Second Birthdays

Ellie attended her first 'real' birthday party on Saturday. I deemed this her first 'real' party because she was old enough to partake in every part of the event.

She LOVED the bounce house and spent most of the party jumping and bouncing with the birthday girl, Lucy.

Here she is with her friends Lucy and Alister, eating burgers and pink birthday cake.

Lucy's requests for her party were

• a pink cake
• Hello Kitty balloons
• and party hats!

"When is MY birthday, Mommy?

2 cute

Ellie is talking up a storm lately. Even stringing together 2 and 3 words sentences . . .

like "all done"

But has yet to refer herself as "Ellie". Here is proof that her favorite pronoun is "ME!"

She has also started SINGING!!!

Can you hear Chewy meowing along with her in the background?

For the love of sand

It is nesessary to devote an entire post to the love affair Ellie had with the sand last weekend.

I must say, this sand was particularly beautiful

soft

sugary

warm

She literally spent the entire weekend

s

w

i

m

m

i

n

g

in it!

To the beach!

Last winter, during our monthly "girls night" with my friends nursing school, we decided it would be fun to rent a beach house on the Washington coast.

So we packed up the cars, kids and husbands and headed to Ocean City.

The kids enjoyed every minute spent on the beach . . . And the grown-ups enjoyed the hot tub.

Lots of sunshine and sand made for a great holiday!

Ellie has established a major love affair with sand. Beach baby through and through. Sweet baby Aria

Lucy digging in the soft sand in her shades.

The best part . . .

about summer is .. .

visits from family!!!

Drew sister came out for a surprise visit last week. It was so great to see her and talk about her upcoming wedding . . . in Florida this October!

My cousins from Vancouver, BC came down for a visit last weekend too.

We all headed to Jazz Alley to see one of our favorite jazz pianists, Ahmad Jamal. He played our FAVORITE song, Poinciana. It was one of the highlights of the summer!

Yesterday, we all headed to Ballard to jump on the Burke-Gilman trail. We rode it to the UW and had lunch at Aqua Verde. Then we stopped at Gas Works park on the way home to soak up the sun. Ellie was the official trail welcomer . . . she said "HI" to every biker we passed.

When summer days are sunny

The good, the bad and the whiny

3 years and a lesson

This moment 3 years ago we were dancing to HotDish, surounded by family and friends!

3 years married, 8 years together

And still totally in love . . .

Teaching Ellie a VERY important lesson:

How to C H E E R S ! ! !

T.E.N.

Last weekend was our 10 year high school reunion!! Wow!!

Instead of attending the actual event we decided to head to Twisp and join our friends for the annual river float.

The weekend was a complete success! The river was warm and the rapids . . . exciting!

Everyone laughed at me because I brought a towel and magazine in our little boat. Little did I realize I was going to be soaked from the rapids in the first 5 minutes down the river.

Oh well, good times were had by all.

Drew and I even got do a few songs at an open mic at the Twisp River Pub!

Bothell High Alumni . . . The Poages and the Nobles

(Do you recognize our interpretation of the Pearl Jam album cover . . . TEN?)

Busy Days

I know, I've been a real slacker with the blog lately. But summer days just seem to be so busy.

We had a hot streak last week that permanently scarred many Seattle-ites. It was 107 in Bothell!!!

We also said goodbye to Jules and Michelle, as they returned to NYC. It's always so hard to say goodbye knowing we only get to see them one week per year!

But it was a great visit!

Here are the little munchkins in the bath.

Jules is at the age of discovery. When he looks at things you can just see the wheels in his mind turning trying to figure out how everything works.

He was also famous for some very quotable quotes!

Such as: "Do I look suspicious?"

And my personal favorite: "I love you bigger than New Jersey"