Boys and Bacon

The boys were DROOLING as we picked up 30 lbs of BACON.  For future note:  I paid $87 for all 30 lbs, and they came package in 7.5 lb increments.  That's a lot of bacon!  I wonder how long it will last around here????

Mowing the Lawn

 Dad and his boys have settled into a lawn mowing routine this summer, that goes like this:  1) Put Wyatt to bed, 2) get out anything with wheels and 3) cruise around the front yard while Dad mows.  Since I was home, and Wyatt was up, we all went out front to get the lawn mowed, and have some fun.  The boys are all CRAZY on their electric/motorized tractors and truck, and Wyatt can fake mow with the best of them!  :-)  I loved just watching all the wildness, snapping pictures and laughing at them all.  They are each so sweet and special - with their own personality.  Someone recently told me that God only gives 3 boys to very special mom, but I think that THEY are the special ones!!!

 Safety first!  :-)

 Like daddy, like Wy-Wy.

 

That sweet smile melts my heart every time.

 A frequent sight for us... bikers WHIZZING by!  This group caught me by total surprise though, and scared the livin' daylights out of me!

 Wayne still loves climbing the dogwood tree.  It was originally planted by one of my friends from highschool's mom, when it was given to her as a gift when her dad passed away.  That was A LOT of years ago, but it is still healthy as ever, and still loved!  The tree behind it is the most gorgeous birch tree ever - there is a story behind that one too, I just can't remember it!  Something about a nurse that my sister works with who used to live in the house.  How random is that?

 And this is why the lawn NEEDED to be mowed.  It had grown about  a 1/2 inch and needed a trimming.  Can't have it getting too long now, can we?

Bellingham Bay - Crabbing 2011

With yet another "zone" opening up, we thought it was time to head out again.  I was SO HOPEFUL that we would have nice weather - we woke up to sunny skies and birds chirping.  But by the time we hit the water, it was gray skies all the way around.  Again.  Oh well - we don't need sunshine to have a FAB time!!!

Yup, that was the sun, if you can call it that!

Wayne got promoted this trip - he is now in charge of throwing the buoy's overboard after the pot goes in.  He was pretty pumped to be given such a responsibility!

After dropping all of our pots, we had to wait for them to soak for a bit - so we motored over to Eliza - a small island with a number of different homes and cabins - thanks goodness we know the folks who own this one - and it has a BATHROOM!  Aunt Barb - I can't tell you enough how excited I was to see your cabin - THANK YOU!!!

Tyler took the kids to the playground - tell me this - how many times have you had to unbuckle your kids outs of life jackets so that they could go down the slide?  Yeah, I thought so!!!  We truly live in an AMAZING place  - what a blessing!

Since there is a 20 minute rule for parking on the dock - we quickly headed back and out to check our pots.  The weather was starting to turn super nasty - so we packed it in and called it a day.  12 good sized crabs, some great pictures, and a lot of fun memories with Grandpa were good enough for us for the day!  Thanks Dad for taking us ALL on the boat - we have so much fun with you!

Crabbing at Deception Pass

With OPENING DAY of crabbing down south, we headed out with my Dad (Grandpa) and a car full of Silves boys to haul in some crab!  We took Dad's boat, and while we had hoped for SUNSHINE and CRAB, we got skunked on both but had fun anyway.  I forgot how pretty it was out on the water, and how disorienting it can be.  The boys claim the "cuddy" as their own, and spent much of the trip down there staying warm, full, and happy!

 The tide was ripping, with a 7 foot change in just a few short hours.  When we dropped all six of our crab pots, their bouy's sunk below the service within 20 seconds!!!  That made for some serious wondering over the next few hours....  How long would it take before the tide went out enough that they popped back up?  Had the tide moved the pots?  Hmm..  Only time could tell!

 Hmm.. Do you think they like the boat?  At one point Wyatt clung on to Grandpa from behind.  I think he thought that he was "getting" him!

 Nothing like taking a break from pot searching - Wayne entertained us with a booty shake!

 As we were finishing up - doing our last scan of the water to find our very last pot, I thought we were about to lose Weston...  he was tired and I think a little sea sick!  He hung in there until we hit dry land, and bounced back quickly. 

