Amy’s company rented a boat for Seafair – a big festival on the lake. It was a gorgeous day and one of the few dates mom and dad have gone on in a long time!

We also had fun at the zoo, playing in a sprinkler at a birthday party and at the beach. Amy’s company family picnic was held at a wonderful farm near the city. We had been to the farm last year during pumpkin season so it was a much different experience when there were less than 100 people versus the thousands who are there during pumpkin season! The kids had a blast playing with the water pumps, jumping on the air cushion and riding the different tractors.

We were extremely sad to say goodbye to our sweet girl Maggie in August. She had faced months of stomach problems that could not be resolved. Saying goodbye was very hard for us. Gabe & Zara talk about Maggie every day and we all miss her. We love you Maggie Mags.

View our August 2013 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 107 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 »

The kids transitioned very well into daycare. They love their teachers and have enjoyed making new friends. When they talk about their new friends from pre-school they always say the kids’ first and last names. We like the school a lot – they seem to do a lot of fun activities and they even have Spanish lessons once a week. We spent a lot of time outdoors in May hiking, going to the beach and to the playground.

For Z’s birthday we hiked to a fire tower. Gabe hikes so fast that it’s difficult to keep up with him. They’ve both started walking a lot more on hikes which makes it much easier for us!

We also introduced the kids to a new treat a TV show. We don’t usually allow them to watch TV so Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood was a very special treat for them and quickly became a favorite!

View our May 2013 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 2 Comments »

We enrolled the kids into Pre-School starting in April. The first few days were full of tears but after the first week the kids were pushing me out of the classroom and were excited to be in school. We’re very happy that they love their teachers and are learning a ton. Getting the kids ready and out the door and dropping them off at school has been a little challenging but with each day we seem to get more and more into the swing of things. It’s $1 per kid per minute if you don’t pick them up by 6pm so at times it’s a little stressful sitting in traffic hoping that tonight isn’t the night there is a bad accident on the highway!

April has been a wee bit challenging with behavior. Whoever made of the term “terrible twos” clearly did not have children who were 3! It seems Gabe & Zara are fighting over EVERYTHING these days……even make believe items. One ride home stands out in particular. The conversation went something like this.

Gabe: (acting like he was picking fruit out of a book)
Zara: SHARE! Mommy Gabe is NOT sharing
Me: Sharing WHAT Zara?!?
Me: Here Zara – here’s a strawberry (virtually)
Gabe: NO! That’s MY strawberry

Two minutes later…
Zara: Gabe stop touching me. No thank you Gabriel, do not touch my body. (*this is something Zara learned in school)
Gabe (virtually touching Zara): I touching you! I touching you
Zara: (freaking out)

Two minutes later…
Gabe: I looking out your window
Zara: NO NO NO! Stop looking out my window

Don’t get me wrong – Zara is NOT innocent. While Gabe is very open in his harassment of Zara, Zara is much more sly in picking on Gabe. We know that Zara is picking on Gabe when she starts singing… It usually goes something like this “I have blueberries and Gabriel does not. I love blueberries. Yum Yum blueberries….” Gabe: “Blueberries! I want Blueberries! Zara has blueberries and I do not.” Etc…

View our April 2013 photos.

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