A few more days

Hello! Hope that this finds you all well; we are fine here and are getting very excited about our forthcoming trip to the UK! Only 3 more sleeps until we leave!!

Tim and I have had a lovely few days away this week; we went to Whidbey Island from Tuesday to Thursday and had a great time just relaxing. We stayed in a lovely little cottage that was totally un-child friendly which was wonderful! We explored all the art galleries in the little towns on Tuesday and Wednesday and went into the Premium Outlet mall on Thursday on the way home as it was very wet!

Mum, Dad and the children had a good time whilst we were away too; they went into Seattle on the bus on Wednesday to the Children's Museum which they had all enjoyed. Silas was apparently mesmerized by the bus and sat there silently for the outgoing journey! The museum had an Alice in Wonderland exhibition on which the girls had enjoyed and they had also had fun painting and sculpting in the craft section!

On Monday, the girls stayed for lunch whilst Mum, Dad and I went to do some shopping in North Bend which was good and then we went to Target in the afternoon. On Friday we went to ToysRUs to buy the girls some proper bikes, ie ones with only 2 wheels and stabilizers for their birthdays. We all felt that they needed the bikes now, at the beginning of the summer, rather than in October or when Mum and Dad next visit, so they have them to return to in April. I feel confident now that the girls can cycle without much in the way of help from me, which means that I can concentrate on Silas either in the buggy or on his own trike, which is good.

Dad managed to put the bikes together on Friday afternoon and the girls have been riding them around the garage a few times as it has been wet here. They are doing very well! Silas has now got a small basketball hoop and ball which he loves and really enjoys getting the ball in the hoop and likes you to do it too! When Mum and Dad took the children to the park when we were away, he was looking for a  hoop but there wasn't one there, but at least he has his very own one now!

Yesterday morning Mum and I were playing at airports and aeroplanes with the children to help them remember what happens when we fly on a big plane! It was fun and, we hope, helpful! Tim and dad took the stuff to the 2nd hand store in the morning and in the afternoon we went swimming. The children all did very well swimming and Naomi even managed to take a few strokes on her own. Esther is now so much more comfortable in the water that she will let go of us and swim using her ring which is good! Silas was OK too, but he is still not a great fan!

Today we had church this morning and then came home to clean carpets, thanks to Dad and dinner, thanks to Mum! This afternoon we have played and then Mum and I took the children to Target to buy the girls cycle helmets, which took forever! In fact it took so long that Tim phoned us to ask where we were! We were in fact in the garage at that point but still!

The next couple of days will be spent getting sorted out for our trip home; we don't have to be at the airport until 5:30 pm on Wednesday which gives us all day to get ready as well as the next couple of nights. We have at least finished most of our other jobs which is good!

Anyway, this will be the last one for a few weeks but we are so looking forward to seeing many of you whilst we are in the UK! Until then, bye for now!!