Swim Lessons

We are taking swim lessons this Fall.

Very exciting.

We have been looking forward to them for weeks and today was the day we would start.

We got ready. Put on our suits, got our towels, looked up the combination for our lock and headed off to do some errands before the lesson. After our errands we went to the Firstenburg Center and checked in. We gathered with the other parents and kids and listened to our instructor go over the rules. Once the rules were over (and Ella was crying to get in the pool to play with the toys that were in the bin sitting on the edge of the pool and I was sweating profusely) it was finally time to get in the pool.

We were two seconds from getting in the pool when the tweets from the whistles started. Everyone had to get out of the pool! What happened? Well someone pooped in the pool. No I am not kidding. Two minutes into the swim lesson and there was a floater and that was the end of our lesson. The pool had to be cleared and we were not getting in for our lesson.

So we will try again on Thursday. Hopefully everyone will go to the bathroom before and we will have a lesson.

Just for fun I have included pictures of Ella in her swimsuit . So cute.

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school and I am not there. It is strange to not be going to work today, tomorrow or any day this year. I am so happy to be staying home with Ella this year. I look forward to be able to have play dates, go to the library's reading hour, meet Ben for the random lunch in the park, and number of other things staying home allows me to do. But at the same time I will miss school.

I will miss the students, the routine, the events, my colleagues, teaching history, seeing students "get it", discussions about education, holidays in school, special breaks, and the list goes on.

I will not miss grading, getting up early, tests, complaints, fire drills, emails, state requirements, waiting for the buses, students misbehaving, or the like.

I am surprised by my lack of complete and utter joy over staying home. I am so happy to stay home with Ella, to have this time with her and to support Ben in his preparation for his Doctorate. But at the same time I will miss the classroom. I am going to cherish this season in life though. I will not wish one day away while I am home because I know that this season is short. Before I know it I will be back in the classroom and Ella will not be a little girl anymore. She already has grown so fast. She is no longer a baby. I have a toddler. So with that in mind I will embrace this season. I will soak it all up and treasure it.

A New Toy

The other night Ben and I were at a friend's house and Ella found a great new toy on which to play. I stopped by a yard sale yesterday and found a toy just like it for sale. I went home, got Ben, and we went back so Ben could work his bartering magic on seller. Ben worked out a good deal and Ella has a new fun toy to play on. Below is video of her on the toy.

Overnight she has mastered the ability to climb up the slide and go back down the slide seated. She could not do this without help yesterday. I guess she was working this out in her sleep last night. Maybe this is the reason she started waking up at 6:30 instead of 8:30. ;-)

Going down feet first is fun, but head first is even more fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is definitely a toy that Ella can not play with alone. She is fearless. This morning I left the room for a few minutes and when I returned I found her standing on top of the slide playing with the wheel. She has no fear and will climb anything and everything. She keeps me on my toes!

We're walking now!

She has been working towards this day for weeks. Today she took her first real steps. She would get on her rocking chair, step off, walk a few steps, and then fall down. The rocking chair she was getting her head start from is the same rocking chair I started walking from on my first birthday. I guess it is a good starting point for walking. She did this about five times in a row and then moved on to a standing up from a crawling position and then taking a few steps. It was very exciting. Soon she will be running around the house!

You can see some video of Ella walking below. It is a little long (I haven't learned how to edit the video yet), but worth watching. These were not her first steps but you can see how she did it.

So proud...

She was so proud of herself when I found her diaperless in her crib. I had put her down for a nap in just her diaper and when I went in to get her up she had no diaper. Apparently she has figured out how to get her diaper off. Once I saw that there was no mess in the crib I quickly got the camera to document this moment. From now on, she will only go down with pants over that diaper.

The evidence...

Summer 09 so far...

So far summer '09 has exceeded my expectations! We have traveled from the Oregon coast to the Tri-Cities and back again. We have swam, played, celebrated and entertained until we have exhausted ourselves. Currently we are taking a little break from all this excitement and spending some days at home resting and cleaning our neglected home. The great thing about summer '09 is that there is still a month left!

This summer is very different from last summer. Last summer we were awaiting Ella's arrival and then learning how to be new parents. While last summer was incredible and life changing, it was all new and not very relaxing. We did not know when Ella would arrive, what she would be like, what we would be like as parents, and so many other things. This summer we just get to enjoy our daughter. We get to experience all the wonders of summer with Ella this year. For that reason summer '09 has been incredible and exciting.

