Have I ever mentioned how much I love sailboats?

Well, I do. I do, I do, I do! I posted this on my photoblog because I took it as I was waiting to meet some clients for a photo session late yesterday afternoon. I got to the location (beach, obviously) and I looked out on the water and beheld a fleet of beautiful sailboats welcoming me. At least that's what it felt like. It had been a long day. Sawyer had not been feeling well, I hadn't been feeling too great, either. And we had spent several hours at Recycled Cycles pawning off 3 of our old bikes so we can upgrade to a better commuting bike for Jacob. Good news is: tomorrow he gets to go pick out a new bike (he's been so patient waiting for this - he rode one bike in which the peddle would fall off several times on his ride to work!). Sawyer was a trooper (as usual), Jacob made us dinner and watched Sawyer so I could go do my photo session and behold this amazing sight. Seriously, sometimes God looks down on us and gives us something simple - like maybe an ocean view with a few brilliant sailboats and clouds - to make a gray and rainy day all of a sudden seem, well, sunny. Know what I mean?

We are alive!

It kind of feels like we fell off the face of the earth or something, with all the craziness of moving and trying to get settled. It's kind of hard being 13 weeks pregnant (and feeling better but still quite tired and not super good) and chasing my 13 month old very active/busy son. It was hard enough to get packed, with him unpacking as we tried to pack. But now we have to find a place to put everything! I know I am a minimalist, and didn't think we had much "stuff", but it feels like we have a lot! Good thing we have a garage now - that's where everything is until we dig through, one box at a time, and get settled. It might take until Halloween, but we will get there! Since we bought a brand new place, I didn't think we'd have to spend so much time at Lowe's and Home Depot, but we have! Between painting, getting measured for some custom blinds, installing this and that - it's a good thing Lowe's is so close by! I am going to have to give HUGE shout out and an even HUGE-R THANKS to my super mom and sister, Jamie, who drove 6 hours from Oregon to come up and do most of the painting! They were life-savers - even in the 90+ heat wave we had! What troopers, they painted while I chased Sawyer and tried to rest a little. Seriously - it's time like this you realize I realize I can never ever "repay" the love and servie my family gives us. There is just no way to pay off those debts. But then, they're not really debts, are they? They're gifts of love! But I have felt so not-on-top-of-things, I really which I could do something in return for the help they gave us...I'll have to think of something, eventually. For now...back to the boxes! I promise to have more exciting posts in the near future!

Better Days...

Last night, right as I was about to go to bed, we had a knock on our door. It was our neighbor, who also happens to work as a caterer. He had very few words as he handed a box to Jacob: "medicine for the pregnant lady". Well, he must know something I don't, because chocolate dipped strawberries sure sat well with me last night, I think I devoured them in record time! I have had a few better days - thanks to getting a lot more sleep and eating more protein for breakfast. But it's knocks on the door like last night that make my day. There truly are angels among us! We are sure going to miss our good neighbors...

I guess I might as well announce that we are moving! Not very far (aboutt 5 miles to be exact) but nonetheless, we will be moving very soon. We bought our first home - a brand spankin' new townhouse in the Greenwood neighborhood, near Greenlake. We're very excited! And also going to be busy getting moved and settled in the next two weeks. So excuse any absenses from the blog-o-sphere until we are up and running again ;) Don't worry, we'll give more details and have pictures to show later.

As for today, those strawberries and chocolate did me better - Sawyer and I are going to actually make our last swim class today! Hooray!

Christmas in July...or why I chopped my hair.

One of my favorite stories to read at Christmas time is O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi." This past winter, I decided I wanted to be like Della and give my hair away. So, here we are in July...I've been letting my hair just grow for quite sometime. I don't mind it long - in fact, when I take the time to do it (very rare) it looks really pretty. I usually just let the natural wave take over and have "wild hair". (Jacob likes the natural "low maintenance" girl I am!) The last month or so, though, I was starting to feel a little too Laura Ingalls Wilder, if you know what I mean. Anyway - at the encouragement of one of my former nanny kids (Micaela!) I decided to finally get my hair cut and donate it to Locks of Love. It is going to be Christmas in July for some child who has lost their hair due to disease or chemotherapy!!!

One of my sisters tried to talk me out of it. I know I probably look better with long hair. But the trick is: I know mine will grow back. And I probably will grow it longer again in time. The kids I am donating it to - well, theirs might not. So, I went to my stylist, a guy at Habitude (an Aveda Salon) in Ballard named Kermit, who I adore, and I said: "Today's the day!" He knew I had been planning this. I asked him if it was a stylists dream to chop off a bunch of long hair. He said, "well, it is pretty exhilerating!" So I had him cut the 10 inches and then trusted him to make me look cute, with what was left. He did a great job! Only thing is, if I want it to look sleek, I have to do it now, which isn't necessarily a bad thing (short hair and natural wave don't go together that well for this style).

A Very Merry Christmas to whoever gets my hair!

Tide Pools and Camping

This past weekend, Jacob took Friday off work and we met up with our friends, The Parkers, over on the Olympic Peninsula for a great 3-day-weekend of fun and relaxation. The weather was, graciously, in our favor - no rain the entire trip! (When you live in the Great Pacific Northwest, you get accustomed to camping in rain - even in the summer!)

We camped about 20 miles west of Port Angeles, a place called Salt Creek, which sits right on the Straight of Juan de Fuca - you can see Vancouver Island from the shore.

It was the second lowest tide of the summer. We had a wonderful time tidepooling. Here's a little bit of the sealife we saw:

A very large, red sea urchin.

The darkest & most bright purple sea star I've ever seen.

LOTS of hermit crabs. Jacob loves to chase them down, just like a little boy.

Now this was a sight to behold: A huge sea anemone sucking down and eating the remains of a dogfish (small shark). Lunch, anyone?

Lots of different shells and shellfish.

Big, green, sea anemone.

Sawyer was quiet the whole time when we went tidepooling, just mesmerized by all the sights and sounds of the seashore. And of course, he loved the beach!

This was Sawyer's first real camping trip - 3 days and 2 nights. He slept in the tent right between us and did great. You should've seen how covered in dirt he was by the time we packed up to leave. It was quite obvious that our boy loves camping and the outdoors just like his parents (yeah!) We even gave him his first roasted marshmallow. Mmmmm....sticky goodness!

It was also Sawyer's first time to ride a Washington State Ferry (remember the tiny ferry we rode across Lake Champlain from NY to VT? that doesn't count!) He thought it was pretty neat. He didn't even mind the hour long wait we had to get on the boat. We are lucky to have such a trooper!

It's always good to get home and cleaned up after a fun weekend away camping. Everything smells like campfire. Beds feel that much better. Showers are that much sweeter.

We sure had a great time!