Kim, Ally & Vince in Seattle!

We feel really fortunate to have had two of Rob's sisters - Kim and Ally - (and let's not forget Ally's boyfriend Vince! ) visit for an early weekend last week. Ally and Vince came into town Wednesday afternoon after a stint of fly fishing with their drift boat and grey van. 

We took a quick trip to Trader Joe's and Kerry Park on Queen Anne which has perhaps the best free view of downtown Seattle. Our apologies to Aunt Bee who we tried to take there last summer but ended up walking through people's backyards!

View of Seattle from Kerry Park

Adjusting the Ergo

Bee, come back! We'll show you a better time this go around!

We next slipped in a visit to Discovery Park before Kim arrived. Ally, Vince, and Rob walked along the beach to the lighthouse while Sara performed one of her unique motherly duties by feeding Jasper.

Ally and Lighthouse

Rob and Vince

After a Korean curry dinner Sara, Ally, and Vince battled the Wednesday USA Today crossword puzzle (photocopied, of course, for Xword races) while Rob left to pick Kim up from the airport. She had made it on the plane in the nick of time due to security waits (Kim - you're only allowed three ounce bottles of hair spray aerosol!). Someone seems to have pilfered her laptop battery as well...

Once we got her to Toly's Basement safe and sound, she got her fill of curry and Ruby Jewels and we played a quick game of Scrabble (relatively speaking of course).

We went to bed happy to be Reunited and who would've known that as soon as Jasper made a peep shortly after 7am that Aunt Ally would come bounding out of her tent on the deck to be the first to hold him?! We sure love Ally.

On Thursday we made it to one of the lowest tides of the year at Golden Gardens. We were so proud of ourselves to be going on a weekday, hoping for exclusive beach access. Boy were we wrong! We were met by the screams of delight and discovery of hundreds of elementary school kids. Fortunately there was plenty of room for all of us as we met all the creatures that come to show their bright colors on a -3 feet low tide day.

After our tide pool adventure we made our way to the Hiram M. Chittenden locks in Ballard where we got to see a few early sockeyes making their way back to fresh water to spawn. I've never seen the fish ladders at such low tide which may account for the small number of salmon - though I know there are at least a few ladders that have small underwater openings that the fish can fight their way through.

We made our way downtown via King County Metro to Pike's Place Market and the one-of-a-kind, Koolhaas-designed Seattle Central Library.

Kim and Jasper on the bus

Tough Jasper with Kim's sunglasses

After our downtown excursion we had a cook-out grande on our lovely deck overlooking the Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula (oh, and all the neighbors' houses in between). Unfortunately, besides the excellent review by dearest Cindy, we don't have any pics besides the ones of Jasper and Thorvald grappling on the Ikea infant wrestling mat.

Thor and Jasper wrestling

Jasper pins!

The next day was Friday. Rob took another day off of probing thermoelectric generators to join in the frolic. We started the day at our community garden, affectionately called the P-Patch. We pulled a bunch of weeds that had grown much more than our plants in the June rain. Rob even pulled up most of the carrot starts Sara had sown a week before...which he hastily replanted.

Our beautiful P-Patch

We then made our way downtown via the Phinney Chocolate factory with its plethora of delicious free samples and an homage to the troll under the Aurora Bridge (who would dare to not pay tribute before crossing??).

 

The Fremont troll under the Aurora Bridge

Saturday was spent in the great outdoors along the I-90 corridor. Kim, Sara, and Rob went hiking  with our friends the Schmidts and Ally and Vince did some fishing on the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River. We had a grand time though we got rained out of our hike - but not before we found some salmonberries and  huckleberries ripe for consumption. It was raining so hard we didn't notice Ally huddled in their car parked right next to us while Vince fished a bit longer. We met up later at our house.

Sunday was a special day for us. We gave Jasper a formal baby blessing at church as is customary in the LDS Church. We felt really lucky to have family with us as well as a number of friends who came from around the area to be a part of it. Unfortunately Ally and Vince had to leave right after the blessing to make their way to Bend, OR and more fly fishing before Ally had to work on Tuesday. Kim helped Sara teach the youngsters at church about the importance of baptism. Then we ate some lunch together and took her to the airport.

Jasper's baby blessing

No family visit is long enough - that's how we feel here in the Northwest. We're lucky to have more close friends and family coming to enjoy the splendor of a Seattle summer.

 

Jasper happy to be with his aunts

Birth Class Reunion

We had a reunion with our birthing class this past Sunday. It was great to see everyone again and to meet all the new little babies. All us moms were all still pregnant the last time we had seem one another (with the exception of Jen and her babe Spencer who I've hung out with a few times since birthing Jasper).

All the babies were all so cute and different from one another!! They are all very close in age (only a month apart at the most) and at similar levels developmentally. I think all of us are getting smiles and coos from our little ones and moving out of the new newborn stage. We went around and told our birth stories and shared tips and tricks about things that are working or not working for us and our babies. It was really fun. Here are some fun photos:

Corvallis Trip

We went down to Corvallis last weekend to help build the new Wildcat Park and to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. It was great fun. My parents are the best. Rob and I really have a great time hanging out with them.

So, the original Wildcat Park was built in 1989. I was eight years old and in second grade. I got to help build the park by washing tires, soaping screws, and sorting nails. I remember saving all my pennies and all us students covering the gym floor with all that we had saved.

Most of my fondest memories of elementary school were on that park. Katherine Acker, Jessica Hughes, and I would play fairy princesses in the towers. We would sit up in the towers and take turns describing our fairy princess dresses to one another. We actually played very little fairy princess because the descriptions took the whole recess long. But those dresses were sure something and in my imaginiative mind they were so real. I remember playing hot lava, where you couldn't touch the rocks and you had to stay on the wood playground. I remember sitting and sorting through the little rocks which occasionally had AGATES in them! These were worth big money or something. I used to collect those little agates and treasure them. I remember playing tag and chasing the boys who I had crushes on. Anyway, that park was really important to me and when I found out they were tearing it down, I got kinda sad. To help rebuild it was a great experience. I got to help build a rubber bridge which I'm sure will bring hours of enjoyment to many a kids. My dad and Rob worked to together on Saturday and built one of the towers, and my mom worked two days also.

My dad's birthday was so fun. My parents are so popular! There were about 50 people who came over to celebrate. We had strawberry shortcakes which were delicious and showed Jasper off. I repainted a sign that I made for my dad's garden years ago and gave it to him again for his birthday.

While visting we also played scrabble two times ( I won once and my mom won the other), went to the farmer's market with my mom, played croquet (which actually didn't turn out to be such a great idea because Jasper got hit in the head with a croquet ball), and hung out with Seth and Caroline. It was a great trip. We miss Corvallis alot.


Here's some photos from a hike we took at Peavy Arboretum:

Rob and streching Jasper

Rob and Pepper

Mama Sara and Jazz

Cool mossy tree and Big Leaf Maple

Cool hollow stump

Who does Jasper look like?

We are trying to figure out who Jasper looks like. It's weird when it's your own kid you are looking at because to us he looks so unique and we don't really see the resemblances to us. What do you all think? Any opinions on the matter are gladly accepted.