We are very far behind in posting pictures so here is our November update. We started off the month with a fun party to celebrate Halloween and our friend Annie’s birthday. We spent one day with our friends taking photos of our family but it’s like herding cats when taking pictures of Gabe and Zara – you never know what you’re going to get! We had a lot of fun riding our bikes outside this month. Aunt Debbie came to visit us over Thanksgiving and we had so much fun showing her our favorite park and taking her for hikes.

View our pictures from our November photos.

Posted in Activities, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities 76 Comments »

Summer was beautiful in Seattle and we love spending our weekends enjoying the outdoors. One weekend we went for a bike ride and Z pulled the kids behind his bike on the John Wayne Trail. The kids continue to fight all of the time and at one point Gabe yelled for Z to stop the bike. When we stopped Gabe said he was soaking wet because Zara spilled her water on him. Amy assured him that it was just an accident when Zara piped in “no it wasn’t it was on purpose!”

The kids have started a habit of sleeping together. We didn’t even know they were doing it until we went into their room one morning and found Gabe in Zara’s bed. For the next few weeks we would hear one of them say to the other “do you want to cuddle.” It’s pretty funny how close they are but how much they continue to fight!

View our July 2013 photos.

Posted in Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities, Seattle 106 Comments »

Summer finally arrived in June and we had a fun-packed month. We started off the month attending a “Touch-a-Truck” event. We thought the kids would love the event because they loved trucks. The event had motorcycles, dump trucks, diggers, trash trucks, fire and rescue trucks and police cars as well as many other vehicles. The kids were so incredibly shy that they would barely move from our side. It took them a long time to warm up to the event but once they did, they enjoyed it very much.

The kids continue to do well in school. Their teacher commented to us that the kids have great manners and are so loving to one another. It’s ironic that we rarely see them being nice to one another!

We did a couple of fun hikes in June including a 2 hour roundtrip hike where the kids walked the entire way. They enjoyed looking for mushrooms and for bugs, and picking up pine cones. They fell asleep on the way home and then climbed onto the couch and wouldn’t get up for hours.

Our cat Maggie started really going downhill in June. She was diagnosed with severe irritable bowel syndrome and the doctors couldn’t give us any real answers on what her prognosis might be.

View our June 2013 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities 91 Comments »

It’s hard to believe that 3 years ago we welcomed Gabe & Zara into the world. We have so much fun exploring the world with them. Gabe & Zara notice and are excited about little things that we completely don’t pay attention to. There is not a day when I don’t drive past a construction site and see “diggers” or see a motorcycle (momo) or a helicopter and think of how excited the kids are when they see these things.

We celebrated the day of their birthday with a construction themed party (diggers are pretty much the coolest thing ever for them!). We had a second party on the weekend where our friends joined us for a party at a bouncy house.

The kids loved getting all of the birthday cards. When they got money in the cards they would say “OH LOOK, it’s mondey for the doughnut place.” They LOVE going for doughnuts and for some reason they think all mondey (their word for money) is meant to be spent on doughnuts)

March was full of fun activities. One weekend we took the South Lake Union Trolley downtown to watch the St. Patty’s Day parade. The trolley also drove past a construction site with diggers – G&Z were SO excited! The kids enjoy playing in the snow so we made a few trips to the mountains to go cross country skiing and sledding. We bundle the kids up and Z pulls them behind him. We also took the kids to their first Easter Egg hunt hosted by the twins club. It was their first time hunting eggs and they really weren’t sure what to do. It only took Zara a few minutes to start hording eggs. We finally had to cut her off to ensure other kids had a chance to pick up some eggs. I don’t know if Gabe & Zara liked picking up eggs more or eating the doughnuts afterwards (I’ll guess it was the doughnuts!). We finished off the month coloring eggs for the Easter holiday.

March was also a milestone for us. Ciara decided to pursue other career opportunities so we enrolled the kids into pre-school. It was a short time between when Ciara gave us notice and putting them in school so it was a bit stressful and we were really worried how they might react to the change. In the end it seems like it will be a good school for them.

View our March 2013 photos.

Posted in Cross country skiing, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 709 Comments »

We had an awesome weekend visit from our friends Chuck, Jessica, Malina, and Logan from SF. The kids played so well together and Malina and Zara were fast friends holding hands everywhere we went. We also had a lot of fun showing them our local favorites including our favorite walk in Discovery Park. It was so much fun to see him and we wish they lived closer!

View our February 2013 photos.

Posted in Activities, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities 96 Comments »