Artist Point

Today the fam and I crossed the last item off of our Summer Bucket List with a trip to Artist Point! Artist point is the furthermost point that one can drive on Mt. Baker. 

(some of you will recall that I attempted driving this myself 2+ years ago. Cam was too tired to drive and napped in the passenger seat and a toddler Clem sat in the back singing away as I attempted switchback after switchback on the unrailed part of the mountain. In dense fog. Driving so slowly that the cars behind me began honking, waking up Cam. When I pulled over--I couldn't take it anymore--I barfed over the side of the road. I couldn't allow myself to even be driven up that road. The point of this story is that it's STEEP and unprotected. Cam drove this time.)

 We made it to the top this time. It felt like we were on top of the world. So beautiful up there and we picked such an amazing day to go.

While my sure-footed loves were trekking all over the craggy rocks, I took selfies with my baby loves and meandered slowly over the paved trails. 

Finally, it was nearly time to go and Clem got to play (FINALLY! she said) in the snow that was still on the ground.

14 Facts about our 14 month old

Because it's a tradition (here's Clem's!) and because he's practically 15 months old already...(better hurry!)

1--one nap/day (if we're LUCKY we'll get a nap out of this kid)
2--more days until this big boy starts Daycare!
3--trips to the zoo this summer--busy boy!
4--meals per day
5--diapers a day
6--known words (mama, dada, up, baby, kitty, pretty)
7--books before bedtime
8--babies in his  new class (5 are boys, too!)
9--teeth and counting!
10--little piggies that LOVE to be played with
11--attention span
12--the numbers of times we typically have to get him down from something he's climbed and isn't meant to
13--hours of sleep each night! (YAY!)
14--ish months old

Bellingham Bells

 Last weekend, we crossed another item off of our Summer Bucket List: attend a Bells' game! It was super fun and super hot! The whole clan was there and we got spectacular seats!

 I wore Dutch as long as I could, but it was SO hot! Did I mention the heat?? We both got heat rash from being so close together, so he went  up to the front and harassed the other team's batter. (Just kidding. Cam was the only one who did that.)

 Clem met the Bells' mascot Dinger.

 And Dutch climbed stairs with Grandma.

When Clem started to literally climb the walls (the picture above is not sideways, she is climbing) we knew it was time to hit the road. We made it to the 7th inning which was great considering we have two little ones!! We will definitely be back again next season.

Sunday, at the park

 Oh boy, here we go: TWO kids doing some serious park playing. Our days of Dutch sitting quietly in his stroller or backpack are over (some would say they never happened). This kid is on the move, and so proud of himself.

 He tried out all kinds of new things including the slide,

 whatever you call this port-hold window thing,

 and of course, eating things. Here he is licking up a piece of wood chip from off the stairs (just wait, it gets better).

 This kid went up and down the stairs to the slide approximately 9 million times.

 And then he got off the stairs, to go eat some rocks.

Zoo Camp (and other Shenanigans)

These two little rugrats got to go to Zoo Camp together at Point Defiance Zoo last week!  Much fun was had by both cousins. Clementine kept saying "Zoo Camp is AWE-SOME!"

 After camp was over on the second day, YaYa took us for a jaunt around the zoo just before closing.

 It was extremely roasty toasty and the animals were definitely more in wind down mode.

 I'm not usually a post pics of animals blogger, but I had to share this one because the kids were having "a moment" with this red wolf. When we got to this enclosure, there was nothing to be seen. I could see ears poking up here in there in tall grass but no animals were out in the open. So, of course, Clementine and Nolan begin howling like wolves themselves. And, lo and behold, out pops this guy, who came out from the tall grass, meandered over to this stump, stretched and laid back down. He was soon joined by another wolf. It was pretty special.

At this point, my own 14 month old wild animal began making his own special animal sounds (shrieking). There were no more pictures to be had on my behalf. BUT, my sister got some which I'm sure she'll post soon.

Lampshade before/after

 Two weeks ago, I picked up the Young House Love book at the Library (and I'm never returning it). While this little project wasn't a specific one from the book, it was inspired by my favorite DIY-ers (as were some other projects I can't wait to post once finished!).

This old IKEA lampshade and I go way back to a warm fall day while I lived in the most charming apartment ever, by myself, in Ballard. I really loved the simple cream color linen AND was super charmed by the whimsical embroidery on it.

Fast forward 11 years and it's collected a lot of dust. It's been through a lot of moves (7!!!!) It's been banged up, stuffed in storage, collected even more dust (did I mention the dust??) and finally put in to a shady corner of our living room, which as  you probably don't recall just yet, has a color scheme of brown/green/orange.

I decided it was time to make over this little light of mine.
First I dusted it. That didn't go so well--it just moved dust around the white linen. So I used painters tape to get into all the nooks and crannies, in between stitches and actually REMOVE the dust from the lamp

Then I went over each and every little stitch...with a fine tipped orange Sharpie!! It was tedious. Super tedious. And it unearthed some more issues, of course--like that the lining of the lamp is cracking like an egg shell. But I like the final result and it was cost friendly  (under $3) for a big (to me) impact!! Super happy with it!

TA-DA!!!!

Saturday, in the Park