Dear Ducklings,

Daddy and I checked into our hotel about 5:30 this evening—because of the different time zones, it was 2:30 where you are! 

This is how our flight began, breaking through the clouds to see Mount Rainier looking like an island through the clouds.  Daddy was already snoozing by this altitude, so he missed it.

The hot humidity smacked us with a wet towel as we left the airport, but our hotel is divine.  I will have to take pictures to show you tomorrow, but at the top of the hotel is the pool, spa, and sundeck, which this pictures peeks down onto.

The sundeck also has a lovely garden filled with many of the herbs the hotel restaurant uses in their dishes.

From the hotel’s rooftop, we can see Central Park. Can you spot all the green a few blocks down? (The blue netting is surrounding the reconstruction of a church next door.)

Once we got unpacked and changed, the Park drew us like a magnet.  This is the Delacorte Musical Clock. Click here to see a video of why it’s so cool.  We happened to walk by it just as it was chiming, otherwise I wouldn’t have known how charming it is!

We walked quite a distance in the park but barely scratched the surface before we had to veer off to find dinner. Even so briefly, there were heaps of things I wish all you could see for yourself!  You’d have to do lots of walking, but it just makes dinner taste that much better.

I think we will try to do a bus tour tomorrow!

Love to you all,

Mama

Last October, we took a picture of all the Kruger cousins, and yours truly, as babies are so sticky they are hard to put down.

Here they are all again, 7 months later (with and without bottle)!

I also got a picture of the girls!

And ice cream!

Piper and Cecily have more in common than liking their picture being taken, but we’ll focus on that for now.

Even since Jack first came to Seattle, we have a standing date to go to the zoo.  Jack is Talinn and Daniel’s firstborn, and now he has to be referred to as such, as there is now a second born (or Omega, as Dwayne and I like to think we popularized…about 7 years ago).  Elise is almost a  year old, and Kyla, Piper, and I liked to borrow her whenever we could during their visit.

Talinn and I packed up, and took all 5 kids to Woodland Park.  The kids spent significant time as wolf pups, and had a howling good time!

Between local obligations and AirBnB, we don’t use our cabin as much as I’d like to, but we always block out the first week of July for us.  I love how South Whidbey celebrates country and community. 

A highlight is the Maxwelton Parade.  The Maxwelton community is one street, with houses on the beach side, the garages on the other.  I’m pretty sure the man with the most grandchildren in the parade is the announcer. 

We met island and school friends at this event, and the kids get enough candy to last them to Halloween. 

Here are the number (years):
 

The Goose (grocery) always sends their gorilla with a wagon of bananas to share with the crowd.

Got an old truck, tractor, or camper?  Bring it down and throw out some candy.  We actually know this kid-he and Kyla are in the same class at school.

Sno-Isle gets into it, too, and I cheered loudest for their “float”!

Another highlight is the Good Cheer (thrift stores and food bank) give out snap peas instead of candy.  I’m as happy about it as she is!

The girls even got to pet a chicken.

I was never a contemporary prom queen, but may I can aspire to being a vintage one!

This pirate has made a good catch.

We have a lot to cheer about on the 4th of July!

It’s not the best part (the buckets of candy probably take that title), but I love the time on the beach after the parade.  The tide was way out, and we could barely see Kyla. You’ll notice we often just get back shots of the kids once they hit the sand!

Clearly, I did a terrible job blogging this last spring (though I am back-dating several posts and have added several posts to March, April, and May, and will add more).

However, I found lots of fun, random pictures of the last 4 months that I wanted to publish.  Enjoy, Mom!

Wesley: Mama, I like playing with Piper, but I love Kyla.

My artist—made to do his best work outside.

The kids love watching the Costco pizza station.

How cool is this future roller derby-er?  I think I will call her “Mad Duck Rosie”.

This is what Piper’s clothes look like after they are washed.

 

He really loves Kyla.

Piper-the-Kangaroo came up with a new way to torture love the Timmy Whitefoot.

Piper likes making new hair-dos for special occasions. Sadly, I have no recollection of why May 16th was special.

She also makes her own earrings from “estate” blooms.

Sigh.  This is Wesley. At church.  My best argument to get him to come down is that he will put ideas into other kids’ heads.

“Mama, I’ll drive you.  I know how!”

“Son, we’re not driving up a wall.”

Piper is the horse and Wesley’s wheelbarrow is the plow.

Does this need explanation?

Kyla’s happy place: by herself (read: without siblings nearby), listening to one of the audiobooks on her MP3.

Only slightly less Kyla-esque, climbing a tree.

Dwayne and I have been taking evening walks this summer, and the kids insist on joining (mostly uninvited).  Super Piper likes riding her bike.

Kyla likes her Daddy time.

I find this amusing.  We have one of those huge pillows/stuffies from Costco’s Christmas toy aisle who, after a poorly executed surgery, has no stuffing.  So Wesley stuffed himself in Cornelius Rainbow Dragon’s skin himself.

I publish a lot of cute pictures of my kids, but this is a more typical scene.

Piper wearing a blue skirt, yellow dress, and lace jacket, to make sure she was fancy enough.