Playing in Washington

One of our top summer highlights was our trip to Washington State.  It started with a new job based there and the opportunity to go meet everyone I had been working with online up to that point. It ended with a plan to take a couple of extra days to see our dear sweet Carrie Schmitt and her incredible family. (You'll remember Carrie aka Schmittee goes back to those early  Above Bagel & Deli days at Miami and is such a treasured friend. She has been there through some of the biggest days of our lives - including those early early days of our relationship and Josie's birth.)

Here are some of the gazillion photos we took there. It is such a beautiful place and I still can't believe just how huge the trees are. We will definitely be back for work and for play!

We were welcomed with surprises and instantly felt at home.

We played at the coolest playground in these giant trees, on this lovely lake.

Oh sweet Nora, you couldn't have been a better friend and hostess!

Josie was very excited to be on a dock and dubbed this her "dock dance."

When we weren't having fun out and about, we were having fun at the Harrison Home - which has this amazing frog pond and the most beautiful water lilies in bloom!

Then we adventured.

Bigger than Niagara, just not as wide. So pretty.

Bea was *so* not interested in a sister photo. Obviously.

And we hiked. Down super green trails that we hear actually weren't green at all compared to the rainy season.

And we wore ourselves out.

Then we headed to the beach. And we saw Puget Sound. And it was misty and cool and we were very happy to wear sweatshirts (leaving 100+ temps back in Cincy).

It was sweet baby Bea's first time seeing the sea!

And we posed. So many memories with this girl. Just knew I'd make it to Seattle one day! :)

We collected treasures.

And dipped tiny toes in the cold waves.

And found a little love in the sand.

And visited a troll under the bridge after lunch in Fremont.

Super sweet Skylar got roped into being a part of this walking tour, live theater adventure. :)

And we saw the Space Needle.

Then we went up high to this super cool playground and slide and had the best pizza and ice cream.
Here is Sweet (and very talented baseball player) Blane.

Josie and Nora became the best of friends. They slept together. Ate together. Told each other stories. And Josie even wore little Nora's clothes all weekend long.

It was the most absolutely perfect few days with our friends - who opened up their home (and refrigerator) to us.  We are so unbelievably grateful!!! XOXO!

Cool School Campout

I really wish I had more time to dedicate to blogging about the great campout that Josie's school put together this year at Hueston Woods, because it really was fantastic.  Lou and I used to do a fair amount of camping before the two of us became four, and it's always something we talked about doing with the girls as they grew up.

We love Josie's school SO much and THE BEST part of her school is the amazing community of families surrounding it.  There were some really great moments during the camping weekend where we just kind of stopped and looked around and realized that we have been successful in our efforts to surround our children with positive influences and diverse families that value the same things we value, parent in similar ways and feel like an extension of our own dreams for our own children.

Here are some highlights from the first of many school campouts!

We make the campsite our weekend home:

We play games:

We build world's longest glow-necklace:

We eat S'Mores:

And we sing songs by the fire:

We make crafts:

 We dance:

We get quiet, then we go to bed: (Note that I said "go to bed" and not "go to sleep" because let's be honest people, not much sleeping ever happens when you camp. It just is what it is. And it's worth it.)

We rise and we shine:

We borrow Uncle Robert's camper (which we love and are super grateful to have in the family):

And then we all go to The Lake:

And we take over the entire beach with our sand castles and splashing and having fun:

And Bea sleeps for two solid hours under the shade of a tree in the camper:

And we play, play, play in the sun and the sand:

And we feel brave with our best friends by our side:

And we decide to have an impromptu picnic that is the perfect end to a perfect trip:

 And we talk about how great the campout was for weeks and weeks to come.

Big News for Little Josie

Our sweet sweet girl has been conquering fears left and right this summer. After a couple of scary water-related incidents in previous summers, she's always had a little hesitation around the water. (Which was so sad because before said incidents she was a little fish.) We were excited to get her into actual swimming lessons so she could build her confidence and we are SO proud of everything she accomplished this summer.  Even with fears intact, she still loved the water. We are so happy that she can head to the pool now and have fun...fearlessly.

Here's her report card:

Btw - UC has great swimming lessons for very reasonably priced that are open to the community in their super awesome Athletic Center.  (And we have to laugh that Josie goes to school at Xavier and goes to swimming class at UC.)