House Bread

Our Friends, Ross and Elizabeth, Own House Bread. A bread baking business based out of their home. Ross was so nice to show bright his bix mixer that kneads the dough and also the big oven where it's all baked. Bright was most interested in the ducks that they keep in the yard. Ross has 2 little girls. Stella, 5(i think) and Goldie 2 (again guessing). The boys played with the girls really well, much better than expected! It was SO hot at their house so we mostly stayed in the house. Ross did show me his amazing herb garden.

Here's ross telling Bub what the ducks names are.


Here's Asher being sweet with goldie. She was nice enough to let Asher play with her, and put up with whatever he wanted to do.




Ross loving on his herbs:


A pretty marjoram flower:


the kids being cozy! Bright and stella were buddies.


More snuggling kiddos.


Asher telling us all where Jack's eye is. He kept saying "eye, eye, eye" and poking him directly in the eye. jack just pretended to enjoy it.


The temp at the tasche's. I think inside they said it was 84. the temp actually reached 105.8 before I left the house! yesterday in Snoqualmie it was 109!! too hot for houses with no a/c (which is almost all the homes in western WA.)

california, california, here we come!

Last Wednesday I helped a friend drive from Tacoma to L.A. It was really nice to be able to help out as so many times people have helped me with my drive to WA from North Dakota. I left the boys with my parents and made the drive with a dear friend, her 2 year old and her dog. the drive was shorter than it felt, which was nice. we started at about 5 am and got to our destination at about 10:30pm. not a bad day. plus we had tons to talk about and a really nice long visit. after getting to her in-law's house we crashed! the next morning we shopped and ate at a restaurant that max sometimes visits when he is in CA. I could hardly believe my ears when I heard of big tuna and all you can eat sushi. we went, I ordered it, and ate sushi to my heart's content. since max comes here when he's in CA, I was able to see what he was talking about and experience what he has experienced. funny how a random sushi restaurant in CA would make me miss my boy so badly. I had 4 orders of Hamatchi, 1 order of super white tuna, 1 california roll, 1 maine roll (lobster and crab topped cali roll). I didn't finish the rolls.


Then we went back to her in-law's house made it an early night since we had an early morning planned. Saturday we woke up at 6 ish, and by we I mean she-rebekah woke up at 6 ish, I got to sleep in a bit longer. we headed to LA for some shopping and breakfast at the famous Chateau Marmont hotel. it was amazing. She had brioche french toast and I had 2 eggs over medium with organic spinach and tomatoes and melted goat cheese over the top. amazing. Cameras are banned in the hotel but we managed to get a few shots. here is a view of the courtyard where we ate breakfast. we got to sit in the far corner so we could see everything. to the far right corner of the photo is the door to the remainder of the restaurant.



About 20 mins after this (secret) photo was taken Christopher Lloyd came and sat with the woman in the green top. he had 2 adorable dogs with him and he ordered the same thing as me!


The whole place is about 10 times smaller than I expected. it's very small. I would say about 100 people could eat in the restaurant. not sure how many rooms there are but, it's very small and cool. Probably the coolest and most vintage chic hotel I have ever experienced. Here's the bathroom. All the fixtures were REAL silver, and shiny! There were actual towels for drying off. the floor was white marble and the doors all had amazing vintage hardware that was so intricate.


This shot is just the entrance from the parking lot. it sums up what we saw there. I hope we could one day stay here and experience it a bit more. you can really tell that this place is old. the wood and all the furniture are well taken care of and just so luxurious.


I could so totally live here!!


And here!


this store was so great, I know we can get Juicy here at Nordstrom, but it was truly an experience to be had at the Beverly Hills store. I really need a camera bag, and it was REALLY hard to put down the cute little black leather and brass studded bag I found near the door. Max, you can thank rebekah for being the voice of reason! We also went to Gucci, Prada, Chanel and a few other designer stores. At Chanel I fell in love with a black croc skin handbag. small, but totaly worth the $28,289.00 price tag. I could really do some damage there on Rodeo Drive! I really felt like a princess the whole day! Thanks, Rebekah for taking me to a fun place and doing all the girly things with me! I loved it!

lately

So, we have been busy lately. The last couple of weeks here is always full of last minute hang outs and events. I am really going to miss the end of summer here in WA, my favorite part of summer here is august and september, the cool evenings and hot days of river swimming. here are some of our latest photos.

