One year for Ava

Ava is one! Wow. I don’t know where the year went but in such a short time she has become little miss independent. …Walking around the house, climbing on the table, getting into EVERYTHING, and wanting to do everything her big brother is doing. She has such a funny yet cute little easygoing personality that keeps us laughing.

For those keeping track of growth stats Ava is now 27.9 inches tall and 18 pounds. She is definitely on the petite side, but her size doesn’t slow her down from trying to keep up with the big kids. Now that she can walk she gets herself into everything and has taken a few tumbles as witnessed by the bruises she continually has on her head.

So as a mom I made a bad move and scheduled myself to work on her birthday. Bad mom! When I scheduled myself I was just looking at days of the week that I was available not the date and by the time I realized what I had done it was too late to change. Not that she knew, but I felt bad and I’m sure I’ll hear about it when she’s 14. J On my workdays Ava is asleep when I leave for work and is usually in bed by the time I get home so Jairo was nice enough to bring the kids by so we could have a little treat on my break. So, please don’t judge my lovely outfit and hairdo in the pictures because I wore a disposable gown over my germ infested work clothes and I have to be to work at 6:30 am so I skimp on the primping!

A bruised head and playing with a lighter ... what kind of parents are we??

A more fitting birthday celebration occurred the next day. We met up with my cousin at Silver Lake Park and enjoyed a rare warm fall day playing at the playground and even getting in the lake. Jairo’s mom arrived later that evening and Ava got to enjoy her third birthday cupcake with grandma, aunt Stephanie and her boyfriend Michael.

Ava was done sporting the birthday hat but Ethan was glad to do so.

Ava was happy with her new doll.

What a fun day celebrating a year with our sweet little Ava. We’re so blessed to have her joyful and spunky spirit in our home.

Back to school conflictions

Ethan and his buddy Clara. They had a hard time getting a picture where they were both smiling, but this one was particularly cute because they seem a little apprehensive about back to school too.

Back to school is a funny time of year. I’m glad to get some sort of routine back to our life but at the same time feel limited on being able to go about and do what I want. Oh so conflicted! Well, how much do you really do what you want to do when you have kids anyway?? So … back to school … Ethan was excited to get back to preschool and is going three days a week this year. Unlike last year where he was a bit intimidated to go and cried a bit when we left, this year when our carpool buddy arrived to pick him up he ran out the door without even saying goodbye. Hey dude, you’re not even 4 years old … slow down! It’s always fun to hear about the new songs, activities, and things he’s exploring at school and hear the excitement in his voice when he talks about the new friends he has already made. While it’s exciting to see his independence, maturity and intelligence grow I see my little boy growing so quickly that I want to slow time down. Again, so conflicted!

Now they're happy to be back!

BC trip

This summer we decided to take a few shorter trips to enjoy some of the sites near home. After our camping trip our next stop was a quick trip to Canada to visit White Rock and Vancouver.

White Rock is a cute little beach town just past the border into Canada. We planned on spending the day at the beach and then heading into Vancouver in the evening. As usual for the Northwest the weather does not always cooperate with your outdoor plans even in the middle of July, so when we arrived in White Rock we were greeted with pouring rain. We thought maybe we would just get the typical coastal drizzle but it was heavy rain and COLD! We did a driving tour of the town hoping the rain would let up and finally decided to get out anyway to let the kids stretch their legs.

Can't you see the joy on our faces!

The White Rock

After about an hour the rain did taper off. By lunchtime we were all soaked and cold we decided to head to a little fish and chip shop for some clam chowder and fish. It was a great break and while we were there the sun finally came out so we headed out for a longer stroll afterwards. It really was a cute little town and, had the weather been warmer, we could have spent some time playing in the sand and water.

After lunch with a little sun and everyone is a bit happier!

The White Rock take 2 with a little sun.

Some little vermin that Ethan wanted to bring home.

After White Rock we drove into Vancouver where we got a great deal on a hotel in North Vancouver. I’ve been to Vancouver a few times and I think this was my favorite place to stay because you get the beautiful view of the city from across the water and you can catch a quick and cheap water taxi that runs every 15 minutes to get into the city. Plus the north side offers a bit more peaceful surroundings with nice walks, parks and shops nearby and a great famers market near the water taxi terminal.

Vancouver sky line from our hotel room

Waking up to another rainy morning :(

Luckily there was an indoor play area below our hotel in the farmers' market so the kids could play on the rainy day.

The rain let up so we took the water taxi into Vancouver.

Back to North Vancouver at a park near our hotel.

The next morning we did take the water taxi into the city and walked around and hit a few sites. Afterwards we returned to North Vancouver and played at a nearby park and then took a short drive over to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge is part of a mini outdoor amusement park, which included a fun walk through the forest from atop several small suspension bridges, a boardwalk through the giant red woods, and then a cliff walk with glass floors on some parts so you can look directly down. I would say I’m pretty comfortable with heights, but there were times where I gripped the railing a bit more. Despite Ethan being a bit sleep deprived from the trip he did think the park was a pretty fun adventure. Ava slept through most of it in the baby carrier.

