Tim in Chicago

Hello! Welcome from a very wet Seattle! It has poured non  stop today and I have got soaked just getting everyone out of the car! I am worried about Mum and Dad as they are having such beautiful weather down in California and then they are going to come here! Dad says he is going to bring the nice weather with him so I hope he is right!

Despite the rain we have had a good day today. Tim left for the airport at more or less the same time as the children and I left for church and he is away until Wednesday. In fact, he and Mum and Dad arrive almost at the same time and so they are all coming home together! We are hoping that the suitcases fit in Tim's beetle....

Church was packed today and I stood for a good half of the service before sitting on a folding chair for the last bit. There were lots of students who I assume have just arrived back or who are new to Seattle. Silas did amazingly well and after being initially upset, settled down and stayed in teh nursery all by himself! Clever boy!

After church I took the children to the Seattle Center to the Children's Museum which was a bit hit for all of them which was good. I need to find a better place to have lunch when I am on my own with teh children as we went to a restaurant today which was not good; the menu selection was poor and the service was slow - I am not sure that I would go again. The problem with teh food court area is that I can't push the buggy and carry the food when I am on my own and so at some point i would have to leave the children on their own which I don't like. I thought this restaurant would be the answer but maybe not!

Silas was shattered as he hadn't slept and once it became clear he was not going to go to sleep in his buggy i let him come out and crawl around. He had a great time looking in the little windows in one of the exhibits - lots of 'ack - ack' as there were little mice in them but he was a bit of a liability crawling around as people were not looking for him! We thankfully managed to avoid the craft area today but the girls enjoyed the rest of it. Naomi did tell me that we had missed certain bits but I appeased her by telling her we would do that bit first next time! We spent the last 15 minutes or so in the area specialy for Silas which was good before we came home. Silas fell asleep quickly in teh car and I let him have an hour before I woke him up.

When we came home the girls watched television before tea, whilst Silas unpacked the drawer that holds the bibs and flannels in! He loves playing with my saucepans and the baking tins under the oven (fine if the oven is not on) and spends hours happily doing this; I am not so keen on this game but it is hard stopping the drawers opening and he isn't doing any harm, just making a noise and a mess!

Naomi and Esther drew great pictures this morning for Tim before he left, which was nice! We have had fun this week making Pumpkin figures (a cat and a witch) as well as learning about trees, leaves, fruits and seeds with Fritzi on Thursday afternoon. WE met for playgroup and spent the first bit gathering leaves and things before making leaf and seed prints. The girls do enjoy their craft time!'

On Friday it was school as usual and then we had a good afternoon at home. I helped the girls make a tent in teh playroom so that they could play at camping, which they thought was great fun! Naomi was very excited! Esther had had an unsettled night on Thursday and fell asleep on Friday afternoon, which meant that Naomi and i had time to read some stories together and start a jigsaw puzzle which was fun!

Yesterday we spent the morning at home and then went out in the afternoon to Home Depot and then to the Cougar Mountain Zoo. It was a good day for the zoo as it was a bit damp but not pouring. WE saw the new tigers which fascinated all the children. Silas was amazed (but still said 'ack-ack'!!) and really enjoyed watching them. The girls were laughing at the tigers fighting and they were sweet! When we got down to the parrots, we watched them being put to bed which was fun! Tim hadn't been to the zoo before - only a couple of Christmas' ago when we went to the dreadful Reindeer festival and I think he quite enjoyed himself once he realised how much more there was to see!

This week we have our last dancing and gym class at the awful time of 5pm as we switch it the following week to 3pm on a Tuesday! We are obviously very excited about seeing Grandma and Grandad and Mummy and Daddy are excited about going away in 2 weeks time!

That is about it for now! Take care and I hope to write on Wednesday but I will have to see!

Winter shoes for all of them!

