A Birthday to Remember

Yesterday we celebrated Josh's 35th birthday.  Unfortunately, it wasn't all cakes and gifts, and I'm sure it's not a birthday Josh is soon to forget.

We decided to have Eli's twin cousins come over for a couple of days.  Eli and the twins are only three weeks apart, and Eli loves spending time with them.  Anyway, Eli was wanting to go to the beach, so we were going to do it on Friday while Josh was at work, and then we'd have a dinner celebration in the evening.  Unfortunately, on our way to the beach, we got in a car accident.  A guy decided to suddenly skateboard across the street in heavy traffic (well, heavy for Aberdeen--there are always a lot of people headed to the beach on weekends).  The woman in front of me had to suddenly put on her brakes, and I rammed into her from behind.  It happened so quickly; all I can remember is the inflating airbags and the feeling that I couldn't breathe.  Since I had never been in a major accident before, I had no idea that when the airbags inflate, they emit terrible fumes.  Eli started screaming and telling me that he couldn't breathe.  I was trying to open the door, but the front bumper dented back so badly that I couldn't open my door very wide.  Fortunately, there were people that immediately stopped and opened the back doors and got the boys out.  They were all okay except for some minor scrapes where the seat belt rubbed against the neck.  I ended up with a couple of bad bruises, but that was it.  I was very grateful we were okay.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the car.  I guess we will be purchasing a new vehicle that we weren't planning on doing for a little while. 

Still, we did get to celebrate Josh's birthday that night.  We enjoyed a tasty dinner (stuffed poblanos) and a raspberry cream cheese pie, which is what he wanted instead of cake.  I am very grateful for Josh and all that he does and who he is.  I hope he has a wonderful 35th year in spite of its beginning.  

(Sorry about the light from the window blinds.)  Eli likes to make bead necklaces, and though he usually makes them for me, he didn't want to leave his dad out, so Eli made Josh a necklace for his birthday (just in case you were wondering about his accessories). :-)

Updates Along With Grandpa and Grandma Grant's Visit

I keep meaning to blog about this or that, but life gets busy, and time gets away from me.  One of the things I had meant to blog about in May is that Eli learned to ride a bike without training wheels.  I was fearing the worst (lots of crying, bruises, possibly broken bones), but it turned out to be surprisingly easy.  Eli decided he wanted to take off his training wheels when Josh was at a conference in Seattle.  I begged him to wait until Daddy came home because I really did not want to be the one to teach him.  He insisted that he could do it, and he was right.  I held on for a little bit, and before I knew it, he was riding by himself.  I told him where to position the pedals, and after a few tries, he was starting by himself.  Phew!  I'm not sure it is that simple for everyone, but I'm definitely glad it was for me.  Now he loves riding his bike and is very proud of his new accomplishment!

Eli also took swimming lessons for the first time in May and June.  He has never really liked swimming, so I have been hesitant to invest in lessons, not because I don't feel it's important to learn, but because I didn't want to waste money and time sitting on the sidelines with a screaming little boy.  Since he started to show improved interest, I enrolled him in a class, and it was probably perfect timing.  He was certainly one of the oldest in his class, but because he was a little more mature, he could sit still, listen, and follow instructions much better than some of the others.  Also, most of the other kids had been in the class two or three times because they weren't ready to move up to the next level.  By the end of his class, Eli was one of the few kids who the instructor said was ready to move up.  The difference was probably his age because he certainly didn't love the water better than any of the others.  In fact, he had one day where he suddenly freaked out and started screaming (the instructor came out of the pool and carried him in), but by the end, he was quite proud of himself.  I had told him he would only have to take this one class and then he could choose if he wanted to continue.  I was surprised and pleased to hear him tell me that he definitely wanted to take another class.

He likes practicing his swimming in the bathtub.

