Friday, July 25, 2014

The Clingmans

This Summer we have had the chance to hang out with the Clingman side of our family more than ever before. The first event was a Mariner's game with Pat's brother Brian and family. I don't have pictures because Miles and I didn't go but Pat and Nolan had a blast cheering on the M's with the Klamath Falls Clingmans. 

Next up was Pat's dad's 80th birthday. We gathered at a lake in Olympia on a very hot day. 

A very rare family photo. Thanks Susan!
The kids jumped into the lake fully dressed and stayed there most of the day. 

I forgot for a second that that dog is not Ruby but her cousin Apollo. They look almost identical here though. 
Nolan and his cousin Sam all dried off. 
Miles drying off in the sun. 
They had such a great time. Nolan was tuckered out for a few days after that one!


The next special occasion was Pat's Mom's 80th Birthday and this one was extra special because we got to see everyone at the new Heron Island house and meet the newest Clingman, Baby Jovin.

He is just a month old and I got to cuddle with him for a good 45 min and listen to his sweet newborn noises. I forget that they don't come out saying "no!" and "but, why?"

Jovin and his mommy. 

Can you tell I'm smitten? Newborns are so agreeable to having their picture taken!


And then there are my feral children. One was off terrorizing deer in a golf cart and this one was refusing naps, grazing, and trying to lick the dog. 


I wish we saw them all more often but with 30+ people (and that's just Pat's siblings, spouses and offspring, yes I tallied it up) it's pretty hard. But the last few months have been great, hopefully we can keep this monthly meet up tradition going...hint hint. :)

Misc pictures

I don't have much to say about these random pics other than I want them on the blog in all their wonderful randomness. So there.

Nolan at his art show a few months ago. Our favorite piece was his self portrait and the biography he wrote. I typed it up  for all to enjoy. What a silly guy!
 Hi, my name is Nolan Clingman and I am 5 years old! I'm almost going to a new school, but right now I'm still going at this school. I like it here! My favorite colors are green and blue (mom edit: Go Hawks!) I live at Renton in a big white house. We have a dog named Ruby. She's a puppy and when we wake up when it's all done being dark outside she bites a lot. We had to put her in her cage. When she scratches me and puts red stuff on my body I cry and mommy puts a bandage on me; she always does that. I live with my Mommy, Megan, and she's a grown up. And my Daddy is named Pat. And I have a baby brother named Miles.
My daddy stays home when it's the weekend and when it's not the weekend he goes to work and I am sad. When I'm scared of the dark I have some stuffed animals; one is a Puppy Pillow and he goes around my neck. Maybe you can see him when it's pajama day! I also have another pet, a kitty named Mavis. She's nice, but when she sees Ruby she doesn't like her and she makes a noise: "KKKKKKKKKK!" Mommy puts up the Christmas tree and my mommy lets me decorate the Christmas tree when it's Christmas. When it's not Christmas she just cleans and when it is still Christmas my birthday comes. My job is to clean up my room.
The rules at my house are drawing pictures. If I don't draw pictures I might get in time out. (mom edit: I'm not sure where he came up with this but I definitely do not force him to draw)
When I'm a grown up I'm going to be a skater with two skates on my feet and jump on ramps and come back down and flip. I am going to marry Mommy when I get older.

(Final mom edit: We talked about that last bit after the art show. I told him I was flattered but am already married to his daddy, he wasn't too heartbroken. I'm pretty sure Freud would say this is all completely normal.)


This one is finally tall enough to reach the counter, which he LOVES! Now he can reach all the food we keep up there. It's pretty fun because he can't see up there he just searches around until he finds something good. Usually that's a loaf of bread but on this day it was a tray of broccoli Pat was preparing to roast. That was the day we learned that Miles likes raw broccoli better than cooked broccoli. Fascinating! A list of the other foods he's found on the counter: half a pizza, a bag of baby carrots, jar of peanut butter, butter and a box of crackers. All were enjoyed.

