Andrew's New Website

Andrew: "I now have a website! :)"

https://sites.google.com/site/fenteco/home

I ♥ Fall Leaves!

I fell in love with Fall leaves while living in Ohio. I love the changing colors and how they crunch under your feet when you walk. I'm so glad that we still get to experience the changing of the seasons here in Washington mixed in with the beauty of all the evergreens.

We have plenty of leaves to rake up here at our house. Hannah likes to "help."

With all the rain, the leaves are more soggy than crunchy, so Hannah headed straight to the bath after this.

Back to School

This post seems a little late, as a lot of schools elsewhere started a couple weeks ago, but my boys started school today! Andrew headed off to 3rd grade and Logan started Kindergarten. It just tickles me that both my boys are in the same school now and will be able to look out for each other!

Have you ever seen a a couple kids happier to be starting school? Well, actually, Daddy was getting them to smile by saying things like, "Andrew likes to kiss girls!" and "Logan has stinky feet!" Whatever works, right?

After a summer of gorgeous sunny weather, we were starting to think that the whole Washington rain thing was just a myth. But, it seems the weather has changed, and we had plenty of rain for the first day of school.

Both boys reported a great first day of school! Andrew was happy to have made two new friends, and Logan chattered excitedly about his classroom, teacher and the TWO playgrounds at his school!

Mommy did pretty well too. She didn't even cry.

Go fly a kite!

A couple of weeks ago, when Davie and Chris were visiting us, we took a trip to Long Beach, WA for the International Kite Festival. This was really worth the trip. Not only did we get to see tons of amazing kites and performers, we also got to see the town with shops and attractions, ride in a horse-drawn wagon, walk the board walk, play on the beach, and fly our own kites. I really hope we can do this again next year!

Bryan and Andrew getting ready to launch their own kite.

Run Andrew, Run!

It was way too cold to get in the water, but the kids had a blast playing in the sand.

I really wanted a picute of thie kids playing in the sand with the kites in the background, so I took about a million pictures like this.

"Okay, enough pictures, Mom!"

The LoveBirds, Davie and Chris

I don't know what these giant ring kites are called, but they were awesome!

Davie, Chris, and Bryan, riding through Long Beach in a horse-drawn wagon.

This was the best we could do for an end-of-the-day shot. The kids (and grown-ups) were pretty pooped!

Apparently we've been naughty...

Today I overheard Logan singing the Mickey Mouse Club March:

"Who's the leader of the club that's SPANKING you and me?

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!"

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.