Over the 4th of July my parents came up for a visit.  This was their first time visiting us up here, so we went quite a number of places.  For the 4th, we stayed here and went to Aberdeen's Splash Festival.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the event because I didn't realize my camera needed to be charged until we were already out of the house, but my parents have pictures that I'll have to get from them.  At any rate, we got to go aboard the Lady Washington, which was built in Aberdeen.  The Lady Washington was the ship they used to portray the HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.  We went to a comedy magician routine, and since Eli loves magic these days, he loved the show.  We also saw fantastic fireworks that they set off over the Chehalis River, which is right next to where Josh works.
 
We took my parents to Westport, which is about half an hour from us.  Westport is one of the two beach towns near Grays Harbor where Aberdeen is located.  The other is Ocean Shores.  Westport has a large marina, so we took a stroll along the pier, and then we went to the beach.

 One of the reasons Aberdeen gets so much rain is that it isn't that far from the only rainforest in North America (and by rainforest I mean temperate, not tropical--either way, there are lots of trees and rain, but one is warm and one is cold).  We took about an hour drive up to Lake Quinalt, which is part of the rainforest and home to the world's largest spruce tree.  We took a beautiful hike to some waterfalls, and then we let Eli play in the lake.

This was the world's largest spruce tree.

This was just a cool tree on our hike.

 Josh had scout camp while my parents were here, so we had to leave Josh out of some of the activities.  (In case you were wondering, Josh is the scoutmaster in our ward.)  We went into Olympia on one of the days and toured the capitol building.

 

We also drove up to Bremerton and took the ferry into Seattle.  I had taken the ferry a couple of times before--once when I was eight and once when I was dating Josh--but Eli had never taken it.  It was his first time in downtown Seattle also.  We had a very enjoyable day.

My parents left a couple of days after Josh came back from scout camp, and Eli was sad to say good-bye to them.  He always has a hard time when family leaves or when we leave them.  He says it's too quiet and boring around here without more people, and he's probably right. :-)                

Lilac Gardens

After heading up North past Seattle to the tulips last week, we decided to head down South towards Portland to see some lilacs this week.  I guess that's an advantage of living in Aberdeen.  We're located almost halfway between those two major cities.  Anyway, we didn't quite go down into Oregon, but we made it to Woodland, WA, which is about half hour away.

Woodland is home to the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, which were absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  Lilacs are my favorite flower because they're not only gorgeous, but they smell heavenly.  They were even my wedding flower.  The florist told me that since lilacs don't last long once cut, they aren't typically made into the wedding bouquet, but she said she would oblige the bride, and she did. :-)  The bouquet turned out beautiful (I'm not sure what she had to do to get the lilacs, but it probably helped that my wedding was during lilac season), and I have to say, if I could have had my reception at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, I definitely would have had it there.  I think you'll see why from the pictures.  Once again, I didn't realize there were so many different varieties of lilacs.  Josh's favorite was the "Sensation" lilac pictured above.  He liked the white border around the purple center. 

Tulip Festival

The other day on Josh's day off we went up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival about an hour north of Seattle.  It was a little bit of a drive coming from Aberdeen, but it was a beautiful day, and the flowers were beautiful, so it was worth it.  We picked up Josh's mom and grandma along the way and had a great time.  I didn't realize there are so many different varieties of tulips.  Of course, I liked the light purple ones (I pretty much love any light purple flower), but I really loved the yellow and red tulips which were called the Flaming Parrot Tulip.

 After the tulips, we went to a small dairy creamery nearby where they give little tours and have a small store.  Eli likes tractors and would pretty much do anything to drive one, but the smell of the cows was a little overbearing to him.  His Grandpa Grant would probably be disappointed. :-)  In fact, even when we were looking at the tulips, we could smell some manure (probably being used for fertilizer or coming from nearby farms), and Eli kept saying, "Mom, it smells like goat.  Why does it smell like goat?"  I think he associates the smell with petting zoos.  Anyway, Eli is definitely very sensitive to smells--even at home.  

We ended our day with a yummy salmon barbecue that the Kiwanis Club puts on at a nearby park in Mt. Vernon, WA.