Christiansen Chronicles

Twilight readers - take a look at the sign and see where we went today!



Alright, I admit, I did try to get Wade to head to Forks, in fact, I was the one driving - but I was out-voted and we headed to the beach instead. Maybe another time - any one up for a road trip?



Gage has been talking about going to the beach ever since we told him we were moving to Washington. Today he got his wish. Too bad the beaches here aren't like what he thought - they are cold and windy, but we had a sunny day and had a great time tromping around.



My mom found the boys some raincoats at Costco. Noah's is a firefighter jacket and says on the bum "Stand book 200 feet" The coast was the perfect place for them to try out their new boots and rain jackets.

We found some sticks and did some beach art.

And last but not least - I couldn't believe this guy. While it was a sunny day today, it was still typical Washington coast weather. That means it was in the 50's - maybe 60's. This "tough guy" was out on his wave runner trying to catch waves. He was being so macho. Even other people on the beach were making comments about how crazy he was.

I had a good little laugh on the inside when his wave runner ran into the beach. No matter what he tried he couldn't get it back out. Wade even offered to help, but he was too macho to have help. Finally after watching him try for at least 20 minutes he ran past us panting saying he gave up and was going to get his truck.

We ventured up to Seattle to visit my all time favorite market, Pike Place Market. If you are ever in Seattle, this is a MUST! We had a car full - my parents, my sister, her baby and the three of us. Once we got there we ate some yummy homemade pizza served to us by someone who spoke Italian and called my mom sweetheart the entire time and then it was divide and conquer. (More like my boys don't really shop, they look and look fast - so my dad, the boys and I walked around looking, while my sister and my mom shopped.)

This was our attempt to take a nice family picture. HAHA! Both boys made faces and this is the best out of several attempts my dad took.

The famous pig.



Fish, produce and flowers - all the aromas wrapped up with all the swarms of people. It might sound strange, but it was really nice. Gage loved to look at the flowers and find produce he had never seen. He loved the mini-banana's that we found.

The Pike Street Fish Company - this is the place where they throw the fish. Or as Gage said to Wade on the phone, "We are going to go see them throw dead fish around, Dad!" He was so excited. Each time we saw them throw a fish I could never catch a good picture -but if you look close the guy on the phone was talking on the phone and catching an order at the same time. A pretty exciting place if you have never been there. (If you click on the link you can watch their live webcam, if it's during the market hours that is! Read their bio's, order their book and all kind of crazy stuff!)


And last but not least, I can't resist all the flowers and great prices. Gage really wanted to pick out some flowers for Wade - since he will be home FRIDAY - and he picked this huge bouquet. It was only $10! I think they look so nice in the house and smell great.

Hope everyone has a great weekend - we know we will since Wade will finally be here to share it with us!

Has anyone else seen this series? North and South (click for the amazon link).

My sister gave me her copy to watch after she heard about it and loved it. I have to say it's now one of my absolute favorites. It's 4 episodes (4 hours) and I finished it last night - I loved it so much I want to start it over again tonight.

This isn't North and South as in American Civil War either - it's North and South of England, think more along the lines of Pride and Prejudice. In fact, I would rank it right up top with the BBC long version of Pride and Prejudice. This is also a BBC production.

