Knit, Niece, and Nephew!

I've been getting a lot of knitting done in the last couple of weeks!  I think I finally gave up on summer and picked up my needles to get some work done.  I've been wanting to knit up some baby leggings since Corbin was born and Erin told me about them, but I just never got around to it for him.  So with a new excuse in my darling niece Eliza, I plunged into knitting some up with some great cotton yarn I picked up earlier this summer. 

 Eliza decided to go and grow some very chubby legs, however, and my first effort does not fit my little lady!  I also knitted a little hat to match, and that, too, was entirely too small for her!  I couldn't believe it!  Luckily, I had a third option for her!  I found a cute pattern for a berry hat, and modified it how I knitted it up a little, and it turned out very cute!  I am calling it the "Patty Pan Squash" hat. 

 The baby leggings and green hat went to a baby shower today for a friend's baby due in November.  We expect her to be small, so hopefully they will fit, and I can get working on a new pair for Ellie later this week!

We went to the island this weekend to see the family.  We were celebrating Adam's birthday and a little send-off for Neal, who is off on a great European adventure with a buddy!  He leaves early Tuesday morning for London, and we are very excited to see what they end up doing there!  They don't have a plan really, but they are hoping to do some working and travel to as many places as possible!  I'm excited for them!  If anyone has someone for them to stay with, let me know!  :)

We got in lots of time with Corbin and Eliza!  Corbin is learning how to use his glider he got for his 2nd birthday in June, and he was getting to be a pro by the end of the day!  Susan and Mark have a great long driveway to ride on.

 Who's the cutest little bike rider ever?

Eliza is growing into her own little person every day!  We love how much we've been getting to see her, and getting to see her new tricks!  She's getting cuter by the second too!

 Corbin is a very good helper in the kitchen!

 Uh oh, husband looking cute with a baby again!  

Corbin trying on Grammie's glasses.  I love what a goof he is!

We get to see everyone next weekend, sans Neal, for some more fun and a soccer game!  Huzzah!

Munchkins!

 Corbin hula-hooping at the Bellingham Farmers Market last weekend

Eliza showing off her awesome neck and back muscles!  Such a strong little lady!

Scrambled's Eggs

Our biggest girl, Scrambled, laid another beauty of an egg yesterday, so for breakfast this morning we fried up our two luscious eggs.  My breakfast was awesome!!!  She's currently in the nesting box working on another one.

Soon, we will be filling cartons!

Look ma, a yolk!  Both eggs were perfectly formed, just small.  Hopefully they will start getting bigger soon!

Compare: The egg on the left is store bought, locally grown, free-range, steroid and antibiotic free, the egg on the right was grown in our backyard!  Look how orange and rich the yolk is in our egg!  The difference in flavor is amazing.

Looking forward to many breakfasts like this in our life!

Egg-citing News!

Today, one of our chicks became a hen!  

We came home to this beautiful, perfect egg, laid in the nesting box! 

Apple saucy!

We've had a busy weekend.  Preceded by an insanely busy week. 
Monday-Mariners game (loss)
Tuesday-Going away party for a coworker with a 2am bedtime
Wednesday-Sounders game (WIN!)
Thursday-Mariners game (loss)
Friday-cleaning house for guests arrival
Saturday-friends over for a barbeque and then the most bizarre high school reunion I could have imagined, I won't bore you with the details
Sunday-Hiking to Rattlesnake Ledge and dinner before Taylor and Nate headed back to Vancouver. 

Finally, today, we slept in, relaxed a bit in the morning, and decided it was about time to do something with all the apples we've been collecting from our big tree.  We'd gathered about 3 grocery bags of the apples that hadn't been munched on by stupid squirrels, and have been storing them in the garage.  Made the garage smell amazing!  But apparently we should have been using them sooner, as a good amount of them had gotten mushy or moldy, and lots of wormy holes.  Nonetheless, we got a couple big bowls worth, and it should be tasty eating for a little while.  Not like the summer we made 10 quarts, but this summer has not given us much in the way of garden bounty.  We've had a lot of growing pains in the garden at our new house, and have lots of plans for improving things next summer.  For now, we'll enjoy the amazing amounts of basil we've been able to produce, and keep praying for a tomato to turn remotely red!