We have a small kiddy pool in my parents back yard, bright does not always want to wear his swim shorts so he will just wear undies. this photo is of him, post swim and working on the house with grandpa. he's also accessorized it a bit. I think the dirty mouth is just super, but it's the pose that has me laughing. me: "bub, can you smell the flowers behind you and I will take your picture?" him: "but mama, I want to stand like this." and then he poses like this:


here he is posing again. my dad and I were trying to figure out what he was trying to express by this pose. I kept taking photos expecting him to change it up, but we have about 10 pics of him like this. he must have thought the look was working!


this one is just too cute to not post. he's running to catch up to grampa, with backwards undies.


Today we had a church picnic, and it was painfully hot. we stayed as long as we could stand it. the food was good, and so was the company however there was no hiding from the sun. Bub and I did find a nice place to play. he's loving tire swings lately.


About a week ago we found this amazing spot on the river. we stopped on the side of a bridge and walked down to the shore. the water that we initially came upon was pretty deep, though it had a sandy shore. Courtney and I decided to wade up the river (under the bridge) with the boys and my precious camera in the backpack. it looked like there was a perfect shallow spot about 100yds away. BAD IDEA! the river looked as though it got shallower as it flowed under the bridge, so we thought we could stay close to shore and just carry the boys. the bottom was deep with mud about up to our ankles, which made for a s-l-o-w walk. Also, the water was waist to chest deep. but we were so close! finally, after deliberation (do we go back?)we made it under the bridge and to the rocky side. it was perfect. a small creek broke off from the main river flow and created a large island in the river. the creek was great for the boys to play in with shallow water and sand for walking around on.

here you can see the bridge in the background. we parked on the other side and waded under the bridge to this spot. the "creek" that broke from the main river flow is to the left, Asher and I are sitting in it.


we caught a fish.


Here is another part of the river off shoot.


The boys. Asher pretty much just stood there the whole time unless I was holding him and dipping his legs in the water. he was pretty nervous around the water.


Bright was wading out to Coco, but decided against it, shortly after this he slipped on a rock and went totally under! when he came up he was shocked but coco and I just cheered and made it out to be the most awesome thing ever, and instead of feeling scared he ended up feeling really proud of himself. "that was really crazy! did you get a picture of it mama?" no. it's because as I saw it I freaked and ran toward him, so there is no photo evidence. sorry bub.


the cozy car ride home.

speaking of small/furry/cute animals.....

we were at Twin falls yesterday. It's rapidly becoming Brighton's favorite place to go on a hot day. we hike a bit then stop on the side and play in the water. while the boys were throwing rocks I noticed an infant rodent of some sort. since it was small, cute, furry and only a baby of whatever it was, I thought it was cute. had it been in it's adult form, I probably would have screamed and ran the heck outta there. since it wasn't I photographed the thing, and showed the boys. we still don't know what it is.


it's eyes are still closed, so I think it was looking (smelling) for its nest. it just slowly bumbled about smelling things and trying to nurse twigs. sad. no mommy to be found. finally it found this place in the sun to cozy up in and snooze. it was all I could to to keep asher from grabbing it and kissing it.


Can you see where it is? we were pretty close to it.


here are the real stars of the show! my boys and I can really have a great time in the water! asher's fave was throwing rocks, bright liked sitting on the bigger rocks out in the water and finding creatures. Also, splashing is fun.


gettin sandy!


sweet little hikers! you were with us in spirit, honey. I know you would have loved sharing this day with us!

we found a bee

we were walking from the car to the house and saw a huge bumble bee on the walkway. both boys were smitten. I, of course, was picking it up and trying to touch the soft fuzziness of it. Asher honed in on that fact and wanted to hold it and love on it. I could tell by the sweet cooing he was making. His "cute animal" voice; a series of oooh's, oh's and ahh's at the highest pitch imaginable laced with sweetness. When I hear that I am at my happiest, since it usually involves my boys being sweet, nurturing and nondestructive, with a cute/fuzzy/small animal thrown in the mix.


I didn't realize until now how fitting his shirt was!



The only thing left to do after you properly harass a bee is to....Play the "drums"!!

4th of july!

