Well, hello there!!

We have been busy as usual lately! Time seems to just fly by, I cannot believe it is June tomorrow! I do have to apolog ize for my lack of posts. I usually post from work but the sisters (Catholic hospital :)have not upgraded our computers in so long I'm unable to post. I can view but not post, darn it! So I'll have to try harder to find time at home to post.

My mom and Eddie came up Mother's Day weekend so Jered and I could have an overnight date! What a treat! We went to Hood River and stayed at the Columbia Gorge Hotel. Its a really cool old hotel. We visited 5 of the 8 tasting rooms in town. We had a really great dinner at Brian's Pour House and a delicious breakfast at Bette's Place. We would definitly recommend both restaurants. We came home with quite a few bottles for the wine fridge too!

A couple weeks ago we had our two nieces, Bailey and Macy, up to stay. Ashlyn was super excited, they got to stay the whole weekend! We took them to Dozer Days in Vancouver, Jered's company is a sponsor. Its like a big fair but instead of rides the kids get to drive tractors, back hoes, etc. The girls seemed to have a good time, but I think their favorite part might've been the elephant ears and bags of candy. After Dozer Days we took them to my favorite little gelato place on NW 23rd. If you've never had gelato, its a must try! So much creamier and more flavorfull than ice cream. Yummy!! They might've been on a bit of a sugar high by the end of the afternoon but what are Aunts for if not to say yes to pretty much every request! ;o) Besides they deserve a little spoiling and special Auntie time!

It had been so long since they were able to come up and we had the three cousins together I leaped on the opportunity to get their pictures done. Mom had got the three of them Hawaii dresses when we were there last May so they look like little hula girls. The pictures look great!! The girls did such a great job! I'll post pics later, I pick up the CD tonight.

Ashlyn is growing like a weed! She has been into all things girly lately. She's loving playing in her kitchen, playing with her dolls and she wants to wear dresses every day. I'm going to stop by this little second hand store and pick her up more dresses suitable for school. I don't like to send her to school in her really nice clothes. She plays pretty hard at school.

She is still super independent and wants to do everything herself. We're trying to take advantage of some of her indepence by having her do some chores. She is definitely old enough to clear her own dishes from the dinner table, put her dirty clothes in the basket, pick up her toys (or her work, which is what they say at school), organizing her books, etc. She also "helps" me unload the dishwasher, swiffer the floors and put her clothes away. I say help in quotes because it takes 10 times as long to do something with her help than it does without!

We are two weeks shy of completing 10 weeks of swim lessons and she has done so well! She will submerge her whole head now, she can pick up a rubber ring from the bottom of the pool, she can float on her front and back with assistants. She can get into and out of the pool from the edge by herself with only a little boost getting out. She is not the most fearless kid in the pool but we are really proud of her. We're not doing lessons during the summer months, we just get too busy, but are hoping to get her to at least one open swim per week.

We purchased our tickets for our Canada trip! Yay!! We are flying this time because quite honestly I cannot possibly imagine doing that drive again. It is expensive to fly but when you factor in gas prices and time spent driving, it is totally worth it. Mom and Ed are coming along again and I think we are all looking forward to some boating, fishing, seafood and relaxing. We have 10 whole days!

We are gearing up for some camping this summer!. We are doing our annual Father's Day campout withe Kacalek's. This year though we'll be a few campers shy. Uncle Jim accidentally made reservations at the coast not realizing what weekend it was so him and Maggie won't make it. Thats a bit of a bummer but we're hoping to connect with them on another weekend this summer. We of course are doing our annual 4th of July Ballard camping at Honeyman. We're trying to carve out a few additional weekends as well. Of course we say this every summer and it seems like something else always comes up.

I promise pictures are coming! We have swimming tonight but maybe after Ashlyn goes to bed I'll get to the pictures :)