summer showed up!

I had to include this picture of Mason. It reminds me of a picture of my dad from when he was a kid. Mason has some serious Cain in him (which is fun since Andrew is 98% Dyk...Matt Dyk to be exact).

flamingos

I can't help it, I love the zoo. And I love all the pictures from the zoo...

Mason learned to listen for the ocean in seashells.

We never see the hippo doing anything but being a blob. It was fun to catch it with it's eyes open.

graduation

Andrew has officially graduated preschool!

These two are just a week or so apart in age and have been going to daycare together since they were babies.

These three are pretty good buddies. Sam has also gone since he was a baby, but he is about 6 months younger.

After the little ceremony they had a carnival for all the kids.

Andrew asked to have his name on his forehead so that he could see it in the mirror. Nice work Miss Marissa! : )

I always thought preschool graduations were kind of silly. But now that I have a preschool graduate of my own, I understand they are actually the cutest thing in the whole world. And Andrew couldn't be more excited!

There you have it folks - the cutest kindergartner I know!

friends

Alki was handing out some good vitamin D

We found ourselves with a free afternoon, so Matt suggested we head to Alki. Genius! It was absolutely beautiful, as always.

Andrew didn't miss a beat - we found our spot and he headed toward the water.

Matt and the boys decided to make a sandcastle.

Mason spent most of his time running from the waves, but he spent some time splashing around.

We buried Mason, too. He thought it was funny until a little too much sand got on his face, then he wasn't so into it. Andrew, however, thought it was hilarious. I love all the real smiles from today! Fantastic!!

SLR + the park = super cute

I was able to bring my SLR to the park today! I haven't used it in a while so I had a little too much fun at the park today...

I love his dirty little hands.

This was unexpected cuteness - just ignore my toes...

opening day (and some other stuff)

We went to Bellingham this weekend so my parents could take some truckloads of stuff to the dump. It also happened to be opening weekend for fishing season and Matt likes fishing at Toad Lake near my parents' house so it worked out perfectly.

Mason loves to pretend he's driving. I love the expression on his face in this picture.

I went to pick up Andrew after he was done (he caught two fish!) and couldn't resist some pictures of them out on the boat.

Then we headed to meet my aunt and her 2 girls at Rocket Donuts. I'm sure you're not supposed to climb on the rocket, but there was no sign, so we took full advantage of it and climed all over it.

cutest ring bearer in town!

Stephanie & Tim's wedding photographer posted about their wedding today! They got some adorable pictures of Andrew. They got one of him during the ceremony that makes it look like he was totally into what they were saying. I love it!

If you'd like to check out the blog post, go here.

PS. They were fantastic! If you're looking for a photographer, especially in the Bellingham area, I highly recommend Evantide Photography!

balloons!

We learned something new about our friend Darin tonight - he knows how to make balloon things! He gave Matt a little lesson and sent our boys home with a ton of balloons.

out of the house

On Saturday, while Matt and his dad replaced our fence, we headed to the zoo to get out of the way. It was a beautiful day! The only problem with beautiful Saturdays is the whole world goes to the zoo! Other than having to start with lunch (because it took us forever to find a parking spot) the crowd didn't really matter.

Before we left, we decided to stop in and see the penguins again. It ended up being the best part of the day. This little penguin seemed to love Mason. There were other kids around but it kept going to Mason. It was really adorable!