First Day of School! First Day of School!

It's been a whirlwind of a week in our house, but nothing bigger than everyone going back to school. Or, in the case of Sophia and Hudson, going to school for the first time. That's right, my two smallest munchkins headed off to preschool for the first time this week. We've been planning this for over a year now (rather, I should say they've sat on a waiting list to get into this school for over a year now), but it's amazing the day finally came. They were pumped. We were nervous. Looking back now, I have no idea why. They both love it and it's been fantastic for them! Not a tear was shed (by anyone!) and they have both adapted very fast.

Isabelle headed off to her first day of school this morning. Third grade. Second floor of the school with the big kids. Does that make her a big kid at school? Shut your mouth. When the hell did that happen?!? I have no doubt today will be great for her. My goal has always been for Sophia and Hudson to find as much love and happiness at school that Isabelle always has; I think we're on the right track. She knows pretty much everyone in her class (shocking, I know...), and turns out her desk is right by the teacher. Just where the constant teacher's pet likes to start out. Eventually she'll be moved to the other side of the room, never to see the teacher this close again, because she is the least likely to cause problems but will be the first one to rat somebody out that's doing something wrong (she's not known as "the informer" for nothin) but she'll enjoy these days while she can.

Enjoy the peek at everyone's first day!

Huddy and Soph heading off to preschool!

Isabelle - stylish as always - outside school

Outside her classroom, while Huddy and Soph try to break through the door

Top Ten

Well, we were going to go camping this weekend, but bailed because of typical end of summer Pacific Northwest weather (read: cloudy, cold, and rain possible at any moment...so our "normal" weather). I'm a big baby, so I pulled the plug. It might happen next weekend, we'll see. So as we all sit around trying to figure out what to do with our now free weekend, I figured what could be better than looking at hot guys. Right? Right. Wohn revived the Top Ten (see her list here); I'm just throwing my two cents in there. (Edited to say you can find Crystal's list here. The more the merrier, right?)

And here we go:

1. (with a bullet) Robert Pattinson: The accent. The hair. He plays the guitar. He sings. Those fingers. Have you seen the fingers on my future husband? Dear God. And we won't even talk about when he runs those long fingers through his hair. I'm useless after that. Team Edward, folks. Let's just hope Pattinson can survive the test of time and hold this spot. (For shits and giggles, this is my old favorite picture of him.)



2. David Duchovny: For many MANY years David Duchovny stood atop my Top Ten list. Actually, we'll just call it a good decade. Loved the shit out of him on The X-Files and he's just as great on Californication. Oh, and he's half naked a lot on there. Still looking hot as sin at 50 years old.

3. David Beckham: Plays soccer = win. Sexy British accent = double bonus. Takes his shirt off a lot and is hot as fuck = ding ding ding, we have a winner! Bend it like Beckham, kids.

4. Johnny Depp: Dude is quirky as hell, and I love that about him. Another multi talented guy that not only takes on great characters and great roles (uh, Isabelle might have a bit of a crush on him too), but plays in a band. I love his quirk and nobody can do it like Johnny.

5. Joshua Jackson: When Pacey got the girl on Dawson's Creek, I cheered like there was no tomorrow. I've always loved JJ, even when everyone else was pulling for Dawson. I love that he's found a new home on Fringe, and that he has an awesome girl in Diane Krueger. Stay hot, JJ!

6. Robert Downey Jr.: Yeah, he's quirky too. Okay, quirky as hell. But, again, this just brings the quiver on even more for me. I adore RDJ. I wrote a while ago, I want him to come have dinner at our house. I want him to wear his purple sunglasses, sport his man purse, and just bring the place down. Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes have been some of the greatest things to happen to me in film.

7. Bradley Cooper: Did you watch Alias? No? Your loss. How about Kitchen Confidential? NO? Where the fuck were you? Jesus, people. If you only know Bradley Cooper because of the Hangover, you are missing out. He was fantastic on Alias and it was a sad day when Kitchen Confidential got canceled. Bradley is just sinfully cute and a smokin body to boot.

