Ireland

Travelogs are boring, so I am not going to tell you exactly what we did each day we were there, suffice it to say, that we had a GREAT time!  Thanks Gramma Colleen and Grampa Jim!

We saw:

Lots of Castles!

We enjoyed nature:

 

Rode “Bulgy” the double decker tour bus.

Riverdanced… get Scottie to show you his moves, he is really good!

Had adventures driving on the left side of the road.  We only had one flat tire, those darn curbs and narrow streets with hedges, one fender bender (for the record, she hit me from behind, not the other way around), and one pull-over from the Garda (“Do you understand what I am trying to tell you?” Sorry officer, not a bit with that Irish brogue, but we loved it.).  We made it home in one piece and really enjoyed the adventures in our red VW golf.

Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa for hosting us at your place.  We had a blast.  If you want to check out more photos, click on one of the pictures or this link.

Fringe benefits

There are many great perks that come along with Hyrum’s Microsoft Research internship.  First perk-they bought us a bike so Hyrum could be “green” and bike to work.  We are a bit far for him to bike to work, but he does take their connector bus that leaves from Monroe Fair Grounds (a second perk).  Third perk-they gave us a lump sum to help pay our rent this summer, but since we’re rent-free at Ma & Pa Magelsens’, it has gone towards the visit-Gamma-and-Bampa-in-Ireland fund.  Fourth perk-they plan great little trips so that we can be convinced to live in the northwest. 

As part of the fourth perk, we took a trip to Mt. Rainier.

Super Scottie

When I was in California visiting Michelle, I picked up a sweet superman shirt at the thrift store. Fortunately, and unfortunately, Scottie adores this. He calls it his "Captain Shirt," as in "Captain Dependable." If you have heard of Janeen Brady, you will know what he is talking about. Anyway, it is often difficult to get this t-shirt off of him so there are quite a few pictures of him in it.

Super Scottie!

See Scottie fly!

I have been taking the boys out for runs and bike rides in our double stroller/bike trailer lately. Isn't James the cutest 4 month old ever?

Deception Pass

Hyrum was away in Chicago for nearly two weeks so when he got back we were very excited to play together as a family. We took a Saturday adventure to Deception Pass. It is on the north part of Whidbey Island and it is beautiful. It was a wonderland for Scottie because there were tons of rocks and sticks to find and throw, driftwood logs to walk on, and tons of rocks to practice his climbing skills on. He is a little mountain goat. The weather was lots colder than we anticipated. Up on the pass we were freezing, luckily I had insisted on all of us bringing sweatshirts. Even more lucky, the wind blew back the clouds and the sun came out after we got there warming us up a bit, Hyrum even shed the sweatshirt at the end of the day.

Scottie practicing his climbing.

Family Totem Pole: Deception Pass in the background. Deception pass got its name from Captain George Vancouver. He thought Whidbey Island was a peninsula, he was wrong.

This was no sandy beach, it was made up of lots of little pebbles. Pretty cool for rock collectors like Scottie. We came home with a rainbow of rocks.

For more pics (Grandma and Grandpa) check here.

The Boys

Could we have a thumb sucker on our hands?

The handsome brothers dressed up for church.

Momma's Boys.

Family Photo Shoot

Since we were getting dressed up anyway to go to my cousin Trevor's wedding reception on Friday we decided to take a few pics before hand.

My two boys

Uh...are you taking the picture already?

My three boys...aren't they cute?

I Scream, You Scream...

We all scream for ice cream! 

The Farmers came to dinner last Thursday and we enjoyed some after dinner cones outside.

 

Here the boys are giving tribute to the yumminess of icecream by toasting their favorite treat.

Cade: "Hmmm, I love icecream."

Scottie ponders: "can life get any better than this?"

…the laurelled peers

Still haven’t managed to get a good family shot that we all like.  And for those many who have preceded us in rearing multiple-children can attest that it’s no small feat to get them smiling at the same time.  Clicking below will take you to many more photos of the boys:

Now comes the fun part.  Below are two pictures of Scottie at around 2 months and two pictures of James (who is about 2 months).  Can you identify who is who? 

 

(Hint: Scottie and James may or may not be wearing the same clothing in these photos…we’re firm believers in hand-me-downs.)