I know, I know

yes, yes - it's been awhile

Blogging has just moved to the bottom of my to-do list.

One of the reasons is I decided no more lap-top in front of the TV.  I realized evening TV time is one of the only times during the day where Drew and I get to chat uninterrupted so I moved my lap-top to the front room.  PLUS looking at 2 screens at once isn't good for your eyes - or so I've heard.

Anyway, I know my blogging has slacked.

I really do want to keep up with the blog because it's the only way I am keeping track of the memories of Ellie and Jude's childhood.

And there are A LOT of great moments to remember.

Here is my attempt at catch up:

August

 Visit from sis and nephew! 

Seattle Great Wheel - check

 Champagne toasts - check (of course!)

 

 First Family Volkswagon Camping Trip.

We did it!  I actually camped in the bus.  All 4 of us, warm and cozy (good thing since it poured rain and there was a thunder storm) camping in the bus on Whidbey.  We did go out for dinner instead of cook since there was a burn ban in effect so I guess you could call it glamping
 

SEPTEMBER

 Big news - Ellie started kindergarten!  She was SO excited about her first day and has loved every minute of her first year.  Her teacher is exceptional and we love our school.  Feeling very lucky that her school is walking distance AND that we got PM kindergarten - which means we get to enjoy another year of leisurely mornings!

 Can you believe it?!?  We have a kid in Elementary School!!!

 

 And Jude started Preschool too!

He is in LOOOOVE with Teacher Betsy!

 

 Jude and his buddies - yes Wyatt is mid-pick

 

 At the end of September Drew and I got to sneak away to Lake Tahoe for a wedding.  It was an honor to see Brianne get married.  Brianne and her twin sister, Laurel, were my besties from childhood.  We called ourselves - The Triple Twins

 Drewby playing politician as we killed time before our plane ride home in the capitol city of Reno

 

Oh yeah - and my brother and sister-in-law visited!!!

 Don't these 3 look alike!  Ocampo blood runs deep!

 Sometimes I can't believe our luck - how did ALL our siblings end up on the East Coast???  Such a bummer!  But we sure treasure visits like this!

 

OCTOBER

Fall is here and it's crazy town around here with Halloween and Ellie's 6th Birthday next weekend!!  But the BIG news . . .

Ellie lost her first tooth!

Today at school she wiggled it until it came out.  Now tonight she fell asleep in record time waiting for the tooth fairy to come.

Can NOT believe my baby looks like a big girl with missing teeth

(and no that's not her tooth dangling in the photo but the little package the school nurse gave to her to take her tooth home - she named it "toothy" and is very proud)

 

Until next time . . . hopefully sooner than January . . .

 

 



July Mash-up

 Summer in Seattle is short.  It's a generally agreed upon fact that summer doesn't even begin until July 5th.  So we Seattle-ite's have a mere 2 months to pack in ALL the summer activities of backyard BBQ's, camping trips, weekend get-a-ways, trips to the beach, ice cream treats . . .

Needless to say we are bit busy this summer!

 

This year was the first 4th of July I haven't worked in years!  So we decided to do up the Bothell Family Fourth. 

 The morning dawned cool and cloudy (remember, summer doesn't start until July FIFTH!) but we still were able to walk to the downtown firehouse for a pancake breakfast.

 

 Next we walked down Main Street with a few thousand other people in the children's parade.  The kids loved decorating their wagon.

 

 Never a dull moment - the kids provided entertainment while we waited for the grand parade to start.

 

 Jude kept asking when Mickey would be coming.  I think he was expecting a Disney spectacle and not the local hometown version.

 

 Jude absolutely squealed with delight when he saw Teacher Betsy walking with her kids in the parade!

 

This year was the 2nd Annual Noble cul-de-sac 4th. 

 (Issac, Jude, Olin, Ellie, Cindal, Chloe, Hazel and Livi in front)

The kids LOVED lighting off fireworks.  They played together in the cul-de-sac for hours.

 

CHELAN!!!

Our friends, Kyle and Kelsie invited us to their condo in Chelan for a weekend. 

Chelan is a beautiful lake just 3 hours away.  It was a beautiful weekend with great friends!

 My family melting when we stopped in Leavenworth.  Drew and Ellie are my exact opposites and literally wilt in the heat. 

 

 The kids played in the pool for hours each day, even little Leira loved floating in the cool water.

 

 Drew and Kyle have been friends since kindergarten and I have known Kyle since we moved to Washington when I was 11 years old.  It's so fun to still be great friends and see our kids playing together too.

 

 Stop in Leavenworth on the way home required an ice cream pick me up.  Ellie's favorite ice cream of late is unequivocally Rainbow Sherbet!!!

 

Next weekend we're headed to Twisp for floatdown.

Whew!  We pack a lot into these 2 warm months!



Characters

We did a lot of things right this trip

One of them was making time to see the characters.

Jude was absolutely enthralled and Ellie wasn't nearly as shy as she was last trip.

 

The line to meet Merrida was really long so we tried to convince her that this was it.

Haha - she didn't fall for it.

 

 

 

 

 45 minutes later we finally got to meet Merrida.  It was totally worth it!