Hello! How are you all? Hope that this finds you well. We are not bad here having had a better nights' sleep last night which was lovely! Silas white noise machine arrived today and is now on in his room on max volume! I tried it whilst the girls were in teh bath on minimum volume and it didn't seem to do anything and since i want 'Silas to stay asleep when the girls wake up crying then I wasn't going to risk it!

We have had a fun but busy day today! After I had dropped the girls off at school, I met Ulrike and we walked around the trails in Bellevue for 2 hours! We had a wonderful walk and chat! The boys were really good and either slept or watched intently at their surroundings! Silas has begun to point and so he was pointing at the dogs we saw which was sleep. The pointing was accompanied by "ack-ack" which was funny!

The girls were staying to lunch at school, which Esther was excited about and they had had a good time! They had been playing with each other in the playground which they had found very amusing too!

By the time i collected the girls from school, the sun was shining brilliantly and so i walked them to the tiny playground not far from school for them to have a run around in. I was very impressed with Naomi's perseverance and determination today as she was practicing swinging by her hands off a high bar and she really got the hang of it! At one point she even fell (only a few inches) and she landed on her bottom but she still got up and carried on! I was very proud of her!

They had a great time but we cut it short as i had a doctor's appointment at 2pm and we needed to have lunch before hand! We had a quick lunch and then after the doctors we went to Bellevue Square to buy new shoes for all the children! Yes, Silas has had his first pair of shoes! Ah! He had grown out of his leather pair and, since he is getting more and more mobile on his feet, it is time for him to have a proper pair.

The girls are very proud of their shoes - Naomi has a black patent pair and they are very shiny, which Naomi loves! Esther's are brown and very nice too! Silas has a blue trainer like pair but he is not too keen on them and preferred them off his feet to on them! he'll get used to them.

Yesterday whilst Naomi was at school, Esther and i had some stories whilst Silas was asleep and even more stories once Naomi came home! We read some fun ones though! Esther quite likes poems which makes a nice change! After lunch we went to Esther's friend Brooke's house for a playdate and we had a lovely time. Blake is 4.5 and is in naomi's class so they knew each other and the four of them had a great time! Hopefully they will come to us next time.

On Monday we had school in teh morning and then eventually had ballet and gym in the afternoon. Thankfully when i arrived at the Gym class there was a notice to say that they are starting a new combined age dance and gym class at 3pm on a Tuesday. As our this is such a better time i switched it there and then and although we have to go next Monday at teh same time, the following week we will be at the new time! I am so relieved!

The girls had a good time on Monday - I was watching them dance or do the gymnastics for a while! Silas enjoys watching them too! Esther is funny to watch as she is so excited by it all she is all over the place. Naomi is getting quite good at the gymnastics and certainly has more coordination and confidence than i have - although that is not too difficult! At least all the lessons are paying off!

Well, that is it for now and i will write again on Sunday!

Car Hunting.

Hello! Hope that this finds you all well. We are fine here and have had a whole week without anyone being ill! Hooray! Silas has been a bit unsettled as he has been teething - his top front tooth has been coming through but other than that we have been OK.

The second half of the week has been better than the first. Naomi's behaviour improved as the week went on and this was helped hugely by the fact that she had a great time playing with Fritzi on Thursday afternoon.I think just having a friend to play with that is her age and who she knows well was a good thing. She even managed to cope until bedtime on Friday which was good!

Silas was miserable all day on Thursday but he too enjoyed the park with Fritzi and Felix. He was crawling up and down the stairs at the park and loved going down the slide. He is really quite happy just bumbling along exploring everything and he enjoys the park. He is getting good at standing but not yet able to walk with me holding onto his hands. his knees sag if i try this! It was fun to see Ulrike and to catch up a bit from my point of view too!

On Friday, Silas had his first music class at teh place where Esther had hers last year. It really was a class for siblings as we all had older children! Funnily enough the lady who I have been waving too all year also has her son in the same class and she had a name, Saschkya (or something like that1! and her son in Janic who is 6 months old. Her oldest child has started started in Kindergarten but she has another one at the same school as the girls but in the other class! She left early though as Janic was tired so I am not sure whether she will come again or whether she will move to another day. It was nice to meet her though.

