Family Photoshoot 7.2014

It's that time of year again ... family pictures.

Again we booked the nomadic www.bluelilyphotography.com 

and they didn't disappoint

even considering two very uncooperative children

 both Della and Huck were on their worst behavior (!!!)

yet Wendy captured us perfectly.

 

Loving

Laughing

Living

Life

The Porters

 

Some of my favorites ...

 

 

And to think ... last year on the same date Huck was just a bump!!!

So much has changed in 12 months

Time really is fleeting.

 

 

Pierce County Fair 2014

Pierce County Fair 2014

Graham Washington

I'd heard good things about the local County Fair...

kid friendly, lots of animals and crafts, smaller crowds ...

Much to our delight ... it was all true!

After being led to our parking spot by volunteers on horseback we made our way into the Fair to spot ... Cows being staged for their show. 

We then headed over to the goat, pig, sheep barn and tried to show Della that there were animals behind the fences. She could spot toys, balloons, and pretty ribbons a mile away but didn't often stop to look through the fence!

 We did capture her attention with some African Pygmy goats (she's captivated by anything resembling a 'baby' these days.)

 The local 911 community had a very kid friendly display on hand ...

 Not quite tall enough ...

 Exploring the Fire Truck

 Huck spent his time being packed around in a carrier or chilling in the stroller ... 

looks pretty comfy here. 

 After some snacks we decided to tackle Della's first roller coaster. We're heading to Disneyland this Fall and this would be a good indicator of Della's roller coaster aptitude.

 Waiting in line with Daddy ...

 Heading in ...

 Getting settled in ...

 Heading out ...

 I couldn't quite tell whether Della was enjoying the ride or not. They were moving quite fast. But in review of the pictures, her roller coaster aptitude is pretty obvious ...

Note Stark's Huge Smile! Apparently Della was screaming in joy the entire ride. 

Although in this picture her attitude is questionable ...

 Della had a HUGE smile plastered on her face for most of the ride!

 

 Needless to say that our little DareDevil LOVED the Roller Coaster. 

We won't have any trouble at Disneyland. 

 She was Flying High when she got off the ride. 

 

 Then it was mamas turn ...

 A little serious as we waited to spin but she LOVED it! Any surprise there? 

 I think Stark and I had better be prepared to work the Disney rides in shift 

as I think we're going to be busy. 

Della and I won a round of 'Smack the Mole' and her price of choice was this beautiful florescent orange bear (as opposed to the really cute stuffed hedgehog!)

Note the proof of a fun time ... a really dirty face. 

 The fairground has a kids playground onsite where we spent a few minutes letting Della run off some residual energy. There were only 2 other couples hiding here so it was nice and quiet. 

 I've never before seen stark on a swing!!!

 Huck and Daddy ...

Relaxing while watching some barrel racing

 Our final stop ... Horses!

Della was asleep less than 5 minutes into the ride home.

We really enjoyed the Pierce County Fair and true to reputation it was very kid friendly with everyone waving and saying hi to the kiddos ... 

although it was designed for 4 years and up which was a disappointment to Della as she wasn't old enough to play in the bouncy house or tall enough for most of the rides ... 

One more year Della and then you can tell everyone you're 4 (even though you'll only be 3). 

Next year we'll participate in more of the free crafts for kids ... make a stuffed animal and a peg-horse ... both free!

We'll definitely be back. 

Waves, Sun, and Smiles ...

Today started out poorly. A late breakfast had both kids in tantrum throwing moods and a planned morning at the Zoo was aborted due to massive crowds.

Plan B. 

While running away from the Zoo we decided to stop at the Fort Nisqually Living museum in Pt. Defiance park. Unusually there was no crowd and we had the place nearly to ourselves. It is an amazing museum with several of the original structures and recreations that are impressive in their own right. Della enjoyed herself exploring the buildings and climbing the (princess) towers. Her favorite part was the chickens that live there.

After the museum we grabbed some lunch from the market and headed to the nearest park for a impromptu picnic. Turns out the park, which had a huge playground and spray park, was adjacent to Pierce County's only wave pool!  Once Della sighted the kids splashing and playing in the wave pool no playground or splash park was going to satisfy her. Miraculously I managed to convince her that we needed to go home and get mama's swimsuit (truth) but we would come back soon (after her overdue nap). She let me lead her back to Dad and Huck waiting in the van and we hurried home. After some initial struggles both kids and mama went down for naps while dad did some lumber shopping for our shed project. Once up and moving we fed the kids, gathered our gear and headed back to Tacoma hopping for the best.
The evening pool session started at 5:30 and we arrived just as the gate opened. The initial long line of people had these crowd-phobic parents worried but you really can't break a promise to a 2-yearold especially when she can actually see the prize. We unloaded and waited in line to pay our entrance fee to what we thought was sure to be a crowded, hot, chlorine scented, tantrum filled 2 hour meltdown. "Della, if you start crying (tantrum) we will leave". 

Della didn't cry. 

Huck didn't cry. 

Mama and daddy didn't cry. 

In fact we all had a so much fun we couldn't stop smiling!!! 

It was crowded but everyone one was out to enjoy the beautiful summer weather and everyone was pleasant and considerate. The facility has a large wave pool, shallow sitting pool, and a shallow kids pool with fun sprinklers. After claiming our chairs and dumping our gear we firmly pointed Della in the direction of the kids pool which lasted all of 1 minute before she bee-lined for the wave pool ... with it's really, really big waves! Daddy had first shift and managed to swing by the stand of life-jackets and outfit Della before heading into deep water.

Della LOVED the waves. She spent nearly the entire 2 hours swimming with the big kids in the waves which mimic the ocean extremely well (this coming from a girl raised in the Hawaii Pacific ocean). Even Huck, the youngest kid there, enjoyed the riding through the waves and splashing in the shallow water. There was a short break for ice-cream and a couple visits to the younger kids in the baby pool but otherwise Della held her own in the wave pool with either mama or daddy ... and it was fun!

Della had a mini meltdown as she finally wore down and her conflicted mind struggled between the need to go home and the desire to stay and play. It was sadly humorous to watch her insist she was staying while trying to take her lifejacket off and randomly throw out "go home" comments. But I promised we would come back soon and that we would watch her favorite cartoon at home and then we waved and said goodbye to each of the pools and each of the lifeguards and the facility in general as we headed to the van.
We'll be back ... or at least Della and Daddy will as it'll probably be a weekday visit while I'm at work but I'll still smile knowing Della is having as much fun as a 2-yearold can possibly have!
Pictures are hard to take in blinding sun with wet fingers while holding a slippery sunscreen'd wiggly baby but I managed to capture a few.

 

 Della I hope you continue to let your parents tag along when you get older 

as you are really a lot of fun to play with.