Maddie has hit double digits! What the heck? And he finally just got in his bottom two teeth, woohoo! He's pulling himself up a lot now. Seems like he wants to skip the whole crawling bit and go straight to walking! The time is just flying by...
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| 40 weeks |
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| 41 Weeks |
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| 42 weeks |
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| 43 Weeks |
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| I just can't get over those dimples! |
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| 10 months old! |
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| Attack the sister! |
Now that Nova is back at school Corey has started taking Maddie to the baby hikes at Pt. Defiance on Wednesday mornings. Here is her write up & some pictures of their fun adventures!
Parks Tacoma hosts a free baby and toddler hike every Wednesday and Friday, respectively at Pt. Defiance. We’ve been taking Nova for over a year now to the toddler hike and when Maddox was born, he started tagging along to our Friday hikes. Now that Nova is back at school, I decided to start going to the Baby Hikes on Wednesday to get some fresh air, some movement, and meet other parents. Last Wednesday we went to our first one! It was the same guide (Jen) as on Fridays, so it was nice to see her again. I was a little unprepared for a real hike though, haha. The toddler hike is a grand total of 0.3 miles because toddlers are slow and easily distracted. But since all the babies are in carriers, the baby hike does a real hike! About 1.3 miles which isn’t too long but when you’re carrying a baby, it feels a little longer. Afterwards we all sat on a giant blanket and the babies got to stare at each other and explore. It was really fun! Next time I will definitely have to bring snacks for both me and Maddox. This week, Dad took the day off because Mom had to go into the office, so he joined us the for the hike. Since all the babies were a lot happier this week, we opted for the longer trail, and we ended up with a total of 1.68 miles according to my watch! I’m looking forward to continuing the hikes and eventually Maddie will graduate back to the Toddler hike that he started with!
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| From the first hike! Maddie loves being outside in the trees! |
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| On the second hike Corey turned him around in his carrier and he liked it much better. |
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| All the fresh air wore him out! |
For Jennifer's birthday we went to Doja Tea in Portland and then checked out nearby Leach Botanical Garden. The drive down and back was long, but we really didn't hit too much traffic surprisingly. It rained almost the entire drive down, but was mostly dry for the tea & garden, which was nice. The tea & food were fabulous, and they even put a birthday candle in one of the treats for Jennifer! The tea shop was kind of in a sketchy area, which we did not anticipate, but luckily nothing happened although we did encounter a couple of interesting characters. The garden was small, but beautiful with lots of interesting plants. In all it was a really fun day!
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| I tried the honeyed bergamot and it was really good! |
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| I thought this elevated walkway was really neat. |
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| A fern tree from Australia. |
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| And I found a dinosaur! |
I can't believe summer is almost over! I decided to take a random day off and Corey, Maddie and I went for a hike after dropping off Nova at preschool. We decided to hike at McCormick Forest Park because it's not too far from her school & close to B's Bagels where we had lunch afterwards. The park is super nice although parts of it is loud due to its proximity to Hwy 16. We crossed a few bridges & got a little turned around but managed to get in 2.75 miles. The boy really loved being in the woods and stared up at the trees for almost the entire walk until about the last 10 minutes when he finally fell asleep. I am so looking forward to retirement in a few years and getting to do more midweek hikes like this!
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| Maddie is a great weighted vest! |
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| Bridge #1 |
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| Bridge #2 |
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| Corey spotted this well-hidden painted rock! |
Can't believe this was only our second volksmarch for the year! Scott & I went up to Ballard on the 5th and did the 5k walk down to the Ballard Locks. We've done this walk before, so it wasn't super exciting, but we did see some seals at the locks, so that was cool. The walk started off a little cool but ended up being quite pleasant. I finally got my picture with Frankie Feetsplinters, the giant Thomas Dambo troll in front of the Nordic Museum. This completes the 5 trolls in Washington. We hope to see the one in Portland when Scott & I head down there at the beginning of October. And there are 12 new ones coming to NW Trek and Pt. Defiance next month which is super exciting! During the walk we stopped at the Other Coast Cafe to pick up some delicious sandwiches to take to Gabby & Ethan's new rental house. It was fun to see their place & walk around their new neighborhood. They are settling in quite well and Ethan is loving his new e-bike that he uses to commute to work.
Scott and I bought a season pass to the 5th Avenue Theater for the 2026-2027 season, which will consist of 5 shows. Our first show was A Ch...
