Welcome Home, Andrew!

You may have noticed that we've been missing one of our Monkeys this summer. Andrew has been staying with Nana and Papa in Utah for the last six (L-O-N-G) weeks. They've been spoiling him rotten with trips to the movies, swimming, parades, fireworks, HAFB Air Museum, a baseball game, Snowbird, Alpine Slides, mini-golfing, restaurants, rock-collecting, playing with cousins, camping with Uncle Kody, and Lagoon with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson. Andrew has had such a blast; I'm pretty sure he hasn't missed us at all. Nana said it's been the best summer she's ever had!

It was interesting to see how our family dynamics changed while Andrew was gone. We sure missed his witty humor and responsible "big brother" nature. Logan, missing his best playmate, became good friends with Hannah and played with her all the time. It was hard to feel really settled in our new house with one of our kids missing.

Andrew flew home with Nana on Thursday, and we are so glad to have him back! We've sure missed you, Buddy!

Ocean Shores, WA

Saturday was warm and sunny, the perfect day for the beach! The REAL beach, as in, THE PACIFIC OCEAN! It's only about 90 minutes away! So cool!
Silly kids! Logan and Hannah were a little scared of the water and ran away whenever a wave came in...
...but they sure loved digging in the sand!

It may have been a warm day, but the water was COLD! Bryan took the plunge anyway!

Capitol Fountains

Last week, we went with the Yonkers to play in the fountains downtown. They are in such a cool location - the Capitol Building and Capitol Lake on one side, and all the sailboats on the Sound on the other side.
Logan really got into it, despite the cool 70* temperature. He and Dillon especially liked putting their shoes over the holes and watching the fly up into the air when the water sprayed.

Hannah liked the drinking fountain best of all. Or "drinky mountain" as she calls it.

Mom, can I give you a hug?

Me: "Sure Logan."
hugging
Logan: "This is going to be a long hug, okay."

A Little Sunday Reading

When we got home from church today, Hannah grabbed a book and headed out to the sidewalk to do a little reading out in the sunshine. Have I mentioned how nice the weather is here?

We made it!

We left Ohio exactly one month ago. That sure flew by! Logan, Hannah, and I flew to Utah as planned, but Bryan and Andrew ended up driving instead because we didn't sell the Escort in time. Once we all arrived, we bought a pretty new minivan (well, new to us) from our friends, the Hamps. Hopefully we will have better luck with this one (heehee). We had a wonderful time with family in Utah, so I have a bunch of pics to blog of parades, swimming, boating, and all sorts of fun that I will hopefully get to soon.

About two weeks ago, we left Utah and headed North! We broke up the 14-hour drive by staying with our BFFs, the Shupes, who live in Tri-Cities, WA. They were gracious enough to let us stay and play with them for a couple nights. We love those guys! After that, there were only four hours left to Olympia.

So here we are! We rented this cute little house on a quiet street full of trees! It's like we have our own little forest bordering the property. Olympia is so beautiful and everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. The family across the street has little boys the same ages as Logan and Hannah, so they play together almost every day. The ward has been very welcoming and we feel like we already have some friends. I think we are really going to like it here!

Bryan has been busy studying for his boards which are coming up in a couple of weeks, after which he will begin his new job at Providence St. Peter's Hospital. We feel so grateful for so many friends who helped us pack in Ohio, and grateful for new friends here who helped us move in. Again, I am reminded how wonderful the organization of the Church is. No matter where you go, there are always people there to help take care of you!

Fun times in with the Thompsons

More Delta Fun!