Here are some of the things we have been up to so far:

Swimming at Esther Short fountain

Ella loves all forms of water. I knew she would love swimming when during her baths she played, laughed, and splashed all the time. She loved the fountain. She just went into the fountain. It was as though we were not there to her! She just wanted get into the water.

The rocks were rough on the knees so she did a bear crawl in the fountain.

So much fun.

Ella loves water so much that she doesn't even care if it is in her face.

My water baby!

After playing in the fountain we relaxed in the park.


Swimming at Auntie Sarah's

One of our favorite pools is Auntie Sarah's pool. Since she lives less then a mile away we are often at Sarah's swimming. Especially on days when it is 107 degrees here in Vancouver. We have been experiencing record high temperatures here. Thankfully we an air conditioner and plenty of pools to swim in. Not everyone here has those luxuries here and there was a constant sound of whining through out the Portland/Vancouver area. :-) Thanks to Auntie Sarah for her pool.

Lewisville Park

We have discovered a new favorite place for the summer. Somehow we have never been to Lewisville or even known how great it is. The park is only 15 minutes from our house which we have lived in for 4.5 years and we have never been. It took our new friends the Parla',s who just moved here in January, to introduce us to the park.

We went for the first time in June with the two girls to ride our bikes. This was the maiden voyage of the bike trailer we got a yardsale last year. The girls had a great time riding in the trailer. Although Ella perfers to go on bike rides while being on daddy's back. Maybe next year she will like the trailer more.

They are so cute together. I love their helmets. Safety first!

Athony had the priviledge of taking the girls around.

We also found a slide to play on. The girls liked this.

During our ride we found a swimming beach to put our feet in and cool off. Too bad we didn't bring our suits so we could swim. Ben, Ella, and I have gone back many times since this trip to swim. Ella loves it. So do we.

Belknap Hot Springs

At the end of June we traveled to Belknap Hot Springs in central Oregon to go to a friends wedding. It was a great location where we were able to play, relax, and spend time with friend. We stayed at the resort and shared a suite with our friends the Chans. They have a daughter just under 4 months older then Ella. It was very interesting seeing the girls interact in our suite. There were tense moments over toys that weekend!

After a stop for dinner, Ella thought she should have a turn driving. She needs a little more practice. :-)

Is it safe that she has to stand on her tippie toes to drive?

We took Ella's new wagon on the trip. Ella and Zoe had a great time ride around the resort in the wagon.

The Hot Springs were a beautiful spot for a wedding. The river ran right through the place.

Ella was so cute in her wedding outfit. After the wedding we were able to hang out in the grass and play.

Love this face.

Winchester Bay

After leaving the wedding in Belknap we headed straight for Winchester Bay to meet up with my parents, aunt and uncle, and cousin and her daughter for a week at the coast. We had a great time exploring the coastal towns, looking in antique stores and book stores, playing on the beach, relaxing, biking, wagoning (for those of you who aren't familiar with wagoning it is riding around in a kids wagon. It is so much more fun to say wagoning rather then lets take a ride in the wagon), and many other camping activities.

On our first day camping we went to lunch at a car diner that had a real car for a booth. Well we had to sit in the car. Since the booth was a car a high chair would not work so Ella sat in a boaster chair between daddy and grandma Whitney. It was fun and a great memory.

Ella loved eating outside while camping. Every meal was so messy, especially since it was cold and she needed to eat with a coat on most time. It is a testiment to stain removers that her coats are stain free.

A Whitney family tradition is to bathe babies and small children in the sink of the RV. When I was a kid I remember bathing in the sink of our camper. I was looking forward to bathing Ella in the 5th wheel's sink. Ella was quiet amused by the bath. It was difficult to get a good picture of Ella during her bath because she was all over the place. Most baths included mopping up a gallon of water off the counter.

She will love this when she is 16!

Grandma Whitney had the perfect touch to get Ella to sleep in the 5th Wheel. She was good-she also rocked her dogs to sleep! Ella actually did well with sleeping on our trip. We were gone for a week and she was a trooper. The only problem was she would wake up really early some times.

The sandy beach was a hit with Ella. She liked it a lot. The challenge was keeping her from eating the sand. :-)

Camping at Cresap Bay

Last summer we did not get to camp at all. This summer we have had two camping trips already and the possibility of more. What a difference one year makes. Just five days after we got home from Winchester Bay we went camping at Cresap Bay with our church for the weekend. We had a lot of fun. There was a boat to go out on Lake Merwin, a beach to swim in and great people to hang out with.

