Rhododendron House

I love our backyard and the boys love it too!  The other day (with the help of Annika & Ryker) they discovered their new house, the Rhododendron House.  I love how our backyard still has some undiscovered parts and I know it will continue to be a world of adventure for these boys. 

Brody is giving a little tour of his house. 

 (Why is it that they won't look at the camera when you want them to?)

Cougar Mountain Zoo

My friend Theresa invited us to join her and her daughter Natalie at the Cougar Mountain Zoo.  It's always a little tricky taking all 3 boys somewhere but if I know I have an extra hand to help out it makes it a little easier (at least in theory).

It was a cold but dry morning.  The boys had fun looking at the animals but it will probably be awhile before we visit there again.  (It costs way too much money for the size of the zoo). 

An attempt at a picture of all of us.  (By this time the boys were done with the zoo and ready for lunch)

The tigers were the best attraction at the zoo.  They were so big!

The highlight for Brody was feeding the Alpacas.  He asked me if I wanted to feed him and I said "No, Way!"  I don't like that kind of stuff.

I didn't get any pictures with Theresa and Natalie (sorry), but thank you for inviting us!

31 cent scoop night

Baskin Robbins had 31 cent scoop night so we went with the Welke's to get some ice cream.  It was a fun treat!  In my balancing act I managed to drop my ice cream on the floor but it was no big deal because I just bought another one for 31 cents.  Brad ended up with 3 scoops and it still cost less than a dollar.   You have to love fun deals like this! 

Even Ollie loved his ice cream, but he loves anything he can eat.

Museum Fun

We joined Annika, Ryker and Lori at the Kids Quest Museum in Factoria.   The kids had a great time and I got a great workout trying to keep all three in my sight.  (Why can't they be interested in the same thing at the same time? It would make things so much easier.)

Ollie

Brody playing the musical bench.



Colt playing in the water. This is by far their favorite exhibit.

Finally a light switch Ollie can reach.  

Not a very exciting video, but since I did get a video I thought I would still post it. 



Jessi's first Half

It wasn't too long ago that I would ask my sister to go on runs with me.  She would either laugh or ignore me.  I always told her she would like it and she seemed to have one excuse after another.

I'm not sure what happened but before I knew it she was going for long runs and training with our women's running group at our church.   Jessi and one other lady (Shea) signed up for the Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon in North Bend.  

Brad took Brody & Colt and my neighbors watched Ollie so I could quickly see part of Jessi's race.  (We had to go to a wedding in Pasco so I couldn't stay for the whole race.) 

I made it in time to get a picture of Jessi and Shea before they started. 

Me & Jessi before the race.

I found a good place to cheer them on somewhere between the 3rd & 4th mile.  Then I had to head back home.  They were looking great!

A few short videos.  This is the start of the race.

The 3rd or 4th mile.

After I saw Jessi & Shea I spotted this guy with a sombrero.  I asked him if I could take his picture.  He was so excited to put his sombrero all the way on and take out his mustache and maracas. 

You gotta love this guy!

 



I'm so proud of my little sister Jessi.  Not only did she finish in a respectable time of 1:55 (one hour and 55 minutes) but she put in all the hard training that lead up to.  It's a tough task by itself but she did it while being a wife and a mom to a 2 1/2 year old AND a 7 month old.   Great job Jessi! 

Egg Hunt #3

We had Easter at my Aunt Pede's house.  I have some pretty fun memories of family gatherings there along with some epic Easter egg hunts.  Jessi and I filled (actually refilled) eggs with some of our favorite candies.   We thought we would have at least five kids to look for the eggs but it ended up only being Brody, Colt & Gunner.  They had more than a basket full of eggs.  We think they actually got a little bored because there were so many eggs (this also means lots of candy for the moms). 

Ollie even found some eggs in the trees. 

The thing I love best about this video is seeing all the adults on the porch watching these three kids looking for eggs.  What an audience!

Ollie finding his egg. 

Easter Best

We dressed up the kids in their Easter best and I was able to snap a few adorable pictures. 

Little Sayler in her sailor outfit. 

This was one of the few pictures I was able to get of Colt.  He isn't always the most cooperative when it comes to getting pictures taken.