Wonders of Nature // Lake Georgetown

It's a little tradition we have created in our family, to go hiking on Independence Day. There's nothing we enjoy more than being together as a family in the midst of nature's grandeur. And taking a bit of time to contemplate the blessing of living on American Soil, is a great way to spend part of the day we celebrate our Independence.

I'm not going to lie, though. The Pacific Northwest has probably spoiled me for life. Mother Nature really rolled out a gem in the landscape there - so sometimes other locations pale in comparison. Especially since (finally) the past couple of weeks I've really REALLY been missing the PNW. But, I was determined to find a little bit of nature to enjoy in our new homeland, and make the most of it. One day while driving home from the Farmer's Market in a neighboring town, I spotted a lake with some rolling hills (we live on the edge of the Hill Country) and I knew it was the place! So, that's where we went - Lake Georgetown. 

There's quite a few different trails and some go down by the water, and some just circle around the lake - 26 miles. We knew we were hiking more for time than distance with three littles, so we hopped on the nearest trail and started...hiking. (I also joke that there's really no such thing as hiking in Texas...at least not the kind I'm used to) So, we hiked amid the gnarly oaks and cedars, on a rough, rocky trail, for a good 3 hours. The kids did amazing - what great little troupers!

Sawyer was SO excited about the 4th this year. He took great care in selecting his outfit for the day and made sure he got some red, white, and blue. He was the "leader" of the hike for the majority of the few miles we covered. Proud of him. He didn't complain once, except for right before we left the house when I made him wear actual shoes and socks in stead of flip flops for hiking. He is so my boy in that regard (dislike wearing shoes!)

This little lady did great, too. She is of course a bit littler and on the way back she said he feet were getting tired. So, I held her hand as we walked along and we started singing a bunch of funny songs. "The Ants Go Marching" "B-I-N-G-O" "There was an old woman who swallowed a Fly" etc. basically, I wanted to keep her mind off her tired feet - and it worked! Such a joy, this little girl is - always positive and happy. Love her!

This lil' darlin' - she is all smiles. She went without a nap all day long - and didn't get to bed until about eleven with all of the fireworks and fun in the evening. But she just smiles and goes with the flow. She may not sleep through the night, but she makes up for it in her easy going, fun, spunky, easy-going ways. She is a little adventurer! Always trying to keep up with the bigger kids.

A little peek at the lake. 

Mother Nature provides the very best toys.

After our hike, we went home and prepared a Fourth of July feast - bbq burgers, watermelon-lemonade, baked beans, etc. We spent a little too much time on the trail and I didn't have time to get our apple pie done before we needed to head out to the fireworks show - so I'll finish it today and enjoy it tonight. After dinner, we scooped the kids up and piled in the car and went to the local fireworks. They actually had stuff going on all day long - big bounce houses, food, live music, games etc. There were a ton of people there, but it wasn't hard at all to find a great seat. We listened/danced to the live music while we waited for it to get dark enough for the show. I brought the kids some glow in the dark bracelets and that kept them entertained until the show started. It was such a great show! Silence fell over the crowd as the big BOOM BOOMS started lighting up the sky. The 4th is my favorite holiday. I love how simple it is, yet so festive and fun, too. I loved looking at the faces of my little loves as the sky exploded with color. And I loved scooting closer to the man I adore, and wrapping an arm around him while holding our baby in the other, while taking it all in. 

I hope you all had a marvelous and memorable 4th. What a wonderful celebration!

Stars, Stripes, and Stomp Rockets

Can you tell I was making funny faces at them?

Our Independence Day was pretty sweet and simple...and everything it should be. We got decked out in our Red, White, and Blue. We ran around the house shouting "Happy 4th of July!!!" The kids were super excited about fireworks, friends, and homemade apple pie. I took a few pics of them in the morning just because they were looking so cute in their matchy seersucker outfits, and we were all giddy that the sun was shining in our window to welcome the day. We met some friends at a park that had a pretty good view to downtown (and the fireworks that would go off the hill at Gasworks Park), and had a traditional picnic dinner with bbq, watermelon, salads, and of course, classic apple pie (ask Jacob, my apple pie is killer! It is the one baked good I make that I will actually boast about :) The kids ran around for hours on the playground and in the grass, had a BLAST doing stomp rockets and playing with friends. There were a few other families we knew at the park from Nature School as well. When it started getting dark, we all got cozy with blankets and the kids played with flashlights and laughed with their little buddies. Hazel was all snug and cuddly in my arms and slept through most all of the festivities. We didn't get home until midnight. It was  wonderful! It was such a fun afternoon and evening, just relaxing with friends, eating good food, playing with the kids, laughing, enjoying, and celebrating. Happy Birthday, America!

Independence Day 2011

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I love it for many reasons - and like other holidays, it's true meaning must not be overlooked. But mainly, I love that it is in summertime, that it is perfectly fine to sport shorts, swim suits, and bare feet on the occasion. That barbeques and fireworks are a plenty, and family and friends gather round. I love how my parents open all the doors and we livev outside, I love Lori Flanders homemade ice-cream, and in years past, my grandmother's homemade pies. I love gathering in the backyard and squinting into the bright sunny day...and then cozying up to someone special when dusk hits and we find our special spot to watch the fireworks show. This year, my brother-in-law Taylor, who is currently serving our country, was with us - and everything just hit home a little bit more for me. Maybe it's part of getting older, or maybe it's part of being a parent...I'm not sure...but I can sure be sappy sometimes.

Okay...enough of my rambling and onto our own little firecrackers!

Q: How do you get 4 children age 3 and under to sit still for a photo together?

