McCall

This past weekend the Hamilton's invited us up to hang out in McCall with them. How could we say no to a weekend at a cozy cabin by the lake?! We definitely lucked out with the weather (in the mid to high 60's and sunny) considering what a wet spring/late summer we have had. There was still a lot of snow in the mountains, which made for some awesome views during our boat rides, and the lake was VERY cold so we didn't get much swimming in. Being up there made me really miss Bellingham and realize how very lucky I was to grow up on a lake (thank you Mom and Dad - I don't say it enough) *sigh*.

Friday night trying to round up the kiddos for bedtime:
Saturday we took the kids to the market and ate our lunch by the lake. Amazingly I was able to get all the girls (Drew was sleeping) in a photo looking at the camera:Sunday we hung out by the lake and built sandcastles:It's a shame that I didn't get a picture of this sand castle - it was quite the palace. Drew watched from the sidelines in between eating handfuls of sand:The girls watched/followed the geese and goslings:

Delaney and Isla helped Ryan and Jesse blow up the inter tube:So they could play in it on the beach:

Meredith and Delaney showed Isla how to ride in the tube behind the boat, but she wasn't having it when her turn came up. No shocker there - she is a very cautious girl, which is fine with me. She decided to drive the boat instead:Thanks for hosting us Hamiltons - we had the best time! Next we are off to Bellingham for Papa's 60th birthday/4th of July celebration!

9 months - Drew

Well almost. Next week my baby boy will be 9 months! How crazy is that? Here is a little update about the Drew man:

• He is still Fat and Happy!



• He "talks" a lot. His favorite babble word is "ba". Ryan is convinced that he is trying to say "ball", but I'm not so sure . . .



• He finally decided to like his pacifier. For the first three months of his life Ryan and I tried desperately to get him to take a pacifier. One time I tried to put it in his month and he instantly spit his dinner right back up (point taken buddy!), and ever since then I haven't even tried. Last month there were a couple of times when I picked him up at daycare and he was still napping. When I went to get him out of his crib, he had a pacifier in his mouth. I was shocked! Last week when he and his sister were sick we decided to give him a pacifier and now he loves it. Go figure!



• He sits up on his own.



• He has started to moved around on his belly. I wouldn't really call it an army crawl as he just moves around in circles.



• He is a very good sleeper and goes down to bed very easily. Although the 5:30 am wake-up calls are a bit too early for this mama! Thank goodness I have a husband who doesn't complain too much about the early mornings.



• He is very easy going and almost always has a smile on his face (as evidenced in the picture above).

Mr. Drew has been such a wonderful gift and we can't wait to see what happens next!

Run, Anna, Run

Last weekend Isla, Drew and I made the trip up to Sun Valley with my Mom to cheer Anna on in her first half-marathon race. It is hard for me to run more than 3 miles at sea level, so the fact that my sister was going to do this four times over at 6,000 feet above sea level was amazing to me! We cheered her on the whole way and you would think that she runs a half marathon everyday the way she finished. She even comforted Isla when she ran past us halfway through the race because she knew that Isla was upset that she couldn't run out and hug her. Amazing I tell you. Here she is waving to us like it was no big deal:

Miss Isla was waiting for her at the finish line with flowers:
Drew gave her some loves as well:
Way to go Anna - we are so proud of you!