happy birthday, gabe!!!

so, our gabe turned the big 7 yesterday!!! it is so hard to believe that 7 years ago today, we were bringing home our first little boy - so scared, so excited, so tired!!!! well, we made it and were crazy enough to do it again! our gabe, what can i say about him!!! he is the brightest, most loving, wittiest young man i have ever known. he thinks and understands way beyond his seven years and at times beyond his mom's 30 years!! the things he remembers blows our minds....vacations we took when he was 3, exactly what year he received a certain book or monster truck, passing conversations shawn and i have had with him...we had forgotten, but not our gabe. in sunday school, they have began memorizing bible verses - gabe looks at the verse one time and the whole thing is memorized - he never ceases to amaze shawn and i. and now 7 years after we first brought him home, we are celebrating so much more than just another birthday....each year we celebrate the wonderful fact that God put this young man into our lives - he has taught us more than we will ever know!!! well enough of the gushy mom stuff that will inevitably come back to haunt gabe someday - on to the celebrating!! gabe's birthday celebration actually began on sunday after church by going to chuck e. cheese's!!! gabe loves this place and secretly so does shawn. they both honed in on the video games the minute we had our tokens. grady and i found our place by the ride on toys and tried each one of those little babies out!! we enjoyed our pizza and the afternoon of play! after conquering chuck e. cheese's, we headed home for our sunday ritual - the fox family nap time! gabe woke us all up around 4:30 so the celebration could continue -- it was present time! he had opted to have his party on sunday the 27th, because dad would be at work on the 28th, we had a game we were going to on the 28th, storytime in the morning on the 28th...we would just be too busy for a party, so he would take one for the team and open presents and eat cake a day early! well, i sure am glad he could sacrifice!! ha! gabe received so many great cards and presents. he had a blast just opening and opening....everything was his favorite!!! for dinner he chose tacos and he also wanted a monster truck party. so i went online and ordered the monster truck plates, napkins, and decorations, but when i went to order the cake - what do you know?- they don't do a monster truck cake! after some researching, i found that apparently monster jam has not sold their rights, so i was on my own for the cake. a brief little history on my cake decorating experience-the last cake i attempted to decorate was for gabe's baby blessing. noone, except for shawn, ever witnessed that horrid mess, and thankfully dillon's bakery has cakes on stand by (no doubt for mother's who think that it is sooo easy to decorate a cake) so one of those little beauties was purchased and decorated within minutes and noone was ever the wiser!!! ok, so here i am decorating my little guy's b-day cake...long story short, it turned out great. yes, i had a back up plan, there is a safeway only about 5 minutes from our house - and they too are prepared for mom's who think they can decorate!! gabe was very pleased with his cake, dinner and presents!! it was a great first day of celebrating. on the 28th, gabe, grady, and i headed to storytime on monday morning with the lee family. in the afternoon, gabe brushed up on some wii playing, received numerous phone calls and then after shawn got home, we picked up gabe's best buddy,charlie, and headed off to an aquasox game. we chowed down on all of the baseball goodies - pizza, hot dogs, clam chowder, popcorn, nachos-oh yeah, we were stuffed! the aquasox announcer even announced gabe's birthday over the stadium speakers!! and the best part, even better than that--the famous san diego chicken was at the game!!! i had seen the chicken when i was younger at a royals game and i remembered how funny he had been then, so i was really excited for the boys to see him! he put on quite a show!!!! all of us really enjoyed the game and the chicken!!! we celebrated gabe's 7th bday all the way until 10:30 p.m., now that's what i call making the most of the day!!!

will pillage for seafood!

