Preschool

Katie started daycare/preschool this fall. She goes to an in-home center and loves it! There's a group of 3 little girls, between the ages of 2 1/2 and 3 1/2, who are all buddies. Katie is having so much fun, and learning so much!

Here Katie is, posing with her owl crown, and her owl buddy. You can see how proud she is of the work she can do!





In this one, her owl buddy is hanging "uh-side down!"

A Day at the Fair

This post is just a little late. The fair's in August. It's September. I know.

Back into a routine

School has started for me. I'm teaching Anatomy, Physical Science and.... English! Gah. I don't like teaching English. If it weren't for my friend Heather helping me out with lesson planning, I'd cry every day. Which would probably get me fired. But she's an awesome teacher, and so I think my kid's lurn to reed and rite gud.

School starts for Jared next week. Nursing school at CBC. He is really excited. I am not so excited about that full page book list.

School has started for Katie... sort of. She's starting at an in-home daycare with a preschool component. She loves going to Angie's and playing with her friends.

Here's some of our back-to-school family photos. All photos from arizona lewis photography. I've known Heather Lewis since elementary school, and she is so much fun! She really captures the spirit and love in my little family.

A Day Out With Thomas

Katie and I went to Snoqualmie on Friday to go ride the Thomas the Tank Engine train!



A Day Out With Thomas was held at the Northwest Railway Museum. There were lots of activities for the kids. Katie liked best playing with the train tables and exploring a small locomotive.







She also liked dancing to sounds of Sodor outside the Emily train. And yes, that is the way she dances.





Katie enjoyed the train ride. We got to see Snoqualmie Falls from the window!







All aboard!

We love summer

...the water park...


...playing with friends...


...sunblock smears...


...ponytails that corkscrew up...


...hanging out in the hammock...

"DUCK! C'mere! C'mere, duck!"

Katie seemed to think she could bully the ducks into eating her hot dog buns. Not that they really needed the encouragement. Greedy things.



The ducks reside at a lovely little park at their public library. All pics courtesy of Colleen.

The Beach 2010

Jared and his brothers decided to go deep sea fishing this weekend, so Katie and I tagged along for the camping.



Wildwood Park was pretty nice. And rather empty on Sundays.

Katie is a little beach bum. Couldn't keep her out of the ocean.







She was so excited that she tripped and fell in the water that she tried to do it again on purpose.



Finally dragged her out and pacified her with a shovel and pail. This is Long Beach, WA. It's a lovely beach, and it wasn't terribly crowded.



Sunday, the boys went fishing, and Katie and I drove up to Ocean Park, then bopped around Long Beach. Then, we didn't take a nap...



But we did make three laps around the campground looking for treasures...



Played a little b-ball...



And spent two hours digging in the sand pit.



Little girl had a hard time being away from home. She cried to be in her own bed, despite the fun she had during the day.

We also had a couple of wonderful visits with Dennis and Colleen, who hosted us Friday and graciously took us in on Sunday night as we escaped from the (potential) storm on the coast. We also stopped at Multnomah Falls. Katie liked the water, but I'll be really honest and tell you that what thrilled her was the train that went by as we were passing under the rails. She stood there cheering and "Choo choo!"ing it as it went by. Unfortunately, I threw the camera down in the car (accidentally, I swear!) and jostled it so there are no pictures. However, I will leave you with this parting shot, that I like to call Girl Giggling at Campfire.