Ballet!

Fi and A have been taking ballet classes and had their first recital! They did such a great job... I tried to load the video but it would not cooperate with me, will try again soon.

Lanterns!

We went to see the lanterns at Greenlake. A team of volunteers place lanterns all around the path of Greenlake, and we set out to enjoy the lights with our good friends.

Alas, it was too cold and there were so many people out (wearing their holiday cheer, decked out with blinking lights and bells and whatnot!) that we had to call it before getting too far around. We headed back to their house to enjoy some cookies and drinks. The girls dressed up while O cooked.

We'll try again next year!

A million lights!

O is absolutely talking up a storm, he is so proud of his ability to finally communicate what he is thinking/feeling. One of his key phrases this season is, "Lights!!" which he proudly proclaims any time he sees a twinkling light. We went to Warm Beach Camp this winter to see the lights; there were so many he stopped his announcements!

They also had pony rides. This was a first for O and Fi, although A had been once before. Fi screamed her head off the entire first loop - the guy leading said it was fine, it wouldn't spook the horse. Snowflake did a great job, and Fi finally calmed down. Then she proceeded to request 8 more loops. We had to pry her off the horse.

O, on the other hand, sat on that horse, grabbed the pommel, and said, "Lets go!". We also had to pry him off the horse after 5 loops.

A loved it. She did a great job!

Family portrait in red lights....

Fi and A, best buds...

A brave enough to sit on Santa's lap. Fi wouldn't have it.

Roca Partida!

G and I took a trip to Roca Partida, of the Socorro Islands in Mexico to go diving. We took a boat 280 miles south of Cabo san Lucas and this is what saw....

Endless sky, flat horizon, and a tiny little rock formation.

We also found lots of sharks and manta rays and new friends and relaxation. It was delightful!!

This is what Thursday night looks like...

 Tickle fest. Major tickle fest.

Halloween 2012

For Halloween this year, Fi dressed as a princess and O was a penguin. Love this kiddos!!

Friends!

 Look at these two beauties!

Such sweet girls!

Building a fence with Papa

Time to build the fence. Wall is fixed, and fence posts sunk. Time to put the boards up.

O really wanted to help. Hammering. Holding nails. Cutting boards.

And then we had West Seattle Natural Energy install some solar panels!

Aquarium visit with Auntie S

 Our favorite place for a family visit! We went back to the aquarium with Aunt S and Uncle G -

We had fun in the touch pools.

And in the dome. Fi loves the aquarium!

This is how the garden grows...

 Fall is coming, the rain is threatening to fall. Kiddos took one last romp before the rain came.

Look at those sunflowers! Fi planted the seeds, and we watched them grow over a couple months.

Uh-oh, here comes the first rain drops....

Patching up the rock wall

 Part of the yard work involved fixing the rock wall.

So much work! He did such a great job.

Hunting for hornets

 Another use for that DUI drysuit...
G found a massive hornet's nest in the side yard. He put his drysuit and dry gloves and netting over his face to keep from getting stung. It was such an amazing get-up that I had to capture it.

Ha!!

Camping trip to Mt Rainier

We drove out to Mt Rainier for a long weekend - and camped at the Ohanapecosh campground. We had the sweetest little camp site with a stream running next to it, the kids were enchanted.

We went and hiked the loop at Paradise, it was gorgeous.

We found frogs and tadpoles...

And beautiful views.

O has a new bestie, his name is Tiger.

And we stopped at the Grove of the Patriarchs.