Evergreen State Fair

We spent the afternoon at the fair - - it was a beautiful day & lots of fun!  The kids had a lot of "firsts"...trying an elephant ear & cotton candy, riding a rollercoaster, and seeing a lumberjack show.  Next year we'll get to the fair by 1pm so that we can get in free with 3 cans of food each!

Gotta love an elephant ear - - Daddy had to have one!

I'm actually in a picture!  Very rare...cause I'm always the one taking the pics!

Brooke was a champ as always - she just rolls with whatever we send her way!  

Here we are waiting in line for our ride - - it cost $4/person....what a rip off, but then again all fair rides are crazy expensive!  But, we promised the kids could do a ride and they chose this one! 

All smiles!  Their favorite part was of course going down the "hill" fast!!

We saw lots of animals too - but I had to take a picture of this momma pig nursing 19 day old babies!  Oh my goodness...being nursing momma right now, I can't imagine this!!  :)

 Mmmmmm....sugar!  Even Brooke thinks it's great!

Jaelyn's one request was to get cotton candy - - your wish is granted, sweetie (only $3.80 for it!)

Paci vs. Thumb

Which one do you prefer kid?  OR really, I should ask myself which way do I  prefer?!  The big dilemma!!  She has really taken a liking to her thumb this last week or so....not sure if I want to go that route.  Although it's much, much easier for her to soothe herself with her thumb at this point (it's always there when she needs it and she can put it in her mouth/keep it in her mouth all by herself) in the long run it's much harder to kick the habit (as evidence of sometimes finding Jaelyn sucking her thumb when we check on her before we go to bed!)  Hmmm....the verdict is still out at this point!   

There's a first for everything!

Benjamin is in the crazy land of transitioning out of taking his nap in the afternoon.  Poor guy must have been tired to have fallen asleep in the car and STAY asleep as I carried him and Brooke into the grocery store!  I thought for sure he would wake up once I placed him in the cart, but nope!!  He slept the entire time and only woke up when I was putting the groceries into the mini van.  Oh man!  There's a first for everything, I guess!!  :)

Back to School Shopping!

What a treat!  Oma took Jaelyn out for some back to school shopping!!  They ate lunch at Kidd Valley, stopped at the bakery for a cookie (& to get Benjamin a cookie!), went to 5 stores (crazy!) and ended up in Woodinville at the Osh Kosh store.  She picked out an adorable outfit:  leggings and 3 shirts to match!  I think you are set for Kindergarten, kiddo!!  :)  What a fun afternoon you had...Oma all to yourself!  So special!!

Date night with Mommy

Jaelyn & I had a little date night together - - much, much overdue for just the two of us to go out (well, Brooke tagged along for the ride too)!  Jaelyn chose to go to Chipotle for dinner and then we headed to Old Navy for some back to school shopping.  We found a couple cute shirts and a dress - - she had fun (and so did I).  We decided that we are going to make this a tradition...every year before school starts, we will do some sort of back to school shopping....just the two of us!  When I asked her what she was most excited about for kindergarten, she replied, "I don't know, I've never been!" (good answer!) And when I asked her what she most most nervous about, she really couldn't come up with anything...although I know she is working through some things in her head as she'll ask random questions during the day....like, "How do I open the window in the bus?  or "Will my teacher be nice?".  I hope and pray that this year will be an awesome year for her - - that she'll love going to school & learn a lot...that she'll make some great new friends, and above all show the love of Christ to her classmates.  

4 months

 Look who's 4 months old today!!  She is such a easy going, smiley, giggly little girl!  She brings such joy in our lives!  I can't imagine life without her.  She is at a fun age right now - starting to hold onto toys and "play" on the play mat!  She's back to waking up once in the middle of the night to eat, but I think it's just a habit that started while camping (her waking up and me not wanting her to wake up the other kids) that we'll eventually break.  It looks like she may become a thumb sucker - - I've noticed several times that the thumb is in her mouth...even while she's sleeping!  You're getting so big, Brooke!

4 month stats:

Weight:  13 lbs 15.25 oz (75%)

Height:  25.25 in (90%)

Wenatchee Confluence State Park

The annual Byeman camping trip brought us to Wenatchee this year.  We were able to borrow our friends tent trailer for the week so that we wouldn't have to be in a tent.  PTL!  For the first part of the week the temperature was unbearable.  A few days topped off at 101 degrees and other days were a couple degrees shy of 100.  The second part of the week "cooled" off and was in the mid 90's.  I wouldn't call that a cool down, but at least mentally it wasn't 100 degrees!  Thankfully Oma & Opa let us use their AC in their trailer to cool off....but mainly we lived in the water - either the Columbia river or the wading pool at our campsite.  Besides the heat, the other nagging part of the trip were the mosquitoes!   I felt like I was back in Michigan - where it's their state insect...ha!  No, really - - if the wind wasn't blowing you had to have bug spray on from the moment you woke up to the moment you went to bed (and don't forget to kill the mosquitoes that made it into the trailer!)  We did find out that their had been some flooding from the river, so there was a ton of standing water...aka a mosquito breeding ground!

 The Byeman Clan (Washington, Oregon & Michigan represented) - Not all camped...some just came for the Sunday potluck...but still, cool to see everyone!

 Thank goodness for the river to cool off in!

 

Oma having fun splashing around with Ben

 "Washing" his bike in the sprinkler

 Elisabeth want the bucket of cold water to be dumped on her...that's how hot it was outside!

 Brooke was a champ the entire week - - even battling a cold that she picked up somewhere!  The breeze down by the river was a welcome relief for her I'm sure.

 Striking a pose - - oh boy!

 Having fun in the cold (refreshing) river

 This is how you sleep when it's 100 degrees outside

 One morning we went to a nearby splash park to help with the heat - - it was a blast for the kiddos

 Cousins - Alexis & Jaelyn

 Precious Brooke taking it all in....love her lil thighs!

 Jaelyn & Elisabeth

 Another way to cool off at the campground - - see a pattern here?  We did everything to try and stay cool including ice cream! 

 You're not a camping unless you make s'mores!

 YUM!! (I actually am not a fan of s'mores...never have been, never will!)

A few nights ended with the kids playing duck, duck goose!