Baby Free Weekend

So, it may seem like it was a long time coming, but this last weekend Hugh and I were able to escape for our first baby-free adventure! We have been away from Harper individually, but never together. So, Harper has always had at least one of us with her overnight.

For Hugh's birthday and father's day I got him a Sea Kayaking trip up in the San Juan Islands. Because it is such a long haul up there we decided to make a weekend of it and camp overnight. My parents came over early Saturday morning and we were supposed to head out at 9am, but of course, as anything with a strict timeline goes, we had a household event when all of our smoke alarms decided that they were going to go haywire and start beeping. (this has happened once before right after we moved in). So, we thought it was the batteries going out so Hugh ran out and purchased new batteries and replaced them all.... didn't work. So, he read the directions for the alarms and found that the brand of batteries are supposed to be a certain kind, and went out and re-bought more batteries (a fortune in batteries at this point) and replaced them again... didn't work. AHHHH! So, now we know it is something to do with our electrical and need to have it looked at. In the mean time, for some reason one upstairs worked and one downstairs so we were able to leave the rest without the batteries until we have time to call the electrician. And, my parents didn't have to listen to beeping all weekend long.

So, at noon, we headed out (finally) and headed to Friday Harbor. It was beautiful all day and we got to the campsite and set up. Since it was a short trip we decided to eat at restaurants and not pack all the gear... when we came out from dinner it was raining!!! And, thus the rain began and didn't stop. Ahhhh the northwest!!! We had a nice campfire and then slept in the tent listening to the calm sound of the rain all night. Sunday morning we scrambled to pack up all of the soaking wet gear and headed to a lovely breakfast and then to our Kayaking adventure! We spent 3 hours touring the lovely coast along Friday Harbor and even though we were soaked to the bones and freezing cold when we were done, we had a great time out on the water!

Mostly, it was great to be able to spend time as a couple again! No distraction of a lovely little girl needing our attention and we were able to have a great time! Even though we kept looking in the back seat to check on her.... Makes me realize how important this time away is, even though we missed Harper so much!!

We came home to a happy and tired little girl last night! What a GREAT weekend!!!

I'll post some pictures as soon as I remember to hook up the camera!

For the love of ice cream...

So, I mentioned Harper's love for ice cream in my last post, but the description just doesn't do it justice... you have to check out these pictures and just imagine her chasing everyone down for a bite.... and note, she is not yelling here... she just walks around with her mouth open, waiting for the next bite...

Happy 4th of July!

We had quite a nice and festive 4th of July! All of my best girlfriends from college and their husband's came to visit for the long weekend. It total there were 10 adults and 2 one year old little girls at our house! It is times like these that I am so thankful for having the space that we do to accommodate everyone! (It is times when I am cleaning the large space that I am not so excited). It was wonderful to have everyone together and always feels like no time has passed when we get together. We ate lot's of wonderful food, played in the sun, roasted marshmallows over the campfire and laughed A LOT! We even got in on the fireworks action and set off a few mild fireworks and sparklers!

The best part for Harper was eating ice cream! The girl LOVES it and followed everyone around with her mouth open, begging for more.... here are a few pictures of our weekend.

(N)annie

So, after much thought and consideration, Hugh and I decided to pull Harper from her current childcare situation, which has been a wonderful in home daycare, located about 2 miles from our house. They take care of Harper like she is their own and love her even more. So, as you can imagine, it was a very hard decision to change up the routine. But, the cool thing is, is that my sister, Annie (thus (N)annie nickname), is now Harper's full time Nanny! Pretty cool. Today is the first day of the new gig and it was great to wake up and not have to rush a sleepy baby through the morning routine in order to get her out the door in time! Annie got to our house a little before 7am, and Harper was all smiles to think that there was a party with her cousins this morning! There was only a short amount of crying as I walked out the door, but Annie assured me that it only lasted 30 seconds! Just long enough to make me feel like the worlds worst Mama! :) So, it is great to have Harper with my sister which is the next best thing to me or Hugh being able to stay home with her. Not to mention the ease of morning and evening transitions that Harper has seemingly had a hard time with lately. And, the other great thing is that it helps my sister and her family out with some extra spending money which is always nice!

So, day one of (N)annie is off with a bang! :)

Happy Father's Day!

Here are a few pics of Harper's first baseball game... I can't believe we were bundled up in hats, and sweaters in the middle of June!!!

We had a great Father's Day weekend! And, Harper had a couple of firsts... On Saturday we woke up bright and early (well, Harper didn't... she decided to sleep in until 9am) packed up the car and headed out to the Washington Brewer's Festival at St. Edwards Park. Rather than pay the hefty $15 to park, we decided to take one of their free shuttles from a local park and ride. The shuttle happened to be a school bus! So, we loaded ourselves onto the bus with all of our gear (camp chairs, BOB stroller, and two backpacks full of baby gear, food and extra clothing since it was dreary and cold out) and into the seats (never realized how small those seats really are). Harper of course thought it was so cool to be sitting on my lap in a moving vehicle rather than be strapped into her carseat. So, she was a happy camper. The rest of the day we spent milling around the park, tasting great brews and hanging out with great friends! Harper hung out in her Ergo or stroller and had a good time dancing to the music.

Sunday, we again work up early while little miss decided to sleep in again until 9am (what is with this kid? I wish she would do this every weekend!!) and I got up and made waffles with homemade whip cream and fresh strawberries. My parents came over Sat night to stay the night with us so that they could go with us to the Mariner's game. So after a yummy Father's day breakfast, we packed up our gear and headed downtown for a very cold and rainy baseball game. It was Harper's first official baseball game and while I don't really think she ever clued into what was going on down below on the field, she took every opportunity to dance to the great music that they played in between plays! She thought it was great! And, finally, in the bottom of the 8th inning, decided she had seen enough and fell fast asleep! It was a great day and I didn't realize that my dad hadn't been to a game since I was a freshman in high school almost 20 years ago! (wow, that makes me feel old!!). We ended the day with dinner at our house with my parent's and Hugh's dad. It was a great weekend!!!

Weekend Woes...

What a weekend! I think the tooth fairy might finally be on her way to visit miss Harper... she still only has 4 teeth (two on top and two on bottom) at 14 months old. The last time a tooth appeared was when she was 8 months old. So, I know they are somewhere in there.... regardless, if it is in fact what is making my dear baby so grumpy, then come on out teeth!!! Not to mention the lovely explosive diapers we have been changing.... and the baths three times a day to match the diapers! No fun!! Anyway, hopefully we get through this "stage" and can move on. Poor little girl!

Take a picture, it will last longer!

And, in this case I certainly hope it does!!!! While walking to work from my bus this morning I spotted something that has been missing for quite a while here in Seattle... in fact, some may even call it an urban legend, a myth or even something on the verge of extinction.... Well, I captured it, on camera!!! So I am hoping it will stick around a while....

Yes, folks.... it is the SUN!!!

Blue skies....

Puffy white clouds....

And, in case you missed it the first time, the SUN, again!!!