Heather Lake

Summer came to Seattle on July 2nd. It was glorious and not to be wasted. Knowing we had a long weekend with the promise of sunshine ahead of us we intended on taking full advantage of it. First on the agenda was a hike. I bought Josh a fabulous book for his stocking this past year called Best hikes in Western Washington with kids. We perused the pages and settled on Heather Lake off the Mountain Loop Highway.

A moderate 4 mile hike (round trip) ascending through old growth forest, crossing beneath a cascading waterfall, traversing rocky slopes all to arrive at a pristine glacier lake nestled beneath the rocky cliffs of Mount Pilchuck. It was sublime to be outdoors and to see that even with a 24 lb kid strapped to my back I could still breath hiking up that mountain! (Thank you YMCA bootcamp class.)

Owen thought hiking was pretty fun, especially when Josh was behind me on the trail. He would squeal with delight, straining in the baby strap to see his Daddy, as he was certain that Josh's sole purpose in walking behind him was to play his favorite game: "I'm gonna get you..." He also had a blast testing out his own hiking boots once we got to the lake, rocks, mud, sticks, and snow...it was like heaven. I wish the camera had still worked on the way down because about five minutes in to our descent he passed out gripping his favorite stick.

I can't wait for more hikes with my two favorite people.

Cozy cabin day

A couple of weekends ago we spent the gray rainy June days at the King family cabin on Lake Roesiger. It was a rather impromptu trip and we were so glad that the Bustamante and Izzard families could join us. Generally we meet once a month (sans children) as couples to pray together for our families and marriages, and since our monthly gathering was upon we decided to spend the day together with all our crazy children.

Trying on Daddy's glasses

Since the weather was nothing but wretched we spent the day inside playing games, watching movies (well the kids did), and eating food. It could have been a miserable rainy Saturday in which we pined for warm rays of sunshine but being together turned it into a lovely and delightful day. We are blessed to have such great friends to be with.

A boy and a box

Our house is older, the kind of old where puke green linoleum (which was discovered under the equally stylish blue linoleum flooring we pulled up in our bathroom) and concrete aggregate benches in front of fireplaces in the living room were considered fashionable. The bathroom flooring was a quick enough fix, the concrete bench however remains in tact.

(Pre-move in shot...I really should do a before and after of our house)

This little bench has one redeeming quality about it- instant seating when company is over. Otherwise, in the world of "life with an almost toddler" it is simply brain damage waiting to happen. Once you add a wooden coffee table with pointy corners in to the mix, the living room transforms into a death trap. Okay, I might be slightly exaggerating BUT, our living room was not a place I felt completely comfortable leaving Owen unattended in for fear that his furniture cruising would end up in some severe facial bruising. So, we finally purchased a leather ottoman in an effort to remove at least one of the pointy obstacles in the room.

The arrival of the ottoman resulted in relief for us and a large box for Owen to play in. It's amazing how something as simple as cardboard can change the rhythm of an afternoon. Owen thought it was glorious, and after a good romp in the box, we flipped it over, cut out some holes in the end and produced an equally entertaining tunnel. Sometimes, it really is the simple things in life.

Don't you wish you had a box?

Moving furniture is tiring.

So sneaky...

There...

it...

goes.

Sunny days chasing the clouds away...

This last weekend was a momentous occasion for Seattle...it reached 78! Let's be honest, in Seattle 78 is the perfect temperature, it's not too hot nor humid and your non-air conditioned house is still a manageable temperature inside. When it's sunny being outside is pretty much mandatory in this house - enter the first purchase of (what will ineviditably be many) Owen's first kiddie pool. I seriously think this kid could spend the entire day in either the bathtub or his pool. Despite the frigid temperatures the hose water offered, he was in heaven. And until we took pity on his poor little soul and poured two big buckets of hot water in the pool, he was breathless everytime he splashed water over his head. Not gonna lie, it was pretty funny. Did I mention I secretly plan on obsconding Owen's kiddie pool during nap time this summer to sit in the cool waters, read a good book, and chase my version of a tan (i.e. one shade darker than white)? I look forward to what will hopefully be many an afternoon watching Owen enjoy his pool.

Splash with me Daddy!

Hawaii 2 - Splish Splash

It's official...there are three water loving boys in the family. Thanks to Jude's nifty modern water wings/life jacket apparatus and several baby friendly flotation devices, the pool was frequented every day by our little troupe. Being the conscientious mother I am, I bought Owen his very first pool toy in which he could float...however, I could've just left it at home because all he wanted to do was sit in Levi's floaty and hang on (see picture below.)

The other fabulous part of the "big" non-kiddie pool was the shallow step area. There were three steps several feet in width that gradually got deeper. Owen loved to sit on the top step with his shovels and funnels and splash and splash and splash. The other boys loved them because, true to boy nature, they could jump off them.

Usually our family trips to Hawaii (this is the 3rd I've been on since marrying in to the King family) consist of a lot of beach hopping. Not gonna lie, I kind of liked being weighted down by three little people who demanded we lounge by the pool as they napped and "packing the beach bag" only consisted of snacks and my book instead of all the millions of baby necessities going to the beach requires.

Hawaii Trip

May 14th, 2011 - The day we have looked forward to for 8 long months. Our trip to Maui began with near perfection (in Josh's mind) as we drove to our rendezvous place to meet the rest of the King/Stroh family with the radio on, Josh looked over and said "Today is the perfect day, I just heard two of my favorite songs (Katie Perry and Taylor Swift) AND we're about to get on a plane to Hawaii." A sure-fire sign that a delightful week was ahead.

With a little uncertainty of how Owen, Jude and Levi would fair on the plane, we put on our seat belts, pulled out bags filled with delicious treats, movies and books all carefully selected for the bribing powers and hoped for the best. All three boys did fantastic! They napped, they read books, they walked up and down the aisle pants-less and lap hopped between all six adults (Me, Josh, Casey, Micah, Tom and Joanne) and before we knew it we landed. On the descent, we hit a fair amount of turbulence which Owen thought was fantastically fun, giggling and laughing as the plane bounced around...suddenly we started thinking it wasn't so bad too.

After all those hours of sitting those boys needed to move. Jude literally pushed Owen in circles as we waited for the rental cars.

And here my cute little bear enjoying his first encounter with fun in the sun!

Birthday Bear

My sweet little bear Owen has turned one.
As I sit here and reflect on this past year, it's hard to think of another
of my 26 years that matches how every day this past year has been marked so fully and completely by joy-
and I feel as if I have lived an incredibly blessed and joyful life already.

It's amazing to me how multi-faceted love is. There is the love I have
for my Savior, a love that is marked by intimate friendship and a deep sense of gratitude for how he has saved me. There is
the love I have for my husband - sometimes mushy, sometimes steady, and
always filled with wonder at how lucky I am to love and be loved by him.
Then there is this new love I encountered this year when Owen came into my world.
I now better understand how profound Jesus' unconditional love is for me thanks to the
intense and unconditional love I have for my son. There have been tough
days filled with whining and lack of sleep, but more often than not, I fight the urge
to pick him up as I got to bed, to feel his warm snuggly body in my arms one
last time and go to sleep excited to explore the world once again with him.

We spent Mother's Day which was also Owen's 1 year birthday with our families gathered at our house for a birthday/Mother's day brunch. It was a double celebration and we enjoyed being able to share our delight with our wonderful family. What a lucky little boy
Owen is to be surrounded by such wonderful people.