Bella, Gabe and Josiah

We went fishing! It was raining a bit, but the water was flat, the wind wasn't blowing and the fish were biting, so it was a great day on the water! Unfortunately Gabe was not so happy to  be wearing a rain jacket and a lifevest... The fish were biting, which made for a fun day on the water. At one point we had fish on three different poles. Most of them were pinks, which we threw back, but we got some coho and we all had fresh salmon for dinner! Poor Gabe refused to sleep on the boat (who doesn't sleep on a boat???), so by the time we got back to the dock he was done. He walked around the dock a bit, but then there was a lot of laying on the dock crying. Once we were finally in the car, he was out. Silly kid. This is why you sleep on the boat!            

Laurie is home!!! Laurie and I were inseparable for years. We were the only two single girls in a group full of married people for a very long time, and we spent a lot of time together. She was the maid of honor at my wedding. When she moved south, I helped her drive all of her stuff, driving through the wilderness for four days. (I wasn't happy about it though, since it meant that she was leaving me...) She and I each other on a level that no one else does and I miss her terribly. This week she is back. She brought Nathan, her new husband. He's never been up here, so we're doing our best to show him everything. I'm hoping that he sees how wonderful it is up here and decides to that they could move back. That's probably a pipe dream, but I'm trying! I'm off work this week since Bella's friend is here, so we have spent the week exploring. Sunday we hiked to the waterfall. Monday we hiked up Perseverance. Yesterday we hiked out to the ice caves. I took Gab

Yesterday we went whale watching with all of Pat's coworkers. All of the families were invited too, so there were a lot of people on the boat, including a lot of babies (all of which were boys...) It was a potluck too, and my potatoes even won a prize for the best side dish! We saw a pod of orcas, which I've never seen around here. I've seen the occasional lone orca, but humpbacks are way more common. So seeing a pod of orcas was a lot of fun. Two of them played right next to the boat for awhile and even breached a couple of times. I don't have good pictures of the whales, just the kids on the boat. Apparently my priorities have changed...      

Things have been a little crazy around here, so I haven't even posted that Bella got to go camp this week! She's in the same cabin as two of her best friends, so I know that they're having a wonderful time. The two little brothers were not so excited. They wanted to go to camp too. Soon boys. Soon.    

We've had a rough couple of days around here. On Saturday I woke up with mastitis. I did alright Saturday, but by yesterday I was so sick and in so much pain that we went to the ER. I got iv antibiotics and an oral prescription and when I woke up this morning, I was feeling a bit better. I'm certainly not well yet, but I'm not in as much pain and I'm able to function. When the nurse came in to take out my iv, she brought in a machine to take my vitals. She hooked me up to it and turned it on. I looked at the screen and realized that it was the exact same screen that Gabe had in the nicu. It was the screen that I stared at for months, a screen that I haven't seen since we left. It hit me pretty hard and I started to cry. I've been trying to process a lot of stuff since we left, trying to work through all of the emotional damage that the nicu did to me. I thought I was doing pretty well. But apparently I still have a few more triggers... Antibiotics are wonderful

Pat rented an excavator today to do some yard work. This was clearly the most wonderful thing that could possibly happen today, because all Gabe wanted to do was watch Daddy. But then, it got even better. He got to drive it! Isn't that every little boy's dream??? Even Bella got in on the action. Our yard looks so much better too. We've still got a ways to go, but Pat got a long ways today. Unfortunately, all of the rain this summer has been making yard work rather complicated...      

Bella is at a day camp all week and everyday I pick her up at a park. The weather was lovely today, so I let Gabe get out and play.  They had a lot of fun playing together. I'm really glad that my kids love each other.      

Now that we no longer have a cat, people seem to think we don't have to close all of the doors anymore.  Clearly, that is not the case:  

It's been a sad day over here. We had to find Max a new home. He's a wonderful cat, but he had one bad habit that we can no longer deal with. We'd tried everything to break the habit. Unfortunately, it couldn't be done and we reached the breaking point. We told Bella on Thursday when she got home, and today we took him to his new home. There were a lot of tears shed today, but it needed to happen. I'm going to miss the little guy.      

We had a good 4th of July. It was wet and rainy, which made for a pretty cold parade, but we all survived. We didn't get much candy either, but we didn't have Bella and Gabe was strapped in the carseat so no one threw us any!  Next year will be different. Gabe was itching to out and run around already so next year he'll be all over the candy! Then when we got home, Gabe wanted to read a book. So he brought me a book and sat down. I think he missed the part about me needing to actually see the book... Then the big news of the week is that Bella came home! He really was happier than the pictures say. She'd also woken him up and he was confused... Daycare is closed this week, so Gabe's spent the week with Gram. Today she had Bella too so they went to the park. Once again, I think he was happier than he let one... Gabe has discovered the great outdoors. When I got home today he wanted to play in front yard (which is a complete disaster at the moment...). He picked up ro