Silas really enjoyed his class and it was different to the one that I had been with Esther. He shook some rattles and enjoyed a massage as well as listening to the singing. He is going to enjoy it I think.

After that we went shopping which was a bit rushed but OK and then I collected the girls. In the afternoon Elisabeth and Amy came round and Elisabeth and the girls did some craft before going into the garden to play. We have had a lovely sunny weekend which was a real bonus as they were not forecasting sun at all!

On Saturday we had the morning at home and then we met Melinda and Chad for lunch, which was lovely. We went to the Salmon Hatchery afterwards and had a great time there learning all about the salmon mainly from the Issaquah Mayor!! She was there as a volunteer for the Hatchery and I happened to catch her to ask a question. She was extremely pleasant and very happy to chat to us - she must have spent about half an hour with us talking about the fish in different parts of the Hatchery and even gave the children some food to feed the trout with! We al had a great time and it was a good time to see the Salmon. I am slightly concerned that by the time Mum and Dad get here for Salmon Days that the salmon are going to be really manky with bits of flesh hanging off and a nasty smell! They have come early this year! Ah well!

I was delighted last night to discover that we could get Series II of the West Wing on our Media Center computer and so we were able to watch the first 2 episodes and work out what had happened after the shooting!! I was much relieved!!

This morning I managed to go back to bed for an hour which was lovely as church for us is now back at 11:00 rather than 10:00 as it was last year. It was great to be in teh newly renovated building for our service -it is looking truly amazing with all the walls painted and new rooms added and old ones taken away. Everyone has worked really hard and has done a brilliant job. I know i only went once (Tim got there twice) but it is still nice to know that we have been part of something that will hopefully last longer than we will be at the church.

After church we went and had a quick lunch in Bellevue as we wanted to go car hunting. We want to replace my car as it needs a certain amount of work doing to it. We looked at a Nissan Quest, an Odyssey (like we have already) a Freestar and a Town and Country. The highlight for the girls was the ride in the Hummer from the office to the lot - Esther wants one like that she tells us! Naomi liked the new Town and Country one as it had a DVD player and because the seats swivelled round!! Talk about winning the children over!!

We asked Esther why she liked the Hummer and she said "because it is BIG" - we can really see her in years to come marrying a rich oil merchant and living in Texas where everything is BIG!!! She was telling me at lunch time that the crisps were "picy" and so I repeated just that 'they are picy are they?" She then leant forward and very earnestly said to me "No mummy, there is a ssss; it is ssss (pause)  picy!" It was very funny! Also when asked why we didn't like the Freestar she said to the man "Daddy says that it hasn't been taken well care of!"

Silas continues to learn new sounds - this week he has learnt that a fish goes (in his words) "mum mum" and is starting to say moo. Tim was reading him stories whilst i was asleep this morning and was telling me that he was looking at a page of food and Silas took out his dummy, smacked his lips together and then put his dummy back in! Funny boy!

Naomi was amazing us yesterday with her word search skills. We were at a restaurant yesterday with Melinda and Chad and she was able to find several of the words all by herself! We were really proud of her! I just wish school was doing more with her than they are. I have an appointment with her teacher in a fortnight's time and hope I can see some improvement! Otherwise mummy is seriously thinking of homeschool!

Anyway, that is it for now - I will write on Wednesday as normal! Take care for now!

Fall here with a vengeance!

Hello! How are you? We are gradually improving i hope here. At least, Esther is well again and I am feeling Ok too but Silas now has the upset tummy (again!) but he is doing OK. Sleep has still been an issue this week, but we had a good night last night and i am hoping for another one tonight - we can but dream I suppose!

We did OK on Monday; Esther missed school but went to ballet and gym as she had been fine all day. She played with the playdough in teh morning whilst Naomi was at school and then, prior to ballet we went to Costco to pick up the snacks needed for school.