Rodeo and Birthdays!

Last weekend we headed to the island for a big birthday bash for Kevin's parents, and threw in going to the rodeo for good measure!  We had a great visit, got in some really good Corbin and Ellie time, and enjoyed celebrating two marvelous people with a great big crowd of their friends and family!

Corbin enjoying the wonders of Fay Bainbridge!

Kevin and I headed to the Kitsap County Fair on Saturday night while most of the family headed into Seattle for the Sounders match!  We enjoyed seeing all the animals, ate deep fried twinkies (more amazing than I could have imagined!) and caught the rodeo!  We LOVE rodeos!

Sunday brought the birthday party, and lots of time to hang with the niece and nephew!

The NZA and the IZA

Hooray for baby girls!

Adam and Erin brought Cornhole, and we loved playing it!  Kevin is thinking about building his own boards!

Go Corbchops!

Gorgeous and delicious cake celebrating all the births in our family!

Eliza is starting to smile a lot, and she has great dimples!

Oh baby fingers!

Grammie and Ellie

I love this little boy's faces!

Pretty girl

Corbin, Grammie, and Eliza!

Spectacle Lake Backpacking Trip!

Kevin and I took a long weekend to go on a backpacking trip!  We've been talking about going on one for quite some time, and just never seemed to have a totally free weekend to get a trip in.  But we got our ducks in a row (and the chickens fed) and headed out to one of my favorite places in the world, Spectacle Lake.  It's in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness outside of Roslyn.  Since it's a longish hike in, we decided to make it a three day trip, and both took Friday off work!  We headed up to the ranger station in Cle Elum to get a new parking pass for the year, and found out the trail had just opened, that morning!   There was a forest fire there last summer which had led to some washouts on the trail during the winter.  Talk about lucky timing!

I have gone to Spectacle Lake twice before this trip when I was in high school, and it remains one of my most favorite places.  It is absolutely gorgeous, and since it's too long to do as just a day hike for most people, it doesn't seem to get very crowded.  Plus, it doesn't show up in many guide books it seems.  So I was thrilled to share this place with Kevin, and I think he agrees with me that it is just about perfection!

We started up the trail about 10:30am, and each with carrying about 40 pound packs, made our way to Pete Lake fairly quickly, as it is a mostly flat trail.  Very, very buggy though!

Kevin takes a breather at the top of a hill

Digesting after lunch above Pete Lake

Pete Lake

Crossing Lemah Creek, brrrrrrrrrrr!

We studied this scene for awhile after crossing the creek.  Shoe monster? 

After crossing Lemah Creek, we headed into the forest that had been damaged by forest fire.  It was sort of surreal walking through this area, it was quite beautiful in some ways, especially where the new growth was coming up against the red and blackened trees.

Spectacle Lake from above

Dinner is served!

 We enjoyed two lovely days at the lake pretty much all by ourselves.  It was amazing to think that you can hike 11 miles and be completely isolated from the outside world.

We had a beautiful sunrise on Saturday morning!

Not a bad place to wake up!

Enjoying my cup of oatmeal...bleh!

 Kevin attempted to lure some fish onto shore, but mostly they just ran into his fly!  They were jumping like crazy in the evening, and pretty active in the morning, but didn't manage to land one.

Kevin went for an 8 mile day hike on Saturday while I stayed behind with the hopes of getting some sunshine and reading while my blistered feet recuperated.  Alas, the sun did not really want to shine, and it became quite windy and cold!  I spend most of the day in the tent reading and snoozing!  Kevin had a great hike, though!

Packing up to head back to the real world!

Goodbye Spectacle Lake, it was a pleasure visiting your shores again!

The crossing of Lemah Creek wasn't any easier the second go around!  But well worth the frozen feet!