Another day, another park!

Yesterday, Maia, Tess, and I explored Burfoot Park with my parents.  Maddie was on a camping trip with Tyler and a good friend of ours.  

Tess played at the playground for awhile before we found the path down to the ocean.  Like Priest Point Park, the trail to the water winds downhill through a beautiful, lush forest.  

I preferred this beach to the one at Priest Point Park.  It's rockier, and not teeming with tiny crabs to the same extent.  The crabs are fascinating to watch, but when too many are scuttling around all together, it puts me in mind of a roiling mass of spiders.  Gross.   

This time, we all got our feet wet.  Tess LOVES the water.  I think I need to get this girl into swimming lessons soon!

Sweet Tess.

Looking back at the cliffside...

Poor Maia began Summer Break with a nasty cold, and she was feeling pretty awful yesterday, but she powered through and still managed to have a good day.  

Tough Tess and her tender-footed big sister.  Tess didn't mind the rocky footing at all, but Maia was less enthused about it.  :)

Me and most of my family on the beach.  It's hard to see in this picture, but there are snowy mountains off in the distance behind me.  

Tess and her beloved "Papa".  

Holding a piece of seaweed...

When we left Burfoot Park we went to the Back Door Bakery for some heavenly slices of cake.  Local friends, if you haven't been there yet, GO!!!  It is lovely!  Delicious, delectable, and divine!  I had a slice of chocolate orange cake, and then split Tess' mini banana cream pie with Maia.  Tess decided she just wanted to look at it, rather than eat it.  Crazy girl.  :)  

On the drive back to my parents' house, Tess fell asleep, and I got to spend an hour in one of their recliners with a slightly sweaty, sleeping Tess on my chest.  It was so wonderful.  As much as I love that she is growing up and becoming more independent, I really miss having a baby sleep on my chest.  There are few things in life that can rival that joy.  Bliss.  

While Mom and Dad spent some time helping clean a friend's house, we hung out at their house watching "Chicken Run" and eating pizza and cheesy bread from Papa Murphy's.  My parents spoil us.  I am a lucky girl!  

2 for 2, Summer.  Nice work.  

Summer Vacation, Day 1!

Our Summer Break began with a trip to Priest Point Park with my parents.  The weather has been GORGEOUS lately (FINALLY!), and we're trying to take advantage of it.  First, the girls played at the playground:

The girls get a kick out of this big swing.  :)  

The playground equipment is designed to look like a ship.  Under the upper "deck" are two cute, red chairs that provide great shade.  

Maddie getting a push from G'pa while G'ma supervises.  :)

 After playing on the playground, we walked down through the forest to the shore...

This adorable dog was hot, and used the little stream to cool off.  :)

Gorgeous Maia!

The girls spent a long time throwing rocks into the stream.  They used the rocks to make a "dam" in the water...

Tess next to the girls' dam creation.  

Me on the beach...beautiful Olympia!

My darling progeny.  

Beautiful Maddie!

Tess was the only one of my babes brave enough to wade in the stream.  It felt lovely.  

So far, so good, summer!  Keep it up!  :)

Milestones

I think this last month of school lasted approximately 50 million years, but as of this afternoon, school is out for the summer!  Finally!  

Maddie and one of her best friends, Emily, at their 5th grade graduation ceremony.  On to 6th grade and Junior high!  

Maddie and her amazing, wonderful, fantastic teacher, Mr. Rees.  

Maddie and Tess in the front lobby of Maddie's school.  We are done with elementary school for two years, and then Tess will begin Kindergarten.  Sheesh.  I feel like I'll have children in school for forever...

Maia is now a high school freshman!!!  What the crap?!?!?!  How did this happen?!?!?!  

Maia showing me how excited she is for high school.  My girl actually LIKED junior high!  Can you believe that?!?!  She's a remarkable kid.  Just like her sisters.  

Tess is thrilled that her sisters will be home every day for several weeks.  They began summer break together by watching some "American Ninja Warrior".  We are all big fans of that show, despite the fact that I cannot do even one pull-up.  :)

After school, Maddie had her last belt test before she tests for her Black belt in December (hopefully!).  She passed with flying colors.  I am incredibly proud of her and how far she's come in just under three years.  Wow!  

Warming up...

Kickin'!

One-step sparring, where there are specific fighting sequences that they memorize.  Maddie is the one kicking her leg up. 

Receiving her danbo belt from Master Angie Lee.  

Proud of their new belts!  

Maddie with her new belt and her proud little sister.

Tess wanted to show me that she is strong like Maddie.  :)

After the belt test, we celebrated the end of school with a meal at Casa Mia, one of the girls' favorite restaurants.  Maddie always gets a cheese pizza, Maia always gets a pepperoni and bacon pizza, and Tess inhaled a bunch of spaghetti.  

