A day with the cousins

We took Rocklyn and Hale down the hill to play with their cousins while Rocklyn was here last week. We are so blessed to have many fun playmates close by. Here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

Here we are...

...on the trampoline



...on the swings

...driving the tractor


...driving a car (and keeping a safe distance from those crazy girls)

...being a farmer


...climbing trees

...and getting the hunting report.

Side by side comparison

As Landon and I were searching through my pictures from last week he found one of Rocklyn that caught his eye. In this picture, he thought, she showed some resemblance to him. We've noticed a lot more of the Van Dyk side in her recently - she'll use her beautiful brown eyes that she got from dad to give me an expression that is definitely just like mom.

Uncle/Niece comparison - (I think you see it in the shape of their eyes).

Hello again...

My, it's been over a week since my last post! The good news is I have taken a lot of pictures this past week - and I will (hopefully) be posting them throughout this week. My goal is to start posting more regularly. Maybe even every day- though I know this is a lofty goal. I keep wondering if people would rather read more interesting posts less often, or less interesting posts more often. I'm afraid I can't be both fascinating and prolific.

Rocklyn came to visit during the week last week and we had many adventures with her.

We've been missing the consistent sun recently - though it seems to pop out for a little while each day. Here are the two fair-skinned beauties trying to catch a few rays on grandma's patio.

Rocklyn seemed to understand that the goal of sunbathing is to relax.

Hale made a sport of it...seeing how many limbs he could get caught in the chair before he needed assistance to get out.

Catchlight Challenge

So, I've fallen a little bit behind in my photo-a-week group. Hale and I have been really busy lately. So if the challenge requires a field trip to get the photo then it usually hasn't happened.

But this week's challenge was catchlight - which I've written about in a previous post. This is something that Hale and I do best. And it is most easily captured in our favorite spot- Hale's nursery!

Here were two of my submissions to the group challenge:





and a few more fun ones I caught along the way:

Hale's "look-how-naughty-I'm-being" face.



He's not supposed to stand on the chair, so doing it gives him quite a thrill.



The "where's Hale?" game.



Looks like it's almost time for another haircut!



Driving his tractor around his chair.

Early summer fun - the first bike ride

We installed Hale's bike seat this weekend. Biking as a family was really enjoyable - as was laughing at Hale. He looked hilarious in his helmet! We love him for being such a good sport all the time.



You can tell from Hale's face in this picture that we are laughing at him.



The new seat

Early summer fun - a trip to the park

Hale and I went to the park last week with great-grandma and some of the cousins. It was so fun to enjoy the hot weather with some playmates!



Fun in the creek





Grandma unpacking a delicious snack buffet

Early summer fun - the "hot tub"

We were blessed with early summer heat this year. It was really fun to be able to play outside every day with Hale.

When we were picking out Hale's pool Landon suggested getting one big enough for adults to sit in. Since sitting in a kid pool didn't sound that tempting to me we went with the little pool. However, Landon hooked up a hose to our hot water line and made it into a little hot tub - so we all had fun with it in the evenings last week!

Family shoot

This past weekend I took family pictures for some friends of ours. The weather was awesome - it was so fun to go to the beach and have fun in our sandals and shorts. We hiked all over Birch Bay and the kids were such good sports! Take a look at this seriously photogenic family!