8. Alexander Skarsgard: Sweet Jesus. First off, True Blood is one of, if not the, best things on television. It's killing me to not have HBO, thus I have to wait for season 3 to come out on DVD to watch. Killing. Me. And a lot of this has to with Alexander Skarsgard. Do we have teams on True Blood? Not sure. I'm probably confusing my vampire movies/show. If so, Team Eric all the way. (And extra cheering for episodes that he gets naked!)

9. Ben Bostrom: Funny thing about my #9 is that I've actually met him. And his brother, Eric. I have a picture from where I met him at a motorcycle race one weekend about 8 years ago. Best. Moment. Ever. My dad took the picture. He told me afterwards, "I knew, no matter what, I couldn't fuck this one up." No, no you couldn't. I was all a quiver and could barely get out any words to talk to him. To this day, I have no idea what I said. My dad did most of the talking and I just stood there nodding my head like an idiot. I know he was impressed. Who wouldn't be? Ben races motorcycles. And rides bicycles. Google him...you won't be disappointed.

10. Keanu Reeves: Okay, we're breaking some space time continuim laws here to put Keanu on the list. He again falls in the line of people I've crushed on for a VERY long time. When I went to college (gasp...1994), I had a huge Speed poster up on my wall. I fluved Keanu like nobody's business. When he made a comeback in The Matrix, I was giddy. In my mind, this is the Keanu that will always exist.

Summer Summer Summertime

More than a month has passed since my last update. I contemplated going event by event from the past month, but then realized it would be too much. Needless to say, we've been as busy as always; a wonderful camping trip to Lake Chelan with friends, a great Seafair weekend with Grandad, and numerous regular activities (soccer, swimming lessons, dance lessons, Little Gym, work, finishing the second season of True Blood, painting the house, sleepovers, etc.) top the list. Wow, when put that way I really wonder why the hell I haven't updated. I guess I should have added "lame" to that list as well.

So here we are now with summer coming to a close. Isabelle starts school on September 1 (third grade!) and Sophia and Hudson will be venturing off to the real world as they start preschool for the very first time on August 30. Big changes are a front in our house. Fall soccer is already swinging into full effect for Isabelle, who will also be continuing her swimming lessons (she's in level 5 now!), and Sophia will be taking part in karate, soccer and swimming in addition to her normal routine of dance. Hudson is still longing for the days of Pee Wee football to really unleash his size on the less fortunate, but for now he will also continue to attend Little Gym and soccer as well. Wow. Now that, folks, is exhausting to think about. In the meantime, we wrap up our end of summer vacations...

This weekend it was an overnight trip to Whidbey Island, where we stayed at the Lovejoy Inn in Coupeville. Words cannot describe the quaintness of this little town and the lovely place we stayed. The owners were fantastic and we ended up occupying the entire second floor of the house. We all enjoyed a couple of days of playing at the beach in the hot weather and just enjoying each other's company. It was all we could have asked for and more. Two weeks from now...another weekend camping trip. Pictures will follow that adventure.

The kids on the ferry ride to Whidbey

Bed and Breakfast we stayed at: The Lovejoy Inn

Penn Cove Bay

It's not a trip with our family unless someone gets hurt. This time it was Sophia, who sliced her leg open on a barnicle.


Exploring the beach at Fort Casey

Delicious Penn Cove mussels were on the menu for dinner

Sunset on the bay

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Long overdue

I promised this post last week. Then again a couple of days ago. I'm past excuses, so I figured I could do nothing more than bite the bullet and just get something in living, breathing blog color.

Our 4th of July weekend was spectacular. Event after event...good food, great friends, fabulous time...too much to even begin to recount, which is why I think this post was a challenge. I just couldn't wrap my head around all the goodness!