My almost-14-year-old.

When Maddie began Taekwondo in July 2014, she asked if we could go to Baskin Robbins whenever she earned a new belt.  And so a tradition was born...

Welcome, summer!  We are all SO excited that you have arrived!  

The "Tail" of Joe

Several months ago, while hanging out at my parents' house, we noticed a squirrel in their backyard.  Tess was thrilled, watching it for a long time as it ran along the top of their fence and jumped back and forth in the trees.  Tess decided to name the squirrel "Joe".  From then on, we kept an eye out for Joe, and soon, my dad started leaving nuts out for him.  Or her.  We can't say with any certainty that Joe isn't actually Josephine.  He/she is a very modest squirrel.  :)  

Joe quickly learned that my parents' house was a suburban haven of nuts, and he began to visit more regularly.  Although, we're also not sure that Joe isn't several squirrels, and that word got out in the squirrel community that the Nelson house was the place to visit.  Either way, as Dad left nuts closer and closer to the house, eventually Joe was feasting bravely right outside the door to the backyard.  Joe will now come right up to the window and look inside, reminding my parents of their duty to feed him.  He's even come within a few feet of us while we sat outside on the porch.  Ah, the power of nuts!  ;)  

Last Thanksgiving, while we feasted around Mom and Dad's table, we started joking that Joe was going to show up with his family, expecting an especially big pile of nuts.  Literally just a few minutes later, Joe was on the porch with three other squirrels, looking for nuts!  It was hilarious and crazy!  Joe is obviously of above average intelligence.  Or he's had Mom and Dad's house bugged.  

Maddie has a stuffed squirrel that Tess loves to play with.  One day, she had it with her at Mom and Dad's house, and Dad decided to see what Joe thought of it.  He put it out on the porch with a little pile of nuts in front of it, and we waited.  When Joe showed up, he made his very careful way up to the stuffed squirrel, really seeming to wonder what the hell it was!  He got close enough to stretch out his tiny nose and give it several good sniffs.  Finally, he decided that it wasn't dangerous and that it probably wanted to share, so he got to work eating the nuts.  

I think we've all come to love Joe, or all the Joes.  And naming Joe was the beginning of Tess giving animals the funniest/strangest names: 

When we saw deer behind our house a few months ago, Tess named them "Hairno".  A bird that was playing in our backyard recently was named, "Stike".  She also drew a whale the other day that she named "Fokie".  Her names make us laugh and also feel grateful that we have a creative toddler around to make us laugh.  

Mom and Dad apparently are emitting a Dr. Doolittle vibe because yesterday they found this in one of their hanging flower baskets:

I wonder what Tess will name the hatchlings... :)

Things I Want to Remember

We recently painted part of what we call our music room and the adjoining library.  Sidenote: I feel a bit pretentious calling it the library, but I'm not sure why.  I love that I have a whole room to devote to reading!  For now, it also houses some Tess toys, but eventually, it'll be devoted wholly to books.  

Tess was DYING to paint like Mommy and Daddy, so we saved a section of wall just for her.  She loved painting, and took it very seriously.  

Daddy is a good helper, too.  :)

The finished product:

We also painted two walls of our half bath the same color (below pics), and I love how everything turned out!  I have a few other small projects that I want to do in these two rooms before I'll consider them done, but this was a big step in the right direction.  

After the rainiest winter ever, and what is already a very rainy spring (ugh), we have taken every opportunity we can to be outside when it IS sunny.  I took Tess running one of those days, and then we played at a nearby park for awhile.  

It was warm enough for short sleeves!  Hallelujah!  

Maia beside her volcano project that she did for her science class.  At first, she worked for literally hours and hours trying to make a volcano out of salt dough.  It did not go well.  Luckily, my dad saved the day!  One night, when he couldn't sleep, and knowing that Maia was stressed about her project, he researched how to make paper mache, and began making a volcano out of it.  Maia finished it and painted it, and it turned out awesome!  It's a model of Mt. Redoubt, in Alaska.  All the other kids chose typically famous volcanoes, but Maia wanted this one because she lived through one of its eruptions.  Pretty cool.  I'm seriously tempted to let Maddie use it when she's in 8th grade.  I mean, what do you learn from making the model?  Check back with me in three years... :)

Silly selfies (do you call them "selfies" when it's two people?):

A few days ago, Tess wanted to wear goggles while bathing, but she refused to then put her head under the water.  This kid is endlessly entertaining.  

I know you can't tell from the below picture, but I was soaked!  I had run 4.5 miles in the bright, happy sunshine, and then bam!  Hail and heavy, driving rain for another half a mile.  And then just as suddenly, the sun was back, acting like nothing had happened at all...silly Pacific Northwest spring.  Make up your dang mind.  :)

Have a fantastic day!