Progress?...Oh Yeah!

Our backyard is so close to being finished, but we wanted to post some pictures of the current progress.  This place was seriously a jungle 6 months ago!

The new grass we planted is almost ready to be mowed for the first time.

We used the existing bricks to make a border for the play area.  We will be putting down some pea gravel or play bark where the climbing toy or swing set will go.

I think it's almost time for some BBQs!

At Outing at Lewis-McCord Base

It's Jonathan here.  Dean and I took advantage of some much needed one-on-one time and tagged along with the young men's activity to the Air Force base.  I used to joke that Dean loved me more than Caprice because he ALWAYS wanted me for everything.  He's become quite the opposite lately. 

We toured a Chinook helicoptor.  They trasport troops and supplies in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Dean had a blast!

You can tell in this picture how big these helicoptors are!  I tried to get them to give us just a short ride in the air...it was a no go!

Thanks Dean for the fun outing!  Maybe you will let me read you stories tonight instead of Mom?...that will probably be a no go as well!

Fun in the Sun

So far our summer has consisted of 2 very warm days that occured about a week ago. Since then, it's been cloudy and rainy. Really nice. Anywho, I had my sister's kids over and they had a blast playing in our sprinkler.

Dean and Britton: best buddies

Dawson wouldn't even play in the sprinkler. He just played with the water that squirted out of where the hose meets the house. Awesome orange ear plugs, huh?

These two cute girls are Sydney and Mya.

The Boys

This is Jonathan here giving an update on things.  The boys are finally smiling for pictures these days, so I took a few shots of them last Sunday.  Caprice likes to dress them the same.  I think we need to have some twins next...NOT an announcement! 

They have the coolest shoes, wish they made them in grown-up size.

This kid loves to smile!

We were invited to our neighbors the other day for dinner and were asked to bring a dessert.  We decided to pull out the big guns and do something impressive.  A chocolate trifle with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries is one of our favorites. 

These next pictures make me so proud to be a Dad.  Dean and Dawson have been obsessed with baseball and basketball lately.  We found a basketball hoop and baseball tee at a garage sale.  They love playing!

Yeah, still trying to get them to understand which ball goes on the tee.

For being so short for his age Dean is actually REALLY good at shooting hoops.  I just showed him once how to throw the ball in and he's suddenly Lebron James.  I'm serious!

It's actually starting to warm up a little in Washington, so stay tuned for more outdoor pics once the never-ending cloud finally passes over us. 

Progress, kind of

So, we've been trying to plant grass in our backyard. BUT, the weather hasn't been too cooperative. And we kept putting it off. We finally decided that Memorial Day would be perfect to lay out our dirt and seed the grass. Well, it really turned into shoveling and raking mud because it kept raining every 20 minutes. It was so disappointing! We got as far as laying the dirt and smoothing it out, but we're waiting for a better forecast before we seed the grass so it doesn't wash away. Boo hoo. We are learning to be patient before we get the backyard of our dreams. Here is a "before" picture for all you folks at home:

This was back in February right after we bought the house. Pretty wild and overgrown to say the least.

And here is what it looks like now. A special thanks to my dad and sister Shelby for coming over to help out. I found out that raking mud is hard.

Here's poor Jonathan working his tail off. What a guy! This is the same area as the picture above.

One fun thing that we discovered was our first garder snake! I picked it up to show the boys. Of course none of them would touch it, but they liked it anyway.

We're so excited for summer to actually show up here in Washington so we can get this grass growing and show you the after pictures!

Maui Trip 2010

Warning!! Major picture overload. Between my mother's camera and our camera, we had hundreds of pictures from our Maui trip, so we tried to pick the best ones, and since we also use this blog as a family journal of sorts, we are posting a bunch. So beware! You are allowed to scroll through these as quickly as you'd like. I won't be offended. Heck, I won't even know! Okay, let's get started. We took my parents to Maui for one week. They used to take my family when I was little, and we went 4 or 5 times. We haven't been back for about 16 years, so Jonathan and I were thrilled that we were able to take my parents back with us. Here we are when we landed at the airport.

Showing off our swimsuit cover-ups

Trying on awesome sunglasses at Boss Frogs, where we rented our snorkel gear from a WAY corny salesman/minister with a WAY creepy laugh.

Sitting on the first beach we went to, Wilea Beach.

The condo pool

My beautiful parents!

Sunset in Lahaina

This is the oldest Banyan tree in the U.S. It came over to Maui from India in the 1800s and was only 8 feet tall. The branches grow out and back down into the ground making more roots. It's pretty amazing.

This next picture needs explanation. When we vacationed in Maui when I was little, we always took a picture next to this sailor statue and made the funny face, so I had to do it again. Someday I'll find that picture of me at 9 years old next to this guy and I'll post it. It was so fun to see the same statue from so long ago.

Taking a break as we walked along the beach behind the Kaanapali resorts.

The view over Honolua Bay, a wonderful little snorkel spot.

We had a blast snorkeling (underwater photos to come, so don't fall asleep yet!) Even though you're not supposed to feed the fish, my mother doesn't listen to any of that. We packed frozen peas and bread to lure the fish in. But it worked too well and they swarmed us and followed us all over. I finally made Jonathan swim to the shore and dump the food because I was afraid of them nipping at us.

Funny guy.

We had to walk through a little forest to get down to Honolua Bay and Jonathan had fun posing as Tarzan.

Tarzan or George of the Jungle, hmm I'm not really sure.

Watching the sunset from the Kamaole beach across the street from the condo.

Waiting for the sunset.

Cool shot, huh? Yea, I took that picture. Go me.

A gecko outside the condo.

One of the highlights of the trip: Ziplining! So much fun. We rode down 8 different ziplines in the mountains of Maui.

Getting ready to snorkel on yet another beach, Ahihi Beach.

This was the condo we stayed in. My parents are waving from the bottom middle patio.

This is Iao Needle, a state park nestled at the bottom of the mountains. We used to come here when I was little and swim in the freezing cold river. No swimming this time though.

After Iao Needle, we went up north to Hookipa Beach watch the windsurfers. It was really fun but extremely windy, and we got a little tired of sand blowing in our faces so we didn't stay too long.

On the way home Jonathan got out and stole a stalk of sugarcane. He chewed on it to see if it was sweet. It wasn't.

So then my mom made a gorgeous headband from it. She's a beauty, isn't she?

Enjoying our strawberry daquiris on the patio.

Another highlight of the trip, the helicopter ride. It really was extremely beautiful, although I did almost go for my "comfort bag" a few times. Why they named it a comfort bag I will never know. For heaven's sakes, it's an airsick bag! There's no comfort in that!

The tallest waterfall in Hawaii.

The island of Molokai, right next to Maui.

Molokai has one of the largest coral reefs.

Snorkeling, once again, about 6 o'clock in the morning on our last day.

Okay, now for the real fun part: underwater pictures! Pretty self-explanatory.

Jonathan getting swarmed because he kept feeding the fish!

My mom and dad

We snorkeling on 5 different beaches and never saw any turtles, so we were getting kind of bummed. But we finally found a beach where there were 3 HUGE turtles feeding off of a huge rock just about 20 feet off the shore. It was so amazing! In this picture you can see a second turled very lightly in the background.