Signs of Summer.

Jeff made a earlier than expected surprise return from England and we all squealed with delight. We had good food and beach time over the weekend (you know it's almost summer when sand starts appearing in the bed again!) Trying to get the veg garden in order and trying to figure out what the heck all the plants/shrubs/trees are that are popping up in the yard. A few pictures.

Ruby prancing around with her shovel at the beach:

Silas carefully carrying a bucket of water:

Mussels and fries and champagne and lavender:

The beginnings of our veggie garden:

A HUGE azalea hybrid(?) that is in front of our house and smells very good:

Keeping Busy.

The key to single parenting is to wear the kids out with activities. We've been keeping busy; a visit to Lake Washington, Tae Kwon Do, neighborhood get together, planting the garden, and talking about all the things we'll do when Daddy gets home. Hope we'll be reunited by Monday.

While You Were Away...

A project. Collect wood and pile it up.

Gather wood.
Eat dinner and harass each other.
Eat ice cream in the middle of the sidewalk.
Eat more ice cream and play with cars.

These are for you dear Jeffrey. Hope you make it home sometime. Enjoy Paris and don't overdo it at the Burlesque shows...

Trio.

One week left for this trio. Filling our time with lots of friends-thank goodness for kind neighbors! We had a brilliant summer-like day today and Ruby and I aerated darn near half the yard. Well, Ru mostly dug a GIANT hole. We got to talk to Jeff this morning on Skype and filled him in on the mundane while he tried to figure out where he was and what time it was. Ha-he was a bit loopy upon his arrival in France. Oh, and Silas casually mentioned to me this morning that he was officially moved up to the first grade reading class-big deal for that little rascal!

Cemeteries and Cycling.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Volunteer Park and Lakeview Cemetery. We stumbled across a very exciting bike race (?!?!), played at the playground, and snacked in the cemetery. The sun is out this weekend-yipee!

Soup.

Eating soup and wishing it would stop raining. We are having a stretch of really bad weather.

Thinking a lot about the summer projects for the house (patio!) and feeling the itch to get started-come on tax return!

Silas starts Tae Kwon Do tonight and Mr. J is prepping for LONG trip to Europe. C'est la vie! We will survive.

Spring Break.

Glad it's over! Easter capped off a long week of two kiddos going crazy in the house during the worst week of weather we have had all year. J took Friday off and we headed out to Fisherman's Terminal to eat very fresh fish and oysters(!), drink the usually forbidden lunch time beer, and watch the storm blow the sailboats around at the dock. For Easter, we headed to the Eastside for a great brunch and fabulous egg hunt.

Before Spring Break.

Two weeks ago, when it was sunny and nice and warm, I took this picture of our neighbor's beautiful tree. This was our view out the back kitchen window for more than two weeks. It was pretty spectacular to catch a glimpse of it through out the day.