Monday, June 29, 2009

June Highlights


Lily figured out how to pull herself up to her feet this month and now spends more time on her feet than on her back side. We're thankful that she hasn't quite learned to walk on her own yet, because she's already got us on our toes with how quickly she crawls off and gets into things. Before we know it, she's got all her books strewn across the floor and is working to take more off the bookshelf.

Highlights from the month include a wonderful gift that arrived from our family/friends in Switzerland. Thanks Claire and Donna for the great hat and the wonderful robe. They're absolutely perfect!


We had a fun filled day with Grandma and Grandpa Reich at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Can you see the polar bear and the puffins? I had forgotten how nice that zoo is. It's much smaller than the Woodland Park Zoo and much easier to get around. No, there aren't as many animals to see, but is that really all that bad?

Our camping trip should probably have a blog entry all its own and if you want to hear more about it, I'm happy to oblige. But, for now, the highlights... We spent the first day hiking a 3.4 mile trail out to Alava camp site at the northern point of the Ozette Triangle on the Olympic Peninsula. We arrived before anyone else and had our pick of the camp sites. Once the tent was all set up and the food was hanging high out of raccoon reach, we stepped out onto the beach and did some exploring. The tide pools there gave us glimpses at a few baby crab, but that was about it. Luckily there was something much more interesting about a mile south along the beach: petroglyphs! The indians who had lived along this beach made carvings into the stones. These were the easiest to see:

The rest were hiding up in the rocks around this one. We saw carvings of fish and coyotes, too. That night we tried getting to sleep early as we had more hiking to do the next day. Lily was so excited to be in a tent between the two of us that it probably took her a solid hour and a half at least to fall asleep. She LOVED that tent! We eventually went to sleep with the sound of sea lions barking away on one of the rock islands just off shore. The next morning we hiked out, drove down to the Hoh Rainforest, and hiked in to the 5 Mile Island camp. We were better prepared with all the fixings for s'mores! Andy claims that he hadn't ever really toasted marshmallows. It's hard to believe. I'm wondering about his memory. Our original plan was to camp two nights there, but, after just one night of Lily waking at 3:30 screaming her head off and waking all of our tenting neighbors, we decided to pack out the next morning. On the hike out we came across a herd of elk that were amazing to see. Lily was transfixed. These were much more interesting than the bunny, deer, and pheasants we had seen. These crazy animals hopped through the forest! The next night we "camped" at Grandma and Grandpa Reich's house in Grayland. It was great to have an unexpected visit. Lily finally got over her fear of grass and also got a few doggie kisses as a reward.

Just this past weekend we had a house guest! Cousin Andrew flew over to spend a few days with us and kindly provided us with an excuse to do a few touristy things we had been wanting to do, but probably wouldn't have done otherwise. We started with a baseball game. It was Andrew's 1st and Lily's 5th. Ichiro started the game with a home run and the home team never gave up their lead. The next day, after Lily's swim lesson, we went downtown to the Seattle Underground Tour. Very fun, but Lily and Andy ended up leaving early. She hadn't napped much that day and was a bit cranky. Oh well! That night we had a blast with our friends Matt, Big Lily, Jonathan, Michelle, Vanessa, Chris, Emma, and Camden. Big Lily and I were celebrating our birthdays as we did together last year. It was great to have the Kaspareks there to join us! Chris and Michelle ran the Rock and Roll half marathon the next day. The next day, before Andrew was scheduled to fly home to Spokane, we squeezed in a trip to the U District farmer's market and then to the Museum of Flight. Thanks Andrew for coming over for a few days! It was great having you here!

Back to that swim lesson... Lily is a bit of a chicken when it comes to water. She's gotten better, but it's still not her favorite thing. So, Lisa and I decided to put our two little tots in swim lessons over at Evans Pool by Greenlake. The class is only a half hour long and consists of a few little songs and mostly time to wade around and get your little one comfortable in the water in a safe environment surrounded by other parent-child duos. I admit, she cried when we first walked down into the pool, but she got more and more comfortable as the lesson went on. By the end she was actually smiling!

This brings us to yesterday! Lily and I drove out to Remlinger Farm right after her morning nap to spend a few hours with our friends the Thompson's. Kristie and I met on the very first day of kindergarten and have been friends ever since. Now we're able to get our own little girls together for play dates and yesterday was a great one! Remlinger Farm is more than just a u-pick strawberry patch. They also have a small amusement park for young kids. Pony rides. A big slide. A little roller coaster. A train ride past the emu, angus bull, and llamas. It was great! Lily and Zoe even rode one of the rides all by themselves!

Okay! Now you're all caught up. Well, almost. I still need to catch you up on something from May. Over Memorial Day weekend Andy's cousin Sam (some of you may remember him as the man who gave the really long toast at our wedding) got married to Neala. It was a beautiful weekend in Moscow, ID. The wedding ceremony was held on the mountain where Sam grew up and the reception was held over in Pullman, WA (where Neala grew up) on the WSU campus. For pictures click here.

Flash back

I just a little over a week the Bug is going to be a whole year old. It's a little hard to believe that at this time last year I had a watermelon for a belly and I was not only getting ready for Lily to arrive, but getting ready to spend the 4th of July with some of my closest friends from college: the Ta-Ta's. I had originally hoped that Lily would come and all the girls would get to meet her before they headed back to their corners of the country. As it turned out a few of the girls were still in town to see her.

This year we're heading east for the 4th and will be flying home on Lily's birthday. I've got a special birthday shirt to wear in honor of the day and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want the stewards on the plane to take notice. I'll post more from our week east when we get back.