Play Date

In honor of Leila's new swing set being completed, we had to have it kid tested! We invited Elliott and Edith over to play. The kids, Erin and I enjoyed lunch together and a full afternoon of backyard playtime.

Backyard Addition

With Leila's birthday being in late August, we decided to give her an early birthday present this year. We chose a swing set/play structure for our backyard!! Leila helped load the truck (by holding the broom and sweeping the sidewalk) at Toys R Us. Man, was she excited!! Back at home we had quite the pile of pieces. This picture was taken after about half the pieces had been used already. Wow, good thing Chris loved Legos as a kid! 

  This was a two day project. We started in the late afternoon for a couple hours and finished the next morning.

 This is what Leila did while we worked. Oh, and she asked over and over, "Is it close yet?"

When she woke up from her nap the next morning, her play structure was ready and waiting!! She wasted no time giving it a try.

 That night when I tucked her in, she was very concerned about who would go on the glider swing with her. We had to plan a play date for the next afternoon to solve the problem!

Tacoma Rainiers

For a Father's Day gift, we treated Mike (and Shawn, too) to a baseball game at Cheney Staduim. The Rainiers won 9-1 that evening against the Reno Grizzlies! Perfect weather for a summer game! After the game, Leila and Chris ran the bases. I tried to take a picture, but it was dark, she was running, I was far away and I only had my camera phone. Oh well, the blurry pictures are kind of cool, too. 

Yummy!

One of Leila's favorite things about summertime dinners is corn on the cob! She has loved it since she tried it on her second birthday.

Members' Wild Night at the Zoo

With our zoo membership we were sent an invitation to attend the Members' Wild Night. Some how we missed it last year, so we really didn't have any idea what to expect. We were so glad we went! Members were allowed to come to the zoo after hours to participate in a lot of activities! We got to see animals up close, go behind the scenes where usually only the keepers go and do arts and crafts. Fun! 

 Getting to see Blitzen up CLOSE!

 We also got to see Bali up close and watch him eat from the keeper's hands.

 The elephants' barn was open to explore!

 We ended the night with some craft time. Leila chose to color a tiger mask.

We can't wait for next year's event!!

Brave

Disney and Pixar's Brave opened in theaters the Friday after school was out. We had been using it as a way to mark time for Leila. "When school is finished, we will go see the movie." After only three days away from her daycare friends, she was missing them already. We arranged for Bergen to go with us. The girls were thrilled!! This was Leila's first time taking a friend in our car for a "date". It was quite the experience listening to them chat away in the backseat. I think Chris got a glimpse into his future. "Daaaad!" could be heard several times on the drive. I could just picture the eye rolls and sighs and "Don't embarrass me, please!!" that will be coming down the line. But for now, she is 4 and still needed her Daddy to keep her safe through the scary parts. Thank goodness for that!

Blast From the Past

One afternoon I spotted a blast from our past on Meridian. I was sitting across the intersection from this teal colored truck. I am about 99.9% sure this is Christopher's (and my) old truck. I quickly snapped a photo before it turned. I drove home a little happy (that is was still running) and a bit sad (someone else is driving our truck!)...but mostly happy thinking of all the memories we made while driving it around as newly weds.