The SUN is back!
Our fun morning of friends waterplay & gardening

After a week of clouds, rain, storm warnings, thunder & lightning and wind....the sun is a welcome sight! Thank God that summer is not over quite yet and we can still enjoy some outside play.

The boys and I spent the morning with a group of friends at a new spray park in Tukwila. It was great! The boys loved running around, jumping, ducking, splashing, squealing and laughing! They have water cannons in the shape of Nemo's, there are fountains to run under, water that bubbles out of the ground and many other unexpected things that squirt when your not looking...What a fun place to be on a hot summers day, we can not wait to go back.

After a few hours of playing we came home for lunch and then spent the afternoon playing in the backyard. Such a beautiful day, I think its around 75deg today with a slight breeze and perfect blue sky.

The boys were happy playing in their fort, so finally I had a chance to garden! I bought a few plants last week before the bad weather set in. I had been looking forward to getting them in the ground. The garden smells so fragrant, I planted some white geraniums, lavender, rosemary, passion vine and a Italian cypress. Fingers crossed I planted them in the appropriate places and they survive. Still trying to get a grip on this gardening thing!

Such a beautiful day, don't want to spend too much time inside on my laptop!

The House & Garden Club

Starting from top left going clockwise, Samantha, Tonia, Sarah, Heather and Jill

Today was the most perfect summer day! The sun was out. A refreshing cool breeze blew and rustled the leaves on the wisteria and Jasmine vines. The kids played well....mostly =)
The girls had a fun time of talking House & Garden, drinking, eating and more talking!
It was a wonderful way to spend the morning.

This was our first get together for the Club and can not wait to do it again. Its such a fun group of friends and we all love to garden. It was great to chat about our own gardens, get tips, ask advise and share experiences.

Next time we will take a trip to a nursery, I can't wait!

New favorite play place....

Another Thursday another soccer class! Thomas is improving every week. This week I was so so happy to see him participating and really getting into what the coach was asking them to do. Next week I will take the camera as its his last soccer class for a while. And he has the cutest little soccer uniform I want to have a pic of here in the blog.

After soccer Sarah, the kids and I all headed out for lunch....where to go?
Where else but the new kids play area and food court at the local mall.

Southcenter Mall is our local Westfield mall, its huge! And now that the new extension is complete its even bigger! I had not seen the new addition so it was very exciting.

I was completely shocked! Not only was it huge, but so nicely done....very swish! It has a very Bell-square feel about it (or for those in Aus, very much like Chatswood Chase) They even have a Pumpkin Patch store, first one in Seattle!

The kids had so much fun in the play area. Lots of fun things to crawl through and climb on, its a fun modern, jungle theme. Even the family restroom has a wonderful play area, toys, a TV, comfy chairs for the adults, more like a living room! Even nursing moms had their own areas with personal TV's....nice! One other thing that really rocks about the new play area is that they were smart and put a Starbucks right next to it for the mama's....yeah!

I have no pic's from today but found an article from the Seattle Times which has some photos of the new renovations....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008067251_southcenter23.html

Dress up Dance Party!

The music was loud, the lights were off, all except for the funky disco lights scattered around the room. The sound of musical instruments being played and the sight of kids laughing and dancing in a cloud of bubbles...What a fun Dance Party!

There were Pirates and Princess's, Firemen and Fairies. Thomas went as a Soccer player while Harry was excited to be a Pirate!

One of our friends hosted this party for the kids in her Apartment's cabana.

The kids had a ball dancing the hokey pokey and playing a selection of musical instruments that were provided. There was face painting too....what a fun way to spend the morning with friends!

The pirate's getting down and funky with percussion!

After the Dance Party we headed out to a local park where we met up with more friends and had a picnic. It was the most perfect day, 87degrees with a beautiful cool breeze in the shade. The boys both had fun playing with their friends today....perfect summer day!


Thomas and Noah saying goodbye after a big day of fun! Needless to say my two are both napping, its been an action packed day.

Night out with the girls.....

Beatles Laser Show & Cheesecake Factory

Finally a night out! Although it meant Dave would be home early and I would really love to spend the time with him, it's nice to get out with the girls minus the kids! It's been a few weeks after all and I was dying for some girl time!

Tonight was to be my first laser show experience. Not quite sure what to expect, I just wanted to get out with the girls, plus this sounded fun! A laser show to Beatles music in a huge indoor dome theater...Beatles music you can't go wrong!