The girls had a good time at ballet and Silas and I walked to his music class and discovered that it starts on Friday so that was useful!

WE had a terrible night on Monday night; Silas woke up and took forever to go back to sleep and even when he had finally gone, I was still awake. Then, just as I was getting into a deeper sleep, Esther woke up and took a while to settle; however as Silas sleeps so lightly, he then woke up again and didn't really go back to sleep again! In the end I got up and had a tiring day! I bought Silas a white noise machine from Amazon in the hope that it will help him stay asleep when the girls do wake up. Hopefully the girls will soon stay settled when asleep too of course!

We had a nice day yesterday though, after school, the girls and i had together time where the girls performed 3 plays for me!! I was even in one of them and Naomi said that I performed the part of Ursula (from Little Mermaid) very well! Great, thanks Naomi!!

After this we met our friends, Lisa and the twins at the park and although it was chilly we had a good time! The twins are obviously getting used to us as they were a lot louder yesterday than i have ever known them!! It was funny but good too! Lisa and I had a great chat and they are coming to our Salmon Days party which is good!

Today both the girls went to school, whilst Silas and I did our walk and then went to Michael's (the craft shop) to buy a craft for Friday when Elisabeth is coming to play. I bought 3 cheap wooden treasure boxes that we are going to paint which should be good! After that, we walked to Trader Joe's to buy some bread and then I took Silas into the Pet shop to see the dogs in teh dog hotel (yes, i am being serious - it is an excellent free activity!) and the fish. Silas enjoyed that and then we went to collect the girls.

Silas went to sleep when we came home for a bit and the girls and I did some baking. This afternoon I have been frustrated at the lack of things that I have done and the fact that the girls completely ignored me when I asked them to tidy up. It took over an hour to clear up, I was not impressed!

Now they are thankfully all asleep and I can post this and do the ironing. Mum and Dad arrived safely, I assume - I was tracking their flight on the Internet and saw that it had landed, so as long as they were on the flight and their luggage had come, then they should be OK.

That is it for now! I hope this finds you all well and I will write on Sunday.

Still suffering...

Hi! Hope that this finds you well; we, I am afraid to say, are still in the grips of a nasty tummy bug. Esther has it now and i have a touch of it. Esther certainly won't be going to school tomorrow but hopefully she'll be better in the afternoon to go to dancing. I don't know, it has been one thing after another these last 2 weeks.

Naomi wasn't right on Friday night either, although I put hers down to exhaustion. She was fine at 5pm when Tim came home but by 6pm she was so lethargic, she was crying, she wouldn't eat her tea and Tim put her to bed before 7pm and she fell asleep straight away. Unfortunately though she had a nightmare in the night, which woke us all up (Silas and Esther included) and then Silas took over 2 hours to go back to sleep! Yesterday we were all shattered and the children were in bed soon after 7pm.

We had a better night, although it was Esther's turn to not sleep well and she ended up on the floor in our bedroom again in the end. She really couldn't get going this morning but brightened up before we went to church. However, she has an upset tummy which has got worse over the day. She is fine in herself though. She didn't eat much at lunch time but ate all her tea.

Ah well! It will soon pass, although I do get nervous when Esther has diarrhoea after her month long episode when she was 15 months old!! Let's hope it is just a short lived thing and that she can go back to school on Wednesday.

Despite all this, we have had a great day today. Esther's tummy didn't start to get really bad until later on so we went to church and then met our friends Victoria and James and their children for lunch at an Italian restaurant that we always pass but had never thought to go in. It was very nice! After this we went to the Burke Museum at the University and enjoyed seeing the wildlife photos, the dinosaurs and the exhibits showing the different cultures that live in Seattle. We had a great time and all enjoyed ourselves a lot, so that was good and rather made up for yesterday!

