. Our friends brought their boat and we were able to watch our kids go on the tube and knee board. James and Abbie were pros on the board, James tells us he is going to work on his 360 next year. Here are a few shots we got of the kids participating in boating activities.

Blake, Riley, and Abbie on the tube.

Blake, Abbie, and James giving the faster sign.

Look at those moves!

Having a blast!

Look at her go!

She's got the moves, she's got the moves, yeah, she's got the moves!

James trying to go over the wake, one handed.

Note his serious face, he is really concentrating.

Again, trying to do some tricks one-handed.

Nice form!

Our littlest "PEA NUT" !!

Our littlest peanut is NUTS FOR PEAS! I know I have already posted about this, but I can't help up share these pictures with you because it really funny how much she likes our peas. I am not a huge fan of peas myself, but wanted to grow some in our garden this year for the kids and Jim to enjoy, little did we know that she would be obsessed with them. On this occasion, I got a sequence of pictures where the dog was trying to get in on the action. She is just too cute sometimes!

In this picture, she is saying... No, Jake.


Then she decides to share, something we are trying to teach her, but not exactly in this way.

Getting more than she bargained for.

Being silly!

She is starting to pose of pictures which is nice for me because usually I get the top or back of her head.

My favorite picture of the bunch! She thinks she is so funny, I love that her personality is starting to bloom. She is adorable. Her grandma Beckie would be very proud of her love for peas and eating from the garden.

SeaFair Torchlight Parade

After the Seattle Children's Musuem, we had dinner at the Seattle Center and then off to the SeaFair torchlight parade. Jim set our chairs up earlier before the musuem and good thing he did because it was packed. The kids got treats at the Seattle Center, and then we headed to our seats. The bands and floats were already on the street ready to start moving. Audrie wasn't quite sure what to think of it all at first. It was loud and lots of people, but once it started going, she was so excited about all the dancers and music and balloons, etc. She just kept pointing at things and smiling. Fun was had by all.Abbie and James, treats in hand ready for parade!

Audrie, treats in hand, but babbling and looking concerned.

All ready! Let's get the show on the road.

Seattle Children's Musuem

Last weekend we decided to take a "staycation" and go to the Seattle Children's Musuem. We got a great deal on groupon.com a while ago and got a half price deal for our family. We hadn't been to the musuem since James was little and knew that Audrie would probably love it. We were a little concerned as to James' interest level, but decided to give it a shot. It was a great time. All our kids LOVED it, I didn't get many pictures of Audrie because she wouldn't stay still. There was so much to do there and she wanted to do it all. We will definetely look for another deal and go again. We were only there for about 3 hours, and the kids wished we could stay longer, but it was closing. As a teacher, I love how they intergrate learning with play. It was fun to see them interact together and pretend play.

James and Abbie taking a sailing trip around the world.

James, Abbie, and Audrie doing my grocery shopping, thanks guys!

This had to be Audrie's favorite part, shopping and filling her cart then emptying it. She was so focused and determined during this time. A good little shopper.

Miss Abbie the checker!

Miss Audrie the firewoman!

One of my favorite parts of the musuem was this part where they made storybooks come to life. Again, as a teacher, I just loved being able to walk through the pages of the storybooks I have read to my class and my own children and see them retell the sotry as well. Can you tell which story this is?? I bet many of my teacher friends can tell the author/illustrator as well.

This is James' in Frog and Toad's tree.

Here is James and Abbie crawling into Frog and Toad's story of A Lost Button.

What a cute pair!