beach in a bucket

When we went to the beach last month, Mason really wanted to bring his bucket home with some sand and all the shells he found. Today he found the bucket.

Meanwhile... Andrew is 100% back into He-Man! He can't get enough.

:::

friends

On Saturday we went to our friends' house to enjoy their wide open living room. They're getting new carpet, so right now it's just a huge play area!

{the boys}

Then we headed over to our house for Darin's delicious rib dinner!

The kids do such a great job of playing with Mason. At one point he was driving the gator and the rest of them were running away so he wouldn't get them. The battery was almost dead so it was going slow - it was a safer game than it sounds.

We ended the night with some sno-cones. It's debatable if it was really warm enough to eat and play outside as late as we did, but we did it anyway. And compared to today, I'd say we made the right choice. This summer is all about pretending it's hot out I guess...

visiting

We went to Bellingham for a quick visit on Thursday. We got to my parents' house in time to unload, say hi to my dad, check out some new toys and then hop back in the car to have lunch with my mom. We were going to have a picnic but ended up eating in the car because it was raining...

After lunch I had to stop and pick up some steaks for dinner. I told my dad I'd make him a steak (that I mentioned: here) back in April, and I finally got around to doing it. They had this fun little cart that was basically a park bench for the boys to sit on. Right as I was taking a picture Andrew stood up. I asked him if he'd sit down so I could take a quick picture and he decided to put his arm around Mason. : )

{my old chair}

When we got in the car to head home, Andrew said "well, that was fun". They both had a lot of fun and used up a lot of energy. They were both asleep before we got on the freeway. Perfect!

looking for a whisky bottle?

This is part of the whisky bottle collection that was given to Matt from his grandpa. He's keeping one and getting ready to sell the rest. He's been researching to see how much they're worth and finding most to be between $5 - 10. He has one tub full of bottles that range from $25 - 100. Crazy.

Although these bottles are cool and were from Matt's grandpa, we do not need multiple tubs of them sitting in our house. Instead we'll take the advice we got from one of those 'don't be a hoarder' shows and take a picture to remember them by and then get them out!

buster & goober vs. the trampoline

We went to the Miller's today and the boys got to jump on their trampoline! They both loved it last time we were there, but I'd say Mason loved it even more this time. He loves to jump, so the trampoline was pretty exciting for him.

Thanks for the pictures (and the last hot dog and storing our stuff for the week), Melanie! And thanks Madisyn, Madison, Alli and Kara for taking such good care of the boys for me. See you next Tuesday? : )

happy birthday, Rysen!

We went to Rysen's 2nd birthday party today. The sun was out and it was a great day to celebrate!

Happy birthday, Rysen! Thanks for inviting more than just 'Matt Dyk and Mason' to your party! : )

date night

seafair pirates

We went to Alki yesterday to watch the pirates landing. It was a beautiful day to be at the beach!

I was trying to get a picture of me and Mason and ended up with a family picture. : ) It was a long wait for the pirates and more and more people kept crowding in - this pictures shows how we were feeling right before the pirates {finally} arrived.

It was worth the wait thought - their landing was pretty exciting.

We got really close to a few of them, but we always seemed to be close to their backside... With how crowded it was, we were just excited to see them at all. We'll probably wait to go back until Mason is old enough to function without a nap. Being in the sun with the crazy crowds and having to hold Mason was exhausting. Fun, but exhausting!

funny timing

The boys both decided to dress up like a pirate today. They haven't done this in quite a while and I think it's funny that they chose tonight. We're planning to go see the pirates arrive at Alki tomorrow - as a surprise. I'm guessing they'll enjoy it!

Mason is starting so show some love for The Wiggles! Yahoo!

above 80!

Yesterday was the nicest day we've had so far this summer! Mason took it upon himself to make sure we all stayed cool.

We filled this one up the night before so it was nice and warm.

Of course it's raining today, so that's cool...

4th of July

We started the 4th of July off in Ellensburg and then headed home to catch the fireworks in our neighborhood. Here's a little recap of our day as we celebrated America...

there ain't no doubt I love this land...

... God bless the USA!
(and yes, I will quote Lee Greenwood any chance I get - you're welcome)

Our neighbors put on a great show this year! My favorite was the lanterns (like in Tangled!) they kept letting go. My camera actually caught the color of the lantern and the moon - so, so cool!

I took too many pictures and can't keep up with myself, so for now, this will have to do. Happy 4th of July!