121/365

When you can't see your BFF in person it's nice of her to send you a song and dance to watch on tv. Thanks Willow, Kate needed you this morning.

115/365- an ice cream social.

The girls and I had a busy morning and were rewarded with a tasty lunch excursion. We hit Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream in Maltby. They had yummy sandwiches and we met up with some good company. There was enough of us to warrent a kids table. Knowing ice cream was only a few feet away they did a good job of eating sandwiches first.

Pre lunch play:
Lunching:


Crazy lighting, crazy good ice cream:


Pumpkin for the pumpkin:


Toasted coconut for the crazy eyed girl (who felt spoons were overrated and ate straight from the bowl):

110/365

Kate and 5 of her closest buddies (Calder not pictured) did a .5 mile Kids Dash today at the PACE race in Kirkland. It was an awesome experience to introduce her to running. All the kids had a great time and got medals at the end. Super proud mom right here.

85/365

On a hike again... Scampering along Tradition Lake in Issaquah.
(This picture makes me motion sick)

76/365

Sometimes it's hard to tell which girls are BFF's. These two look pretty cozy.

64-72/365

Clearly I have gotten lazy and have a bit of catching up to do so....here we go....
64/365
It's blurry but someone little fingers altered our calendar and decided we are "Going on Vacation" on Aug 31st. I wonder where we will go.

65/365
Concentrating on Cariboo.

66/365
There's nothing like pink twirling tutus in the morning.

67/365
Mastering a sandy balance beam at the park. Gymnastics class can't start soon enough.

68/365
Reliving her glory days when she fit in an exersaucer. I was reliving the days when I could contain her.

69/365
Reenacting Titanic at the Children's Museum.

70/365
She figured out how to make the frog squirt on purpose. It was a big hit.

71/365
A little cotton candy refueling during intermission at the Circus.

72/365
This slide was super fast, even my stomach dropped going down. Kate did it over, and over, and over..

59/365

Yes, I realize I posted 59 and 60 in the wrong order. I was living in the moment of today and pushed yesterday aside. Also I will note that I took no pictures yesterday so this photo is a stand in from two days ago.
Even though this pic isn't from the correct day I thought it was important to document the first time I buried my child up to her neck in sand. She requested it, Leia tried to help, Willow was baffled. I love Kate's willingness to grab silly opportunities and run with them.

55/365

One last taste of goodness at the end of a full day at a friend's lake house. These kids played hard in the sand and water from 10am-5pm. A fabulous day all around.

26/365

4 kids and endless climbing possibilities. There were 2 more kids present who did not possess the necessary climbing ability for this park.

22/365

On Sunday I did a 5K run with a bunch of friends. We had 9 moms and 1 dad running while the other dads watched 19 kids. Scott and Mike braved the morning with 5 kids so both Cook parents could run.

This was my first summer 5K and I can honestly say I don't want to do another. Fall and winter races are fine but I'm a wimp in the sun. In 2 weeks I am running my first 10K and am crossing my fingers for rain!

Why Swing Alone...

When you have friends to swing with?

Willow was an eager swing companion.
Rylee was a bit unsure but enjoyed it overall.

These two barely fit all bundled up and were a bit sparky with all that fleece.

24 Hours with the BFF!

What does 24 hours or Kate and Willow look like? Here's a taste:

Exercising their brains playing Blokus.

And now onto dress up and dancing. This lasted quite a while.



Leia is of course trying to read (eat) the Alice the Fairy book while wearing a tutu.

Off to look at Christmas light. The girls walked a half mile to see all of 4 houses with lights.

Kate wanted to make sure Willow didn't slip.

Breakfast!

This was followed by more dress up and dancing and then Willow headed home. It was a great 24 hours!

A Donut Affair

Dagny and Willow took us to Pike Place Market and introduced us to some wonderful food shops. There were Piroshky's, and donuts, and cheese, and fruit, and more donuts.... That's my kind of morning! (Yes all of this happened before noon.)

How about some donuts friend?



They were a hit!


Leia participated by watching the donut makers while the rest of us inhaled our share.

Secret Garden

Everytime we go to the zoo we drive past a mysterious park. It is surrounded by privacy bushes so you only get a glimpse of the fun it hides as we drive by. Today we finally stopped to check it out. What a surprisingly large patch of green goodliness it turned out to be. There is a large grass area and play structures for both big and little kids. It was not overly impressive but was more park than expected for a city street corner.

Scratch Patch

The girls and I visited a place called the Scratch Patch today with friends. It has two rooms where the floor is covered in polished stones. The girls got cards with all the stones pictured and details about them (that part was a little beyond them). They were also given cloth flowers to collect stones in. You can buy a bag and take stones home if you want. We have enough choking hazards around here as it is so we left them all there. It was a fun out-of -the-ordinary excursion.

Hiking the Arboretum

We took a stroll at the arboretum. There are lots of bridges to cross and benches to rest small legs. It sprinkled on us a bit and started raining in earnest just as the cars came into view. It's a great space for a fall hike.

Snack and water in hand, she's ready!

Catching up with Hadley on the trail.

"Look mom a floating log!"

Taking a rest.

Getting a better view.

The world is her jungle gym.

Hat season!!!!