Harry's New Desk!
We bought a banged up, pre-loved, old wooden desk from the local thrift store...

I really wanted Harry to have a space where he could work and not be distracted. So Dave and I decided to buy him a big boy desk for his bedroom.

He can work, in peace and quiet. He can close the door and have his own space away from toys, tv and one distracting little brother....fingers crossed my optimism for homework being done pays off!

We sanded the top down and painted the bottom part and draws, BLUE...Harry's choice! It is going to look great in his room. Harry is taking so much pride in his stuff especially when he helps make/fix it! I will upload more pics of it in his room when its dry.

Harry and Daddy working together!

One Happy School Boy!

Chocolate Milk Bubbles
Today was a day full off Corvette's Coffee Choc milk & Crayon's

On the way to IHOP this morning, we stopped at another one of my favorite local Coffee houses...Vince's Its just up the street from us, maybe a 2min drive if that! They serve wonderful Italian coffee in a great atmosphere a real cafe feel from back in Aus, not your Starbucks type place at all! Full of the character and charm of an old Italian cafe, big comfy couches, rich cozy colors on the wall, lots of vintage prints, somewhere you want to buy a coffee and then hang out at for a while! Oh and did I mention the coffee rocks....so strong, just what you need first thing in the morning!

Daddy taught the boys how to blow bubbles in their chocolate milk! The excitement on Thomas face was so worth it...."more bubbles daddy" Harry drew a beautiful picture of his red power ranger today at IHOP, while Thomas is really into trying to write letters. He will ask us to write a letter for him and then he tries to copy. It will just be a stick, but he is really trying! The boys love coloring and playing the games on the activity sheet. They have a find-a-word, which I have turned into a "find the letters in your name" game. What great entertainment for them and what a great break for mom and dad!

While in Issaquah today, we dropped in on Triple X after breakfast to see what car show they were having. Today was the Vette's.... oh soooo sexy! We all went today and had a wonder.....
Harry reminding Daddy not to touch the cars "just look daddy!" The owner was so impressed by Harry's behaviour, he thanked us for teaching Harry to respect others cars and then asked Harry if he wanted to sit in the drivers seat! You should have seen how the face lit up, Harry got to sit in a beautifully restored Vette.....truly the highlight of his day!

The LR playground is nearly complete



Yesterday, Dave and I forgoed our traditional Sunday breakfast at IHOP. Instead we dressed in work gear and headed up to the new Liberty Ridge park to volunteer our time.
Luckily the weather was kinder today, not the scorching 98 like the previous day, we even had a light shower that was icy cold and so refreshing. Even though brief it was a welcome treat.

The huge play structure was erected on Saturday, I was hoping to make it to help. But you guessed it, Dave had to work! So Sunday it was too be.
Sunday's focus was to get the cement poured around all the footings...Dave rocked it with the cement mixers and really made a huge impact with the success of the morning.

I was on wood chip duty. I think they had 20t of wood chips to be shoveled. Its amazing what a sweat you work up shoveling. An hour of shoveling and barely a dent was made in the huge mountain of wood chips.

There was a great turn out of volunteers, all residents of Liberty Ridge. It was wonderful meeting and working with our neighbors in this way....Really did have a "raising the barn" feel about it! Working together to better our little community. I look forward to getting to know my neighbors more (especially the wonderful mommy's I met) and now with a great common space to meet, Its been made all the more possible.

Next weekend we have the official opening ceremony for the park. It will be exciting to see who shows up for it....you will have to check back though to find out!

A Blue Angels kind of weekend!

Seattle Seafair weekend August 1st-3rd 2008

This is one of the those weekends we look forward to all year!

Seafair is a family tradition. If we don't go down to the event itself we watch the airshow from somewhere on the foreshores of Lake Washington. This year we could even see the Blue Angels from our house...

Seafair is Seattle's annual summer festival.

Located down on Lake Washington over near Seward Park, South Seattle area, just a beautiful location. Its been going for 58 years and consists of hydroplane races, airshow, fireworks, music, parades and so much more....check out the official website in my links.

This year we decided to go down to where all the action was taking place. I had been there a few days before with the boys and scoped out a location for us to watch from. (Plus we got to watch them practice, a sneak peek of the day! See previous post =)

The day was finally here!!! After our usual IHOP Sunday breakfast, we headed out to the lake. We parked the car, right where I had hopped and avoided driving around for ages trying to find a spot...yay for us! We then packed up the stroller and made our way down to the waters edge.

The boys were so excited! we had packed their fold up tent, blankets, games, coloring books, crafts, snacks...etc they were set! Dave and I just kicked back in the shade with the cool breeze blowing over us from the lake, looking out over the water. We had taken our camping chairs too so we sat in comfort and relaxed!

While waiting for the Blue Angels we were entertained by the hydroplanes...Unreal! They really do fly, you can see the boats leave the water as they go by so fast. Harry was amazed and a little confused as to why they were not called boats?

Snow cones, sunburns & Smiles...ahhh summer!

Then Finally it was time for the Blue Angels.....

Need I say more, just check out the photo's and see the video...amazing!

