Back in Ithaca!

Well, we have left Seattle and arrived in Ithaca, at least for the next four months before moving once again.:) Here are some pictures of our last few weeks in Redmond.

The kids loved going to our church's playgroup every week, at least the weeks that we could make it. There was a big sand volleyball pit there that all the kids loved playing in.

My friend, Sarah, and I took our kids to a park in Redmond right on Lake Sammamish. Unfortunately, the morning we were planning on going, we woke up to overcast skies and not exactly hot temperatures. But we had already told the kids we were going, and they were sooo excited, that we went anyways. I tried to convince Scott and Madeline to play at the park's little playground for a while until it warmed up, but that lasted about 5 minutes.:) They were way too excited to get in the water. And we were one of the first ones brave enough to get in, as you can see. The park was actually full of alot of people, and soon after this shot more kids joined us in the water. Luckily, the water was actually pretty warm. Right after this picture my camera battery died so I didn't get any other pictures when the sun did come out and the water was full of people. It did happen though!:) And we ended up having a really good time.

How do you like Madeline's really short bangs?:) Like brother like sister. Remember this post? (Scroll down to the last pictures in the post) Well, after that, the scissor privileges were taken away, until recently. Then Madeline notices her bangs were getting a little long, and takes matters into her own hands... Needless to say, they were not cut evenly, so mommy had to fix them, and they ended up shorter then we like. But I do realize, it could have been much, much worse. Do I have two budding hair stylists in the family?

This just made me laugh, and is just typical of Madeline. This is what she just HAD to bring with us in the car to take daddy to work one morning. Mind you, we are gone for about a half hour, not an entire day. I can say this, she did bring Scott and Dylan's stuffed animals for them too.:)

This was too cute. My friend, Sarah, had a doctor's appointment the last week we were there so I watched her two cute little girls for her. Her youngest, Julia, was a little sad when mommy left, so Scott took it upon himself to cheer her up. He went and got a little book to show her. And he was always on hand to entertain and cheer her up the entire time. What a good little babysitter!

We also decided to head off to one of our favorite parks the last day Dave was working. They have a little stage there, and of course Scott and Madeline wanted to dance around. And of course Dylan followed, and does exactly what they do.:)

Scott with cute little Julia again. He just loves little babies. And she is particularly adorable.:)

Here is Madeline on the see-saw with Julia's cute big sister, Hannah. I am so glad Sarah's husband and Dave had the same internship at Microsoft. It was a lifesaver to have another mom there with a husband doing the same thing. We had so much fun.:)

And last, a picture of our plane ride. Arn't portable DVD players such great things on a long plane ride? I really have no words to describe how good the kids were on our flight from Seattle to Newark. I guess sometimes all the stars just align in your favor. This made up for the fact that we were sitting in the last row on the plane next to the only bathrooms for the entire plane, besides first class. Actually, being in the back row is both good and bad. Bad, because you are the last ones off the flight in the end, and next to only bathrooms, with a almost constant line of three or four people standing in the aisle next to you the entire flight. But good, because the kids were a little entertained watching all the people standing by us, and less likely to misbehave. Also, no one was staring at you the whole flight from behind, watching your child's every move and potential tantrum.:) (Although, in our case we had the people waiting in the line for the bathroom staring at us, but at least it wasn't the same people the entire time.:)

When all is said and done, we loved living in Seattle this summer. But it is great to be home in our own things, sleeping in our own beds, and cooking in my own kitchen. We'll enjoy our last few months here in Ithaca.:)