Peyton at 7.5 months, Lauren at almost 6 months:

Here are some pics from the past week:

Lauren in an outfit my Grandma VM brought back from Hawaii for me when I was a baby

Peyton has been a HUGE angels fan since James gave up his old hat.  He begged that we dress Lauren in angels clothes, but since Lauren’s girly-clothes are still a bit too big, we pulled out Peyton’s old angels outfit and snapped some pics

Miscellaneous Peyton & Lauren picture

Here start the vacation pics:  On Sunday – after church, of course – we (Uncle Gordon, cousin Lisa, sis-in-law Brandi, brother Brad, Lauren and I) drove up to Mount Baker to hike. 

We started up where 12 feet of snow sat piled up around the parking lot.  Here’s Lisa climbing the snow wall.

We thouroughly enjoyed the snow – even sliding down this steep hill on our bums.  Lauren seemed to enjoy the trip

Brad was very proud of himself.

After the REALLY snowy area (Artist’s Point) we went down to the Bagley Lake trails and trekked around that area.  There were a few steep snowy sections that we crossed, but some were unsafe because the water was eroding the snow, so we had to turn back.

Before going to the top, we stopped at Nooksack Falls.

The snow at Baker was especially fun because the day before we’d been in bathing suits at Lake Padden.  Okay, well, not really bathing suits…that is, I thought James had grabbed the bathing suit bag from the entry way, but he thought I’d grabbed the bag, so our suits were at home…but we enjoyed the lake anyway.

Peyton had a blast – he scored kayak rides from Uncle Brad, Uncle Gordon and Lisa.  He also swam out in the Lake with Uncle Brad & Uncle Gordon.

Here’s Daddy and baby girl

Peyton also spent some time playing “crispy” – frisbee – with everyone.

When we went to Baker, we left Peyton at home with Daddy because Peyton was SO tired from being up late the past few nights and skipping naptimes.  To make up for it, since Peyton REALLY wanted to go hiking, we spent Monday checking out various Bellingham parks.  Here Peyton & Uncle Brad are scouting for fish in Bellingham’s Whatcom Falls park. 

And of course we spent time at Uncle Gordon’s – sitting around the campfire, playing croque (sp??  I don’t think I’ve ever written that word before) and throwing the frisbee.

We had a blast – it was so much fun to see Uncle & Auntie and to spend so much time outside.  I’d forgotten how much fun hiking is!

I’m still alive.  We’ve been very busy with Uncle Brad & Auntie Brandi who came to visit us last week.  Since they left today, I promise I’ll soon upload some pics from our adventures (kayaking and frisbee at Lake Padden, trekking through the snow at Mt. Baker, and visiting a few city parks in Bellingham).

Lauren is practicing to be a ninja warrior.  For the past week she’s developed lunging-action and grabs at  anything within three feet of her.  Making dinner has become much more difficult and therefore also more time consuming because of the grabbing hands that didn’t used to get in the way. 

Eating dinner has also become an adventure.  Almost a month ago, when we first started Lauren on baby food, I had been giving her a tablespoon of food every time we sat at the table to eat.  Only a week into this routine we stopped to eat at Taco Bell on the way home from Bellingham because Lauren was ready to eat.  Except that I didn’t bring baby food for her – I didn’t realize she was very much into the eating routine.  I nursed her, then my food arrived.  Do you know how impossible it is to eat a bean burrito while holding a ninja in training? 

We stuck with the regular food routines for a while after that.  Lauren would smack her lips every time I set the table and put her in her high chair.  From peaches and pears, apples and bananas, to green beans and squash, Lauren loves her food.  And when her food isn’t coming fast enough, she takes matters into her own hands.

Like tonight.  Tonight big brother was throwing a fit at dinner time, so while I usually do not leave Lauren’s food on her high chair tray because of her ninja lunges, tonight I was more focused on getting big brother to his room.  While I talked to him in his room, I heard Daddy and Uncle Tyler snickering at the table.  When I came back, Uncle Tyler was prying Lauren’s bowl out of her hands while she screamed in protest. 

She was hungry.  I wasn’t there to feed her.  She solved the problem herself. 

Notice the fixed look of concentration and determination in her eyes.

Here’s a look of deep satisfaction at her success.

Look at that apparent shock at the results of her venture.  Ninjas are so deceptive.

And a closer look at the green beans on her clothes (although I notice it sort of blends into her clothes in these pics – let’s just say the large smear above her right leg isn’t supposed to be there)

Now that I think of it, most of Lauren’s ninja moves are related to grabbing at food…maybe ninja isn’t Lauren’s path.  Maybe Lauren wants to be a sumo warrior?

And from Peyton:

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We just got back from a weekend in Leavenworth – Leavenworth itself was just okay, but our stay in Trendwest’s Wyndham resorts was amazing.  It was SO nice to have a kitchen in our suite and to have 2 bedrooms so we could put the kids to bed without having to turn out all the lights like a regular hotel room would require. 

We did tons of swimming in the heated pool; we also spent time walking around, playing mini-golf (Peyton’s first game), and shopping.  We also toured the Aplets & Cotlets factory a few miles up the road – even Lauren had to wear a hair-net. 

Here are the pics from our trip: if the link didn’t work, you can always paste this into your browser.  http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=vv8ykdd.6lpvsy19&Uy=-2galzm&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=45005328009_763343486605&localeid=en_US