Hanging out at Jeff's Lake!!

So, a couple of weekends ago I took Addie down to Maytown (about 15 niles south of us) to play at a friend's lake. Derek took Ethan and Cristian camping but didn't take a single picture. He's a dork like that. But I had my camera so I got some great pics of Addie just looking cute, since she does that so well. The weather was great and it was just nice to hang out. Right before we got there Jack proposed to his girlfriend of a few years so we got to see them while they were still super giddy. It was really exciting to see them all happy and excited like that. So now Miss Niki can soon be Aunt Niki. So, it was just a nice weekend overall.

Addie always loves on Miss Niki. Jack almost gets jealous because it always takes Addie quite a while to warm up to him, but it is always instant with Niki. I have to say...Niki is generally sweeter than Jack, but Uncle Jack can definately throw the kids much higher in the air and is always more than willing to do it for what seems like hours.

I have some big feet compared to my little girl

She won't even keep her shoes on outside.

Addie will ride in the golf cart or on a tractor all day long with Aund Stacy if we would let her. Stacy lets her steer and everything. You can tell if you walk behind the golf cart that seems to be driven by a drunk.

1st post in far too long!!

So, this is going to be the first of several posts. I have lots and lots of pictures to put up. I am a slacker, I know. So, I will start with some pics I took a while ago. Most of these pics are from the Farmer's Market in Olympia. It isn't huge but has all the necessities of a great farmer's market. When we got there it hadn't opened yet so we walked down to the waterfront and walked around for a bit. Derek was off canning asparagus, which I do have a picture of too. He was so excited to go do this. For one because it is so yummy and for two it was kinda fun. The kids and I went over there for a bit. It was a lot of fun. So, here are some pics...

These first two pics were taken in front of our house. We live next to some woods that the kids are always trying to play in. Ethan gets to sometimes but Addie isn't allowed and the 2nd picture is when she got caught trying to go into the woods.

Here we are at the Farmer's Market. They have a cute little garden next to it that the kids were having fun running through and smelling the flowers.

This is when we went down to the docks. The water was full of jellyfish and Ethan was having a blast showing them all to Addie. He is always so sweet to her.

This picture was take at John and Jodie's house where Derek and a crew were canning asparagus. This is a yearly event. I hope he didn't make them too spicy. We will find out soon.

Skydiving videos

Hey guys!! So, I've finally got the videos uploaded and ready to be watched. I will be putting pictures up later today or tomorrow also. If you have time...try and watch both videos. They totally compliment each other. This was a phenomenal experience and I would definately recommend it to everybody. Enjoy the videos.

Clara's Video

Derek's Video

Jumping from a plane

Today has been an interesting day to say the least. After days and days of gorgeous weather yesterday it started pouring down rain. Not just a little rain but major dumpingt. Ugh!! My stress level totally jumped up wondering if the weather was going to permit us to jump after all the planning for the past year. For those that don't know...this was a Father's Day gift for Derek!!

So, I've been planning this for nearly a year. I kept it a secret from Derek all that time. A few days ago I made a comment about something and Derek said he thought he knew what we were doing. I said yeah right...then he straight out asked if we were skydiving. I can't lie when asked directly so that was the end of the secret. He was excited about it though.
So this morning I woke up and it was cloudy so I called Skydive Snohomish to see what was going on with the flights. They said they wouldn't cancel it at that point because the sun was out a little bit and might burn off most of the clouds. So all day I watched the clouds and they were messing with me. They would come and go. I called the company again about 1.5 hours before our scheduled time and they said to come on in and see what happens. They said it would be easier to send us if we were there.

So off we went and my anxiety level sky rocketed. I was tapping my fingers, feet and squishing my fingers without really noticing. So we started filling out the paperwork and I had to stop reading it because it wasn't making anything better. It said...Skydiving is not safe...great! Just what I wanted to hear, right?? We eventually found out we were going to be in the 3rd/last group for that time slot, so I decided I needed a margarita since we were told we had about an hour wait. I figured it would calm my nerves a bit.

There was a bar on the airfield so we headed on over. Addie was sitting on my lap and told me she wanted to go in a plane. I told her she couldn't go in a plane but we could go look at some planes that were next to the restaurant. As we were looking at a little two seater plane some guy got in it and asked if we wanted to go in it. So we got on in and went for a ride with some random guy named Dwayne. Addie loved it. We went up, did a big circle around the airport and came down. He told us that when he was a kid he would hang out around the airport hoping someone would take him for a ride so when he sees people that look like they would love a ride he takes them up. It was so random and just perfect. After we got back on the ground I was totally calm and ready to go.