today, we went to ballard's 34th annual seafood fest!!! ballard is a town about midway between our house and downtown seattle, and also happens to be the town our friend nate lives in. so we met up with nate, and checked out the seafood fest. the festival is set up on the main street in ballard and runs for 3 or 4 blocks in every direction. they had a whole block of nothing but food, another block of inflatables for kids, and then block after block of booths of various crafts, souveniers, and informational booths. they also had a couple of stages set up with different musical entertainment and eating contests for all ages! the boys got to "drive" a firetruck, build a boat, drive mini submarines, bounced on numerous inflatables, and ventured inside of a huge salmon. needless to say they had a blast! of course shawn and my favorite part was the food!!!! we had salmon burgers, seafood pitas, a 10 inch mound of curly fries, and some fresh squeezed lemonade. everything was sooooo yummy! after lunch gabe and i stood in a LONG line for sno cones, but as gabe had promised it was well worth the wait! he had a razzle dazzle sno cone and grady and i split a frog in the blender. while that sounds disgusting, it was only a mixture of cherry and lime! the best part of standing in line though was listening to the locals complain about how HOT it was!!! they were all running for shade! ok, hold onto you hats, it was a smoltering 80 degrees this afternoon! yeah, i got a chuckle out of that too!!!! the seafood festival definitely got 4 thumbs up from the fox family!!!

playing in the sprinklers!

on thursday afternoon, shawn and i took the boys to forest park to play in the sprinklers. the morning had started off cool and overcast, but the afternoon was beautiful! when we pulled up to the water playground, gabe spotted the ice cream truck. i swear that child has sonar for those things!! so we walked over and scoped out what they had to offer, and walked away with 2 fudge bomb pops. 15 melting minutes later, it was time to wash off in the sprinklers. the boys had a blast! grady darted from one sprinkler to the next, while gabe stayed at the button, keeping the water on a constant flow! as he put it, he likes to make the other kids happy! what a sweetie! that place was really fun, i wish i would have had my swimsuit--we will definitely be visiting that little gem again!

our new 'do--for today!

this morning grady woke up with an idea in his head! he needed spikey hair! this is how he approached me with his idea: grady: "momma, i think my spikey hair would be gooder"
momma: "so you want me to spike the front of your hair like gabe
and josiah?"
grady: "no, like my spikey hair, all up would be gooder."
momma: "so, you think all of your hair up -all spikey- would be
better?"
grady: "yep, that would be gooder"
momma: "okay, that would be better."
well, he never quite got what i was saying, but we spiked him up!! what a cutie!

it's a date!! how about lunch and a movie?

today we went to the movies and lunch at mickey d's with the lee family. during the summer, the amc movie theatres are having a summer movie camp where the tickets are only a buck on wednesday mornings for a previously released movie. this week's movie was "the bee movie". our family has this movie on dvd, but there is just something about watching it on the "big screen" that makes it all the better! after the movie we headed to mickey d's for lunch and playing in the playplace. we all had a great time -- we're planning on doing it again next week -- we think!!! i'm pretty sure the moms were ready for naps - not so sure about the kiddos??!!

old mcfoxy had a farm e-i-e-i-o!!!

today, the boys and i headed to everett to forest park. forest park is a HUGE park with a sprinkler playground, regular playground, animal farm, trails, and tons of running space! our highlight for today was supposed to be the water playground, but with a temperature of 57 degrees at 10:00 a.m. when we were at the park, we opted to check out the animal farm and playground! the boys loved the animal farm. they got to pet baby cows and goats, and watch baby pigs eating their grub!! they also checked out the rabbits - oh how cute they were! and guess what??? they were up for adoption?!!! dandy! well, good ole mom nipped that idea in the bud--thank goodness we are renting a house that doesn't allow pets!!!! with that disappointment behind the two little guys, we checked out the ducks, geese and baby chicks. after thoroughly washing our hands, the goats and cows were not very hygiene friendly, we went and checked out the little ponies. unfortunately the little ponies weren't up for riding today, but we will definitely have to check that out sometime! after the animal farm, we went and surveyed the water playground. there were a couple of very brave kids running through the sprinklers, and little grady didn't understand why he had such a mean mom -- those moms let their kids in it!!! try to reason with a 3-year old -- yeah that went well!!! so after peeling him out of that area, gabe and him found a train to climb on and the sprinklers were in the past!!! they had a great time on the huge playground, and played with a lot of new friends! forest park will definitely get more visits by the fox family this summer!!! it was a hit!!

