Chelan and Waldo

Before heading home from Seattle, we made a couple day stop in Lake Chelan. We love this lake and had a great time playing by several different parks and beaches. The water in Lake Chelan is crystal clear, it is so fun swimming.

We had to be creative for beds in our hotel room.

Here are a few picture of the boys and their brotherly love. They are cute boys and lucky for them we can't help but love 'em so much. On that note, let it be known that it was on this trip that we will remember they started their testing phase in FULL force! If they are anything like Piper at this stage, we are in for it DOUBLE TIME! They sure do play off each other too, for example, if we tell one of them to not pull Piper's hair, immediatly the other will pull Piper's hair, just to see if they too aren't suposed to pull Piper's hair. Or one will scream for fun in the car, then we say "Jett, don't scream in the car!" So what happens? Calvin screams and laughs, then Jett screams again too. Then they both keep screaming and laughing and Piper usually joins in too! Ahhhh. What am I going to do? =-)

We have an awesome strawberry patch in the back yard, last week the boys enjoyed some naked strawberry hunting time. Don't worry there was no peeing in the strawberry patch! There were actually a few red strawberries to be found after being gone a week in Seattle. This was such a bonus because usually the kids pick and eat any and every strawberry they find as soon as they see them, green ones included. So there is never a chance for them to ripen.

This weekend we got the Camper Van out and headed to Waldo Lake. This is such a cool lake too, we hadn't been back there since I was 8 months pregnant with Piper. It was fun to remember that trip which still burns in my memory as one of the coolest camp spots I have ever stayed. Life was pretty simple back then, it was just us and Mango loaded up in our tiny battery powered engine raft. We boated across Waldo to a point with a flat tent spot on the edge of the shore. It was beautiful place and funny to think that we had no idea of the beautiful family we were on the brink of starting just a few months later. And four years later we would be back with three kids in tow!

This Waldo Lake trip was quite different, the five (6 with Mango) wouldn't fit in that old raft, let alone with all the gear we require now a days. So the Camper Van is now our ride and we even brought our mountain bikes and paddleboard! Such a fun weekend climbing rocks, exploring the shoreline, swimming, paddleboarding and even switching off for some solo mt. bike trail riding.

Once again marshmallows were a hit. Piper generously loaded the boys up with her toasted goodness, and she managed to eat around 10 mallows herself. Fortunatly they were exhausted after a full day of playing in the sun at the lake that all that sugar didn't disturb their sleep that night!

And a perfect end to a fabulous weekend was before bedtime dress up and twirling fun.

Summer in Seattle

It is so hard to leave Bend in the summer, but it is usually pretty peak time to be in Seattle too, so we decided to plan a camper van trip and stop a few places on the way there and home. Well, our inital plans were foiled by our travel style, which is doesn't include planning ahead. After calling 7 different places to reserve camp spots and they were all totally booked, we decided to leave the camper van at home and just mini van it up instead.

We had a jam packed trip, enjoying the company of family and friends and seeing the sights in the BIG city! The first night in Seattle, after 7 1/2 hours in the car, we made it just in time to the Old Spaghetti Factory for a family dinner honoring my Grandpa Poletti who passed away one year ago to the day.

The next day we met Uncle Topher at a Fremont park and ate yummy Cuban pork sandwiches that were off the hook. Love the insight on hole in the wall lunch spots that had a line out the door and down the block. There was even an old fashioned merry-go-round at the park that the kids loved.

Then it was off to Cal Anderson Park for a reunion with some old book friends. The Alfords, The Vogals, The Wellons and Emily Nicholson and her husband Greg and little boy Luca even made the drive down from Canada. So fun to see all the kids playing and have the chance to catch up with this crew for an evening. At six weeks old, Pierson Jett was a star attraction and getting a sneak peak at what two year old twin boys (Van and PK) will be like was cool too. What sweet boys, fun to finally introduce Jett and Calvin to the Alford twins.



The Ballard Locks was another favorite outing. My parents, my sister's family and even my uncle Paul joined in on the fun to watch the boats pass, see the salmon ladder and play on the grassy hill.



We played tourist and hung downtown at Pikes Place Market, rode the monorail and even went up the Space Needle. This was such a fun day despite pushing nap time back and having some onry little ones waiting in lines at the Space Needle during the peak of normal nap time.



This is a sweet picture of my mom and the boys at the neighborhood park wading pool.



I don't think there has been a visit to Seattle without seeing my old best friend from high school Shannon and her family. And we were lucky to squeeze in another fun morning at Carkeek Park with her tribe which is quite a crew including Ella, Luke, Nolan, Alice and her niece and nephew Allasia and Mattias. On a normal day she has all six of these kids and I can't help but be impressed with how well they seem to get along and play together. We played at the park, watched the trains, and explored the stream leading into the Puget Sound. What a fun day at the beach!



Here is a cute picture of the cousins hanging at my parents house. Baby Mercer is such a smiley little guy and big cousin Garret just turned 7 years old!!!