Waiting for the Esparzas

Right now, we are all waiting for the arrival of my sister and her family in the next 5-10 minutes. Luke has been asking me for the last three hours... literally every two minutes ... "are they here yet?" He's pretty excited. It's been two years almost to the day since he last saw his boy cousins. Here they were last time ...

Enjoying some HEAT {finally} @ Priest Lake

Earlier this month we had a very impromptu camping trip to Priest Lake. We'd intended to go later in the month, but Jason's work schedule got changed unexpectedly and we weren't going to be able to go as planned. Booo :( But after finding that the weather was going to be good, we were able to reserve one of the few remaining campsites and headed on up. It was a wonderfully WARM weekend with the added bonus of getting to go to one of Luke's friends birthday party and spend time with our awesome Priest Lake community from last summer.

{Since then the weather has been nasty enough that I've had to put our flannel sheets and down comforter back onto our bed - and this is supposed to be summer. Idaho-Grrr!}

Daddy's helper :)

Luke immediately wants to get into his mummy bag even though it was 90 degrees outside.

The beach is a short walk from our campsite.

 Ahhh ... family campground time. So thankful to one of our Priest Lake friends who loaned us the walker/saucer for Mabel to use.

5 am in our tent ...

Love the lake in the morning!

 Awesome boat ride compliments of the Hayes Family!! Mabel was not a fan and cried nearly the whole time until she fell asleep (she DID have a hat on, but it blew off right as we took her picture).

A trip to Priest Lake wouldn't be complete without the trek up to the Lionhead State Park beach with its ultra soft white sand beach and sparkling clear water. We had the beach completely to ourselves & even I couldn't resist getting into the chilly waters for a swim. It was wonderful!!












































We are missing this special summer home very much.

Mabel at 9 Months

Mabel passed her nine month mark yesterday. Woo-hoo!


What she's up to?

- sitting-up on her own pretty well (with a pillow behind for when she tips over)
- army crawling / belly scooting everywhere -- I need to get an outfit made out of swifter material so she could be sweeping up while she slides across our floors
- eating a bit of food but still NO teeth
- occasionally says mama and dada in the correct context

Mabel is officially too big/active to sleep in dresser drawers anymore :)

Hanging out in Seattle

Jason & I put together a very last minute trip to Seattle for Memorial Day weekend and had a great time (or at least as great a time as one can have with two little children in tow). We were fortunate to stay with Jason's long-time friend, Jeremy & his wife Krista in beautiful Woodinville and also able to connect with several other "west side" friends.

Our first stop was in Kenmore to see our very special friend Allison (from our time in Guatemala) & her wonderful family. I don't know too many three year olds who get to sit in the pilot seat of multiple sea planes ... Luke is a lucky boy - thanks Mark!

Next stop was downtown Seattle for a walking tour day with some friends from Moscow ... the weather was more typical Seattle so I didn't take many pictures ... but we had a great day trekking from Pioneer Square to Pike Place Market to the Olympic Sculpture Park and Seattle Center and back again.



































The following day we headed to the Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park in Redmond ... another rainy day, but still fun for Luke to get to interact with some farm animals and for all of us to get to do some light hiking in Seattle's brilliant green.











































Our annual trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without connecting with our Peace Corps friend, Jamie and her beautiful family. It's hard to believe that we've known each other for nearly 10 years now. Luke & Cooper love playing together and we always enjoy catching up.

As we prepared to leave, the sun finally came out and we had a spectacular drive back -- at least until the Cascade Mountains receded into the background and we were left with the long, flat and dry drive back to Moscow.