Ugh that face! :) People always ask if he's mad and the answer is no. If he's mad you'll hear all about it.  2 is just a month away and we are really feeling it. 


Monday, July 7, 2014

4th of July

4th of July was super mellow for us this year. Like all in bed before it was dark mellow. I guess we were tired! Before we all zonked out Nolan and I went to the Issaquah parade. It was really nice to see some of Nolan's classmates but it was very small. I think we will be returning to the Burien one in the future. It's just not a parade without at least one marching band! 
Nolan picked up a few festive items from target and couldn't wait to get his red mustache on, that boy loves a good mustache!



After dinner we got ready for the fireworks. Where we live it's legal to set them off so Pat and Nolan picked some up from the reservation. And when I say some, I mean a lot. Nolan is still not so sure about fireworks, which I am 100% OK with but Pat LOVES them and insists on setting off as many as possible.


Ruby and Nolan's "we're not so sure about this" faces. Ruby actually did pretty good, she would bark at them but didn't seem overly anxious.


Sparklers these guys can handle. Even Miles got in on this one.

Miles' Harry Potter moment

Hmmm....which sparklers to do next? 

We ended up giving him the ones we had already set off, which he enjoyed just as much as the lit ones. A win for all!


Pat was determined to get Nolan into it, ugh, but there was a lot of fire safety talk too so I felt a little better.




Yep, still not so sure about it.


Miles stuck pretty close to me.



OOOOHHHHH!
AAAHHHH!


Admiring their handy work.


We set them all off and got the kids in bed at their usual time. Like I said, pretty uneventful. It will be nice when keeping them up doesn't result in dramatic melt downs, until then we keep the routine!

Remlinger

We made our annual trek to Remlinger Farms. This time it was just me and the boys because we needed something to do and well I had a group on to use. It was practically empty which was so nice but it never seems to be busy.



Nolan went around a few times by himself before Miles wanted a turn.

He was pretty excited about this boat ride and would wave to everyone he passed.

On the train.


We learned that Miles REALLY likes farm animals. He was trying to kiss the donkey, pick the goats nose and break out the chickens. We need to get started on our farm STAT!



Oh camera, why can't you focus where I want you to? Olivia (my camera) and I are obviously fighting right now.



It cracks me up that Nolan makes such bored looking faces when he is on rides. When he gets off of them all he talks about is how much fun he has and wants to go again and again. 
 It was a successful trip considering it was not planned and I was on my own with 2 grumpy boys. But we picked up a fresh pie and some ice cream on our way out so that cheered them right up!

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Beach Vacation Day 1

I uploaded my pictures from the vacation as soon as we got home, all 970 of the pictures I took. Plus the 100+ that my brother in law Lee took, oh and the iPhone pictures that I will eventually upload for an iPhone offload. Needless to say, there are a lot of pictures so I'm breaking it down by day. Be prepared for a lot of sandy babies, Nolan running around and sunsets. You have been warned, it's a lot of the same since we pretty much lived on the beach.

Day 1 included our travel down there. It went pretty well since we had a stop in Vancouver to drop off Ruby at her Aunt Cheryl's house. We thought about taking her but she's a bit unruly so we will wait until she's calmed down a bit to take her on vacations with us.

All our traveling pics are on the iPhone but there was a lot of napping, drawing on Nolan's activity center and a little DVD watching when they got antsy. But we got there all in one piece and hit the beach right away. Pat was unloading the car while I took the kids down to the beach to take a look around. Both kids ran straight into the water...fully dressed. It didn't really matter since it was raining but they got cold quickly so we went back home for dinner. After dinner the sun came out so we threw our swimsuits on and headed back for a much more prepared trip #2.
What a difference an hour makes on the coast! Still in coats but were plenty warm in our shorts and sandals.
 I told you about all the running right?
Oh and sand eating. Miles is now made up of 50% sand. It's only fair, Nolan is 50% Hawaiian sand and he's ok.







We brought home at least 1/3 of the beach in Miles' nooks and crannies.
 Back home to dry off and then we stopped across the street for some ice cream and playground fun.