Busy Little Bees

The month of August seems to always be a crazy one as we try to fit in all of our last minute summer fun before school starts.  This year was no different.  The kids and I kept busy with swim lessons, a fun run, a sneak peek of our new house, a trip to the beach and a girls night out to see a Broadway play.

Swim Lessons

 Kids Fun Run

These pictures make me smile. 

They accurately depict the relationship between these two at the moment. 

A little back story: Before the race started, Josh and I told the kids to run the race together.  After a bit, Brady started to run in front of Abi, which drove her crazy as he was "not following the rules". As Josh and I stood on the sidelines cheering them on, they started to pass by us.  The first one we saw was Brady - happy as can be, smiling, loving just how much he was frustrating his sister. Next, we heard Abi, running a few feet back, yelling at Brady at the top of her lungs for not running the race together. Josh and I could do nothing by chuckle.

Being the first born, I can completely relate to Abi's response as I know my brother often played the role of Brady when we were growing up and more often than not, it drove me crazy. Just ask my Dad who will gladly share stories of me, meeting him at the top of the garage stairs as soon as he got home from work, to tell him all about my daily trails and tribulations of how this, that and another was not fair. Looking back now, I realize how much I loved having a sibling while growing up and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I hope my kids {will eventually} feel the same about each other.

 Both kids ran the entire race and finished with flying colors. 

After the race, all hard feelings were forgotten and they celebrated their victories together.

Sneak Peek
Our apartment is only about 10 minutes away from our house so we take frequent trips to drive by the house to see the progress.  This day was exciting because we actually got to take a trip inside.  We still have a couple more months before we can move in and it can't come soon enough. 

Brady's favorite part was wearing a hard hat :)

Jetty Island
We took our first trip to Jetty Island.  It was beautiful! I can't wait to go back.

The kids even thought the passenger only ferry ride was awesome.

Nattie thought we were at a topless beach :)

Girls Night Out...The Musical, Matilda

Such a fun show!  Abi loved it and we have been singing along with the soundtrack for weeks. Grandma joined us as well but somehow avoided all the photo ops.

Weekend at Whidbey

Thanks to our great friends, the Worsley's, we spent the weekend at Whidbey Island enjoying the sun, sand, and water!

Nothing beats a sunset at Whidbey!

Summer Days

We had a fun, low-key month of July. Some of our highlights included a 4th of July parade, a few Mariners games and lots of trips to the pool.

This picture pretty much sums up our month.

For the holiday, we headed to downtown Bothell for a 4th of July parade.  

The kids loved it as they got a TON of candy!

We took advantage of the nice weather and 

met some friends for an evening at the park to watch Goonies.

And went to a few Mariners games!

Moving Day

This weekend we moved.  Well, our first phase of the move is done.  We moved from our house to an apartment where we will stay until our new house is ready.

It was a rough day which started with a call from the moving van rental company telling us that, despite our reservation, they did not have a truck for us. Needless to say, Josh and I were not too thrilled as we had friends and family scheduled to arrive any minute to help with the move. After many calls and one not-so-nice conversation with a manager, they were able to locate a truck for us. Adding to the craziness of the day was the temperature. It was extremely hot - I think Seattle hit a record with temperatures hitting the mid-90s. Definitely not ideal moving weather. We were all a hot, sweaty mess by the time we had loaded the van. Unfortunately our day didn't get any easier once the truck was loaded because our apartment is on the third floor which meant we had to take most of our belongings up 3 staircases.

We used the garage as our storage unit and before long, it was packed with boxes.

Our {Huge} Moving Truck

It was much bigger than the one we had originally reserved.  Josh had to drive farther than we had planned for to pick up this truck so we were all patiently waiting outside when he pulled into the neighborhood. We all nearly fell over with laughter when we saw him driving down our little neighborhood street in what appeared to be a semi-truck. He did take out a few trees but managed not to hit any cars or houses which was an accomplishment in itself.  

We are so blessed to have awesome family and friends that helped us moved. It definitely would not have happened without them. I do need to include one huge, special thank you to Oregon Grandma who took all three kids camping for a week in order to keep them busy and out of the way while we packed and moved. Anyone with kids can understand how invaluable this help was and I can not say thank you enough! They stopped by on moving day to say one last goodbye to the house, their rooms and friends in the neighborhood.

In between unpacking boxes, we took a trip to see our new house. Happy to see the foundation has been poured.  Fingers crossed it will be ready in November!