What my living room looks like...

Sorry for the lack of posts, but Mike has been very, very busy with work and has worked at least 10 hours a day for the past 20 days, but he had yesterday and today off! Yesterday we went to the MOAG (Mother of All Garage Sales) with our friends, the Mullans. We found lots of good deals and Gabe is thrilled with his new Matchbox cars and wooden train. Today we spent the morning at church and came back for a lazy afternoon at home since it has been raining. Mike and Gabe decided to build a fort in the living room and play with cars and trains inside it. I took a few pictures to document the fun and distressed looks on Annie's face (since the couch is her sacred domain where she sleeps 16 hours a day).

Strawberries

A few weeks ago we went to pick strawberries and some raspberries together. It was fun for Mike and I, but Gabe didn't enjoy walking in the fields, because the ground wasn't very level and he kept falling over into the berries. He didn't realize that you could eat the strawberries and how good they tasted. Later that weekend, we made strawberry jam and ended up with 9 jars. We also had lots of strawberry shortcake and strawberries and nutella.

Rocking Dachshund's Cross-country Trip

At Christmas I wrote about a "rocking horse" that my dad made for Gabe that is actually a dachshund (just like our dog). Well, as you can imagine, it wasn't going to fit in our carry on, so it was stuck in Indiana for a while. Since no one in our family is planning a cross country drive anytime soon, my dad shipped the dachshund via FedEx. So about a week ago it came to our front door and Gabe was thrilled that it came in large cardboard box and grandma had packed a Gator Golf game in with it. He is already a golfing pro (which means he follows the ball around the house, occasionally hitting it).

Milestones

I wanted to document a few milestones for Gabe. We recently (in the past few days) started brushing his teeth and letting him feed himself yogurt with a spoon. He loves his "Thomas toothpaste" and the taste of it. He believes stabbing the cup of yogurt with the spoon will get the yogurt to stick, so it's a pretty messy event.

Sunshine & Rocks

We recently went to the Mukilteo ferry park and enjoyed the water, played on the swings, watched the ferries go back and forth, and played with rocks. Gabe picked up a few rocks, two in one hand and one in the other and wouldn't let go of them for the rest of the time at the park (actually 2 of them are still next to his car seat in the car). Even while he was in the swing, he would hold onto his rocks tightly and lean back in the seat with a serious look on his face.

Aunt Jenna's Visit

Rose garden

Eating at the brewery

Bacon maple bar from VooDoo

Cannon Beach

Ice cream at Tillamook

Watching cheese-making

Shortly after our first visitors, Chip, Amy, and Imogen left, my sister, Jenna came to visit for a week. Gabe really likes when Aunt Jenna visits because it means constant entertainment. Jenna and I went "couponing" several times while she was here because we both like free/cheap stuff. We all went to Cannon Beach, Oregon and stayed for 2 days. First we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory in Tillamook, Oregon and toured the factory and ate delicious cheese and ice cream. We spent Thursday on the beach and walking around the cute little town of Cannon Beach. We had really nice weather and Gabe loved playing in the sand on the beach. He had a great time knocking down the sandcastles we would build. On the way back to Everett, we stopped in Portland to go to VooDoo Doughnuts, eat at Deschutes brewery, and look around Powell's gigantic bookstore. Gabe was in heaven in the children's section of Powell's... he just kept smiling and pulling books off of the shelves. We ended up bringing 3 books home for him. We also stopped to explore a rose garden on our way out of Portland, which was a bad idea because apparently Mike and I are allergic to that much rose pollen and sneezed and sniffled all the way. When we got back home, we spent Saturday recovering and relaxing and celebrated Father's Day on Sunday with a big breakfast, church, and homemade ribs for dinner. We spent time enjoying the nice weather outside and hanging out at the Mukilteo ferry park. Just before Jenna left we enjoyed an evening with our community group at a French wine and cheese party at the Mullan's house.

I have a lot of pictures from the park in Mukilteo, so I will do a separate post for that.

Finally... An Update

Well, let's see, it's been a busy 3 or so weeks since Mike's family left. We have had visitors, gone on a mini-vacation to Oregon, and been enjoying the outside a lot. Mike's old roommate, Chip, and his wife Amy and daughter Imogen came to visit 2 weeks ago. We enjoyed a day of Seattle--Ballard locks, Paseo's, Kerry park and Pike Place Market and then took a road trip out to the Olympic Peninsula to see Hurricane Ridge. Gabe got to ride the ferry for the first time and saw deer while hiking at Hurricane Ridge. It was a busy trip, but lots of fun. More pictures to come...