Willow is so full of life. She has been super loud in the last week or two. Not sure if it's because she's teething again and that tends to ratchet up the volume, or that's just how she is.

And look at her pose....almost crawling! Well, not quite almost crawling, but this is closer than Aspen or Journey ever got to the idea! I have hope that she will crawl :)

Aspen and Journey love playing in the water. Journey especially loves playing in the waves, while Aspen is content in the creeks that run into the ocean.

We had one day of sun this trip and took advantage of it!

Aspen is motivated to practice riding his bike this year, and the beach is a perfect place for him to practice!

I just got a double stroller and am love, love, loving it! I was able to avoid one until now, but Willow's too big (and heavy) for the Bjorn and Journey is just too slow of a walker for us to go anywhere far.


We've spent a lot of time at the beach over the last two weekends. Mark's been fishing (salmon the first weekend, tuna the next), we had a wedding and baby shower, and have enjoyed getting away and checking on the house progress. Aspen got in some good practice on his bike until he had a crash and decided to take a break :) Willow did good the first weekend, but the second one she was pretty crabby. Teething again. Fun times.

I can hardly believe July is already here. This summer is going to fly by.

More Progress

6/5/10

6/5/10
In front of the house is a creek. It's mostly covered in overgrown trees and shrubs, but Aspen found a way down to look for crawdads.

7/1/10

Siding is done and house is ready to be painted.

7/1/10

7/1/10

Most of the drywall is finished (was done by the 3rd).

7/1/10

Brother & Sister

Willow LOVES Aspen. They are all personality, and these two are going to give me a run for my money! Aspen regularly pushes me to my limits. We'll see about Willow, but I do know that she will be loud. That girl can YELL :)

Strawberry Picking

Willow 10 months, Zoe 7 1/2 months
Aspen was my best picker this year. He filled half his bucket before abandoning picking to play with Isaac.

Charity had her hands full with Lilly on the move!

Journey just ate all her berries.

This was the best picture I was able to get of the crew. Pretty sad, huh? :)

This was our second year of strawberry picking. We met Christina, Charity and Amy + all kids out at the farm. It was lots of fun, and we were surprised by some sunshine. Rare here this Spring. Willow pretty much at her weight in berries and dirt, but she lasted quite a while and I was able to manage to pick 16.75 lbs of strawberries. The kids can't wait to go back next year.

Photos by Aspen

Aspen's photography skills at 6. Willow's not the easiest subject (10mo.). She's a busy one!

The End of Kindergarten

On his way to "field day". What a fun way to end the school year!

Aspen with his awesome teacher, Mrs. Wheeler. We loved her.

I have two things to say about this photo.....First, this was our "last day of school" picture. Second, that's a freaky look on your face, Aspen.

Michael & Aspen

On Aspen's last day of school (he didn't go to the last day of school because of

leaving early for Twin Lakes), we went to his class party. Aspen was so happy to have us there. He was especially happy to show Journey off to his friends (it was so cute!).

Showing Journey around the playground. Aspen and his friend, Michael actuallyheld Journey's hands and lead her around, pointing out all the "dangerous" areas that she should stay away from.

Playing "duck, duck, goose"

Aspen with his best friends of the year, Michael & Nash.

Playing with bubbles.

Wow, I'm sad. How did this year go by SO fast? Aspen had a great year of Kindergarten. Especially since he was dreading it so much. He ended the year in the top three of his class for math and has come a long way with reading (although it's not his favorite thing to do). I really enjoyed volunteering in Aspen's class to see him in his school environment and to get feedback from his teachers on his behavior and progress.

There were a few bumps in the road, but you know what? I'm thankful for them. He learned so much from his mistakes, and I'm proud of him for that. I'm thankful that he can learn while the price is low, and I'm thankful that he was able to reflect on his behavior, learn from it, and change.

And now, let the summer begin! We have a lot planned. Twin Lakes for a week with Nana, Papa and the cousins for Aspen (garage sale for us), beach trip, VBS and then back to the beach for the 4th. Zoo Camp the next week (for Aspen), and then 9 days of swimming lessons for Aspen and Journey to end the month of July. We are keeping August open for the beach and hoping the house will be done by then. It's gonna be fun!

Beach House Progress

The whole beach house thing has been a bit of a whirlwind for us this year, but we are very excited about it. So that I can remember later on, here's the background story.

Around the first of this year, Mark and I were talking about goals and what we would like to do this year. He is crazy/obsessed with fishing and has said for the last couple years that one of the things that gets him through the year of long hours and hard work is looking forward to fishing in the summer. He really wanted to make a goal to spend the whole month of August as a family at the beach so that he could fish as much as possible, plus spend a lot of time with the family. We decided to start looking for a small house to rent at the beach for the month.

Mark mentioned to his dad what we had planned, and he said, maybe you could look for a bigger house so that they could stay down there with us (he's as into fishing or more so than Mark is). All this was still in the thinking process when we went to the beach with the whole Wilde family in the middle of February. It turned out that Mark's parents had been wanting to have a place to come to at the beach as well.

That weekend thoughts turned to action, and pretty soon, we were looking at houses in Rockaway "just for fun" (easy to do since Mark has his Realtor license). haha! After looking at a few houses, talk turned to building, then looking at lots..........yada, yada, yada......offer was placed the next weekend, and here we are! Building a beach house with Mark's parents.

Building started the first of May....

May 8th

Excavation and driveway in, foundation done.

Aspen loves going to the beach with Mark to check on the progress. Such fun to have Daddy all to himself!

May 20th
First floor framing in progress.


May 20th


May 28th
First and second floor framing done. Roof and dormer framing in progress.


May 28th

June 4th

Windows in, roofing half done, plumbing done, waiting on inspections in order to start siding.

Mark and Aspen are headed back to the beach again tomorrow. I'm so excited to see the updated progress! We are hoping to have it finished by August. We will see...