May

May brought visitors.  Ashton's grandparents came to visit as did his family and Grandma Jenks we had fun!

First we had Grandma and Grandpa Hansen here.  They camped at Fort Stevens and we went over to play with them.  The first night AShton was with us, but the next day I went with just the kids and a friend I was watching, Kable.  We went down to the Peter Iredale, the shipwreck.  

We just relaxed down by the ocean while the kids played in the sand.  I absolutely love Juliette in her tutu getting all dirty.  It is 100% her.  Cute and frilly, but getting down and dirty.  

Grandma and Grandpa Hansen just relaxing.  I brought some stuff to study too.  Oh ya, did I mention I had gone back to school?  I am doing online courses through Utah State in a communication disorders major.  

May was also Ashton's yearly meeting for Costco managers in Issaquah, Washington.  The kids and I joined him and we got to play while Daddy was in meetings :)

First we went to Pike's Market, the famous fish market in Seattle.  Here is a view from one of the windows.

The kids and I set out to have some fun.  I let them choose where to go.  This was Dexter's choice.  The museum with dinosaurs.  We went to the Burke museum.  They had fun seeing all the dinosaur bones and other things they had on display.  

He wanted his picture taken with the stegosaurus

The triceratops

The brontosaurus leg bone

and how could we forget something that lived in the ocean?  

We also found a target to go walk through.  I had to pick up a couple things and hadn't been in a Target for about 5 long months.  I miss Target.  You could say I was addicted to Target.  Not having one close was hard at first.  We ate lunch there and they had an icee machine, so we got some :)

The next day was Juliette's pick.  She chose the Children's Museum.  I was going to go to downtown Seattle to their children's museum, but after having gone to the fish market with Ashton and seeing how expensive it was to park, $6 for a half-hour, we found another smaller Children's museum much closer to Issaquah.  

It was small but they had fun and got wiggles out.  What more can you ask for?

Then AShton's family came with his Grandma Jenks.  I somehow got no pictures of Grandma Jenks.  I don't know how that happened. Juliette loved her.  She would snuggle in her lap and fall asleep.  It was very sweet.  

This was a rough time for me.  I was prepping for 2 test the next week, and had my first 1 hour SLP session observation due.  We made it work though!

 We went to the Maritime museum with them.  The kids got to make little boats there.  They had fun.  I got to chat with Grandma Jenks some and I had no idea that this was her and Grandpa Jenks old stomping grounds.  They used to go across the Columbia River to Ilwaco, WA and do some deep sea fishing.  She even drove Grandpa back there when he was very sick after his cancer treatments, a couple months before he passed away.  I had no idea this area held so much sentiment to her.  It was very touching and I am so very grateful for that opportunity I had to learn that.

On our venture to Washington, we went to the North Head Light House. This was the first light house I have ever seen or been to.

On the way back we saw these snails.  Juliette picked it up but then touched the "squishy" part and dropped it.  Poor snail.  That was probably the fastest it had ever traveled in its life :)

We went to Long Beach, WA and played in the sand.  Juliette of course was an absolute mess.  Crayson and Stratton went and jumped in the ocean.  It was chilly, but we had fun.

After all of our visitors had left, we had a fun time as a family.  We took Ashton down to Indian Beach, one of my favorite places to go.  It has sea anemones that you can go and touch and you can let kids play in the water but not be right at the ocean.  We went at high tide, (we forgot to check the tide schedule) so we couldn't show him the anemones, but the kids got to play.  It was chilly but fun to watch all the surfers.

Most of January

One evening we went to the beach.  We saw this beautiful sunset peaking from behind Tillamook Head, and we also went shell hunting.

Another night, Juliette built herself a temple.  

And then the kids built a city and boat together.  It's so nice when they play so well together.

I needed a cute picture of JJ in her adorable red coat on Sunday.  

Dex wanted his picture taken as well.

Then, we finally had a break from the rain and the kiddos got to play outside.  Across from our building is a little bit of grass/moss with tons of mole hills.  I cleaned out the car and they played in the dirt.  Juliette was a mess, but that isn't a surprise.  She is always a mess and loves to get messy.  Dex on the other hand, was just a little messy.  Not a surprise either.  Dexter made her pickup and carry all the rocks they dug up because he didn't want to get messy.

We also had a beautifully sunny day, so the kids and I went outside!  This time we headed to the beach to swing.

Our first stop, they had moved the swings from, so we just played on the beach.  There were also fishing boats out on the water.  Dex loved to watch them.

JJ played in the sand and learned that it isn't very tasty after a few bites.  She kept saying, "i's yucky! spit, spit, spit).

We also saw a bald eagle soaring over the beach with the seagulls.  That was pretty awesome.

We then moved to a second spot and found the swings across from the aquarium.

At the end of the month, after JJ's little hospital stay (more on that later),  Juliette dressed me up.  She combed my hair and then put the headband and flowers in.  She did more of a flapper style complete with lots of beads and necklaces.  I think she did a great job!

You can tell she isn't feeling top notch in this picture.  She looks very tired and spent.  My sweet girl.