roughin' it!!

you all may want to sit down for this one........we went camping this weekend!!! yes, i said camping - tent, fire, no showers, no flushing toilets, the whole shabang --we roughed it!! and i can honestly say i really enjoyed it! camping in the wonderful northwest is so different from camping in the great state of kansas. as a kid, my family spent most of the summer months camping, and to be perfectly honest i didn't much mind it when i was younger, but as i got older i became less and less impressed with bugs, outdoors, and being hot and sticky. so with that image of camping in this now city-fied gal's head, you can imagine my enthusiasm when my guys brought up the idea of camping last week. it went like this "mom you'll love it... we'll sleep in a tent, make our food on the fire, and eat smores!" with a kid that excited i said, "yeah that sounds great -- i really like smores!" the whole while thinking,"and i love bugs, dirt, and especially being really gross for days --yeah sign me up!" but my guys were soooo excited, so i pasted my happy - can't wait to go rough it smile on and started getting ready! the next few days were spent buying some essentials we didn't have - lantern, firewood, extra cast iron pans, camp food, and whatever else we couldn't camp without. we loaded the army on friday afternoon and headed out - hoping to beat the friday afternoon traffic...yeah right, beat the traffic! our 2.5 hour trip to la wis wis campground took about 3.5 hours, but when we finally arrived i could tell this was not going to be like any camping i had ever done before! when i hopped out of the army, the air was so cool and there was a wonderful breeze going through the trees -- not even a hint of humidity or swarms of bugs in the air! while taking in the fresh mountain air, we got the tent all set up, fire started, and some pork chops on the grill. we enjoyed a great meal, and finished our evening off with smores!!! yum-o!! this was grady's first experience with smores - and i can safely say he is a smore lover just like gabe and i! after a cool and fairly restful nights sleep - i say fairly because we rarely sleep with our children - and that proved to be interesting! it seems grady likes to sleep everywhere except his sleeping bag..on gabe's head, on top of me..just wherever he lands! even so we all woke up the next morning ready for the day. we feasted on pancakes and bacon and then headed off to explore the campground. we hiked down to the cowlitz river, and up through the forest to some running waterfalls. the water was very cold, but very clear and tasted better than any water we had ever tasted! after dining on hotdogs for lunch we ventured outside of the campground to the pacific crest trail for some more hiking, but unfortunately all we took away from that were bug bites! for some reason that is the only area we were bothered by mosquitos -- but they were everywhere, so that hike only lasted about 30 minutes! we headed back to la wis wis and found an area where we could lounge by the river. the boys got in and waded around, but mainly we were just entertained by the fools that thought they could out smart the fast flowing current! we had the opportunity to witness a rescue of two men and a dog! what an exciting afternoon! we then headed back for some rest and play and more eating...yes, we did a lot of this! after dinner we enjoyed more smores and another night of wrestling grady in the tent! we woke up bright and early the next morning and headed home -- we left at around 6 a.m. - for one we wanted to make it back to church and secondly that shower was calling my name!!! i have never been so happy to feel water hit my face -- i was actually hysterically laughing because i was so happy to wash my hair! how sad!! but even through the funky smelling toilets, no bath, everything having the faint aroma of a campfire...i excitedly asked on the way home...when are we going again?

summer is here!!!!!

wow!! that is all i can say so far for washington summers!!! since we have been home from our visit to kansas, the weather here has been gorgeous!! it has been sunny and in the mid 70's to low 80's everyday! yesterday, the boys and i headed down to picnic point beach for a day of basking in the sun!! we attempted building sand castles, looked for sea creatures, splashed around in the very cold water, and enjoyed a fabulous picnic lunch! we had a great day!! everyone donned the sunscreen yesterday, but poor ole mom still came away a little red! we were there for 4 hours and like a good mommy, i reapplied sunscreen on the boys, but since i had not been in the water, i thought i would be fine...well so much for thinking!!! thankfully, my wonderful husband went store hoppin' last night for some aloe. the first store he went to was out...guess i am not the only red lobster out there!!!