WE had a nice mellow Fourth. We spent the morning working in the garden, stopped in Issaquah for a festival, shopped for dinner items, then it was firework time! Just my parents and my sisters were here and we all had a yummy dinner outside, which the boys just think is the coolest thing ever. I promised Bright that we would do fireworks in the dark AFTER Asher had already gone to bed, and then he could sleep with me in my bed. On the 3rd, he asked me : "Is tomorrow the firework and snuggle in your bed day?" so sweet. I got some really cute pictures thanks to my personal photographer (a.k.a Coco). I think the best part was experiencing the fireworks through bright. It was the first time fireworks and the 4th made sense to him. he kept saying "YAAAAAAAY!" after each firework. we did tons of sparklers, stobe lights, a ground hog,smoke bombs and some bees. Bright loved the groundhog and the sparklers the best. Then when we went to bed he said, "I just don't want this day to be not here." of course I loved the nice snuggle too.

At the 4th festival in issaquah it was not really much of a 4th celebration as much as a train station/frontier life thingy for kids. The kids checked in and got a passport which was stamped at each activity station. There was a butter making station, dress up, train logging, shingle making, mining, and laundry station.
bright did all the stations and got his little passport stamped. The best station was when we got to ride a push cart on the railroad track. bright took it very seriously. he had a great time. Just me and him, asher was with grandma!

buter making



SNAKES!!!



"YAAAAAAAY! YAY FOR THE NORTHWEST!!!" not sure why he said it, but he wanted us to know!


Us with sparklers, I love this pic!


Some cool shots taken by coco.




This picture sums up the night. A great photo of what "home" feels like to me. The moon was particularly amazing. The sparklers were VERY sparkly.

Remlinger Photos take 2!

Here's Asher in the process of squealing with joy.



I made it into one.



This was a bike track, and the bikes were so adjustable that I could ride one, and bright could also ride it. I just followed him on his, just in case he got stuck, as the bike was just a touch too big. he was able to do the entire course all on his own! I had to get him unstuck from another rider who had crashed but beside that, he did awesome! the track had up down, corners, hills and a bridge. bright loved it and wanted to go again. next time we go I think I will ride with him! it looked like fun.



Here we are on the old timey car ride (that's what it was called, I dont normally say "old timey') Asher did NOT want me touching him. I kept trying to steady him on the seat and make sure he wasn't going to fall, but he wanted to drive that car alone! he would pry my fingers off and protest. here he is "driving" and reveling in the process. he kept exclaiming "oooohhh!" kinda in a Poppa Jim sort of way.



Asher and I were sitting in the back seat, behind the "Real" driver. I think bright actually thought that he was crontrolling the car on it's course. it was of course on a track and moving really slowly, but we encouraged him saying "quick, turn right!" and he would pay close attention. sweetie...


Here we all are on the train. look how content brighton is. I managed to get in another shot!


The tiny but fun roller coaster, it was the last thing we did and bright really liked it. he wasn't scared a bit, or so it seemed.


We always miss max when he's deployed. even when he's just at work for the day. But this was truely a day that he was missed wholeheartedly. There are times when I resent the Air Force for taking him away and for missing out on brights experiences like this day at Remlinger. We really miss you honey, and are praying that you are safe and doing well at work today. I hope I have taken too many photos so you feel as if you were there with us. I love you!

Last week we took the boys to Remlinger farms. They have TONS of things to do for kids ages 4+. Lots of goats, rabbits, chickens, peacocks, and turkeys in various areas of the park for kids to harass. There were rides perfect for bright's age; a small roller coaster, a train that goes around the park, a track with pedal bikes to ride on, and even a hay maze. There's lots more to do but I won't bore ya. check out their website and definately take your kids if you can, the puppet show is worth the drive alone. It was the perfect day to take the boys, sunny but not blazing hot about 73 and gorgeous. The first thing we did was let bright ride on the canoe ride. he liked it. It was his initiation into amusement rides. I think it was the perfect one to ease him into as he is VERY wary of things of that nature.
here he is still unsure, but 100% willing to hop in alone.


and here he is having so much fun in his " 'lil boat"!



"The train's comin', mama"


in this photo you can see we're on the train, but we're looking at the old timey car ride in the background as well as the little farm type buildings that house the turkeys and peacocks. Asher LOVED the old timey car ride.



Asher getting to ride the big (stationary) tractor.


GOATS! Asher just adored these guys. he was squealing with joy each time he touched one.


Ok I am having trouble with blogger now, so I will upload remaining photos after I go to the gym. Maybe things will have settled down by then!