Perhaps summer has come?

Hello! Hope that this finds you well and not blown over! We are fine here and I am cautiously optimistic that perhaps the summer may have come at last. As Tim and I said today, you really can't beat Seattle in the summer, the problem is is that it might only last 2 days!!

The girls, Silas and I were able to make the most of the sunshine at the end of last week. We spent a quiet morning at home on Thursday which was great and then went swimming and onto the park in the afternoon. On Friday we met up with Grania, Aoife and Hugo at Central Park in the Highlands and also saw Esther's friend Brooke too, which was great for Esther as she then played with her, whilst Naomi and Aoife played together. Silas just ran off with every ball he could find, apart from his own! We all had fun though!

On Friday afternoon we made some cards, the girls played for a long time and then we walked round to the post box to post the cards. We then walked round the block, which took ages,  mainly because I let Silas walk with his monkey reigns on his back and he kept on wanting to stop and look at all the ants (or "Bee" as he calls them)! We did eventually get home!

Yesterday I had a pleasant hour wandering round the Farmers Market in Issaquah, without the children and then in the afternoon we went to Ikea. It was warm and dull yesterday so it was a good thing to do. The girls went into the play land but Silas came with us and had a great time playing with the soft balls and other toys that we picked up and put down! At the end, we bought frozen yoghurt cones (like a Mr. Whippy) which Silas thought was great, mainly because he liked licking everyone else's cone!

Today we have been out for ages but it was good fun! Silas did really well in church today and stayed in nursery on his own without Tim or me and without screaming the place down! We were really pleased, although it helped that our English friend Mary Jane was in the nursery this morning! When I went up for communion, I took the children with me, as usual and, unbeknown to me, Silas picked up the microphone that was laying on the chair. Jen, my friend with whom I have coffee from time to time had to rescue it from Silas and put it back on the chair. Although it was switched off, it wouldn't have taken Silas long to work it out and to start singing into it! The worse thing was though, was that I had absolutely no idea that this had happened until some friends told me about it at the end of the service!! I felt like a terrible mother!!!

After church, we ate our picnic at the Fountain and it was fun to watch everyone else get very wet! mind you we had to move at one point as the wind changed direction and we were getting wet from the spray! Naomi was not amused!! After that we went to the Science Museum and had a great time looking at the Speed exhibit that is on there.

As part of the exhibit, there is a maze made out of coloured plastic sheets stretched between metal poles, which we all did together the first time. After that the girls wanted to go in on their own, which they did but if they got a bit lost, they just crawled underneath the sheets until the found their way out!! However they did it a few times and did manage to go all the way round with out cheating which was good! At the front of the maze there was one clear plastic sheet which Esther thought was the exit and ran straight into it and landed on her bottom with her legs in the air! She wasn't hurt, just a bit surprised but it was funny to see her do a classic 'clown' fall!

We took the children to the IMAX to see a film on speed car racing, which was interesting. Silas enjoyed it, but there was one rather long section that showed the cars crashing which was upsetting for Naomi. There was no warning that it was there and the film was rated a U so we were not expecting it; we hope that she doesn't have nightmares tonight!

We also went into see the Lazar show - aka "the Lady show" (Esther) or the "Lazy Show" (Naomi)!  We all laid on the floor to watch it and the children all enjoyed it very much. IT was their favourite part of the day when we asked them so that was good! It was funny because it was set to the Beatles music and, my goodness, I had never realised quite how much of their lyrics must have been written in a drug induced haze until now! "We all live in a yella submarine"? I mean, really!!!

We came back to Issaquah for dinner at a pasta place but not until Mummy had driven Daddy's car on the I5 for a bit! Tim had been playing the piano so had taken his car to church this morning (he has to be there for 7:30 am) and I was driving it home but somehow managed to miss the I90 turn off! I never do it in my car but I have done it twice in Tim's!! I was really cross with myself!!

Silas has been in a very helpful mood this week;  on Friday, he saw me fetch a clean towel out of the drawer to dry his hands on and so when he finished, he very kindly put it back there for me! Later on when i did his hands again, he fetched a different towel too! Then this morning, the drawer with the bread board in got stuck and I was using a knife to try and fish things out so that the drawer would open. Anyway, Silas was watching me do this and so brought things to help. First of all he brought me the pizza slice, then a few minutes later, he brought me the tin opener and then finally the egg separator!! All of which were very kind but not much use especially when then I had more things to fish out of the drawer!

Well, that is it for now! I will write on Wednesday! Until then, love to you all!