She spend so much time with the kiddos and taught them to dance like her bear brothers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minnie Mouse was a huge hit, of course.  Jude saw her from across Main Street and went running over to her screaming "Miiiinnnniiiee"

I'm always surprised how much personality the characters can show when they are wearing masks and can't talk but the Queen of Hearts put on a whole comedy show.

 Ellie had a pen that was also a fan.  The Queen of Hearts used it to cool her pits  :)

 

Love for the White Rabbit too.

 

  Pluto came out right after the Queen of Hearts and we didn't even have to wait in line to give him a hug!

P r i n c e s s e s ! ! !

The princess fantasy faire is where the princesses reside.  The line wasn't too long so we waited to see Cinderella, Ariel and Aurora.

 

 Cinderella was very impressed by Jude's manners.

 Even though Ellie wasn't as princess crazy as she was last trip she still loved to have a little chat with them and see their beautiful dresses.

 

 Royal treatment.  Cinderella even escorted Jude and Ellie over to meet Ariel.

 

 Ellie told Ariel all about how she loves to swim.

 

 Hugs for Princess Aurora

 

 Happy kids!

It's pretty rare to see the princesses out and about anymore but on our last night we were headed back into the park to see the fireworks and there was Belle.  Ellie was so excited!

 



Nerves

One of the best things about this trip was to see how much Ellie has grown since we were last in Disneyland. 

Last trip she was almost 4 and scared of everything EXCEPT the Toon Town roller coaster.  She loved that ride because it was all outside, short and FAST!

This year she didn't seem scared of anything - she loved Pirates, went right up to the characters, loved Peter Pan and all the other indoor rides and she couldn't wait to ride the coaster again.

So it was very surprising, when after waiting in line for 30 minutes, she got on the ride and got nervous.

Right as the car jerked forward she said "stop I don't want to do this."

Now I would never drag a kid (or adult for that matter) on a ride they didn't want to go on but at this point it was too late - we were already moving.

Plus, I knew she would love it.

So Drew and I just said "Trust us - you're going to love it!!"

This series of photos captures her emotions perfectly!

 I hate to see her nervous!

 

 Realizing it's too late to get off!

 

 Drew and I chanting "Trust us, Ellie.  You will love it!"

 

 Here we gooooooooo

 

 Eeeeeeeeek!

 

 Oh yeah - she's loving it!

 

 Really loving it!

 

As the ride came to a stop she was so excited and screamed

"You were right!"

Disneyland 2013

Disneyland truly is the happiest place on earth.  And this year there were only a few tears and nearly constant fun!

I am truly a believer that EVERY age is perfect for Disneyland.  When we went almost 2 years ago Ellie was SO in love with the princesses but was pretty scared of the the rides.

This year she loved EVERYTHING and Jude was absolutely in awe.

 

 I completed hours of statistical analysis of when is the best time to visit the park.  Our choices this year were early June or the week of Thanksgiving.

I'm so glad we picked spring.  It wasn't busy and the weather was perfection!

 

 This year we also vowed to go slowly and enjoy the park at the pace of the kids.

It was great!  We got there right when the park opened everyday but took our time, stopped to meet characters that were always on Main Street in the morning, stop for photo ops and do rides twice when they loved them.
 

 

I was really worried that Jude would get dizzy on the tea cups but Drew convinced me that he would love it.  Drew was right! 

 

 Disneyland has changed the way they do characters.  It used to be all the princesses would just walk around the park and you'd have to fight your way to the front of the mob to get a quick photo with them.

Now most princesses have an area where they appear and you stand in line to see them.  Now, while standing in line for 45 minutes to meet Merida wasn't the best part of the day - getting 5 minutes with her was one of the highlights of the trip! 

Merida was so sweet and took so much time with Ellie and Jude.  She taught them to dance like her bear brothers, signed their autograph books and posed for dozens of photos. 

 

 Another big change since the Disney of my youth is that you can drink in California Adventure!  This is BIG news for weary parents.  Most evenings we would all head over to California Adventure, get a beer or glass of wine and find a shady spot.  We caught the Pixar parade one day and let the kids play in the Bugs Land splash pad in their clothes too!!  After all, happy hour is the most important hour of the day!

 

 After our previous experience with a nervous Ellie on our last trip I wasn't about to push any rides.  But after a few successes - Ellie asked to go on Pirates of the Caribbean.

Jude wasn't scared of anything so I wasn't too worried about him.

We all watched Ellie super closely to see if she was nervous and to our utter amazement - SHE LOVED IT!

 

 After the first ride - Ellie and Jude begged to go on again - so we ran around and hopped right back on.  I think we did Pirates 12 times in 4 days!

The whole family loves Pirates!  Yippee!!

 

 More ride success.  Ellie still loved the Toon Town Roller Coaster.

Although I will post a hilarious series of pictures from the first time she rode it this trip - she was a little nervous but quickly remembered she loves thrills just like her mama and dad!

Ocamps and Nobles do Disneyland 2013!

After such a fun trip we decided we will make it a priority to go to Disneyland every other year.  I can't imagine any year being more fun than this one though!!

 

I have about 300 more pictures and videos to post.  So here is a little teaser of the cuteness that was Jude.  He absolutely LOVED the characters and for some reason decided to wish Mickey "Happy Birthday" the first time he saw him.  Too cute!