Fair Day 2012

 Oh, the fair...I look forward to it all year. This year, we went with Clem's good buddy Taylor and the girls had a blast.

 The day we chose to take the girls to the fair was supposed to be the hottest day of the year (it was). We met up super early, just as the gates to the fair were opening. I thought we were so clever: outsmarting not only the crowds but the heat too. I was wrong on both accounts! At 9:00 it was already 77 degrees at the fairgrounds and the rides didn't open for 2 more hours! We made good use of the time, though, checking out the livestock for awhile.

Immediately after we entered the livestock barn, a big crowd down the row started clapping and cheering. I wanted in on the action and made a bee-line to this pen. Mama cow had literally just birthed this newborn calf. We watched them bond a bit and then got a mooooove on (get it??)

 Down the way were twin newborn calves a few days old, a boy and a girl. The fair had a suggestion board for their names: Clementine suggested Alabama and Calvin, Taylor suggested Clementine and Matthew. Aw!

 There were newborn chicks to see (no holding!)

 And a mama sow clearly working hard to birth her litter of piglets (we missed that action).

 Clem went fishin' and caught herself a few free classes in dance and tae kwon do!

 Finally, the rides were up and ready for these two. The girls had all day passes for the rides and made EXCELLENT use of them! Clem had a smile on her flushed face for several hours!

 This was our only hiccup of the day. The girls were so excited to go down the big old slide on their own. Taylor knew just what to do but, if you look closely at the picture, you'll see Clementine didn't. She threw the burlap sack over her shoulder instead of sitting on it and she got a bad burn on her back as a result. Poor babe. Believe me, it slowed her down not one bit!

 By lunch, it was getting pretty hot on the fairgrounds. We paused to eat sandwiches and snow cones and lots and lots of water.

 So it only made sense for the girls to ride the Sizzler with a very brave Susan!

Sweet Dutch was there, too, scoping out the scene and trying to stay cool. He slept almost the entire time and didn't complain once about the heat! He loved watching the ferris wheel in the shade while the girls hit up every single ride in the place.

 After 5 hours at the fair I had had my limit of 89 degree weather and, though she'd never admit it, I think Clementine had her limit too. I bribed her to leave without a tantrum with strawberries dipped in sprinkles on a stick. Don't judge me, it's all I had in my bag of tricks!

We had a wonderful day. Can't wait to do the fair again next year.

Pt. Defiance v. 2.0

 I've said it before and I'll say it again: Pt. Defiance is the best zoo around. We were there last fall (remember?) but I swear it's gotten even better since then.

 On this visit, there were little climb on things for the wee ones.

 I didn't get to take many pictures at the zoo because the babes had figured out how to divide on conquer. One would go his own way while the other, of course, went in the completely opposite direction. Pretty much the whole zoo trip was barely contained chaos. The kids loved it, naturally.

 It was a pretty hot day so a lot of the animals had gone indoors or were chilling in the shade. We sort of got to see an elephant's back and ear (above) and totally got to see two monkeys of some kind hanging in the hammock.

What I wish I had gotten a picture of: our lunch fiasco.  We sat down in the picnic area to eat and Dutch decided he would also like to participate. I nursed him under a blanket while everyone was eating. A few minutes later, a free roaming peacock came to check out our snacks. The babes loved it, throwing the bird cranberries, crackers, carrots and raisins. The peacock gobbled those up while roaming the whole picnic area looking for other spilled food.
Within seconds of each other, Dutch peed all over my lap and Clementine had a complete nervous breakdown and tried to run away because the peacock had come back unnoticed and attempted to eat her sandwich. She was certain that the peacock was trying to eat her arm.
Trying to shoo a peacock, calm a preschooler and clean my lap at the same time pretty much sums up the day.
We saw a few more critters after that, then called it a day a bit early and came home for naps.

Cousins at Yaya's

 I was feeling particularly brave and took both of my kids to visit my mom in University Place. She had already picked up my nephew Nolan in the hopes that Sissy would deliver this baby of hers already. (She didn't.) But Clementine loooooooooves Nolan and had a blast.

Clem shows off her muscles

 The whole time we were on the go on this mini-"vacation." The first night, we took the kids to the park Sissy and I used to visit as kids (although it looked nothing like this when we were kids).

 There was lots of rocking climbing,

 and swinging,

 and dancing a jig on the picnic tables.

 Meanwhile, Dutch watched the light through the trees far away from his crazy cousins.

 Then there was some piano playing

 while Dutch appreciated the tune from the couch.

 As per Sissy's request, we took the kiddos on a bike ride. Clem's had her balance bike almost two years while Nolan is just getting started. We were all hoping Clem would be able to show Nolan how very fun bike rides really are.

 There was some bike riding....

 sort of...

 mostly, there was bike stopping.

 But then this happened, and the bike ride was all over.

 Clementine found a "stage" on which to perform a hula/ballet. She tossed her helmet aside, threw the bike on the ground and danced her little heart out.

Berry Pickin'

 We made it just in time to Boxx Berry Farm to hit up the raspberries on their last day (last day for raspberry u-pick I should say).

 Clem's motto while picking was "one for me, one for the bucket."

 Technically, we picked a little over three pounds of berries, but if they'd weighed Clementine after I think our haul for the day would have been closer to nine pounds!

A Sailor's Life for Me

 Last week, we got to go on a little sail out in the bay off Semiahmoo. It was the perfect summer evening for a sail.

 Just over toward Canada I kept seeing a big spray so Cathy tried to find out what it could be.

 First mate Clementine loves to go sailing.

My heart just exploded

After having Clementine, I knew definitively that I would only have teensy, beautiful, bald-headed babies in my future. I stated this time and time again: the women in my family make teensy, beautiful, bald babies.

Dutch has blown that theory right out of the water. While gorgeous, he is neither teensy nor bald. He's huge and has a full head of hair (practically)! He rocks both a faux hawk AND a mullet!

This week was Dutch's two month Doctor's appointment. This giant boy was in the 98th percentile for almost everything! Head size and height (24 inches) were in the 98th percentile while his weight (14 lbs) was 95th!

It's hard not to draw comparisons between my babies but I will relate this fact here: Clementine was in the 5th percentile until she was almost 18 months old (except for her giant noggin). She didn't weigh 14 pounds until she was almost 5 months old! And she didn't get hair until her first birthday! Amazing!