Apparently it's based on a novel that I now have to find and read. I'm wondering if anyone else has read this or seen this? If not find it and watch it, you won't regret it!

~~~

Speaking of favorites I did a favorite swap back in July and got my package sent to Washington. I loved this swap because it was challenging to put together my favorite things under a budget. Thanks Kelly for hosting it.

I never posted about the goodies that I got from Kelly, an old college roomate, friend and super mom of 3. (Sorry for the lack of picture, most of the contents got ate by the kids way before I could snap a picture!)

-Ted & Barney's Meat Seasonings - make in CA - I can't wait to try it!

-Gap socks - totally handy since I hadn't packed any socks and my truck hadn't got here yet!

-CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Tent from Bath and Body Works - love this stuff, now I use it every day

-Hempz lotion

-Haribro Gummy bears (the boys consumed these soo fast!

-Salt Water Taffy (yep, consumed with the bears)

- Hershy Nuggest Almond and Toffee - had no idea they made them with almonds AND toffee!

I know these pictures might not look like much, but please click on them to enlarge and then you might be able to see. These are the salmon getting ready to spawn! While at my parents this week we read in the paper about how if you went to downtown Olympia you could look over a certain bridge and see tons of salmon waiting.

You can read all about the life cycle and why salmon do this by clicking HERE.

Apparently they wait in this area for one or two reasons (we aren't sure which one):
1. For their bodies to adjust (they have to go from freshwater as babies, to salt water fish as adults and then back to fresh waters when spawning).
or
2. Waiting for the water to turn the right temperature.

Either way - these massive salmon just swim back and forth around this bridge before entering the fish ladder and making their way more inlet.

It's really cool to watch! They look like they weigh about as much as Noah, really big nice size fish - but don't get your hopes up, fishing is not allowed.



If you look close in the center of this picture you can see the head of a sea otter. The sea otters come out to the bridge too - so they can hopefully be fast enough to catch a tasty salmon for dinner.

Gage had a lot of fun watching all the wildlife and hopefully we can see them again once they've moved more inlet and start spawning. We went a few years ago and while it was stinky (their are dead fish all over the place) it's kinda cool to learn about their life cycle.

One person was quoted in the newspaper article about how he had just moved from California and had to bring his kids to see this so they could become "real Northwesters" again. So now - complete with our sloshy rain boots, parkas and a trip to see the salmon, I think we can call Washington home.

A week after moving into our new apartment we are back at my parents. The house is starting to look much more like a home, but our most recent discovery is that we have fleas. FLEAS. We've never even owned a pet, with the exception of two goldfish 4 years ago.

I think the renters before us had pets, my complex will not tell me that information. I have all new carpet and new paint, but they are "flea bombing" my apartment today. I get the daunting task of vacuuming every day for the next 10 days, and changing the vacuum bag each time. Yuck. We feel ichy all over. Apparently Gage is the only tasty one, his back is covered in bites.

The boys think the best part of being at my parents is the garden. They were so excited that we got here just in time to help Grandma pick berries and green beans today.

We found some slugs and went on a slug hunt with the salt shaker. The poor slugs didn't even know what was coming for them.

So our stuff is in - and will now take forever to get unpacked and it to fee like home. Or at least that is how I feel. I will post pictures of our new apartment, which I think will work great, but the unpacking process takes so long. I was thinking back about when we moved to Iowa and when I finally started to like where things were placed in our house - it was probably after the first year. We are only here 10 months. It makes me kinda not want to do all this work, but who wants to live with boxes? I hate that I'm not spending time commenting right now, but I just can't get to it. I post only for journaling. Pictures, more steady posts and comments might appear next week, but don't hold your breath.

~~~

Chickens

When we were in Utah Gage had to make a visit to his Aunt Pam's house to see his favorite chickens. This time he got to collect the eggs. His favorite one to follow around he is holding in this second picture. "Crooked" has a deformed (crooked) beak so she really isn't able to get that much to eat and we aren't sure how she is still alive, but Gage lover her and calls her "Cricket"

Berries

My mom goes out every other morning or so and picks fresh berries and goods from her garden. Gage and Noah have really liked joining her. Monday they gathered a good amount of raspberries, blueberries, a zucchini and tomato. This morning when Noah found out Grandma was outside picking berries without him he ran and got his shoes. It didn't stop him that it was 6:15, he was in his jammies with flip flops. He helped Grandpa pick berries, eating a few along the way.

Baby

We got to met our new cousin Baby Daniel! The boys love holding him (or- it- as Noah calls him). Gage is a good calm boy and loves talking to him. Noah likes to jump around him making us all really nervous. I think they will really love having a new baby in our family. They really love Daniel.

One week,
over 2000 miles,
4 days of driving,
5 stops at McDonalds,
2 hotels,
countless potty breaks on the side of the road (yeah boys are fast!)
and
7 states later,
we made it to Washington!

(Iowa, no sign.)

My sister shared this with me and I had to post it. It is so funny, it's worth watching a few times. I hope you all enjoy it - be back next week!