We had a pleasant afternoon yesterday though and took the children to Kelsey Creek Park to see the animals and to play at the playground. The children had a fun time and Silas loved the animals! There was a lot of "oooh" and "ack-ack", which, although is appropriately used for a duck, can also mean any animal it seems!

On Friday, Silas and I did a long walk and then went shopping whilst the girls were at school and then had a peaceful and pleasant afternoon at home in the afternoon. It was needed!

Anyway, sorry for the whinging!! Will write on Wednesday as usual I hope as there are no other plans in the evening that I know of!

"ack-ack"

Hello! Thought I would share with you Silas' first animal sound! "Ack-ack" is "quack quack" and he has been saying it every time he sees his toy bath ducks and even said it yesterday when I said to him "what does a duck duck say?". I am very proud of him! I was showing him a fish today and making fish noises, which he was also copying but then he was giggling so I think that he thought it was just a funny game! "Ack-ack" though is entirely his own sound! He is a clever boy!!

In fact he is a bit too clever because he has worked out a way around every single one of my barriers that I built to stop him going up the stairs. I finally admitted defeat and did some research and found a gate that goes between 2 sides of the hallway so now he can't get to the stairs that way. He could go round through the dining room but he doesn't seem to have work that one out yet. I doubt it will be long though.

It was quite interesting from a child development point of view watching him defeat the barriers but frustrating from a mother's point of view! Yesterday, Naomi and I had some time together and I put Silas on the floor of dining room and blocked the way through to the lounge with one of the girl's dining table chairs. Anyway, 5 minutes later there is Silas standing on the seat of the chair holding on with one hand! Boys are definitely different to girls. They are much more adventurous and fool hardy! It is fun to watch! Sort of!

Esther was being a pickle yesterday morning (no change there then!) and i asked her to put her bottom on the chair so that she could finish her breakfast as she had to go to school. She sighed a deep sigh and said "my bottom isn't in the mood for sitting!" I ask you! What do you do with her? Today though she ate her breakfast without having to be asked once; she must have been hungry!

Naomi continues to regale us with her stories, although I got told off today for calling them stories as it appears that they are real events! Naomi was very clear about that! She is funny too and comes out with some very funny things when she is explaining things. Today she was telling me about her gym class stations but stopped mid-sentence to tell me that they weren't proper stations where the trains go but pretend stations. She is very sweet!

Our week has generally improved as it has gone on. Tim was still a bit off colour on Monday and Silas was not well yesterday but we are all much improved today. The girls are tired again but we only have one more day and then it is the weekend. I don't think we will do anything tomorrow after school much.

Naomi and Esther were extremely excited on Monday as they had their first tap/ballet and Gymnastics class. They go at the same time but are in different classes. IT was fun watching them for a bit; Naomi was doing a somersault over the bar and was landing on her feet every time and so I was very impressed although a little shocked at first as I didn't know she could do it! I was impressed with her initiative too as she couldn't quite reach the bar and so pulled over a mat to stand on and then she could do it no problem!

On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon we went to the park on our own and today we went with Caitlin and Marie which was lovely. They took us to a new park which Naomi and Silas enjoyed but Esther did not. She got herself into one of these individual seat roundabouts and ended up spinning round and round with her head down. She was really scared and although she was only in it a few minutes before I rescued her, it took a long time to calmer her down. She was fine - no injuries, just shocked. Silas was so excited when he saw the park he was bouncing up and down!

School seems to be going fine for them both; Naomi comes home with some good work on some of the days and some mediocre work at best on others. Still I can see an improvement in what is expected of her on teh good days but she does spend a  lot of time doing the same thing. Esther has still only come back with a couple of pin-pricking things and when I asked her teacher on Wednesday how she was getting on she said that she chats a lot! She said that it wasn't bad but that she does spend a lot of time chatting! I am not surprised - she has a concentration span of a flea and so if anyone ever gets her to do anything, I shall be impressed!

I had a Home Owners Association Board meeting on Monday night and then also went out on Wednesday night to participate in the church renovations. i spent most of the evening clearing up, taking blobs of paint off where it shouldn't be and generally making the downstairs where the children meet more ready for action. It is looking good!