While I would have liked to have sunny warm weather (it was the middle of July for Pete’s sake!) we did have a fun trip and enjoyed exploring some of the sites closer to home.

Sun …. Please come back from vacation!

Today on the way to swim lessons Ethan suddenly exclaims as we’re pulling out of the driveway, “Hey Mom! Mom! You see that light?” I start looking around for some unnatural abnormal light. “No mom. The light. You see! The sun is back from vacation!” Cracked me up.

I have to admit, the sun has been taking a longer than usual vacation from the Seattle area. I too am beginning to forget what sunlight is and my skin is looking particularly pasty.

Not being a true Washingtonian, it took me some time to realize that summer does not begin here in June, or on June 21^st the official first day of summer. The typical Western Washington summer begins the day after the fourth of July. So at this point, nearing the end of July, as the rain and grey skies continue to dominate the weather forecast I am becoming short on my patience for the return of the sun.

I thought planning swim lessons in an outdoor pool at the end of July was good planning on my part. I even scheduled for the late afternoon so that I could give time for any morning marine layers to lift. Yet, yesterday we proceeded to swim lessons in rain jackets and Ethan had his swim lesson in the rain as the parents sat huddled under the small covered area and watched. Really!! July swim lessons in the cold rain!! Sun, please come back and grace us with your rays before I mold!

Camping on the 4th

Our Fourth of July was spent at Ensign Ranch near Cle Elum, WA. I guess this is the start of a tradition as we spent our last 4^th there as well. Ethan has talked about that trip since last year so he was so excited to go again and doubly excited knowing that grandma and grandpa Rubalcava would be joining us.

Ensign Ranch works out great for camping with kids because there is plenty of fun stuff to do … we camped in a tepee, took Ethan on a horse back ride, hit the giant slip and slide a few times, went canoeing, spent a lot of time of the giant rope swing next to our camp ground, spent an afternoon at Lake Easton, went hiking, etc! Who needs fireworks with so much stuff to do?

Ethan riding Harry the Horse. Ethan was hoping to ride Charlie, the same horse from last year. Yes, he has remembered the name of his horse from last year and has spoken of him fondly for a whole year. Unfortunately he was sad to learn that Charlie had moved on to greener pastures.

Dad and Ava in her oh-so-darling watermelon bathing suit at Lake Easton.

As you can see everyone took a turn on the rope swing including grandma and grandpa. Although my mom was not fond of the swing.

Jairo and I also took a few turns on the "lake" rope swing. I use the word "lake" very loosely as it was more of a large pond and when we emerged from it we smelled like pond scum. Aside from the rancid after smell, this swing was one of my favorites because I flew high into the air and the fell into the cool water. However, on my first swing into the lake my leg got caught around the smaller tow rope and I was flipped upside down. This left me with one of the ugliest bruises around my knee that I've ever seen. But hey, that's the price you pay to feel like a kid again. I'm just thankful no one caught that incident on video.

To keep Miss Ava from turning into a complete dirt ball she spent a lot of time on grandpa's lap or strapped on our backs. Funny how Ava is such a wiggler for anyone who wants to hold her, but she would sit so still and patient for grandpa. And, as you can see she was completely comfortable on our backs and would zonk out every time.

We did head into town on the 4^th to watch the fireworks, but they got started so late that by the time they finally started Ethan was crying to go back to camp to go to sleep so we only watched a few minutes of the show (although it did not seem like we were missing much). The great thing about camping on the 4^th is that you can actually go to bed by 11pm because you’re not kept awake until 2am by the continual Bagdad-like fireworks that occur in our neighborhood. I realize that I’m starting to sound like someone who does not like fireworks when I actually really do enjoy them, but with the parameters that a worthwhile show is put together and that there is some general consensus on an appropriate time to knock off the loud crackers for those with kids who are little beasts if they don’t get their sleep. Now I just sound old, so I’ll move on.

One of my favorite treats about camping is the food. I love foil dinners, fire roasted hot dogs, Dutch oven meals, and hot chocolate in the cool mornings. I also love roasting marshmallows and passing them along to others to make s’mores (not a fan of s’mores, just roasting the marshmallows). You may notice the mosquito repellent in the background of the above photo ... the one down fall of the trip this year were the mosquitoes. I can't think of anything more aggravating that mosquitoes and we all received our share of bites including poor little Ava who developed an allergic reaction a few days after returning that looked like a bad case of chicken pox.

I remember last year on the ride home from our camping trip Ethan was alseep less than 5 minutes into the drive. I guess he slept better this year because he said he wanted to "read" the paper on the way home so I found him the cartoon section to peruse. It was quite funny to watch him look through the comic section so thoughtfully. The fun did catch up to him later as he passed out with grandpa at home.