A: Bribe them with cookies!

There are some smiles!

It was super fun for the kids to play with their cousins!

And Aunt Jamie & her pups, of course! This little dog below is the mama of the dog on the previous post (Peanut). Her name is Josie. She is super chill and easy going and GREAT with kids.

Here is Jamie, Alyssa, & Josie.

As I was going through the images below of Sawyer with Josie, I got a little teary. (go ahead, laugh! I told you I'm a sap!)

Sawyer used to LOVE my parents dog, Tommie, but this time he was pretty, hmm, SCARED of her. I think because she's bigger and her tail gives a good wack, he was seriously scared of her and didn't even want to go outside when she was outside.

There have been a few instances in the past few months where Sawyer has shown quite a bit of fear/anxiety/apprehension whatever you want to call it, in certain situations. And sometimes I forget: he's just a little boy. He has a very wild imagination and at this age when your imagination is going wild sometimes fears tends to come out a bit more. I struggle with how much to gently encourage or even push him into situations where he shows this type of apprehension (ie do we force him to pet Tommie to overcome the fear, or just respect that for now he doesn't want to be around her?)

Anyway, along comes Josie.

And he LOVES her. LOVES. I mean, he is still talking about her (and Jamie even offered to let us take her home, but we just couldn't).

So...is it him/certain circumstances? Because we did nothing, and he came and sat and wanted to cuddle and hold this little pup. He even gave her a kiss. Kind of melted my heart and slapped me on the wrist. Sometimes we want something for out kids (ie for them not to be scared of something) so much that we forget to just let them be and respect that in their own time and way they will come to terms with their situations as long as we just patiently love them.

Just patiently love them.

That was my lesson learned over the weekend.

Okay, and now that I've gone off on a soap box for a bit...let's get back to the pictures.

Sweet Sawyer and his Josie. Love that boy!

Of course we can't forget the cute baby sisters!

Here is Alexandra (Xani)who is just about to turn one! I get to take their family pictures the day after she turns one - not to mention celebrate big time that day with her and her family! Exciting!

And Miss Aspen Jane.

Do you love her dress as much as I do?

(Stars and) STRIPES forever!

Sawyer and Alyssa hanging on the the porch swing with Jamie's boyfriend, Brandon. He's a good sport! Both were begging for a bite of his cupcake - and Sawyer certainly wasn't shy about it!

I hope you all had a fun-and-family-filled-fourth!

Let the good times roll! I'm SO glad it's summer!

Bend Pet Parade

Here is my youngest sister, Jamie, with her little dog, Peanut. They marched in the pet parade...

me, Grammie, and the kids watched - it was a hit for sure!

A quick stop by Goodies for ice-cream was also a hit.

The only miss was that I forgot our cell phone and missed out on seeing a long-time friend who was also in town (Tirza! Sooo sorry we missed you - we will have to try again very soon to catch up!)

(Daddy, Granpa, Uncle Taylor and their crew opted out of the parade for a 30 mile bike ride that morning ;)

People got all decked out and found things to ride in the parade, and then also showed off their pets. There were LOTS of dogs, but a few others, too. I was SUPER impressed at this guys custom long-board. I am a big fan of long boards, but have never seen one this LONG! He could've fit his whole family on that thing - I want one!

I was told to look for the flying dog at the end of the parade.

what? a flying dog?

Yup. Check him out! And don't worry about cruelty to animals, this little dude was happily wagging his tail having a blast flying high! Can you blame him? Looks like fun - and I love his little aviator glasses!

Yes, we finally made the Pet Parade in Bend - something I never did when I lived there, but very glad we took the kids, it was a hoot!

Independence Day 2007

Independence Day is Tysha's very favorite holiday. We had awesome weather in Seattle this year for celebrating (the joke among locals is that summer doesn't really get to Seattle until July 5th - but this year it came early!)



We were going to go for a hike in the morning but learned from our neighbor that our location is one of the most desirable for watching the fireworks and that if we left we might not get a parking spot on return (even though we have a designated parking spot!) So, we decided to instead go on an "Urban Jungle Hike". We hiked downtown and went to climb to the top of a different kind of "mountain" for a spectacular kind of view.



We headed to the Smith Tower. , which is located in the heart of Pioneer Square (historic downtown Seattle). We learned that The Smith Tower opened on July 4, 1914 - exactly 93 years ago. At the time, it was the fourth tallest building in the world. It remained the tallest building outside of New York City for almost 50 years. Access to the Observation Deck is via one of the last manually operated elevators on the west coast, which we found to be very cool!



Somehow the elevator operator thought we were cool enough that he gave us two golden tickets - a free ride up to the observation deck, where we wandered around soaking in the sun and fantastic views of the Puget Sound, downtown, and even clear skies all the way to Mt. Rainier.



Tysha said it was one of the best days of her life (she says that every now and then). After our picnic and taking in the views from the top of our Urban Hike, we headed to Pike Place Market., where Jacob surprised Tysha with some very fresh and beautiful flowers from the farmers. Tysha was in heaven.



Near the market we wandered in a guitar and music store. Jacob was in heaven.



On our way home, we meandered through the new Olympic Sculpture Park.



Later, our friends Sofie & Casey (who are getting married this Friday!) came over for a BBQ, games, and to watch the fireworks from Lake Union on our rooftop. The Lake was plum full of boats all afternoon, hoping for the best views. And we could literally see Gas Works Park from our roof, a mountain of almost 60,000 people! Lucky for us, we didn't have to brave the crowd. We just relaxed on our roof and enjoyed 40 minutes of one of the Nation's top 5 fireworks displays!




What a day!