We're Moving!

After 5 1/2 years, it is time to take our blog to another site.  Our next adventures can be found at www.adamandhollytoo.blogspot.com.  Be sure to link to us or save us in your favorites!  For any parents who need a refresher on how to do that, we'll give tutorials the next time we see you. :)

We ran out of space!  We thought cyberspace went on forever, but apparently it does not.  Mom is helping us set up a new blog.  Volume II, if you will, but it is not quite ready to publish yet.  Stay tuned for the link!

We spent a rainy morning at the national wildlife refuge that borders our town.  It was a bit blustery at times, as this wind-blown blue heron can attest.

It can be difficult to get everyone to smile and look at the camera at the same time.  But it's especially hard when the photo subjects insist on sticking out their tongues and closing their eyes!

The latest member of the shoe-tying club lives in our house! Evan decided today that he was going to learn to tie his shoes and he practiced by himself until he could do it. We're so proud of him! We're pretty sure some grandparents and an aunt are going to want to see this.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Today our joint force family is remembering and honoring all veterans, past and present, who work so hard and sacrifice so much to keep our nation secure.  We especially recognize our friends and family who are serving today in support of Operation Enduring Freedom: AWF2 Jon Bennett, CW2 Carl Schimpf, CPT Jennifer Hundt, CPT Anna Kaus, and CPT Chelsea Jordan.  The list is shorter this year, and for that we are thankful.  And again, we also give a HUGE thanks to our family members (Liz, Aunt Katy and Uncle Joe, Grandma and Grandpa) who have so selflessly helped us with childcare this year when both of us were out of town or working weekends and when Mom's training in Texas happened to fall when Dad was working on a deployment mission.  You make a lot of sacrifices, too, and it is appreciated.  Happy Veteran's Day!

Flag flown during Dad's second tour in Iraq.

Blurry, but not bad for our 5 year old photographer.

Our Favorite Threesome

This photo is courtesy of Grandma while Mom, Dad, Aunt Katy, and Uncle Joe were enjoying 10 minutes to themselves in their car.  The parents said they'd meet us at our destination, and don't worry if they weren't there right away, but Grandpa said, "No.  We're following you!"

Sweet Sleepers

When Mom checked on me before she went to bed last night, she couldn't find me!  Then she checked on Evan...

Happy Halloween!

The dragon and giraffe are ready for another round of trick or treating!

Our backseat has never been cuter.

We love our small town where the entire fire department hands out glow sticks and we can trick or treat at every business in town in an hour.

Time for our neighborhood trick or treating with Dad.  Mom sent us outside to trick or treat by ourselves (at our house).  Mom and Dad waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally, Mom looked outside to see what we were up to, and why we weren't ringing the doorbell.  We were half way up the block, going out to trick or treat by ourselves!

Ready for Halloween!

Nice Fall Day

Today was my second day on my 'new-to-me' bike.  This is much easier than a trike!  We enjoyed a long waterfront ride followed by lunch overlooking the Sound.

Goofing off at the Fallen Firefighters Memorial.

Fire Safety Fair

It seems like we are copying our blog from the Big Sky Brewers.  Wish our families lived closer so we could be doing all this together!

Pumpkin Farm

Yesterday it rained for the first time in 3 months (85 days, I believe).  We celebrated with a trip to the pumpkin farm.  It was fun to pet the farm animals, find our way through the hay maze, play on the hay playground, ride tractors, go for a hayride, and of course, pick out our pumpkins!

Celebrating Grandpa...

... or '70 isn't old if you're a tree'.

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday this weekend.  Mom wasn't carrying her camera for the best parts--lunch at Grandpa's favorite deli, hiking trails from which you can see BOTH sides of the island at the same time, catching grasshoppers and a snake, and kayaking.

Decorating pumpkin cookies.  This wasn't on the day of the party.  Though now that Mom thinks about it, we did have leftover cake later that night.  Life at Grandma and Grandpa's sure is yummy!

Enjoying calm waters and a peaceful moment with Aunt Katy.

What we do at Grandma and Grandpa's House

We had a fun weekend with Oma.  Among many other things, we took a trip to the zoo!

Last Camping Trip of the Season?

It's hard to say.  We might sneak in another one in October. 

This weekend we camped in the rainforest.  The first thing on our agenda was a hike to a lake. 

We arrived at a dried-up lake bed.  The irony that a lake in the middle of a rainforest was 'seasonal' did not escape us.  It was still a beautiful hike, though, and a beautiful destination.  Don't let the pack fool you; Nathan only rode for the last 0.1 mile of the hike.

It turns out, frogs like lake beds.  Look!

I've got three!

Bears like lake beds, too!  It was fun to watch this black bear forage for food.

We camped on a lake, too.  This was the view from our picnic table at dinner.  Anyone who knows Nathan's love of throwing rocks in the water can see that this site was a hit with him.

Our 'nest' in the world's largest Spruce tree.

The old growth Douglas Firs are so big and majestic.

Happy Birthday, Evan!

Grandma and Grandpa met us at a park on our way home from the mountains for a rip roarin' birthday party.  Mom and Elsa frosted the cupcakes while Grandma and Aunt Katy decorated, and a good time was had by all.

Blowing out the candles.

Showing off my frosting face.

Grandpa made me a wooden box for my special things.  What a special gift!

Happy 5th birthday, Evan!

First Overnight Hike

We're all smiles for our first overnight hike.  (Mine and Nathan's.  Elsa is already a pro.)

We had a spectacular view from our site.  We were surrounded by mountains.

Same site.  Different beautiful view.

Roasting marshmallows for s'mores.  Notice Nathan is eating a raw marshmallow while roasting another.  Gotta take advantage of the allowed sugar when we get it!

Exploring.

We found a newt!

Fair Day

It was fair day today.  We saw lots of animals.

And we got to pet a few.

Poor Nathan was probably the only 2 year old at the fair who was too short to go on all of the rides.  He had fun watching Evan go down the giant slide, though.

The rockets were one of only two rides that Nathan could go on, so he went twice.

I love the quad bikes.

The canoe was the other ride Nathan could do.  Ironic that we could sit him in a canoe in the water, unrestrained, all by himself, but he couldn't go on rides as benign as the quad bike you see above.  He made the most of his canoe ride, though!

Our budding athlete.  Evan won second place in the kids' tractor pull.  He competed against 10 other children and missed first place in the third round (with 100 pounds moving up the track behind him) by only 2 feet.