Anyway, that is all for now! hope that this finds you well and I will write again on Sunday .

Take care!

A tiring week...

Hello. Hope that you are well. Sorry that I haven't got round to writing a blog earlier on this week. I was out at a very pleasant Body Shop at Home evening on Wednesday and haven't got round to writing one since. I had a very pleasant evening on Wednesday; my friend Rosie organised a party (a bit like a Tupperware party of old I imagine) where the lady came and we could try out a number of different Body Shop products. It was good fun and relaxing too. For a change, I found Rosie's house with out too much difficulty which made a pleasant change!

We have had a long and tiring week this week despite it only being 4 days and I am not looking forward too much to this one as it is going to be longer! The girls have found returning to school very tiring, which is completely understandable but it is going to take them a couple of weeks to get used to it all I think. Esther is getting used to being away from Mummy 3 times a week and Naomi is getting used to being there every day. They were very tired by Friday and their behaviour was suffering as a result.

Despite getting used to school, Esther has had a good first week and has made a new friend called Brooke. We actually vaguely know Brooke as she has been in our Gym class last year and her brother, Blake is in Naomi's class. Esther and she have obviously been sitting next to each other which is nice. Esther also knows a little boy called Ajay in the class but I don't think that she has been quite so pleased to see him as he pushed her on Wednesday morning! They know each other from the first 'dub dub' that we went to and always got along quite well there.

Naomi found the first day difficult mainly because there were a lot of children there who were new and they were missing their parents; I think the week got better for her but I am still worried that there doesn't seem to be too many rising 5 year old girls to play with though. It is funny really because in theory at least, the children can stay there until they are nearly 7  but Naomi seems to be the oldest girls in her class.

I am finding hard to imagine Esther at school, which is not helped by the fact that she has only brought one thing home so far. Naomi has been quite prolific which is good. The school has a web cam for the parents to see but it has been down. When it is up and running I will have a look at Esther as I am intrigued!!

In the afternoons this week we have gone to the park as the weather has been fine and I am conscious that the weather will break soon. There has been a nip in the air and I am needing a cardigan on in teh evenings. We are also amazed at how dark it is getting so early on which is silly really! Silas has had a lot more fun at the park recently as he has been crawling around and standing up and going down the slide. He loves to eat the bark though, which is a pain but other than that he has clearly had fun which is good! He loves the swings best of all and he and Naomi were laughing and laughing one day. Naomi was pushing him on the swing as I was pushing Esther and she likes to feel grown up and she was giving him a push and then running the opposite way to the swing backwards and forwards. Well, Silas thought this was hilarious and was laughing and squealing, which of course made Naomi do it all the more!! It was very funny to watch!

I have been very proud of the fact that we have started off this new year by arriving prior to 9:00! Last year we were always a little bit late and this year I vowed that we would be on time! I am getting up a bit earlier which helps and Silas is generally sleeping better which helps too! The funny thing is though that all through last year I was always arriving at the same time as another lady who also had had a third child about the same time as me; her 2 older ones were both at school though. By the end of the year we were waving cheerfully at each other. Anyway, on Wednesday morning we arrived at the very impressive hour of 8:52 and who should we pass, but the same lady! We gave each other a very triumphant wave I can tell you! It was very funny!!

Naomi woke up on Friday with an upset tummy to make matters worse and so she didn't go to school on Friday. Instead she and Silas and i did a bit of shopping and then, whilst Silas was asleep, Naomi and I laid in bed and red stories! We then had a rest/nap, although Naomi is such a fidget in bed, I don't think I actually slept!

Naomi improved as the day went on and in fact was better than she had been on Thursday as she had had a rest! We went to the park on Friday afternoon which was fun and then Tim came home just as the children were in the bath. We have had a bit of a wash out weekend though, unfortunately. We set off yesterday morning to go to IKEA to find some more dining room chairs as ours are breaking up! However, either we are more fussy or IKEA don't sell the same range (or both) but we couldn't find any we liked. We thought we would go to Costco Home but when we finally got there it had nothing either.