So off I went to Sarah's house, we would all go in together from there...It was quite exciting to do something I had never done before. Its funny how life can become quite monotonous, same things day-in/day-out, you have to keep it fresh and try new things to make life fun!

Anyway, after running through the rain from the car park to the Science Center we finally got there. What a night! So much for summer, it was more like winter, I even had a sweater on....

We entered the dome building and found a spot on the floor. Its best if you lay down and look up. The room went dark, the music started and BAM! The lasers started dancing around the room to the beat of the music. How cool was that! They played some really good Beatles songs like Get Back and Hey Jude, two of my favs. It was quite a tripy experience and honestly you feel like you should have taken some kind of drug before hand to have the ultimate experience...lol!

After about 15 songs it was over, a fun experience and would do it again. I would love to see the Doors like this, although I would take a pillow to make it a little more comfortable (do I sound old or what...lol!)

The night was still young so we headed off to the cheesecake factory for desert! Yummo. Hmm what to get, it's never easy to decide as they have over 60 different cheesecakes to choose from. After recommending so many of my fav's to my friends I had no idea what to get so I tried something new.

OK, so I know I am working out with a personal trainer, hoping to lose weight. And Yes I felt guilty and yes I looked around to make sure he was not there to see me. But its cheesecake with the girls, who can say no to that!

So anyway, I ordered the tuxedo chocolate cheesecake. I had a bite then let everyone else have a bite, had a little more and took the rest home for Dave...so I wasn't that naughty!

Long story short, I had a wonderful night and can not wait to hang with the girls again....I feel so totally lucky to have the friends I have...love you guys =)

Exploring Renton &
the Renton River Days Parade...

This week Renton is holding its annual Renton River Days Festival! For the past 20yrs Renton has celebrated its community by hosting a wonderful week full of fun and games for everyone! They hold a kids day, art exhibitions, circus performance, rubber duck race, pancake breakfast, the street parade and so much more!

Today was the annual street Parade down Main St, Old Downtown Renton!
So much fun!!!!
The moms group participated last year for the first time and had a ball! This year the theme of the parade was exploring Renton. So the RMG transformed into explorers, complete with our pith helmets and toilet paper tube binoculars. We decorated our bikes and strollers with animal print balloons and had our group banner front and center taking pride of place in our group! We were out exploring Renton.
Harry had a ball walking with his friends and waving at the crowd, he said "mommy look at all these people that came to see me!" hehehe...
We walked past the announcement tent where the local news reporter announced our group walking by, it was a special moment to hear someone announcing our group and saying what we do, I think we were all very proud of our group at that moment, very special!

It was very exciting not only to be participating but to see and be part of the great turn out the city got! SO many people walking and watching...
I love our little city of Renton and today only made the pride swell all the more!
Go Moms of Renton!!!The kids had a great time, by the end they were exhusted....Thomas was asleep by the time we got back to the car. There are more photos to come so check back soon=)

When the Mama's get away....well, the Mama's PLAY!!!!

Here is a small glimpse of moms gone wild!
12 crazy fun moms on a road trip down to Elma. Where in the world is Elma? I hear you say. Somewhere 2hrs south of Seattle. A great little country town where we were the hottest chicks around....lol! We stayed the night and had a great time dancing, drinking and oh more drinking.
Can't wait to do another rd trip with the girls it was a very memorable night.
OK, so it was a few months ago now, but that was before I was blogging and I so want to share, this video cracks me up every time!
Sorry Danielle, I know you hate me for blogging this video...love ya!

Danielle is the one running around being chased by crazy turtle neck sweater man, just hilarious!

My new favorite place to spend way to much money....

Today while the boys were in Soccer camp, Sarah and I got to have some more hang out time...whoo hoo! We both have a love for gardening and home improvements (someone else who is just as addicted to HGTV as I am...lol!) We spent the other day visiting nurseries like Furnies in Burien and Lowes in Tukwila. OK Lowes is hardware but they still have wonderful plants.
So today we wanted to head out again and visited a great little hole in the wall outdoor garden sculpture place, very cute frog there! We also stopped in at another wonderful little family run nursery, I think it was called Earlington's? Up in Renton, very friendly and helpful.

