More Summer Fun

A local concert for kids in Kirkland. Where is the mosh pit?

Ellie is always sleeping through life. She better wake up before Nathan takes her binky.

What a ham! He finds a tree trunk, and immediately thinks "hmm...maybe i'm a raccoon?!

Good news, we went inline skating, and NO ONE broke their wrist this time. Maybe we could do this more often.

Some family fun at the local pool. The chlorine was strong!

Every time I start to worry about my family, my job, or anything else in my life, God reminds me that He is in charge. My job is to not sleep through life, so my eyes will remain open to watch how his hand is guiding the direction of my life. I hope I can continue to do my job for the rest of my life. I was offered and accepted a job in Nuclear medicine at St. Francis hospital. I was officially unemployed for 8 hours before I got the call. There is no other way to describe the events of my layoff and subsequent hiring except that God is controlling my direction, and I pray I will be the vessel he asks me to be.

For my second week off, we planned a surprise for Nathan. To him this was world class entertainment. He was able to meet Thomas and the crew straight from the Island of Sodor. The tickets turned out to be a bit difficult to get, but I was really glad I snagged enough for the whole family to go. It was totally worth every penny to see the look on his face when we pulled up to the train station and he saw Thomas the tank engine.

Thomas was giving rides for all his fans. We were taken on a short trip from the train station to Snoqualmie falls, which was about 10 minutes in 1 direction. We rode on a coach called Annie. She was a bit older than the rest, but you could really tell she loved taking all the kids on the train ride.

We were even able to meet Sir Toppem Hatt (The railway controller). Nathan was getting nervous as we were getting closer to the front of the line. He was in hysterics by the time we got to the front. He was screaming so loud to get out of there, I was only able to snap this picture as we "bypassed" him. Its one of those natural reactions that I think all kids have. They are always leery about interacting with people in costumes. I myself still have a healthy fear of clowns. Please don't test me.

At the train museum we could tour real trains that used to be in service. For how big the trains are, they certainly dont have much room in the engineers cabin.

The young engineer hard at work. You can tell the wheels are turning in his head.

Steve's Week Off

So far my first week off has been great! It has been pretty relaxing. We slept in till 7am every day. We have made pancakes, bacon, and eggs more times in this week than I have the entire year. On Monday, we had a picnic down at Lincoln park. The sun was out, and the heat was on. It seemed to reach 80 degrees down there. Nate Dawg found a 3 foot ledge to jump off. He jumped without any fear into my arms.

Ellie Bear seems to be recognizing faces now because she spent the afternoon smiling at Joana. Her eyelashes are getting so long, and her eyes are just so cute (when they are open)! She is getting so strong. She can hold her head up for a really long time, but she still hates "tummy time." Everything she wears is so cute. To everyone who bought her clothes, thanks! You all chose some pretty awesome outfits.

Isn't she so cute. :)

We went to the zoo on Tuesday. We went to the tropical bird cage first. They have the option to buy a feed stick for $1. Who could pass this one up. The birds flew right down to your arm and ate right off the stick. I grew up with some tropical birds just like this one. We named them "Mai Tai" and "Che Che." They were great, but their bird cage was gross!

Ellie in the front pack. She slept the whole time she was in there. I got a little workout, and I got to feel what it was like to carry an extra 13 pounds on my tummy. What's the big deal ladies? Just kidding :)

Some more tropical birds at the Zoo

So this lovely peacock is a permanent resident at the zoo. She is the only animal that is not caged, because she is not officially a zoo animal. She is more like the zoo mascot.

On Wednesday Nate Dawg working on his fastball down at Alki Beach. We had another picnic and we ran down the waterfront. Well, actually I ran and pushed Nate in our running stroller, and Joana put on a pair of inline skates to keep up with me.

Our friend from Montana came to town for work, and had a few hours to hang out. We had home made pizza, and beer of course before she had to go home. It was great to see her again. If there was one other place I would like to live (besides Seattle) it would have to be Montana. If you havn't seen it, you should go to view the sites.

So on Friday, Joana had to do some errands around Southcenter mall. This was a perfect excuse to take Nate Dawg to Rocky and Bullwinkles Fun Center to play his first round of goofy golf. He understood the rules were to hit the ball with the putter, but that was just getting in his way of the ultimate goal of throwing the ball into the water traps. Lets say that I had a lot of "fun" fishing the ball from said water hazards. We then played ski ball inside for a little bit. Until that day, I never thought to throw a ski ball OVERHAND, but this little bugger thinks of every thing that is fun and tries it. We also tried our hand at grabbing the plastic dinosaur toy from the bucket with the mechanical arm. Any where you see these games, they seem to be rigged, but this time, we were able to fish out a toy dinosaur and a toy shark. What luck! Lastly, Nate went on some rides outside. He didn't like the train ride as much as the plane ride.

Ellie Powell - The Beginning

The comedy speaks for itself...

Tour de NateDawg

Nate on his bike, leaving mom in the dust.

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Little man

Joana, baby shower. Thank you everyone who put this together, and attended. We are so grateful for such wonderful friends and family. Baby no name is going to start out in this world with everything she needs, thanks to all of you. Thanks again from our family to you.














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A special thanks to Laura and her mom for hosting the shower.


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Snow in Seattle

Nate loves the snow, but I don't like it. I grew up in Alaska, and nothing shuts down. In Seattle, businesses and schools shut down in anticipation of the snow. To me, this is backward thinking, but what can you expect from such A place like Seattle.




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Bug Zoo

We went to the bug museum today. Mom was too grossed out to go, so it was just dad and I. We saw centipedes, cockroaches, lady bugs, moths, and a whole lot of spiders. Dad says spiders are arachnids, and shouldn't be at the bug museum, but it was cool to see their furry bodies anyway.









We enjoyed a gilato after the creepy crawlies. And then walked around the Pikes Place Market and saw some flying fish. We picked up some flowers for mom, because I knew she would like them.

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Fun with Rachel!

Today we all went to the children's museum in Seattle. Rachel came along with us. It was a blast.











Later on that day, Rachel had some special presents all for me.


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Location:Seattle, wa