Adventures with Uncle Steve (part 2)

Saturday we took advantage of the weather and drove up to hike near Bellingham.

We find ourselves at Fragrance Lake at least once every summer. It is a great little hike with a wonderful view of the San Juan Islands about mid-way up to the lake.

In fact, we brought Sawyer here for his first "real" hike last summer when Auntie Tia was visiting from Boston. He was 10 weeks old. This time, he got out of the backpack after a nice snooze and had a wonderful time throwing rocks in the water. At one point during our hike, we stopped and decided to just listen to the silence in the old growth forest, when Sawyer all of a sudden said "tweet tweet!" He loves birds.

When we hiked back down the the road, it was just about sunset. We decided to walk down to the beach at Larabee State Park and watch the sunset. It was gorgeous - and magical.

Thanks, Uncle Steve, for the fun times and memories. Sawyer will always remember the Uncle who loves looking for rocks just as much as he does (though he isn't quite as picky about their shape -- we really do hope to see a rock-inspired print one day!)

Adventures with Uncle Steve (part 1)

Last week we had a visitor come to town. Jacob's one and only brother (he has 4 sisters), Steve, came to visit us from Texas. While we still aren't settled or unpacked, it was a good visit and forced us to take a break and just relax and have some fun! And what a treat for Sawyer, to get to know his Silly Uncle Steve!

Jacob was able to take a couple of days off from work, so we took full advantage! It was so nice to spend some time together, since the past couple of weeks have been so crazy, and Jacob has been working a lot of late nights. We took Steve to Discovery Park - one of our favorite spots in Seattle. (It just so happens that Jacob and I got engaged on the beach there almost 3 years ago!) We hiked down just in time for low tide and had a lot of fun exploring!

*on a side note, Sawyer loves hiking just as much as we do and he gets excited when we tell him we're going to go for a long walk in the backpack. Funny enough, he actually says "bapak!"

Steve found this perfect seashell...and lots of rocks. Both Steve and Sawyer were excited about hunting for rocks (one of Sawyer's favorite words+objects).

I spotted this Blue Heron. They are pretty unique birds, and big! They are tall and slender. I walked out to it and got as close as I could get, but inevitably...

It didn't want to be my friend, so spread it's huge wings and flew off to a more secluded area. It was pretty amazing to get as close as I did.

The water was so shallow, it was actually really warm. Almost like bath water warm, which isn't normally the case for the typically chilly waters of the Puget Sound. We had a great time splashing around and getting our feet wet.

We hiked along the beach and had our little picnic near the lighthouse. I can never get enough of just sitting on the beach watching the majestic white sailboats go by. It's one of my absolute favorite things to do.

It was really wonderful for Jacob to have his brother around and to "catch up" a bit. Steve is a Professor of Fine Art at the University of Texas in San Antonio (his specialty is Printmaking). He always has interesting things to talk to us about in the world of art.

We couldn't have asked for a more relaxing morning and afternoon at the beach. It was perfect.

That evening, we met up with some of Steve's friends who recently relocated here from Texas. We had yummy Thai Food in Fremont and were sure to follow up with some Gelato. Of course, we took them to visit the Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge, as well. We used to live within walking distance of the troll, and funny thing is, I never took Sawyer to see him. It was pretty funny when we walked up to the huge sculpture and Sawyer started making his elephant noise. And then, he ran and peeked between the troll's huge fingers into the dark and he said "Boo!" At least he wasn't scared! We had a great time with Steve here - and we'll have part II of our Adventures with Uncle Steve coming soon!

Our itty bitty baby bump

We were at the park at a birthday party yesterday and someone was asking me how I was feeling, etc. and another person said "what? you're pregnant?" The first person joked, and said, "yes, the first time she was pregnant you couldn't tell until about the last couple weeks she looked a little bloated..." I laughed. I didn't get that huge with my first pregnancy (pretty normal, right?) and people always commented how "small" I was. I, on the other hand, hoped and prayed to get a soccer-ball-round-preggo belly to show off, sooner than I did. Well, maybe this time around I'll get my wish! I already feel bigger than I did the first time. I also feel like I am carrying lower (which may be a good thing later on for my ribcage!) I want to make sure to document things for our second child as well as we did for the first. It has been a little harder since we've been crazy busy the last few weeks and also because I felt horrible the last 10 weeks - but slowly, I am feeling a little better. Definitely more tempermental/moody this time, probably from feeling so sick (my poor hubby! I'm so lucky he's so patient with me...).

Hooray for baby bumps (even itty bitty ones!) No doubt it's gonna be getting a LOT B.I.G.G.E.R. in the next few months!

Eat, Drink, & Be Merry: Our 1st Mama-Son Date

Yesterday, to celebrate Sawyer being 14 months old, me making it through 14 weeks of this pregnancy (bye bye 1st trimester!), and all of us surviving and needing a break from trying to get organized again, I took Sawyer on his first Mama-Son Date. I realized that between being sick and moving, I don't think I've taken any pictures of our son since the week of his birthday! So, here are a few so you can see how fast he is growing and what a big boy he is becoming!

For our date, Sawyer had his first visit to Dick's (a favorite local burger joint). Jacob and I laugh, thinking of how health-conscious Seattleites snub their noses at Mickie D's, but Dick's is okay (you know, everything in moderation, right?)

Sawyer was definitely more interested in the Seagulls begging for fries than the Eats & Drinks at first...but once he tasted that milkshake, he knew where to place his interest...

I can tell you that the strawberry milkshake and fries were a big hit with my boy. He even liked the burger - with lots of ketchup, of course. I suppose he is his Mama's son :)

ps- don't you just love his chubby toddler hands?

And for the merriment, we headed over to U-Village for a little live-music action. We listened to a band called The Paper Boys. They have a pretty loyal following in Seattle, but it was my first time to give them a listen - and I liked! They played mostly original music, all easy to groove to, and then they did play one cover, and of a cover to play, it was a great pick (Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower).

At first, we sat at a table with a couple of old ladies who were wearing ear plugs and still thought the music was too loud (cracked me up!). One of them offered to take a picture of me and my boy.

Later, we moved on up front to join the dancing fools. It was, of course, much louder there. At first, Sawyer was all eyes and ears. He obviously liked the music, and was curious about the whole scene. He finally got down and started groovin' - big people all around. He got a lot of smiles. I think he was the smallest guy in the group, and, in my opinion, the most handsome!

He was, of course, in awe of the guitars. Blame it on his Daddy who loves to play - I think we are one day going to have a little rocker on our hands. I won't mind one bit. I love it when Jacob has the time to strum some tunes. Lately, there hasn't been much time for that - but soon, we hope to be settled. (And then we'll bring on the pictures of our new place! Sorry it's taking so long!)

To top off our evening of fun, we spent some time at the little playground. Then, we packed it up (just when the warm rain started mind you - I do love a warm summer rain!) and headed to pick Jacob up from work. Yep, he's been working a lot of long long hours trying to meet a deadline this week. Great for job security - a little sad for Mama and Sawyer, who miss Daddy when he's not home for dinner or bedtime. But we do appreciate all of his hard work for our family! Next time, maybe he'll be the lucky one to get a night out with Mama! ;)