Summer Time ...

and the living was far from easy. But it was adventurous, crazy busy, exhausting, fun, full of smiles and of course toddler tantrums. 

Considering I have done a really poor job of posting on the blog this summer, I figured I would do one big post full of pictures and stories from our summer in Seattle and away.

We started off the summer with James's birthday/Flag day celebration.

Yes this is the best family photo we could get. Nobody is ever looking at the camera at the same time.

Many, many, many trips to the zoo.

And to really kick off the summer we attended the Solstice parade, as we do every year. It just happened to be on Father's Day weekend this year.

The kids were comfy watching the parade.

A visit to a splash pad on the Puget Sound.

We probably spent half of the summer exploring different parks/playgrounds around Seattle.

We just had to go the day the butterfly exhibit opened up at the zoo.

Z had to say hello to all the butterflies after pointing out what kind each one was.

Z is always my big helper when it comes to watering the flowers because she enjoys singing her song she made it up: "I love flowers! Flowers, flowers, flowers. I love flowers!" And just put that on repeat.

Then it was 4th of July weekend and Uncle Jordan was in town.

The weather wasn't so great for the 4th but we went down to the boat anyway and let Z do one of her new favorite things which is to feed the ducks at the boat.

We got in a family picture before James took the boat out with friends to watch the fireworks. 

A couple days later we left for Michigan for 11 days to visit family and friends. 

We met friends at Detroit Kid City. I attempted to catch up with a friend while the girls played. Not much luck doing that but they really seemed to enjoy the old cars.

We were in Michigan for my birthday so James, Grammy, the girls and I spent the day in Ann Arbor walking around, having lunch and taking the girls to the Children's museum.

That night Grammy took the girls and James and I went down town to Roast to celebrate.

Since Z loves the zoo so much Grammy wanted to take Z to the Detroit zoo for the first time.

We got to check out the impressive penguin exhibit that just opened up.

The train ride was the biggest hit. That is something we don't have at our zoo and yet again another first for the girls.

Our great friends Will and Maggie were kind enough to get everybody together at their house for a super fun pool party.

Great pic of James and his Shrine buddies with their children. It really is a shame we don't live closer to these awesome friends so our kids can grow up together. But we are so thankful for their friendship and how generous they are to us when we do come back to Michigan to visit.

We got to attend Willa's birthday party while we were in town, where Z painted a bird house,

played on a big bouncy house, and

got her face painted for the first time.

The day after we got back from Michigan, Nana came in town for two weeks.

We of course had to make, yet again, another zoo trip where Z fed the birds for the first time.

While Nana was in town, we took Z to a kids salon where she got her nails painted for the first time.

She loved every minute of feeling like a princess.

There were lots of backyard kiddie pool parties during the summer. Mostly in the nude because that is  the way Z liked to be most of the summer and whatever Z does, Eliza wants to do too.

Nature walks around the neighborhood were a must almost every day. Z loved finding rocks and flowers to put in her hair. I wanted to post this pic because it shows my growing baby bump which I never photographed during this pregnancy.

Z had a play date with one of her friends from school, Sienna, at West Seattle beach.

The girls enjoyed throwing sticks and rocks into the water and of course being nude and basking in the sun. Yea it may be cute at this age but lets hope that this nude thing was a phase for Z and she is over it for good.

Sienna was so sweet to put her arm around Eliza when she was being fussy.

I really tried to enjoy these moments of Z napping because they are getting few and far between.

 I tried to take Z on as many mommy-daughter outings as I could before the baby comes. She usually doesn't get much time one-on-one with me.

 This was my cute little date to the doctor for all my OB visits.

 We had a play date to the aquarium with one of Z's friends. Since the last time we went to the aquarium, Eliza and Z seemed to get a lot more out of it. They weren't afraid of the scuba diver feeding the fish.

That's a wrap on summer! 

On to the next big adventure: being a mom to 3 kids, 3 years old and younger. AHHH!