But my all time favorite place, where I could spend all day not to mention all my money was "Second Use" OMG I am in love! I was so tempted to ask if they had any positions available...lol! Second Use is a salvage center, mainly salvaged house parts from demo's. I have never seen so many wonderful old lights, fittings, knobs, doors, windows...etc mostly from old old houses.
I am so going back there with measurements and a list (should I be saying that, Dave if your reading I won't spend too much...lol!)
Anyway I will post here any treasures I find, hopefully something old that needs some restoring. I would love to find a new dinning table and chairs.
Check out their website link on the side of my blog, I can even shop there online, so dangerous!

Last Day of Soccer Camp and NO TEARS.....way to go Thomas!

Its ironic, last day of soccer camp and he is finally happy to be there, no tears!
Just a kiss good bye, a high five and a few words of "you'll have fun" and "mommy will be back in 2 hrs to pick you up" he did so well. What a wonderful way to end such a big week for Thomas.
I have some pics and once I download them I will add them here!
We love this soccer program and will sign Thomas up for classes starting next week.

Look at those dry eyes...yay big boy!



Off to soccer he goes and the candy machine he never misses!



The huge indoor soccer center and Thomas running after a ball.


Soccer buds....Noah and Thomas at the park after a long week of soccer!

Mamahood, What a crazy adventure!

RMG.....get out and have fun!


I was just sitting here thinking, what do I want to share about my life here in Seattle. So I thought I would post a bit about this amazing moms group here in Renton.....RMG! a.k.a "my USA family" It really has been my saving grace on this crazy adventure of mama hood....I don't know what I would do with out it?

This life changing opportunity came along when Harry was about 1.5yrs old around the same time we moved from Fairwood to Kennydale, it was a very exciting time, time to spice things up in life! I was looking for some local friends with kids the same age.
How do you meet people in this day and age....the Internet!
I looked up Renton playgroups to try and find a group to join and came across http://www.meetup.com/ (if you've never checked it out, its great, go look!)

Anyway, there was nothing so I joined a scrapbooking group on meetup located in Bellevue. This was not what I really wanted to be doing, I wanted to be meeting other moms and kids.
Within a week there was a new meetup group, the Renton Moms Group....Whooo Hooo! Was someone reading my mind....lol! How could I resist, so I joined straight away. There were 5 other moms all wanting to get out and have some fun with their kids. Nothing was happening with this group, so I got in touch with one of the moms who also joined on the same day, we contacted each other and organized to meet up at a park for a play. It was a little nerve racking, kind of like a blind date...hehehe! (to this day Jo is one of my best friends)
So nearly a month passed and the group was not really doing anything. Before I knew it the organizer was saying that it will be closed...what? That could not happen, it was so needed! The org called me and asked if I would be interested in taking over the organizing of the group. I would love too!!! And jumped at the chance. Lets make this work.....

Long story short, within a year we had grown to a group of nearly 300 moms! Talk about a need! It was so exciting to feel like I was making a difference while meeting the most amazing moms all at the same time. What had I done to get so lucky. I have made the most wonderful friends in this group, ones that I know will be there forever! The last 2yrs have been life changing thanks to the RMG.

I have learnt that you can enjoy being a mom and that I didn't have to lose my identity, it doesn't have to be all about your kids, its finding the balance. Being a mom while trying to maintain my own identity, interests and talents, its a balancing act! While having these two wonderful little guys in my life to make the adventure even more sweeter.....

Some of my most wonderful memories from the last 2 years come from this group. In just 2 years the group has planned over 600 fun events for the kids and moms in Renton. There is an organizer group of 20 amazing moms who volunteer their time and are totally dedicated. The women in this org group are just beautiful, who are inspiring moms and friends.

I love the RMG (through all the ups and downs, its a moms group, of cause there's been drama) It has totally changed my life and has blessed me with the most amazing friends....Thank you for being part of this fun adventure and for so many wonderful memories (and lots more to come!) love you mama's...xx

Everybody was Kung Foo Fighting...

Mondays....can't I just stay in bed and recover from my crazy busy weekend? That's not to be when you have 2 active boys....

So I called my good friend Sarah and we organized to take our kids to the movies, get us out of the heat and into some AC. (its kind of funny, the sun is finally here and all we want to do is hide from its heat!) Anyway, we took the kids to see Kung Foo Panda! Harry had already been to see this with daddy only a week previous and loved it soooo much. Thomas and I had tried to watch it with them, but T was in no mood to sit still for a movie so we went shopping instead. Anyway, now was our second chance to see it! Whoo Hoo!!!

