July 2015 Recap

Now that the middle of August is nearly here, I'm finally finding a few minutes to share our July photos. We had a fun and full July with - so it seemed - an activity nearly every day.

The month started with an appearance at our zoo by Daniel Tiger. Madeleine didn't seem to mind that we just took her photo with Daniel in the background rather than wait in the two-hour line on a fully sunny 90+ degree day.

Elliott experienced his first carousel ride and - mostly - approved. 

When at the zoo, act like a flamingo?

I exposed Elliott to finger painting for the first time, but he was far more interested in clapping and smearing the paint on his body than on putting anything on paper. A true artist? (Yes, this was in the bathtub with a disposable diaper, a genius idea from a wise mom friend.)

When they came to visit, we took Grandma and Papa on our favorite local (toddler) hike, and Miss M chose her long pink dress...of course.

Grandma helped Mister E eat his first popsicle (made from yogurt and fruit in these great molds).

We headed to our local lavender farm for some family photos.

George and I got away for a night for our anniversary and spent the next day downtown on a day date, including a visit to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit.

We always enjoy our time away as much as coming back to these two.

Elliott had a ton of milestones in July, including starting to ride the rocking horse...

...and the giraffe.

We've started turning over the spoon and bowl to our hungry guy.

Without any prompting, Elliott climbed onto the hearth and started onto the Duplo table. That makes us two for two with kids who climb before they walk.

Speaking of climbing, Elliott can now climb the stairs rather successfully. We're still working on safe decent.

Maybe the learning tower will be next?

Madeleine has noticed that her parents spend time on the rower and wants to follow.

Madeleine and I had a failed camp out attempt. She loved the campfire, s'more, staying up past bedtime, and using her flashlight. She did not like the idea of actually going to sleep.

I took Madeleine to her first Mariner's game, and we had a great time! And yay for a $5 jersey at the consignment shop!

We bused to the game and back, but she fell asleep on the ride home.

Meanwhile, George took Elliott to his favorite restaurant for Elliott's first Malaysian food.

One sunny day, we took a stroll with our babies in their umbrella strollers to the mailbox. 

We took another family ride on the zoo carousel. Elliott grows fonder with each ride.

When Elliott and I met up with a friend his age, we both enjoyed discovering a new park. He thought it was particularly tasty. Mmm, wood chips.

The phase of making this face seems to have come and gone all in the period of about a month.

With such a hot summer in Seattle, we've spent many afternoons in the water in our backyard.

On pretty much the only rainy day all month, we met friends for blueberry picking. Despite rain dripping down our faces, it was smiles all around.

We wrapped up July with a picnic at Husky Stadium sponsored by George's employer. 

What a summer...and it's still not over! Thank you for your patience as I've been largely absent from the blog this summer. At least I have some cute photos to show for it. :-)