Images from our 5 day long summer

Decent weather was hard to spot this summer, I guess it's pay back for the awesome one we had last year.  At any rate, the kids and dog have managed to maximize the sunny days, with plenty of outdoor stuff.

I also successfully taught Jackson to ride his bike without training wheels in one session.  We are both feeling rather immortal at the moment.  We could slay dragons together.

Back in the Saddle!

Well, we are back from our trip to Tokyo, and despite my best efforts to nullify jet lag by staying up for 32 straight hours, to theoretically force my body to get a full night's sleep on Sammamish time, I find myself sitting here with nothing to do at 2AM.  So, since it's been a month since the last update, I thought I'd get back in the swing of things with a report on Mackenzie's birthday.

It's so hard to come to terms with my little bunny rabbit turning four years old.  While she is excited to be four, and I am happy for her and look forward to all that she will become this year, she is growing up too fast!!  I will always cherish my little 3 year old, with all of her spunk and sass, her big frowns when she is mad and her even bigger smiles when she is happy.  The way she hopped everywhere she went.   How she liked to walk around on the balls of her feet, and I will proudly remember how I vigilantly defended her right to do so, despite Steph's well meaning concerns that she would develop calf issues or arch issues or something (I don't know.  It seemed silly to me).  Most of all, her very big heart and adoring love for her family.  The best part is that this quality will only grow bigger, along with her!

Back to the birthday deets:

Mackenzie creatively chose to have a "Tinkerbell pony party" for her birthday, inviting a dozen or so of her closest friends to Farrel McWhirter park in Redmond for pony riding and Tinkerbell cake and snacks.  Jackson was very excited by this choice, as you will recall that at his version of a pony party he got some kind of heat stroke or something and had a miserable time.  So finally he got a chance to relive the scene with full zeal and gusto.  Mackenzie loved riding ponies, pretending to milk a cow, opening presents, and just being the special girl on a special day with friends.

Of course, in our grand tradition, she got a second birthday celebration with family.   She was very excited to see all of her grandparents, her uncle Matt, and her cousin Gracie.   She chose a special birthday dinner of home made macaroni and cheese, watermelon, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and pineapple.  She of course enjoyed a second birthday cake, surprising us with her choice of spice cake.  And she took home a princessly haul of gifts, including, but not limited to: a Disney Sleeping Beauty Castle with all the characters, her own reclining Tinkerbell lawn chair, barbie stuff, Silver Mist doll, a pink soccer ball, and a Tinkerbell Polly Pockets collection from her thoughtful brother.

Kenzie likes to fully immerse herself in her gifts before opening!

Six and zero quarters

Jackson has finally rounded the turn and is no longer "Five and three quarters" years old.  To mark the occasion of his 6th birthday, he celebrated three times!

First, he had his "kid" birthday, bowling with a dozen or so of his closest pals.

Trademark intensity

Mackenzie displays her unique follow through

Cake #1...

Next, he had a little impromptu add on celebration at his buddy Eli's house, with a special number 6 candle on the kids' dessert, which happened to be cake.

Cake #2...

Finally, he had his traditional family birthday celebration on the 4th of July at our house.  While rain caused us to miss the big fireworks show for the first time in Jackson's young existence, we were lucky enough to watch a smaller version out our back window, as many of the lake shore residents invested their kids' college funds in their own private shows on their docks.

Overall, it was a nice extended kickoff to our very late arriving Seattle summer, and we are enjoying building our first memories in our new home!

Cake #3  Steph's traditional flag cake!

Jackson loves his new Ichiro road jersey from his sister

Patriotic Kenzie

Settling in

After an excruciatingly slow three month wait, we have finally moved in to our new home!  We've been in for a week now, are about 90 percent unpacked, and have been thoroughly enjoying this adventure.  The kids love having a playroom, where they spend hours each day.  Steph and I love the play room as well, where we spend minutes each day... dumping all the kids toys there, so that the rest of our house no longer looks like a daycare!

Kenzie is making new friends, with little girls her age next door and across the street that knock on our door on a daily basis to see if Kenzie can come over to play.  Jackson has been too shy to join them, but last night he disclosed that he is ready.

Smokey is a mixed bag.  He is still looking for that perfect spot in the house to lay around.  Our first night after the move, there was a mosquito in our room that freaked him out, and he slept the next three nights in our closet.  He keeps trying out new areas each night, and has yet to sleep on his bed.  On the plus side, he loves the bigger, sunnier yard, and spends half his days laying around in the sun.  He also likes the little hiking trail that runs through the woods behind our neighborhood.

All in all, we're just excited to finally be here!

Home sweet home

Smokey, excited to see his house for the first time!

We got a special visitor to our backyard on our third day in the house!

The backyard

Our favorite spot to relax

Playroom

Watching movies

"Hiking" with Smokey

So long, but not goodbye

Today we say goodbye to the house that became home to our completed family.  This house and neighborhood will always hold a special place in our hearts.  It is here that we grew together as a young family, and when I look back at our time here I will just remember it as a happy place.  We made  many great friends, and created a great foundation of loving and caring relationships within our family.

We say goodbye to the house, but not to the friends we have made.  And we have already established that we will be back frequently for those sunny summer evenings just sitting around on lawn chairs with our neighbors drinking beers and watching the kids assault each other.

Of course we have a treasure trove of memories we will hold for a lifetime... far too many to list here, so this is just a small sampling...

Classic summer night, hanging with neighbors

First steps...

First birthdays...

First bikes...

Learning the game...

...in this case with her own unique flair

First White Christmas

Tiny Tutus

Last weekend, Mackenzie took center stage with her fellow "Tiny Tutu's" at their year end ballet recital. She has worked very hard all year preparing for this event.  We are so proud of her!

Lucky for us, Mackenzie and her pals were second on stage, dancing to "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes", from Cinderella.  As the bright lights came on, the audience was treated to a tidy little row of pint size ballerinas wearing flowery tutus fit for a royal ball.  Mackenzie was centered among the ballerinas, and diligently enacted the first move of the dance routine, pretending to be asleep (matching the dream component of the song).  She effortlessly held the position, even as the rest of her class moved on to new dance moves! Steph was quickly consumed in simultaneous laughter and tears.

Satisfied with her execution of the dream sequence, Mackenzie finally moved on to her many other moves, a variety of twirls, hops, arabesques, curtseys, and pliets.  She glided from one move to the next, interrupting her rhythm only once, to wave and yell "Hi Mommy!"  (cue more hysterics from Steph)

After the recital, she celebrated at Red Robin with her big brother, both sets of grandparents, and of course, Mom and Dad.  She was also quite excited to get three bouquets of flowers!!

Images from the big day (no camera were allowed during the recital, but we did order a DVD that is sure to make us laugh and cry all over again):

Hair and makeup

Dressed and ready for her big moment

Re-enacting her routine for the camera