We hosted our first block party!

Cassie and I really wanted to get to know our neighbors better, so what better way than to throw a block party! It was a great success. Throughout the day we probably had around 50 people show up and join in the festivities. You'll be happy to know we have wonderful neighbors and WAY more kids than we previously thought, so Harlow will have plenty of friends growing up here. It was a potluck style party so there was plenty of food and drinks...


...We had water balloons and marshmallow guns for the kids, and then we set up a large screen on the front of our house in the evening and finished the night off with an outdoor movie. We showed a classic, The Goonies.
We all had an amazing time getting to know one another, and it's been really nice walking down the street lately and saying hi to all the new people we know. They always thank us for organizing the event and tell us how appreciative they are. Everyone is now looking forward to this being a tradition every year! Although, they would like us to do a couple more outdoor movie nights before the summer is over.

Let's catch up, shall we...

We flew to San Dimas California for a little family reunion/wedding anniversary/birthday celebration. First on the agenda when we arrived in San Dimas was the water park! In celebration of Jeannette's birthday she wanted to have her whole family play in the water. It was a great way to keep cool in that hot San Dimas sun we North Westerners aren't used to. Great idea Jeannette!

Then we went over to a relative's house to celebrate Cassie's grandparent's 60th Wedding Anniversary!! A lot of her relatives live nearby so everyone was there making it feel like a huge family reunion. The house we stayed at was amazing. It had plenty of room for all of us, a pool, a hot tub, an apple orchard, an observatory and a windmill you can actually climb.
Everyone sitting around the grandparents telling their favorite stories and memories of them.

After the big fiesta weekend, we went home to continue our busy week. We went to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium with our friends from our birthing class. I think Harlow loved the aquarium part best because the fish we're right in her face.
...then we helped Mike and Jeannette settle into their new house! They had been waiting what seemed to be a long time to hear from the bank if they got the house or not. Well, it was worth the wait because now they are new homeowners! Yay! Congrats to them on their new and really cute house in the Phinney neighborhood. I wish I would've taken more pics, but we were too busy taking down walls and putting things away. I'll take more when they are more settled in and post for you guys.

I'm helping Mike put together Jeannette's sewing table in their garage. Jeannette likes to create beautiful dresses from scratch and wants to start her own clothing line. The garage will be a great place for creating as well as playing. Mike has a ping pong table in there and is waiting for me to drop off my foosball table to complete his game room.

Memorial Day Weekend

So it was a lot of driving this past weekend... almost 1500 miles in fact. We drove down to Chico to visit my family. We started our drive around 5:30 am Friday morning and arrived about 5:30 in the evening. Pretty good time if you ask me, especially with a baby on board AND a lunch visit with an old friend, Tanya, in Roseburg Oregon. Harlow did really well traveling all that way. She slept a lot and mommy kept her company in the back when she was up and wanted to play. The night we arrived we all went to the county fair to watch a free concert by Three Dog Night!

The music got a little loud for Harlow at times so Cassie and I walked her around the Fair a little bit. Harlow got to see her first sheep, pigs and goats! She looks a little worried but she was fine.

My cousin Juliann so happened to be graduating high school the following day and we decided we wanted to make a surprise appearance. The graduation was in Stockton which is another 2.5 hours south of Chico...so yes...more driving. It was so worth the drive though because not only did we get to see her graduate but we got to see cousins and aunts and uncles I haven't seen in a while.

Cousin Christa, Grandma Joann, Mom Terry, Cousin Juliann, Me,
Cousin Sara with Harlow, Sara's husband Jacob and little girl Madeline.

My dad Pat, Sara's husband Jacob, Uncle Clint, Aunt Melissa, Cousin Sara with Madeline, Cousin Lauren, Grandma Joann, Cousin Juliann, Harlow, Cassie, Mom Terry, Sara's son Justin, Cousin Christa, Aunt Melissa and me.

We had fantastic weather the whole weekend, so on the following day we decided to go to a farmer's market and Bidwell Park near my parents house. It's a beautiful park with really tall trees and trails everywhere. It has the second largest outdoor, naturally fed pool in the states, called the One Mile. It was hot out but not enough to make us jump into the cold cold water.

Harlow was keepin' it real cool.
We had a little fun at the playground there.

We had a wonderful time and not to mention wonderful meals! Thanks mom and dad for a lovely time And Happy 28th Wedding Anniversary! It was great to see everyone!!! Cassie, Harlow and I headed back Monday morning around 5:30am and arrived back home around 5:30pm (made good time again!)

Everybody loves Harlow!