After it was all said and done, we caught 4 crab, and came home with none - we found a young family on a small boat and gave our 4 to them!  Wayne was happy that other little kids could have some crab too.

First Field Trip for the boys

The boys attend Mrs. Myhre's children's church class for the 2's and 3's, and she planned a field trip for the class for Monday.  They've been learning about God's creation, and all of the things that HE created, so a morning spent outdoors was the perfect way to see all that they had been learning!  The boys were SO excited.  Wayne couldn't stop talking about it, and Weston just jumped up and down whenever we talked about it.  Ethan was with us too, his Mom and Dad were taking his sister's to camp, and we didn't want him to miss out!  Poor kid... he spent the night with us on Sunday night, and was a "Silves brother from another mother" all day on Monday, and then he had to go home to a quiet house as an only child.  Poor kid!!!!  :-)  Good thing the boys come to play on Wednesday!

We started out by all sitting around on blankets, talking about all the lessons "God created night and day, God created the birds and fish, God created the plants and trees."  Then we all went for a walk around a big pond.  Weston was SO GOOD.   He has come so far in the past few months, summer 2010 has been a FABULOUS thing for him!  :-)  He never once ran off, and he listened and obeyed, and held my hand.  He was so proud to "lead" us to follow the class, and he was right in the thick of it with the rest of the kids.  He was happy, happy kid.  Wayne and Ethan were so buds.  It's funny to see how they first start out together, and as they gain confidence they were each off doing their own thing.  As they get older, it's fun for me to see the differences between.  While one is four and one is five, they are 8 months apart.  On some things, they are alike in that they are close in age, and in others, they are different because God made them different.  How cool is that? 

I was CONVINCED one if not THREE boys were going to end up soaked...  but they managed to prove me wrong!

Here's their class + a few siblings

Lunch on the grass.  Wayne was SUPER excited for the special red Gatorade that Dad sent along.  

They played a really fun "day and night, water and sky" game.  Two teachers held paper, one for day and the other for night.  They stood 50 ft apart, and Mrs. Myhre would ask, "When do you put on your pajamas?" and the kids would run towards "night."  They were quite the herd, running back and forth!

Thanks Teacher!  The boys loved their day, and they adore you!

two gone and one to go

On Saturday Tyler and my Dad had a moment of temporary insanity and decided to take Wayne AND Weston out on the boat to catch some crab.  I think the plan was to put Weston in a life jacket, and just to be safe attach a rope to his vest so that they could fish him back in if he went overboard.  I don't know if they actually did it, and I don't want to know either.  He came back safe and sound, and I'm good with that!  Actually, Tyler said that Weston was ridiculously good, and that he loved every minute of it.  Wayne had fun too, but only after he "returned" all of the Grandma treats he had eaten from her house until they were out on the water.  After that, he chippered up nicely! 

The boys were successful too, bringing home 19 crab in all.  Can't beat that!

And can I just take this moment to vent?  My wonderful, adoring, normally wife-pleasing husband had the camera with, because he KNOWS I like to capture every single second of our children's lives on some sort of digital device to be viewed when we are old and gray, and THESE are the pictures he took of the boys "crabbing."  When I asked him if he was serious, he couldn't figure out my problem. 

Seriously?  You take them out on the ocean to crab, and there is not ONE picture of the OCEAN?  Or of them with their Dad?  Or their grandpa?  

Not one?

Nope, not one.  I'm beginning to think Tyler forgot to take pictures while they were on the water, and just snapped a few once they were back.  Hmm..

the FIRST (and second) fish caught on Tyler's boat

With so many things "open" Tyler has had quite the decisions to make lately...  Fishing or crabbing?  On Friday morning Tyler decided it was time for fishing.  Ryan could come, and Tyler took Wayne too.  He wasn't too sure about waking him up at 4am, but at the mere mention of "it's time to go" Wayne sat upright from a dead sleep, exclaiming, "Let's go, let's go.  You gotta get my clothes on!"  He was sooooo excited to come along with the big boys!  They headed to Baker Lake, fishing for sockeye salmon.

