4th of July (oh yeah, I guess that was last month:)

Sitting by the water to watch the air show (and eating cheetoes,

what 4th of July would be complete without them?)

Okay I know I should've put these up a month ago and I have no real excuses for not doing it sooner (other than vacations, distractions and forgetfulness). But here was our Independence Day Celebration.

I actually really love our city when it comes to the 4th. There is so much to do that's free, unique and family friendly. Our city does an air show every year. We sat by the water and watched the air acrobatics. There were some really amazing "stunt" flights.

It was hard to get a good picture but those little specs with the

white trail behind them-those are the planes

Ryan and I were pretty enthralled but Ezra got bored so we went down to play in the water-which was actually pretty fun too. We found small crabs, oysters and Ezra hauled up lots of sea weed :) And lots of boats (we saw them-Ezra didn't haul them up :)

Yes, son that's a boat too.

There was a freedom fair too, with lots of food, booths with fun junk. All of it was overpriced of course. We bought 3 corn dogs and it cost us $18. Whew! (In the corn dog's defense they were delicious).

Making the hike home (still smiling too-at least when the

camera is on)

Even though this event took place a few minutes

drive from our house it took us probably 45 minutes to get home. There was no driving in that crowd. This was no reflection on how fit we physically are. We just had to park the car...millions of miles away up a hill, with a toddler (a very cute toddler but still a toddler none the less).

Ryan, Ezra, Aaron, and Isabella sitting on my quilt

Later that night we got together with our next door neighbor Aaron and Isabella (Ezra's best friend) and walked over to the water to watch the fireworks. It was Ezra's first time staying up to watch see them. Here in Washington it doesn't get dark until 9:30 or 10 and I am a normally a stickler about bed times. But holidays are meant to be exceptions.

We sat on my quilt. I just have to point this out because-I made it. This was a huge feat for me because I don't like to sew. I started the quilt as a YW project when I was a leader in the YW presidency. It took about 2 years after the fact but I did it. (A big part of that time was spent searching for a good mentor. I was just too intimidated to do it on my own). Made from old jeans and this is the only picture I have of it (but don't look too closely or you might find some... imperfections).

We didn't get pictures of the parade or the picnics we went to (or naps we all took after walking/melting in the heat). But you get the idea! It was an incredible fun filled day!

Ezra made a sandwich

I am a proud mother of a master of culinary skills in peanut butter and jelly sandwich making! I was so pleased he was very patient and interested in trying it and and he ate it. Okay, it's a little dorky (you can go ahead and question the "little" part too) but where does a mother get to brag shamelessly about her child's accomplishments? Grandparents can only take so much :)

Visit to Yellow Stone

For the first time ever I went to Yellowstone National Park. As you can see we all loved it. Never mind the little boy who won't show his face because he was hot and over tired. It was beautiful, exciting and HOT! I keep forgetting Washington is so much cooler than the rest of ...well, the country. Or at least everywhere else we ever go to. Luckily there was a breeze but I was in constant fear of loosing my hat (as you can see by how far it is pushed over my eyebrows). If your hat blows off on the path surrounded by gysers there's no going after it.

We saw at least 3 or 4 hats that endured a similar fate.

And of course we need to visit the ever famous Old Faithful. We sat and waited about 30 minutes for it to go off (I ask you, what's not to love about sitting around waiting for water to boil?). And shortly thereafter, Ezra's good mood went off with it. Definitely worth it but we probably won't do it again until he's older and better able to appreciate it :)

Jumpin' Jack and Jill

I don't know who had more fun, me or Ezra. My friend Juliet works at a bouncy fun type of house, Jumpin' Jack and Jill. I wish I could say she got us in for free but...we did get a great coupon for our next visit and really I only had to pay for Ezra. I was only in their in a supervisory capacity (at least when the other adults were looking). It was so much fun, there were slides, video games, jumping castles, something of an obstacle course and lots of other fun games.

I didn't get a good shot of Ezra's friend but this is Kingston. We met his family at an FSA (Families Supporting Adoption) activity. It is actually really awesome to know other families that are also going the adoption route.

The aftermath...another advantage of having your friend work there, we got to watch it all come apart.

A little visit from Birth Grandma's family

So there were some people in town and they stopped in to see us-mostly Ezra-actually I always want to say that but it's just not true. And in truth we love them too.

I could not get a good picture. Ezra moves too fast. This is Ezra's birth Great Grandma. We don't see her as often but she made it to our home for a quick visit.

This is Na-na-bug. At least that what Ezra calls her. (I think her real name is Celina but she lets us all call her Na-na-bug. How are they related? Well, she's Randy's cousin. So I think that makes them...2nd cousins or cousins once removed? Anyway, she's family and we love her.

This is Na-na-bug's mom. Sister to Grandma Kolene, Clista. She made the best Mexican food at our house once. It forever changed my Mexican cooking-despite having grown up in a town 45 minutes from the Mexican border and a mom who served a Spanish speaking mission, her's was better.

And of course Grandma Kolene. Ezra's so lucky. It's not every little boy who gets 3 sets of grandparents. And they came with a lot of other family who adore Ezra too. I guess I can't blame them. We love him too.

Trade shows

Ezra and I took a road trip on the bus to hit a very special trade show to see his daddy in action. Here we are on the bus (which was supposed to only take an hour but really was 2 hours but worth it. Luckily we got a picture early on before Ezra and were a little more tired and grumpy).

Ryan and his partners had a trade show promoting the business. Here are Ryan's other 2 partners. Left is Michael, middle is incidently also named Ryan but to avoid confusion he's going by Ezra's middle name Blake. I guess you could say we named him after Ezra (although I don't think he-Blake [who is really Ryan] finds it as amusing :)

Preparing to be foster parents

We got a bunk bed to make room for foster kids. We thought we'd try it out and see it's a good route for us to adopt more kids.

Ezra loves the bed. He can hang from it, build forts, get way up high and look out the window. What is not to love about it?