By the time we got home though, Tim wasn't feeling well and has been poorly every since. I had to do his session at church this morning - well, I read some stories rather than playing the piano at any rate as he wasn't well enough to come and then I took the children to the park this afternoon, which was fun. Poor Tim, hope that he is feeling better in teh morning as I am not sure what he is planning to do about work.

Silas had an unsettled night last night but hopefully it was a one off and that he will sleep tonight. He is getting to be a real pickle! He loves loves loves to climb the stairs and makes this whimpering sound when he can't get there. I have been making barriers all week only to find that it keeps him off the stairs for about an hour before he works out a way to get round them. When he does get to the stairs, he climbs up teh first half and then waits for me to come and find him; then he sets off up the second half giggling as I come and collect him!

Grandma gave me the best idea for a barrier on Friday - a cot mattress and that worked brilliantly all of Friday afternoon but by yesterday he had worked out that he could pull it toward him and then he could crawl over it! Today I moved the mattress and he can't pull it toward himself now but then he started pushing it. Now I have put a stool behind it which works sort of although I did find him trying to climb up a 45 degree gradient this evening as he had pushed the mattress so far as the stool hadn't been heavy enough!! I don't know what I am going to do with him!

Anyway, I am going to end it here as it is late and I need to go to bed. Lots of love and I should write on Wednesday as normal this week.

Walla Walla and Wallowa Lake

Hello! We have returned from our lovely holiday in Walla Walla and Wallowa Lake and I am looking forward to sharing our adventures with you!

We had a wonderful weekend at the start of our holiday when Becky and Darin and the boys came to stay with us. It was lovely to see them after so long and we had a good time catching up and chatting about life. Becky and I had a nice girlie evening one night watching Persuasion whilst the men were at the Baseball game, which was nice!

We went to church on Sunday morning and then came home and packed up ready to go to Becky and Darin's house. We arrived late but it was Ok - we were there and ready to start our holiday! On the Monday and Tuesday, Tim and I were fairly wiped out and so we didn't do too much apart from shopping and having a browse around Walla Walla. On the Wednesday though, we went to an Open Air swimming pool not far from Becky and Darin's home which was great! We had a great morning there - the girls loved the little slide that went into the water and Silas enjoyed sitting on the edge and splashing the mini fountains.

After a long time there, we set off to find a fish and chip shop that Becky had recommended and by the time we finally found it, we were all starving! Silas and Esther ate so much fish that we had to buy some more and still they could have had another piece each! They were hungry children and enjoyed the very good fish and chips!

On the Thursday we decided to go a little further afield and much to Becky's complete amazement went to a tiny place called Dayton which is in the next county to Walla Walla but only about  a 40 minute drive through very different countryside! We found that we felt very foreign here - we walked into the petrol station and everyone stopped and stared before we had opened our mouths!! It was interesting as people had a very different mindset as we found that in the train Depot museum the lady there (not that much older than us) had never been further than about a 30 - 40 mile radius outside her home!

Still it was fun and we enjoyed it, although we would not recommend the courthouse to be a place of interest especially to under 5 year old children when there are 2 men sitting in the traditional striped suits of prisoners waiting to go on trial (think Tom and Jerry but they were missing the bag marked "Swag"). I had stayed down stairs with Silas and couldn't at first understand why Tim brought the girls down so quickly after going up!

On the Friday we did a bit of shopping and then played in Becky and Darin's lovely garden in the afternoon. With a fun sprinkler, a rabbit, a sandpit and a trampoline we really didn't need to go anywhere else!

