Back to camping

Here are the rest of the pics from our camping trip. It was our annual camping kick off and first time out fishing. We had a great weekend and beautiful weather.

The kids always love to shoot off a few rocket balloons

Carter made several friends and had a great time on the new playground

It was cowboy days at the campground so the kids enjoyed all the "cowboy" activities and dressing up for the dinner and the campfire and music

Every cowboy has to have his snuggly right?

At the campfire Logan was walking around saying hi to everyone he even helped himself up into someone's empty chair to check this guy out. One year olds are so funny.

Logan caught the first fish of the day on his Superman pole, he wasn't sure what to think of it.

He really enjoyed watching it swim away.

He wasn't really into fishing, what he really wanted to do was throw rocks. Which was not cool with his big brother who did want to catch a fish. :)

Carter enjoyed finding little snails in the water and then checking them out.

Happy birthday Daddy!

We celebrated Brady's birthday when we went camping this weekend. Eating blizzard cake in the mountains with his boys on his lap is the perfect day for this Daddy.

Windmill tour

My Dad has recently changed jobs and is now managing the wind farm. Carter has been really excited to go see them. Since I have already had a tour and even climbed one during a project when I was working, just the boys headed out. Carter loved it, it is like a little boy's paradise...hard hats, cranes and rocks everywhere. He collected a bunch of obsidian from the gravel and now has a collection going.

inside a wind turbine

Look....no training wheels

Carter learned to ride his bike without training wheels last month and he wants you to know he is very excited. We tried it one night and the next day he was already riding around the neighborhood without help. By the next night he was riding his bike down the steepest hill at the school in our neighborhood. I couldn't believe it. The sad thing was Brady was out of town and he was hoping to come home and work with him, he had this vision of holding on to his bike and letting him go. I told Brady don't worry because he wouldn't let me hold onto him anyway. He just wanted to get it on his own and he did.

He is really enjoying riding without training wheels and he is surprisingly fast. Our family can ride bikes around the neighborhood and he goes our pace, which is nice for me and Brady.

Carter on his first ride around the neighborhood.

This video is of Carter and his buddy going down the big hill at the school a couple weeks after he learned to ride his bike.

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day, enjoying the special treatment from my family and spending time with the women in my life. I am so lucky to have my handsome boys! They made me breakfast in bed (almost). It was a lot more challenging this year for Brady to get it all together while Logan sat at the table yelling for more whole time. But if you have tasted Brady's crepes...you can't blame him for asking for more.

I loved it because Carter gave me the special treatment all weekend. He kept saying "No Mom I'll do it for you, its your special Mom's weekend." Daddy has taught him well. We had a tough week so it was good timing and made me remember to be thankful for me sweet and healthy boys.

It was a special day to be with my Mom, Grandma, sisters and Aunt

My sweet son Carter believes all good presents for Mom come from the jewelry store so Brady has figured out how to affordably appease him by giving me a charm for my bracelet each holiday. This year I got a cross and love it.

Carter helped me make this earring hanger for Nana that she has been wanting. He chose the frame and color, took the old frame apart, painted, sanded and helped put it together. He even wrapped it and wrote his own message. He loves to help and try everything himself.

Enjoying the awesome weather at lunch.

Cute pics

Here are some random pics we've taken that I wanted to share.

Logan enjoying his favorite thing - jumping on the pillows

While I stood in line to get flowers at Grover's, the boys went exploring with Daddy

Logan and Emma getting a ride from Brady

These are pictures at a park in Bellevue from one of our trips with Brady

Butterflies

This spring we raised and released butterflies. It was such a good experience the kids were really interested in watching the caterpillars metamorphosis into butterflies. I was surprised how much Brady and I enjoyed it. Our whole family was excited to see what they were doing each day. Then we released them in our yard. They took some coaxing to come out of their house but they all eventually flew off in the same direction. Here is the key dates we tracked as we watched them change:

April 1: received caterpillars

April 12: formed cocoons

April 19: 1st butterfly emerged

April: 20: other 3 emerged

April 25: released butterflies

The boys have been really interested in butterflies ever since we went through the butterfly exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. That is where we bought the kit. Logan has been really into pointing out and saying "butterfly". If you watch the second video you can see him saying hi to the butterflies and saying it over and over.

Caterpillars

Preparing to form cocoon

Butterflies

Logan saying butterfly

Butterfly feeding

Release