Family Photos

Jake came by last weekend and took some family pictures for us with his fancy camera. The pictures turned out great. Here are a few of my favorites...

Thanks Jake!

Sunday Evening Drive

On Sunday after church, naps and dinner, we decided to get out and enjoy the evening. It was finally a bit cooler and was nearing sunset, so we set out in search of a nice view. Shane drove us into Seattle and we followed the waterfront from SafeCo Field clear over to Shilhoe Marina (passing through HempFest 2010 along the way). We stopped at the Marina and walked out on the dock near Golden Gardens Park and the view was beautiful. It was quite a bit breezy on the water, and we couldn't stay out for long, but it was amazing. Looking at all the sailboats lined up along the marina, made me really want to have one. The one time I was on a sailboat in Spain, I thought it was amazing--one of the most peaceful and calming experiences I've had in this lifetime. I would love to do it again. We then drove home through Seattle and got home just in time for bed. It was a beautiful night.



Also, I can't forget to mention, it was our 7th anniversary. I felt very blessed to be out and about with my sweet husband and my happy kids. The past 7 years has been good to us.

Here is Emma the Goofball. I'm still trying to figure out transferring the video from Shane's iphone to the computer. So if it doesn't work, I'm sorry.

More Camano...

We haven't had many fun adventures this summer, so when we found out Shane had a 4 day weekend coming up, we quickly threw together a family camping trip. We went up to Camano Island for the first time, and really had a wonderful weekend. It was Henry's first camping trip and I was a bit nervous. (Nothing worse than a crying baby in the middle of the night in a campground waking the whole world up). But...he did wonderful. He still woke up multiple times to eat at night, but then went right back to sleep.

In the morning Henry & Emma would snuggle with us in our sleeping bag, and it was so fun to have a slow start to a beautiful day. Henry would gaze out of the window up at the trees and the leaves, and was sort of enchanted. He would often fall right back to sleep. It was so great. We took these pictures one morning before getting out of bed to make breakfast.



We spent most days at the beach watching the birds, the boats, and playing with rocks. Emma and Shane found quite the collection of treasures, and even dug big holes to get down to the good stuff. They found some sea glass, old bottle caps, and even something that looked like petrified wood.

The hole was just big enough for Henry to sit in, and so of course he did for a few minutes. I can't imagine a hole of rocks was very comfortable, but at least he was a good sport.

Henry spent much of the day hanging out in his saucer while we cooked, built fires, and Emma wandered around the campsite. He loved having his own space, and munched his toys for most of the afternoons.

I love this photo cause it looks like a paparazzi photo from a magazine.

One of the crabs that Shane & Emma found. He was returned safely to his rockpile, don't worry.

Henry smiling while taking a nap on the beach. I would definitely be smiling, too.

Shane taught Emma the ins and outs of vandalism, and left some marks on some of the driftwood we found on the beach. Emma wrote her name and Shane drew some trucks.

This was a big moment for Emma. This was the first tree that she had ever climbed all by herself and she was so proud. A banana slug was injured in the event, however, which she was then obsessed with for the afternoon.

Just outside of Stanwood we found this AMAZING park. It had been custom designed and built to look like a castle, a viking boat and lots of other things. It was a dream come true for Emma. We spent two full afternoons there playing on the toys. It was very cool.

All in all, a great family weekend. The beach was beautiful, and it was so fun to finally have some good family time this summer. I hope to squeeze in one more camping trip this summer. We'll see.

Emma & my dreamy life....

Tonight we had a real simple FHE. We had a lesson on tithing, then wrote in Emma's journal, and she drew pictures of our camping trip as part of her entry while Shane & I looked at finances for the month. Then we each had a little bowl of Ice cream (Emma finished hers, and then sat on my lap and "shared" most of mine as well). I then asked Emma if she wanted to walk out with me to check the mail. She said, "No Mom, I'm kinda tired. I'm going up to bed." So, off she went and I didn't hear from her again. Just checked on both kiddos and they are fast asleep. I love that she sometimes puts herself to bed. I think she's still exhausted and recovering from our camping trip this past weekend.

Oh, and this morning, she was up early. Even before Henry, which was a miracle. She crawled in bed with us for a while, and then when she heard Henry stirring, she jumped up to go talk to him in their room. By the time I got there, Emma was squished in the crib with him, tickling his tummy and making him laugh. A very sweet moment I don't want to forget.

I read Cjane's blog the other day, and part of it was about her life as a dream. She wrote about how she doesn't want to wake up from her dreamy dream of a life. My thoughts exactly. I never want to wake up from this dreamy life of mine. Sweet kiddos and an Out of This World Husband, who as I write this is out on a late night milk-run, so Emma won't have to go without in the morning. It seriously doesn't get much better than this.

The Recklings go camping...

Camano Island, 2010
More to come tomorrow...