independence weekend!

We had such a fun weekend. On saturday, Ben took Kara and Kiersten to see Cars 2, while I ran some errands with Evie. They really liked it. We stopped and bought some fireworks on the way home, and the girls were so impatient to use them. Ben and I were doing some packing/cleaning in the garage, and some neighbors were doing their fireworks. Evie smiled the first few times, but when Ben decided to set off a particularly loud one, she started screaming. my older girls were never afraid of fireworks, even as very small babies, so I was a little surprised to see Evie so terrified. But as long as I held her, she didn't really cry again. (but she did cling to me).

of course, they had tons of fun doing sparklers.

We decided to set off a few ground fireworks, but save all the big ones for later, after dark.

They were so cute oohing and aahing over all the ones that went up high. It's a little distracting with practically all of our neighbors setting off such huge fireworks displays all at once. Kiersten kept saying she didn't know which ones to look up at.

On sunday, we had tickets to the Tacoma Rainiers game. It was a perfect day. It was nice and warm, so nobody was complaining about being cold, and nobody got sunburned either.

Evie had a good time making friends with all the people sitting around us. She fell asleep for the second half of the game, but woke up just in time for the big fireworks show they put on. She actually watched them and only whimpered a little. Kara and Kiersten were adorable singing along loudly with Katy Perry's firworks song.

It turned out to be a great game, and our team won.

Ben and Evie were both starting to get sick on the 4th. So we just went out to lunch at a bbq place we've been wanting to try. then we did a little shopping at the mall, and went home. We played a game together for much of the afternoon, and just as it was getting dark, the neighborhood fireworks shows started up again. It really is insane listening to constant fireworks for hours on end. The girls and I went out and watched them for a while, and then went in to bed. but the girls kept being woken up by huge booms outside. I finally got them to stay asleep around midnight, but the fireworks kept waking me up til after 3! some of them were shaking our entire house. I was worried about something landing on the roof and starting a fire, but nothing like that happened. (thought I'm sure we have plenty of firework remnants on our roof right now).

Mariner's game

We took the girls to a Mariner's game Wednesday night. As soon as I picked Kara up from school, we headed up to meet Ben at his office. He had an appointment that went long, and then we headed up to Seattle for the game. We only had to pay $6 for parking, and didn't have to walk very far. The tickets we had came with a complimentary hotdog and soda for each of us. Both girls were so excited about the hotdogs, and especially to have their own rootbeers.

It was around 55°, so I was glad I remembered to bring gloves for the girls. We also brought our big, pink Mariners blanket for them to cuddle under.

Ben wore a seattle seahawks sweatshirt, and a KC chiefs hat. some guy at the game told him that the chiefs are coming to play in seattle this year. Ben is already excited to go to the game. I looked it up, and they will be in town on Nov 28th. I hope he doesn't get tickets for it, and then call it my birthday gift!

Every time music was played, Kiersten would start dancing and jumping around happily. We both had our turn to have our laps stomped on.

Kara was really excited to sit by her friend, Gus, but I made her sit by me for a little while too.

They really didn't stay in their seats much, except for when they were eating dinner and treats. Kara was a lot more interested in the game than Kiersten was.

pitcher winding up.

The mariners beat the Orioles 4-1. The girls both got really excited at the end of the game when we won, and everyone was cheering. The game went fast. It only lasted about 2 hours, which was good for us, since it didn't start til 7. I thought we would be carrying sleeping girls out of there after 10 pm.

The girls both got baseball cards, and pocket schedules that they were pretty excited about. Also, if you go to the customer service area, they fill out a certificate for the kids to take home about the game. They didn't want to get their picture taken with the moose, though. Kara loved the energy and excitement of the game, and I think Kiersten's favorite part was getting to eat so much candy. They were really hyper in the car on the way home.

Labor Day weekend

Ben's sister Nancy, and her husband Vic came to spend labor day weekend with us. They arrived early friday morning, and I expected them to be sleeping in when the girls and I woke up. Instead, I woke up to find them playing candy land with a very excited Karalee. Kiersten slept in until I woke her up for breakfast an hour or two later. Ben had to work that day, but we had plenty of fun without him.
Kara got to ride her new bike outside for only the 2nd or 3rd time. (it's been rainy, and we've been busy.) And Kiersten got to try out her inherited trike. It was lots of fun, and also nice to have someone else there to go chasing after them once in a while. Kara is so brave to ride down the hill on our street. Kiersten is still a little hesitant, and needs help to stay on the sidewalk.

Of course Kiersten had to try out the new bike too. That's our little neighbor girl, Haley on the lawn. She loves riding bikes with Kara, and is glad Kara finally has a real bike to be able to keep up.

Later that afternoon, we decided to head to the beach. It was a bit cooler than we would have liked, but we did see some sun, and Kara had lots of fun collecting seashells. She isn't too fond of going in the water. Kiersten on the other hand, wanted to be in the water as much as possible, and kept trying to break away from me to get in there deeper, but I'm one of those "worried moms", so I wouldn't let go of her hand. She even saw a couple of small crabs that washed up, and she thought they were neat.

Here they are playing ball.

Victor loves baseball, so on saturday, we went to see a Tacoma Raniers game. I wan't expecting too much out of a minor league game, but I was surprised how exciting and fun it was. It was very similar to a mariners game, but with fewer people there (especially thanks to the rain) and I hadn't heard of any of the players. But I'm glad we went. This picture is after the downpour. Our section wasn't covered, so it really emptied out. That made it fun for the girls to run around and play. I think Kara's favorite part was getting snacks at the game that she normally doesn't get to have.

Here we are enjoying the game. I don't know what all those snacks in my lap were, but I swear I didn't eat all that myself! Doesn't Nancy make a cute pregnant mommy?

Kiersten got to meet Rhubarb, the moose. She was a little scared of him though. This is as close as she would get. Kara was not at all interested in meeting him, and was even scared when I took her to the bathroom, that he was lurking around the corner.

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day. We spent the morning playing wii, and the afternoon playing so many board, card, and dice games, that I couldn't even name them all. It was a fun day, even if I did snack a little more than I should have. Kara is still talking about uncle Bictor and aunt Nancy, and their fun visit. It's exciting to think the next time we'll see them, their little boy will be born!