Someone is SEVEN!

Sweet Josephine turned SEVEN!  (A fact that is almost as hard to believe as the days she turned 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.)  Birthdays are big fun around here and this year was no different. In keeping with her new found since of adventure, Josie wanted a rock climbing birthday party at RockQuest.  It was SO much fun! We all had a great time watching our strong girls push themselves to new heights - literally. As hard as it is to watch your kids grow up so fast, it's pretty amazing to watch them gain the confidence and maturity that comes with each new year.

Here are the highlights from our afternoon climbing with family & friends!

Our friend Tess did it again - with another AWESOME cake!

In other special birthday news, Miss Josephine was granted the royal treatment from Grandma & DD who took her out for a special solo birthday dinner and shopping trip. I gotta say, I thought it would be a little older than seven that Josie's idea of a good time would be a trip to the mall, but clearly I was wrong. She had a blast and came away with a great set of back to school goodies!

About the glasses - they aren't prescription, but they are "real" (if anyone asks, ha).

Thank goodness she isn't all-clothes & no-toys yet!

She even brought home her sister a special surprise!

On Josephine's actual birthday, we celebrate at home with some special surprises - including the next size up scooter to better accommodate those long seven year old legs!

That evening, we headed out for the big moment. Josephine got her ears pierced!

Later that night, we celebrated with another birthday candle, because you have to make a wish on your actual birthday. Because the cake was long gone, we improvised. This "kefir popsicle" was perfect!

And there were new presents to play with - including her own sewing machine that she's wanted for two years now!

We may have stayed up pretty late riding the scooter around the house...

And, using her new Sewing School book and her very own sewing machine, she made this 95% on her own!  

Happy birthday Sweet Josephine!! Here's to the best year yet!

Those final mama mornings

Our last "mama morning" together before Big started second grade & Little headed off to full-time preschool.
The symbolism of them riding off ahead of me that morning definitely wasn't lost on me.

"West Coast Wednesdays" have been an enormous blessing to your family and to my job. It's a win-win really. I get to spend every Wednesday morning with the girls, and then my work day overlaps more with my team in Seattle for the afternoon.  The girls have always called them "Mama Mornings" and we treat them with a pretty high degree of reverence around here.  It seemed pretty appropriate to spend our final two "Mama Mornings" outside together.  While our last two mama mornings weighed pretty heavily on my heart, we sure did have fun!

We spent both of our last Wednesdays outside and on bikes! Our second to last morning together was at Lunken Airfield and park. It ended up being one of those things that could've ended pretty badly since we took the "the loop" without knowing exactly what we were getting into. As it turns out, we were getting into several miles of bike riding (with a very freshly minted two-wheeled-rider) and several miles of tricycle pushing. Thank goodness for the view! It was a really special morning!

We had just enough time to squeeze in some fun on the playground!

For our final mama morning, we headed over the Armleder Park and Bike Trail.  It was the perfect morning - sunny & in the seventies. We left really early so we had a good three hours to spend together. We rode our bikes, hung out at the pond, talked about our favorite parts of summer, jumped over rocks, played on the playground and imagined that we ran a magic ice cream shop that changes mulch into ice cream and sprays customers with a giant whipped cream hose.  It really was the absolutely perfect morning together! (Locals - this is a great little gem that we've learned few people in our circle know about. Check it out!)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Walking into her first "back to school" open house

Gone Phishin'

Cars, Trucks, Buses, Trains, Planes & Tractors -
but this was our first Water Taxi ride to a show

This summer, my daddy-o and I snuck away to Chicago for a three-day Phishy weekend at Northerly Island. It was pretty much everything we both needed and more. Pretty amazing to channel the inner 20 year old versions of ourselves and spend the weekend dancing our buns off, staying up until all hours of the morning, sleeping until all hours of the afternoon and did I mention dancing?  Between the two of us, we have about 100 shows under our belts. I became a Phish "Senior Citizen" this weekend by hitting shows 65, 66 & 67 since my first show in 1995. Dad and I have had a string of Phish adventures together that involves a big cast of characters made up of some of the best people we know. And, even though the two of us were flying solo this weekend, there was a lot of conversation kicked off with sentences that started "Remember that show at X..."!  Really, there just aren't the words to describe how great of a weekend this was. I mean, I got to spend three whole days with my dad! At three whole nights at Phish shows!  Definitely a summer highlight, and honestly a lifetime highlight, that I'll never forget.

This kid works grounds really got into the Hood glowstick war.
Love when the staff "surrenders to the flow."

Score! Our spot - three nights running.

Best Seat in The House (in more ways than one)!

Special MVP of the trip goes to one Amanda Austin who welcomed the two of us crazy kids to crash their otherwise normal weekend! The Austins kept us rested, fed and hydrated so we could actually pull this marathon off. And, get this, my sista even acted as a personal chauffeur into the city each night! Driving into the city twice in one evening is ground for thanks enough BUT factor into the return trip that picking us up meant waiting on the side of the highway for us and fending off the cops for an hour with promises that the two of us would be there "any minute, really, I swear."  Seriously sissy, this weekend was a dream come true and it wouldn't have been possible at all without you. NEXT YEAR YOU ARE COMING WITH US!!!!

Curious to see what the fun is all about? Here ya go!