Fun Surprise

A couple weeks ago (I know I’m still catching up) we had a super fun surprise arrive in the mail. Marty and her family sent a really fun package for the girls. Hannah Gray got her very own wheelbarrow and garden tool set so she can help daddy in her new yard! She LOVES it so much she brought it inside.

She carried it inside the house and immediately put ALL her puppies in it and her favorite blanket. It was pretty cute to watch her trying to figure out how to steer. She was all giggles. Thanks Owen Family!

Hi Daddy!

This week Ethan is hiking Mt. Olympus with a crew from Peak 7. He’s actually getting ready to wake up soon (they wake at 1 am) to summit (weather permitting). I had been promising to take HG to a slide today after we did our errands and then with rush hour, dinner and Tenley to be fed, we decided to go after dinner. Which was amazing because we got to watch the sun begin to go down behind these mountains (so this is exactly where we were tonight and exactly what it looked like). While we were walking up to the park and beach there, I told Gray that that’s where daddy was. She immediately got a skip in her step and yelled, “Hi-YO DADDY!”. When we left, we told Daddy good-night as well as the ocean and slide (she seems to have an easier time leaving places if I give her a chance to say goodbye to whatever she was enjoying). Anyway, just thought this was a fun picture to share.

4 months already?

Last night I finally took Tenley’s 4 month picture, 3 days late. Oh well, I guess better than not at all. I feel like her newborn-ness just disappeared, I can’t believe it! I figured it would go faster with the second child, but I didn’t think it would go this fast. Is this natural or b/c of the chaos of our life the last month + ? What fun she is, she’s our outgoing, smiley, giggly kid. She adores Hannah Gray and is so responsive to her and Hannah Gray loves it. What precious girls we have, we are blessed!

her hands are always in her mouth right now and she’s super drooly. Could there be teeth on the way? She’s not been sleeping through the night for the last two weeks either. Perhaps she’s getting ready to roll? (she did from her belly to back, but isn’t that always more like a flop?)

First time in the boppy and so proud of herself!

The Petros invade Spokane!

Peak 7 originated in Spokane. Ryan and Loran co-founded the ministry that now has the branch in Seattle which is where Ethan is the area director. Ethan has been going on trips to see the ministry in action first hand, and then has been spending time in Spokane with Ryan to see more of the office side of the operation. I posted the story of how I reconnected with Loran via facebook a while ago, but Loran is a friend of mine from my soccer team back in high school. Anyway, I had contacted Loran to see if we might be able to take her up on her offer to visit so we could see them and have some extra time with Ethan. She convinced me to come up for the entire week that Ethan was going to be there too. So all 4 of us arrived in Spokane on Sunday night. We had a lot of fun together hanging out, catching up, learning about Peak 7 (I got to see how Loran handles the sponsorship coordinator position), the kids played (they have two kiddos to0), and then we all had a great time hanging out together once the kids went to bed.

We had a great time with Kerrigans. We had a competitive little game of bocce ball one night after visiting the river where Peak 7 takes kids rafting (see pics) and then got to go out skiing and kayaking Thursday night. We are blessed not only to work with this family but to be friends with them as well!

Dane and HG hugging

having a blast chasing Dane

playing in a canoe that we found

Addie and Dane playing with their Grandpa

future prom pic?

 

glow in the dark bocce ball

Ryan taking a spill Ethan taking a turn me taking a ski

date night

So last weekend, Ethan planned a surprise date, including getting a baby sitter. He was leaving again on Sunday so he made all the arrangements while he had been in Spokane. The doorbell rang, I opened it and saw the girl that had babysat for us before. He just stood there with this grin.

So we left and Ethan changed plans a little bit as the sandwich shop had closed. His original plans were for us to grab sandwiches at a popular, local place known for to go sandwiches and head to the beach for the sunset. But the deli was closed and it probably was a good thing b/c it has been a really hot day and the beach was super crowded. But that’s because the place was GORGEOUS. Thos are mountains in the background over looking the Sound. So we changed plans and headed to a really awesome part of town called Ballard. It’s somewhat funky, grassroots-ish with tons of hip, local places. We had one of the most amazing meals we’ve had in a really long time and then visited one of Seattle’s famous cupcakes shops. But not without doing some shopping in Ballard first. It was such a fun night with my husband! :)

too funny

okay, this picture was not enticed or provoked in any way whatsoever.

Hannah Gray was a little grumpy, I had stuff to do and I figured a little of “alone, quiet playtime” was a wise activity. So Hannah Gray was upstairs playing and Ethan came home and went upstairs to say hi. This is how he found her, sans diaper. She had taken off everything, found her sock drawer, put on two socks (one inside out), found her hat in a drawer, grabbed her Bible and had a seat on her step stool for her bed. Ethan called for me from upstairs and I think I completely expected to see poop smeared all over the wall or something like that. Then he said, “it’s not bad, but come up here”. I tried to not bust a gut so we could get a picture before she noticed us.

after she noticed us

Tenley’s getting big!

Some fun pictures from around the house

i love tenley’s expression in this face. it’s like she’s thinking, “oh here it comes!” not knowing what to expect from hg,  yet it also has such a sweet expression of anticipation, trust and vulnerability. These two are going to be buds. period.

A Visit From Grandpa

My dad had a business trip to Oregon so he flew in a little early to spend the weekend with us. It was fun to have him here and he helped us with some projects around the house. We took the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor which is a town on San Juan Island. We had an amazing picnic lunch on the ferry and then walked around the island a bit, got some homemade ice cream and headed back to the mainland. We drove through Deceptions Pass which was beautiful. The girls were both sleeping so we stayed in the car as we knew we’d be hitting a late dinner. Then we tried out a local BBQ place near our house for dinner. It was great and we now have a local place to go. We had such a great time with my Dad and enjoyed his time here with us.

Hannah Gray looking for “hales” (whales) out the wrong end of her binoculars

Life in the Pacific Northwest

All over Seattle, they do super fun family things, especially in the summer. The weather reminds me a lot of San Diego in the fall (as that’s also the only time I’ve been to San Diego). Sunny, clear, warm and cool at night. So we’ve been to an outdoor movie, the zoo, took a ferry to a little island for a sunset campfire and s’mores and went to Friday Harbor with my dad when he was in town (that’s the next post). So here are pictures of some of our recent adventures. I will post some pictures from Ethan’s trips when I can get his camera.

At the Seafare air show (Boeing is here in town and there’s a big celebration called Seafare and the Blue Angels come in town and some Boeing planes fly too). We went with our friends here that are on Peak 7’s board and they have a little girl that HG loves to play with. They have been so good to us!

At the zoo

playing in this little rowboat type of display. She LOVED this. We saw lots of “pen pens” (aka Penguins” as she teeters back and forth to walk), “roarrr” (lion), giraffes, “hop, hops” (rabbits), “moo” (cow), and what she talks about most… “meow meow care me” with her chin tucked to her chest and pointer finger tapping her chest, which means “the cougar scared me”. We walked around the corner and there was a window in a cave like spot and we didn’t expect to see the huge cat right there. So when we rounded the corner it caught her off guard and she just kept shaking her head saying, “no, no, no”.  We got a pass her and will be an awesome place for us to visit regularly.

And our trip to the beach for s’mores

(she loved the sand and would just lay in it. Remember I said she loves to get dirty?? :) )

our sweet tenley girl

(mts in the background)

i think i like s’mores

i think i LOVE s’mores!

 

pictures from the ferry