The boys had a wonderful time. Thomas was a little scared by the noise, they really did get close. Flew right over the top of us at times, we loved it, poor Thomas not so much! Its funny Thomas was 2 weeks old when he attended his first Blue Angles show, now he's 3!

We can not wait for next year when we get to go to Seafair again....

What a Noise!

More photo's from the McChord Airshow July 08.....

Hands on the ears, that was a common site today!

Dave, Grandma, Grandpa, Harry & Thomas (in the stroller) out front of the hanger!

The huge crowds, there must have been tens of thousands!

Harry, Mom and Nikko, he was scared of the noise so he hid down Harry's top! The Thunderbirds were amazing! Mt Rainer made a beautiful backdrop for the show on such a clear day.

The boys enjoying the day when it wasn't noisy. We set up camp where the kids had fun playing, coloring and eating frozen lemonade, that is when they were not hiding from the noise.

Here is Harry on the C12...agh forgotten the name (Dave help, what was the plane called?)

Great day and can't wait for the next show!

The star of the show.....

at the Northwest Pony Roundup 2008!

Today we started out the same way we always do on a Sunday morning, breakfast at IHOP!

We then spent the rest of the day at a mustang car show with Grandma and Grandpa. This is the biggest Mustang car show in the states, so I guess the biggest one in the world! It was great, not only because it was Mustangs but because Dave's car was being showed for the first time!!! Whooo Hoooo!!!

Dave's car being showed was a total surprise. We drove to the Mustang shop yesterday to show the grandparents and it was gone... It could only mean one thing (or maybe it was stolen...but who would steal a car with no seats!) Anyway, we got to the show and guess what we saw first.....The car! It was quite exciting. The perfect blue paint glistening in the sun, Dave was so proud and I was so proud of him, a very special moment! Sure it was not finished and in no way was it driven there, like I said it doesn't even have seats yet or wheels or an engine...lol! But man did it draw the crowds, just a stunning looking car, we can not wait to see it finished.

Harry found his favorite Mustang..... next to Daddy's of cause!

XXX Car Show in Issaquah....

One of our new favorite weekend traditions is checking out local car shows!

Sorry its a little small to see the list of car shows, you can check out the website on the side of our blog

On Sunday after Breakfast at Issaquah IHOP (our first and favorite weekend tradition) we head 5mins down the street to a diner called XXX. I know strange name and no its not adult rated...hahaha! Its a real 50's diner decked out in cool 50's decor. Every weekend during summer they hold a car show specializing in a type of Muscle car, Vett's, mustang's, trucks....etc very cool!

Today we got to see the General Lee from the Duke's of Hazard. It was one of the cars used in the TV show, one of 17 that didnt get destroyed during the show. Over 250 were destroyed in the series.

Harry thought it was very cool, especially when they honked the horn!

This 67 Fastback is just like Dave's.... He can't wait to show his car, when its finished that is...Oh and drivable....hehehe!

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.

Thomas eye's are bigger than his Belly!

Sunday morning by 9:30am you will always catch us heading out the door for our weekly ritual....Breakfast at IHOP!

On the way to Issaquah we always stop off at Starbucks for a triple shot Grande Mocha with no whip, yummo (IHOP's coffee is horrible...yeah, I'm a coffee snob)

The staff at IHOP know us now, we walk in and they greet us like friends, its a real family feeling place. We get shown to a booth and look over the menu only to then order the same thing every time. First up is the drink order, chocolate milks for the boys and OJ for Dave (or a diet coke if he needs the caffine, he hates coffee) we also order Thomas breakfast....A tall stack of Pancakes!!! What? Yep! A tall stack, that is 5 huge pancakes. If its a new waitress they always question us and suggest the kids menu or the small stack. We just laugh and say you'll see.

Dave usually orders the chicken fajita omelet with holindaise sauce, Harry gets the French Toast with a side of bacon or sausage. I usually get the eggs Benedict, they don't come close to Dave's but I am a sucker for hollindaise.

Trumpets should blare, the pancakes arrive and the kids think its Christmas!

Thomas was fascinated by the maple syrup dribbling over the side, what a huge stack of pancakes for a little guy.....

Why use a fork? when you get so much more in your mouth with your hands.....

We can not wait till next Sunday. Sure its only IHOP but we love our little family tradition!

Haircut = endless supply of lollipops!

The boys love getting their haircuts...Oh I wonder why? Haircuts do not go very peacefully unless there is a lollipop in the mouth of both Harry and Thomas.

Harry is getting to be pretty good these days and won't wriggle around as much. That is until the electric clippers come out and he giggles hysterically.

Thomas on the other hand hates the whole experience...except the lollipops that is! He chain sucks them, as he is finishing one, he's already reaching for the next!

Its the only thing that gets him to sit still. Never mind the cool firetruck or aeroplane they get to sit in or the individual TV showing a DVD of their choice. None of that is of interest to Thomas when its haircut time.....

thank goodness for lollipops!

The boys always look so grown up after their haircuts. They usually ask for spikie hair just like daddy with hair gel, its very cute when they all look the same.