The pack and play was very helpful when we were setting up camp. Ella hung out in it while we put things together.

Hudson even had fun camping. He would spend all day in the water; we would throw sticks for him.

While camping Ella had her first boat ride. I think she liked it. We had fun riding with her. The life jacket made her a little hard to hold though.

I am ready for an adventure mommy!

The wind in our hair.

The Pool

I have a love affair with with my parent's pool. I could spend the whole summer at my parents pool. When we were at Winchester Bay it was as cold as winter. The weather when we got home wasn't much better. We decided then to go to the pool in the Tri-Cities and not get out for 2 days. We got there on a Wednesday night and didn't get out of the pool until Friday afternoon. Ella loved the water. She is a water baby to be sure.

Grandma Whitney got Ella this floating toy for the pool. She cruised around the pool in it for hours.

We ate most meals by the pool. That was really good since I forgot her bibs at home. Meals were very messy. Good thing the pool was there to wash her off in.

Shaelee had fun playing with Ella in the pool. She was great. She swam with Ella the whole day she was at the house.

Hanging with Grandpa Whitney before bed at the pool.

Some times it was more fun to play out of pool then in the pool.

She is fearless. This can make a mommy nervous.


As you can see we have been busy. Now that it is August we will be slowing down some and staying home for awhile, at least until the end of August when we leave for Spokane!

B.Y.O.K.P.

Why bring your own Kiddie Pool of course!?!?!



Keeping with the theme of the party I made this Cool Pool cake for Ella. It was so much fun to make and looks 10 times harder to create then it really was!

She's a year! It is hard to believe that it has been a year since this little lady entered our life. In other ways it feels like she has always been a part of our life. This past year has been full of good lessons, many surprises, lots of laughs, few cries, and immense joy. I can't fully express how much better life is with Ella.

With Ella we are able to experience every day things with new eyes. The simple joy of tasting new fruit, sensing new textures, and splashing in a pool have new meaning. With all of this in mind we planned her first birthday celebration.

One of Ella's favorite things to do is to swim. Thus was born the idea of the Kiddie Pool Party! With 7 kiddie pools, 1 baby sprinkler pool, 17 kids, and 26 adults we celebrated the first year of Ella's life. Untold amounts of water were pumped through the hoses and many squeals of laughter were had by kids and adults. It was by far over the top and incredible. Exactly as we wanted it. I had visions of kids jumping from one pool to another and that is what happened.

One proud papa and one happy baby!

Mommy and Ella playing together.

For her birthday Grandma and Grandpa Whitney got Ella a baby sprinkler pool. It was so cool. There was only about 2 inches of water and spouts of water going every where. There was a slide, a dolphin the babies could ride, and other toys on it. We will be using it for the rest of the summer to get out of the heat.

Birthday girl just chilling in the cool pool.

More views of the baby sprinkler pool.

The backyard was full! We couldn't fit another pool in the yard. The kids had the best time. So did the adults.

Swimming can work up a big appetite. With that in mind we prepared a feast. Ella's aunts and all grandparents contributed to the feast. Apparently our guests were hungry because there was little food left. There was a lot of swimming!

The birthday girl feasting!

For her birthday, Ella's Grandpa and Grandma Moll gave her this great picnic table with this great umbrella. We will have lots of fun in the future with this.


Below are pictures of people eating.

It was time for Ella to eat her first cake! In this picture she was more interested in trying to play with her balloon. Eventually she turned around to see her cake.

She didn't know what to think of the cake at first!

She liked the crowd though! She is such a ham.

She was more tentative with cake then I thought she would have been. I don't know that she knew it was something she could eat at first.

Finally I put some in her mouth!

That got her going...

and going...

...until we had a master piece on the tray!

Clean up at a pool party is easy. Just dunk her in the pool again!

It takes no time to get her clean.

Next it was present time. She is a well loved baby. She was given many wonderful gifts. The best gift was all the friends and family that came to the party to celebrate her first year here!

A big thanks goes to auntie Heidi, auntie Sarah, Grandma Whitney, Grandpa Whitney, Grandpa Moll, and Grandma Moll. Without you all the party would not have been the success it was. Thanks for making the day even more special and fun!