And guess what?  They actually caught a fish!  Two fish even!  Tyler caught the first one, and Ryan caught his 15 minutes later.  And let me say, those boys were HAPPY.  5 + pounds each, a sunny day, back by 1pm, how could it get any better?  Wayne came home totally exhausted, but very proud.  I made half of their sockeye salmon for dinner that night, and it was good.  Really good.  Light, flaky, fresh.  Mmm..  This fishing thing isn't so bad!  :-)

While mom's away, her kiddo's play.

While at work today, I got a message to go check THIS out.

I no longer wanted to be at work.

Freeze!

I can't believe that it is almost August.  While summer was late to get rolling, it sure has arrived in full force.  I think we've had two weeks of 80's + weather, and have taken full advantage.  I guess you can tell that from the recent blog posts!  :-)  Around here, we are just having a fabulous time.  The boys are just that much older, and are in a really fun and dare-I-say easy stage.   I just can't believe how smart and talented each of them are, all that they are learning, saying, and EATING!  There are so many things I want to savor, and I feel like time is steam rolling ahead, and I know that that is a good thing, but I also wish it would just FREEZE for just a little while.  Things are just perfect now, and I don't want to blink for fear the leaves will start changing color, the mornings are cooler, and *GASP* Wayne goes to preschool.

• Weston is saying more words every day.  True to his brother, who was around 2 3/4 when he started talking in 2 word sentences, I think Weston is right on the same path.  BUT, he is definitely broadening his vocabulary.  Here are his recent additions:  out, chicken, jump, snack, milk, stink, dinkie, more, please, and tree.  Mixed in amongst about a dozen grunts!  I swear he could be a cave man.  Each grunt has it's own meaning. 
• Wayne says the funniest things.  Recently from the mouth of my baby:  "It's okay mom, I got it under control."  "There's a party in my stomach!"  "You gotta get me some FOOD!"  And when I'm singing him his much begged for lullaby before bed, "That's enough singing now Mom, I'm tired and need to go to sleep."
• Last night Wayne wandered into our room, and after a few minutes of snuggling, and with him talking to himself (it was 2am) I wishfully told him, "You need to go back to your own bed and go to sleep."  He said, "Okay Mom" and left our room, climbed into his bed, and went back to sleep. 
• Wyatt is pulling himself up on everything, and his new favorite hangout is the patio doors.  He pulls up on his knees, looks out the window, and bangs his hands on the glass.  Then, to really have fun, he puts his face up to the glass and gives us the "puffer fish" face!  Then, he falls over because he's laughing too hard to keep his balance.
• Weston has become QUITE the lover-boy.  He runs up to me constantly, and likes to hug my leg.  And not let go.  For five minutes.  He also gives me kisses all the time, and likes to pinch my cheeks while he's at it.  His hair is bleached blonde from the son, and he is so tan, we're calling him "hey little tan-man!"  And we love his hugs... he wraps his arms tightly around our necks, and holds on like his life depends on it. 
• Wyatt refuses to drink from anynthing but a bottle, and anything but milk.
• Wayne has started watering up at the cemetary, all by himself.  He gets out of the car while I wait and watch, carries the water over, dumps half in each pot, and runs back. 
• I spend at least 3 hours each day with 2 or more boys on my lap, snuggling and "talking about our day."

The Silves Splash Park is CLOSED for business....

... but the Silves Pool Party is ON!

After several failed pool purchases this year, I think we have finally found something that will work well for us.  The first pool was too small, the second pool was not strong enough for our rowdy boys, but the THIRD pool is a HIT!

 

And what is not to love?  10 feet across, and a water depth of just over 2 feet, it's the perfect size for the boys, and even for us to go in and enjoy it with them.  Wayne is ecstatic about it, and told me right away that it was too big to move, so we should definitely keep it.  I am with you, buddy!

So on Sunday, we had to have Madelyn and her parents over for a dip.

The boys had waaaaay too much fun dunking Uncle Ryan.

And Mr. Adventurous himself has taken to going under water all by himself.  Tricky!!!

So as our temperatures climb each day, ask yourself this. 


Is it time for a pool party?