Decisions

To pass the time until closing day, I have been distracting myself with paint colors. To our surprise the sellers agreed to fix everything on our long list of demands before we moved in leaving us to only deal with cosmetic fun stuff. 

I'm not known for my decisiveness so although I know what color I want each room to be, it's picking out the exact shade that is tripping me up. So I moved on to the exterior instead of drowning myself in paint chips. 

CURRENT

This is what the house looks now, white with peeling aqua trim. YIKES! It's in desperate need of a good pressure washing and updating (like most of the house) and I can't wait for its transformation.

I discovered a nifty tool on the Benjamin Moore website where you can upload your own photos to virtually paint for easier decision making...or in my case, way more options! After playing with this software for a couple hours I took screen shots of the top 4 to show the family. Of course we all chose a different one, except for Miles who tried to eat the ipad. 

So I'm asking for your help in picking a color, granted we have veto any colors in the end as we will be the ones living in it. But we would love your opinion. Which is your favorite? There is a poll on the right hand side of your screen where you can cast your vote. Or leave any other suggestions in the comments. I will add that I tried a few reds and browns and they just didn't work with the current and staying light grey roof. The red door in non-negotiable...it's a feng shui thing.

SLATE 

NAVY

GREEN

YELLOW

So cast your vote now as hopefully we will be jumping on this project as soon as we get the keys!

**These may not be the exact colors we would use, just the ones that looked best on the virtual design thing. For instance, if we decided to go with slate I would want a color with a little more blue in it, but the software didn't have that option.

Penrose Camping

We trekked over to Penrose Point State Park for our very first family camping trip. Nolan and Pat have gone a couple times but this is the first trip with everyone. We lucked out with some great weather so we were already off to a great start.

Setting up camp. Since these boys have done this together a few times, they worked together really well. Nolan helped pack the car, unpack the car, put up the tents, and start the campfire. 

While everyone was working, Miles just relaxed in his pack in play.

Once we were all set up we went for a hike to check out the area. 

We made it down to the beach so Nolan could throw rocks.

And Miles could chew on rocks. What is it with my kids and chewing on rocks?!

It was way passed the kids' bedtimes but they were in great moods and the sunset was gorgeous so we stuck around. I had just reminded Nolan that we didn't bring towels with us on this hike (we were planning to go swimming the next day) so he needed to stay dry. I took this picture just as I heard a big splash behind me.

Nolan decided to swim right now. Oh well! What's done is done, go ahead and play. I took a few pics of Nolan playing in the water and turned around to find this one.

I guess it looked like Nolan was having too much fun as Miles crawled his way down to the water to splash around too.

Those were some happy kids! 

Back at camp, we bundled the kids up, fed them dinner and then Miles was off to bed. Nolan got to stay up super late to make smores. 

This is where our rosy little vacation started to fall apart. Just as we were getting Nolan ready for bed, Miles woke up howling...and didn't stop. Finally around midnight he quieted down but was back up at 3am inconsolable and cold. We were primitive camping so just tents, no electricity. With not too many options I loaded him up in the car and drove, and drove and drove. Until we ran out of gas. Did you know that gas stations in the sticks close down and you can't get gas? I didn't. Luckily we made it back to camp where Miles and I hung out in the car until daylight when Pat took over and drove him back to the gas station to fill the tank and keep Miles asleep. Very tired we headed back to the beach as planned.

This time the tide was way out so we were able to explore the oyster beds and see lots of sea life.

I have never seen a beach so littered with sand dollars and shells!

Back at camp we were all super worn out by this time so Nolan and I took a nap in the tent while Pat and Miles went for another nap time drive. Poor Miles was just not a fan of sleeping in the tent. I think it was a combination of a lot of new noises waking him up and some new teeth cutting through. We are looking forward to trying again next Summer but I think him learning to walk and weaning will make for a much easier camping experience.
After all of our naps we decided it was best if Miles and I spent the night at my moms house which was not too far away and Nolan and Pat stayed behind for one more night. It worked well for all of us. Miles was immediately back to his cheery self. He took a bath, got to crawl around for the first time in a few days and slept like a log, which means I got to catch up on sleep too.
It went pretty much how I expected it to go so no surprises here. I'm looking forward to next Summer so we can keep trying. :)

Seattle Bucket List

Now that it is looking like we are going to be moving soon. I have made it a priority to start doing the things we have been meaning to do with the kids. I know Renton is not that far away (it takes 25 min to get from our current house to the potential* new house) but if we don't do these things when we actually live IN the city, I don't see it happening when we move out. So first thing on our list: The Children's Museum. 

It's terrible because I've had passes to this museum for well over a year and just never found time to make the trek downtown. Today was the day though, we had nothing else planned, antsy kids and a sunny day.

The museum overall was pretty...meh. Nothing impressive, somewhat old and a lot of the exhibits were broken or had missing pieces. The Everett one is WAY better, but I'm glad we checked it out for ourselves. We stayed for about an hour and then went to grab some lunch and sit outside in the sun.

The kids LOVED the fountain which made up for the somewhat boring museum trip. I'm so glad I brought Olivia along. I almost didn't bring her as managing 2 kids at a busy place usually doesn't give me much photography time. But I threw her in the diaper bag just in case. Phew! I love the pics I got of the kids.

*I say potential new house because we still have to get through the inspection which is scheduled for Monday. Fingers crossed all goes well and that there are no major problems. We're trying to stay cautiously excited until then but it would be pretty disappointing to have to walk away. I'll take pics of the house while we are there so you can see where we will be living in a month...hopefully! :)

4th of July in Pictures...and Backwards.

For some reason Blogger uploaded my pictures in reverse. I don't have time to fix it and I don't think that it matters anyways so here we are, 4th of July.

I discovered that my camera can take pictures of fireworks. These are just the ones my Landlord set off that go off right over our house. Pretty awesome that we don't have to leave home for a gorgeous display.

Watching the neighborhood show from our front lawn.

The neighbors setting off fireworks in their driveway.

We picked up a few PG fireworks to set off. The last time we tried this did not go too well. This time was better, although the kids still thought it was pretty intense. 

Nolan break dancing after a group of break dancers passed by.

My boys all in a row.

Miles did pretty good considering this was his first parade. He was cool with the marching bands, cheerleaders and car horns but did NOT like the fire engine siren.