Today Rooney, Ailbe and I got to do something we have not done in a long time (and Ailbe never)...we did a nature walk. Sadly the kids and I probably wouldn't do much of this on our own. Rooney and I appear to be afraid of bugs (Rooney more so than I) and if we had to flip over rocks, old pieces of wood and dig through owl vomit the amount of hand wipes we would use would be utterly ridiculous.
Fortunately for us, but mostly Rooney and Ailbe, mom started a moms group to force us to do such things and you know what? It was fun, the Seattle Parks Dept Naturalist made it very interesting, we got to see our friends and all hand sanitizing was done at the end and only required a dollop. Rooney learned how to catch bugs without squashing them, he found a garter snake (but chose to just look at it with his eyes), had the opportunity to try berries out in nature (also just chose to look with his eyes), got to mist spiderwebs with a squirt bottle, visited the largest bug trap I've ever seen (the mens bathroom at Camp Long), search owl vomit for rat bones, carried a bug net and even got to carry around a red ant in a magnifying bug box during the whole trek. Seems like the perfect outing for a little near 5 year old boy. If he was able to poke something with a stick it possibly could have been the best day ever!
I know! I know! It's been months since I've updated. It's not that I haven't been thinking of you it's just don't know where the time goes. 
Luckily I have been taking pictures the whole time and thanks to Blogger's Post Options I can go back in time and create posts in real time. Sometimes technology is so cool. 
At the end of August we had a great treat. The kids Uncle Casey (my younger brother) and their cousin Aiden came for a visit. The last time Rooney or I had seen Aiden was over Thanksgiving nearly 5 years earlier. Both the boys have changed alot. The day Aiden came Rooney and I were actually scheduled to go fishing with AMAT so I asked Casey and Aiden if they wanted to come along. Casey being a vegetarian decided not to come along (I don't really know if that was the reason but it seemed like a good one) but to my delight Aiden and Felix decided they would. It was great to have all 3 boys together. Rooney and Felix fell right in with adoring Aiden and I got a chance for a little one on one and to get to know him a little better. What a great kid! During the week Casey and Aiden were here we were able to do alot of "family activities". It was kind of nice to have a visitor with a kid because all the kid activities we normally do translated pretty well and since Mom, Annie and Dana were working some of those days we weren't always trying to coordinate 12 people. We were able to go bowling, play miniature golf, spend the day in Seattle at the EMP/Science Fiction Museum (I've never been there!) and of course a couple of family BBQ's. We had such a great visit with Casey and Aiden it was really hard to have them leave. Thankfully I think this visit opened the door to more visits and I think they're due up here again this winter. Can't wait to see 'em!