In the evening, Becky's parents kindly came to babysit for Tim and I and we went to the Drive In movie theater a little way from Becky's parents' home. We watched "Hairspray" - a really appropriate movie for the drive in! I really felt i was back in the 60's!! We enjoyed the music and have got away with playing it in the car too, which is good!  I enjoyed the atmosphere of the movie theater but it was a little odd sitting in your car. The people who do it regularly bring along chairs and full dinners but Tim and I were novices!

We left on Saturday lunch time to go to Wallowa Lake and had a beautiful journey over the mountains to Joseph, where we were staying. Our cabin had the most stunning view of the mountains in the whole area and it was an amazing view to look out on the whole time! I love our mountains here but this view of the mountains and the lake was really something special. Our cabin was OK - the house was spacious but the kitchen was cramped and had very little cutlery although there was enough crockery to feed the entire of Joseph. There were also rusty and blunt knives in the drawer and it just gave you the feeling that you were not really welcome! The beds were uncomfortable too which didn't help!

Despite all that we had a great week. We spent Tim's birthday down by the lake making sandcastles and playing in the stream. The lake was too cold and deep for swimming in but all the children enjoyed the stream for splashing in. One day, the girls and Tim made a dam, which they really enjoyed doing - Esther is still talking about it now!

On the Monday after Tim's birthday we went into the little town of Joseph, were we had a wander round the shops and something to eat. We popped into the museum and learnt all about a bank robber who later became a vice president of the bank! The girls enjoyed sitting in a real wigwam and practicing the art of grinding corn. Silas just wanted to eat it of course!

We were rather plagued with wasps whilst we were in this part of our holiday which meant that outdoor picnics were not very easy or pleasant. They were aggressive wasps too and persistent at trying to annoy you! We were fine on the beach most of the time although one day we did abandon it because there were too many sitting on the sand. It didn't stop us doing too much though!

We tended to have a day at the beach and then a day trip out and on Tuesday we went for a drive along the Hells Canyon highway. IT was a brilliant view from the top but a horrid drive up especially as it was a treacherous drop down the side of the mountain and no barrier! I drove very gingerly and was glad when we were back on solid ground!

On Friday we took a gondola (cable car) up the mountain to the top and had a wonderful view from 8000 ft up! The ride up was a little nerve wracking as it took 15 minutes to get to the top but when we were there it was great! We had a walk around and saw the chipmunks and then came down. We were glad we did as only a couple of hours later there was this tremendous storm with a power cut and i wouldn't have liked to have been up in the gondola then! One slightly worrying aspect of the power cut was that we couldn't get any water either (it was on a pump system) which was  a bit of a worry! I only had a kettle full of water which I managed to use to cook some tea for the children! IT was off for about 2 hours and was a bit like a tornado! It was quite a storm!

On Saturday we went to the lake resort and had a game of crazy golf and a ride in the bumper boats, which was fun! In the afternoon we found a park in one of the nearby towns but only after stopping to ask for directions from an elderly resident who had been to Seattle (in 1969) and had thought it was too busy and so hadn't been again! What i love about being in these remoter parts is that people stop and chat for ages even when you are just asking for directions and when we are asked "where are you from", no-one questions us when we say we are from Seattle! They obviously think that we are how  Seattlites talk! If we say that here, we get told "no you're not!

Yesterday morning we had an early start - thanks mainly to Silas waking us all up early and left the house at 8:00. We were home before 4:00 pm having stopped a few times. We had a brilliant journey - the children were fabulous although we had a disastrous nappy when we had our first mid morning stop! It was a real "dunk in the bath job" but all we had was some baby wipes!! I think we used nearly half the packet! It was made worse by the fact that all the sand that Silas had consumed in the last week was being emitted!!!

Today we have unpacked, gone shopping and gone to the park, which is good and tomorrow Naomi returns to school! Esther starts on Wednesday. Silas has somehow mastered the art of climbing the stairs even though we have been living in a bungalow for the last 2 weeks!! Great!! he is a pickle! 

Well, that is all our news for now, I am going out on Wednesday so if I don't get written for a few days, I am sorry! At least this one has been a long one!