Ramblings

We had such a great time in Kansas. We got lots of time visiting family and Nick was baptized by his Grandpa Nick. The girls got to play on the farm and go on nature walks.
Andy and I had a long date - two days in Iowa searching through cemeteries, courthouses, and libraries. Some of you may think I'm weird, but I had a really good time. I'm a genealogy nerd :) I'm sure that Andy probably could have thought of some better ways to spend his vacation (maybe fishing!) but he was a good sport and spent hours looking through microfilm and walking through cemeteries with me.
It took us over 30 hours each direction to get from CA to KS, but we drove without stopping for the night. We just switched back and forth (Andy doing most of the driving) and then we collapsed when we got home :) The kids are such good travelers, I'm so proud of them. Lexie didn't throw up this time - that made for a much more pleasant trip. Maybe the carsickness is going away....
We'll be making another long trip up to WA this December. The movers come the day after Christmas and we'll be up in WA before the New Year. Andy will then fly to Fairbanks and we'll wait at my parents until he has found us a home :) We're excited about our upcoming adventures!

Look out world, here he comes...

When we left for Kansas, Nick was able to slowly low crawl if there was something in front of him that he really wanted. He couldn't sit up on his own yet. In the 2 weeks that we were gone, he went from that to - being able to really crawl on his hands and knees (completely across the room in a flash), being able to sit up on his own, and standing in his crib or up against the couch (or up against anything else he can get his hands on). I'm having a really hard time now keeping all of the girls little toys out of his reach. I have to vacuum a couple of times a day so that he doesn't eat stuff off the floor!! Here is a picture of him today - he's so proud of himself.

Happy Halloween!

While we were in Kansas, Aunt Maria took the kids to get Halloween costumes. She let them go on a Wal-mart shopping spree and they had so much fun :) Thanks Maria!! They got all dressed up tonight and went trick-or-treating on our street and then headed for the "Light in the Night" party at the Chapel. Here is a picture of them before we left. Kate is Ariel (The Little Mermaid). Ellie is a witch (but not a scary one). And Lexie is the cutest little pirate I've ever seen. She was even saying "Argh Matey!"

We're heading out to Kansas :)

We'll be leaving for KS tomorrow night. I just pray for happy kids and a smooth trip. They really are such good travelers. Let's just hope that Lexie doesn't get car sick this time. It would be pretty awful to sit in the truck for 30 hrs with that smell......
The girls are going to be armed with snacks and movies, so they should be happy for a while at least. For those of you in KS - we'll see you soon!

What do you want to be when you grow up??

Most kids want to be a fireman, a doctor, or something normal - not my kids :) Ellie is the budding archaeologist and Kate wants to be a teenager when she grows up. Yes, I said a teenager. I'm not sure what kind of schooling or degree she needs for that one :) I'm sure she'll be great at it though!

More aquarium pics

I took 4 or 5 pictures and I still couldn't get one with all of them looking at the camera at the same time! It's hard to see, but Lexie is holding her treasures we bought in the gift shop - an orange jellyfish and a little sardine puppet :) Nick has had about all he can take - this is when we were leaving...This is one of Kate's favorite parts of the aquarium - you get to stand and watch the water falling over you. She could probably stay there for hours.
We saved our favorite parts for last - the Shark and Jellyfish exhibits. Lexie had been asking to see the jellyfish all day. When we got to that part of the aquarium, we found out that they were both closed. They will be putting in an otter exhibit instead of the sharks - come on aren't sharks more exciting than otters??

Our last trip to the aquarium :(

Living here for 4 years, we've been spoiled to have such a great aquarium so close. We just took what will probably be our last trip to the aquarium a couple of days ago. Here is a picture of Ellie and Kate in the big clam shell.

Katie is officially reading

Katie has read through a set of 24 "BOB books" twice and has now been picking words out of every book she looks at. I'm SO proud of her - and I can tell that she is so proud of herself. She has really matured a lot recently. She and Ellie are sharing a room now and playing together a lot better. Her energy level hasn't gone down any though. She still can't get around the house without running, skipping, dancing, jumping or tumbling about. She really needs to find an outlet for all of that extra energy.