Husky Brothers

These guys love their huskies

Soccer

Daniel started playing in the Ballard Youth Soccer League this fall. Half of his team is also in his class at St. Alphonsus, so that makes it extra fun. He's having a great time developing his soccer skills and his brothers enjoy coming to practices, too. Matthew sometimes spends the entire practice playing with the team, and Aaron loves the awesome playground nearby.

 Confident, and ready to play!

 Chasing down that ball.

 Snacks at halftime are always a favorite part of the game.

Post-game talk.

Tired, but happy.

8 Years!

September 3rd was our eighth anniversary! Time flies! It seems like only yesterday...

We were very blessed to take a long weekend trip to Victoria, BC to celebrate our anniversary and spend some quality time together after all the craziness of summer. We packed our things, said goodbye to the boys, and jumped on the clipper for a weekend of phone-free, schedule-free time together.

 Just like the boys going off to school...

We were a little early to the clipper, so we walked around the waterfront.

 Already relaxed.

The ride there was beautiful.

 The historic Empress Hotel.

 Champagne and strawberries in our room in honor of our anniversary.

 The Empress at night.

 Breakfast! I'm drooling just thinking about it again.

 We spent most of our time walking all over the city, but stopped a few times at some local attractions. Like Miniature World! It was an awesome museum filled with miniature scenes of anything you could imagine. Battle scenes, old time towns, fairy tales, and even..

 the circus!

The Parliament Building and Queen Victoria.

 Outside the parliament building, the Empress in the background.

 Another walk took us to the beach. Cold and gray, but still pretty.

 Most of our days there started out gray and rainy, but they always cleared up. We had an amazing view from our hotel room.

 Down on the causeway on our last evening we happened upon these guys: Dave Lang and the Twin Otters. Really fun 1930s style jazz/western--they were so great we had to buy their CD.

 Parliament Building at night.

Last views of the Harbor. So long, Victoria, thanks for a wonderful time! (And, thanks to Nana and Papa for watching the boys so we could get out on our own for the weekend!)

First Days of School

It's a new school year...and a big one at that. Daniel started kindergarten and Matthew started preschool at St. Alphonsus in Ballard. Daniel loves wearing a uniform, and had a pretty easy transition since nearly 75% of his kindergarten class moved up from the preschool together. Matthew has had a bit of a hard time being dropped off, but when we pick him up he tells us about all the fun he's had. His favorite parts are all the "gluing and scissoring" he gets to do. They're growing up so fast!

 On our way to Kindergarten! (Complete with a scrape across his nose. :/ )

Picking up Daniel after his first day.

The next day was Matthew's first day of preschool!

 Ready to go in. :)

Cousin Visit

Auntie Karen, Uncle Jesse, and cousins Grady, Colin and Adam came all the way from Maryland to visit us!  We had a whirlwind 10 days of time together, both at our house and down on Grandma's farm in Rochester. It was so much fun for the boys to get to play together. Six boys under the age of 5! Are we crazy?!

We took a trip to the Centralia Children's Museum one day. Adam was thoroughly excited.

 Auntie Laura and Aaron built some towers...

 which Aaron promptly knocked down.

 Five of the six playing almost together.

Daniel and Chris spent the entire time building with legos.

 Back at the farm, the sheep were a big draw for Adam,

 and Aaron, too! He spent most of his time yelling "BAAAAA!" at them.

 Six boys in a wheelbarrow.

 The big brothers give Colin a ride.

After Mass photo at St. Mary's in Centralia, where Uncle Jesse and Auntie Karen were married 10 YEARS AGO! Look how sweet they are! We took pictures of Karen and Jesse here, too, but those pictures must've been on somebody else's camera...
 

 The Southwest Washington Fair was going on, so we took a trip down to check it out. Matthew loved the airplane ride.

 Uncle Jesse earned a parenting merit badge...he stayed at the fair almost all day with Daniel and Grady (an additional 4 hours after the rest of us went home for naps) so they could ride all the rides they were big enough for, hundreds of times over.

 Another day trip: Westport! It was raining when we got there, but by the time we got home we had a few very sunburnt boys. :(

 Grady was a little upset that Washington beaches are not nearly as warm as the Jersey Shore.

 Daniel didn't seem to mind....until he fell in.

 Colin didn't seem to mind either.

And Matthew....well...Matthew really enjoyed the sand.

Oldest to youngest.

 Boots!

 So many fun/dangerous games on the farm. Like, "play on the broken picnic table." (Which wasn't broken until we got there...)

 "Play on the broken picnic table with a bucket on your head." Leave it to Aaron to add new dangerous aspects to the game.

Back in Seattle, the boys found safer but still exciting things to do. Like watch for the garbage truck.

Traffic jam while playing with bikes, trikes, and other vehicles.

 Fudgesicles! Hooray for visits with cousins!