Then it was about time for us to head over and get ready for our jump. We were doing a tandem jump which means we were connected to someone who is licensed for tandem jumping and has a ton of experience. I was set up with Kelly. I had requested to be connected to him. He is the older brother a friend of mine, Casey, that I knew since Jr. High. Casey was also a skydiver. He loved it and was always trying to get his friends to go diving. Awesome guy...he died in October 2007 in a plane crash with 9 others when they were on their return home from a skydiving event in Idaho. So, anyway...I was attached to Kelly who has nearly 4000 jumps. He was awesome.

So, up in the plane we went and traveled to 13,000 feet. It was me, Derek, Stacy, Jack and his friend Brian. There were also a few individual divers. So the singles went, then Derek went first out of our group. I scooted up, looked out the side of the plane and saw Derek falling through the sky!! Then away we went...with a few "accidental" barrell rolls as we jumped out of the plane. It is the most amazing feeling ever. It doesn't feel like you are falling, just flying through the air...very quickly. I had been so scared but it was so much different than I could ever imagine. It looked amazing and felt amazing, then all of sudden we slowed down and the parachute was out. I got to do a bit a steering and we chatted with Derek a little bit. he asked what we were going to do next year for Father's Day. Brat!! He said it was the best Father's Day gift ever.
So...I know a lot of you think I was crazy...I have to agree. I never had any intention of going. I only decided to go because I knew I wouldn't be able to see Derek's enjoyment if I wasn't there with him, or have any idea what it was that I gave him. So I went. Plus, knowing how much Casey loved it made me curious about it. It was a phenomenal experience and although I know it sounds crazy it was the most amazing experience of my life aside from seeing my children for the first time. It definately rates right up there with it though.

So...I just wanted to share my experience with all of you. Thank you all so much for being so excited and worried for me!! I will put pics and videos up soon!! Probably Monday!!

Ethan's rafting adventure

I thought this series of pictures deserved their own post. I don't know how it started but Ethan was sitting on this raft. I don't know if it got pushed or if it just started floating but all of a sudden Ethan realized he was leaving the edge of the lake and started panicking. Derek got him to calm down a bit and then he and Jack went on a rescue mission to get him out of the lake. Once Ethan realized that he wasn't stuck in the middle of the lake forever and that he was going to be rescued he calmed down and sat still.

Once he was safe he decided he could do a little joyriding

And finally they got back to shore safe and sound

Memorial Day weekend in Maytown

We had lots going on this year fro Memorial Day weekend. We were invited to hang out at a friend's lake in Maytown. Maytown is about 10 miles south of Olympia so it is real close to home. Only about 20 minutes away. It was a lot of fun. Derek had to work over the weekend so we were close enough that he was able to hang out a bit although he ended up having to work more than he anticipated, which stunk because he didn't get to play with us in the sunshine.

The group was a bunch of kids a bit younger than us that loved to party but were very mindful of the kids and seemed to enjoy them. It was a great time and I was so glad that we were invited out. I took a ton of pics and was able to whittle it down to just a few or so.

Addie absolutely adores Miss Niki. they had a little dancing game on the deck and were too cute to watch. They would dance from side to side on the deck and then jump off the end. It was cute.

Ethan very quickly found out that the lake and surrounding area was covered in tadpoles and frogs. He quickly named a tadpole Billy and after that they were known as Billies. Here he is searching for billies in a stream around the edge of the property.

On the last day we were there Ethan got to hang out in a boat a little bit. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. he listened so well and sprinted faster than ever to get his life jacket on before the boat left without him.

I thought this picture was cute. Have I mentioned that I LOVE my new camera??

Ethan went for a watery stroll

Addie loves these flip flops. She thinks they are the coolest.

Addie can't get to Niki fast enough when we see her and they are generally inseperable for a bit.

She is so darn cute in those bright sundresses

Addie and Daddy had a blast skateboarding down the hill. It was the perfect amount of slant so that they moved along well but not super fast. Still controlable.

Did Addie tell Aunt Stacy a funny joke?

Addie is the Budlight Monster

Addie loves to fly up in the air and Uncle Jack is so tall she goes waaaaaaay high in the air.

I think Addie jumped off this deck at least 100 times

Some of the guys made Ethan a couple of swords to play with around the fire. Here Ethan is attacking Jeff who took it like a pro.

Aunt Stacy shared donuts with Addie making her Addie's new best friend

Addie went for a tractor ride with Aunt Stacy
Addie wanted to check out the water for frogs then just wanted to stomp around in the lake
Addie loves her daddy and is always most comfortable in his arms