First off, our nephew Jake came to visit from Texas. Jake is 14 and this was his first time visiting Seattle. We hit a couple of tourist attractions, but mainly took him out to see the best part of our beautiful city; the scenery. With our gorgeous forests, miles of pristine hiking trails, rocky beaches full of sea life...the kid from Texas LOVED it!

Jake and the kids

While Jake was here we celebrated the 4th of July with friends or, as it came to be known, our rolling party on wheels. We had our blue cooler on wheels that we just rolled from party to party with food and beverages inside. It was oh so white trash fantastic! We also played a soccer game that day which Jake participated in with us, and set fireworks off that night. Always a good time launching fireworks, but Jake especially had a blast.

Todd helping Sophia light a sparkler

As I mentioned, we hit some tourist hot spots: Pike Place Market, the Locks, Gas Works park, Snoqualmie Falls, the salmon ladder, Discovery Park...but some of these are a bit off the beaten path. All in all, I think he got a flavor of our great city.

Flowers at the market

But really, I'd be lying if I didn't say I think his favorite part of the visit was going to the beaches. He and the kids loved turning over the rocks and watching the little crabs scatter. They collected sea shells, looked for sea stars, jellyfish, and anything else that turned up that day. This is a favorite activity for my kids, and Jake was no exception. All in all, I think a great holiday was had by all!

Hudson on the beach

Pacific Northwest crab

I blame the heat...

Wow, it's been a while since a legit post. Sorry about that. Every day and night seem filled lately with some type of activity. It's fun, but exhausting. By the time the kids go to bed, it takes all the energy we can muster to drag ourselves to the couch and devour as much True Blood as we can before looking down and saying, "oh shit, it's past midnight." Then I drag myself to bed and think about all the bad things I want Alexander Skarsgard to do to me. Oops. That last part was supposed to just be in my head. My bad.

But really, True Blood? Wow. That show owns me right now. I'm blown away and am going to read the Sookie Stackhouse series as soon as I finish those books about the girl that kicks the hornet's nest with her dragon tattoo. Or something. I still don't know what the fuck's going on in the dragon tattoo book, so I hope the pace picks up here soon. I talked with a newfound acquaintance at one of the 4th of July parties we attended this weekend and she raved on the Sookie series. Though only knowing her five minutes, I trusted her opinion because a) like me, she couldn't get into The Time Traveler's Wife (it takes a bold person to admit this in a room full of females), b) she was also not "blown away" with the beginning of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (we're gonna fight about this one, aren't we?), and c) she floves True Blood like me and doesn't care if the neighbors see it through the windows and think we're watching porn. Oops. Again, should have kept that one to myself. I'm pretty sure we're book soulmates, and you all know what a fickle bitch I am so that's really saying something. Ah...dragon tattoo girl, I want to like you. I really do. But you gotta get going or I'm ditching you for Sookie. Because eventually there will be Eric, and then we've come full circle to Alexander Skarsgard. See what just happened there? :humming....I wanna do bad things to youuuuu.:

Sorry this was only a semi-real post. I blame the heat. Coherant thoughts are hard to come by when it's 85 degrees INSIDE the house. An honest-to-God-no-rambling post will come soon that gives a glimpse of our visit with our nephew, Jake, and the traveling cooler party that was our 4th of July.

iPhone Pic #4

Wow. I haven't updated since my last iPhone pic? Ugh. Shows how busy we've been. I fully intend to update tonight or tomorrow with a recap of the 4th of July weekend and the visit with our nephew, but for now I want to get my iPhone picture for the week out there in the world. We hiked out to Twin Falls in North Bend over the weekend and I snapped this shot as the path curved down by the river.

Twin Falls Hike

iPhone Pic #3

Last night was the midnight premiere of Twilight: Eclipse, which I attended along with my little group of folks. The lines were hideously long and people started showing up 7 hours before the movie even started. Insanity. The weather? Not the best for standing outside, but we endured. Loved the movie and can't wait to see it again. At any rate, the line we were in wrapped the building, but I snapped this shot with my phone of the folks around me.

Die Hards.