The kids were great and sat through the whole thing (mostly) actually Thomas ended up falling asleep on my lap, while Harry and Noah kept each other entertained through out the movie. We had so much fun! Great movie, I would recommend it to anyone. A little scary in some scenes (but what movie isn't these days, they all have to have a villain!) Also being Kung Foo it is a little more violent than other animated movies, but felt it was done well and not graphic. This movie is the hit of summer I think, I even liked it more than Wall-e and I am the biggest Pixar fan around, so that's saying something.

I think our next movie will be an animated Star Wars movie - Clone wars....Harry is so excited, I think it comes out in August.

What a weekend!

Its hard to do nothing on a weekend like the one we just had. The weather was absolutely beautiful....sunny & Hot!

The weekend started with a fun girls night out with my friends on Friday night (but I will save that for another post, if I'm allowed to talk about it....lol!) After a late night home all I wanted was to sleep in. But waking up at 7:30am with the sun out and the boys in great moods, that was not to be. So we got up, excited to get on with the day.

We organized to met up with our good friends KC, Karen and their daughter Michelle at Red Robin in Bellevue for lunch. It was so good to see them, it had been ages! After our yummy lunch of burgers and salad...oh and bottomless steak fries, yummo! We headed off to the movies to see Disney/Pixars latest kids flick...Wall-e, the boys were so excited, so was the big boy =) The kids loved it and will definitely add this to our DVD collection when it comes out. It was also really nice being in the cool AC, it was 90 degrees outside, quite a shock for us Seattlites.

So what do you do on a hot, hot day....go to the beach! The Deitricks live in a wonderful little part of Seattle called Baux Arts Village, located on the water in Bellevue, with its own community beach....whoo hoo! Of to the beach, well the guys and kids anyway. Thomas had fallen asleep so Karen and I headed back to their house. While Thomas slept Karen and I got to catch up while sitting in the shade of their beautiful huge trees, it was so peaceful. (until T woke up anyway!)

After a few hours Dave, KC and the kids arrived back from the beach. Harry was sporting a new war wound. He had cut his foot....agh! He had done a good job on it and my mommy instinct was telling me to take him to the Dr's. Kids in the car and our goodbyes said, off we went to the urgent care in Issaquah. Harry was a trooper, actually he didn't even seem bothered by his foot. I'm sure if it were me I would have been passed out by now! 2hrs later and all was good, he did not require stitches, they just bound it with a very impressive bright blue bandage, he was quite excited by that.

Were going on a bear hunt....

OK so maybe not a bear hunt, lets call it a pine cone hunt!

Today we had a fun adventure with our friends exploring beautiful Kubota Gardens in Seattle. It was the most perfect day for an exploration, sunny & Hot! plus the boys were in a really good mood (which always helps make for a good day)

We met up with our friends, it was a great turn out there must have been at least 30 of us. Christina brought brown paper bags for the kids to collect pine cones and other things they found as they explored. Harry had a wonderful collection of pine cones and Thomas collected gravel from the path...lol! For the next few hours we ventured off around the Gardens, kids pretty much led the way, down some secret paths that were more like tunnels from all the tree branches, we saw waterfalls and crossed over bridges. We even came across a tree the kids all had to climb. They had a ball!

Thomas starting getting a little grumpy towards the end so we decided to call it a day. The boys were asleep by the time we got home....yay for nap time!

We love these gardens and can not wait to visit there again...

Pet Rocks....ROCK!

The boys and I had such a fun day today creating our very own Pet Rocks! Our friend Sarah had a fun play date at her place with her boys, Noah and Desi and a load of other friends....
Harry was so excited to make a pet! He has talked of nothing else for 3 days now and today is finally the day....Yay! We arrived at Sarah's, Thomas runs straight for the playhouse and cars, while Harry was checking out the rocks. I think he was a little confused "How do I turn a rock into a pet mom?" So he selected a rock and got to work decorating....well 5Min's he was done! "I want to go play!" OK so it didn't last long, but he made a cute rock that is now welcoming people in a pot at the front door.


It was a wonderful, relaxing play date at Sarah's, with lots of good friends in a fun environment for the kids. It was nice to sit back and chat while the kids where off playing...Thanks Sarah!