happy 4th of july

we are happy to report our little men are home! they arrived back to seattle around 9:30 on thursday night, and i can speak for all of us - we were so happy to be together! papa brought the boys home to us and was able to stay an extra day with us! we all headed home and off to bed so we could be ready to celebrate on the 4th! the next morning we headed off to edmonds marina to just relax and enjoy the partial sunshine and warm weather we had been blessed with! gabe and papa played some football and soccer on the beach while daddy and grady fed the birds and looked for sea creatures lurking around on the beach! they found a dungeness crab and a starfish! the boys and shawn had actually seen a starfish before, but this was my first one -- and it was pretty cool! after taking in the beach we had lunch at the beach cafe, dining outside, you just have to take in the great weather when you have it up here! that evening, we headed to everett for a minor league baseball game and fireworks show! the aquasox played the yakima bears and won 7-1! we had a great time! this was our 3rd different minor league game we had ever been too! i really think these minor league games are a lot more fun than the major league games (and a lot cheaper!!) they involved the crowd in tons of different activities and prize give aways - plus the food and yummies got the fox family seal of approval! after the game they had a fireworks show! it was a pretty good show, it only lasted about 15 minutes or so, but they shot off a lot of fireworks all at the same time. i always say i would rather have a 15 minute bang up show than one that lasts an hour with one firework at a time! this morning, we woke up and enjoyed shawn's famous omelets and then headed off to the airport one last time (for a while) to take papa back! we enjoyed having papa here and hope he enjoyed the quiet and a little less stressful ride back to kansas!

just the two of us!!

so we made it home and we have been making the most of our "just us" time! on monday evening we had a la taco bell and watched the movie "the bucket list". that movie is really good for any of you who have not seen it! on tuesday i went on a tour of boeing! we have been unable to go on the tour because the kids were too little, so with them gone for a couple of days, i decided to take it in! that tour was awesome -- i learned so much about the plant and the planes. that plant is huge - they could fit 911 professional basketball courts into the building just to put it into perspective! the tour lasted an hour and a half and was worth every penny! the only thing that would have made the tour better was to have seen shawn hard at work, but he said he was busy "working"! ha! that evening we went down to mukilteo to the diamond knot brewery. their claim to fame is that you cook your food on a hot stone at your table--that's right i said YOU cook YOUR food on a hot stone! so they bring your food to you raw and you are in charge of cooking it to your liking -- no complaining to the cook here! well of course the food was fantastic, although a discount for cooking my own food would have been nice! just kidding! we went for the experience!-and i can honestly say it was an experience i have never had - i have never been to a restaurant where i cooked my own food! on wednesday, i had a girls day out! carla and i took in a movie and lunch! we went a saw a not so girly flick - ironman! it was a great movie - even if i didn't cry! we had a delicious lunch at the old spaghetti factory - it was a great time of girly gabbin'! that evening shawn and i headed up to the cascades to go hiking at wallace falls! we had a great evening for hiking -- at least when we started! it was a somewhat challenging 5 mile hike to the top of wallace falls. and thankfully i married someone who is never satisfied with halfway - so we made it to the top! yes, i whined the whole way, but as always i am so happy shawn made me do it -- the view is always awesome from the top! just think of all i would have missed out on if i stopped at the middle falls! the going down is always easier and we even took time to dibble our toes in the river!! ok, well i dibbled my toes in the river, i am just like a little kid, i just couldn't pass up getting my feet wet!!! after stopping off for the toe dunkin' it started raining - we thought we had heard some thunder at the top of the falls, but it never storms like that here, so we had just disreguarded it! well, it obviously does storm like that in the mountains because by the time we got back to the army we both looked like drowned rats!!! and then you guessed it, we stopped off for dinner -- wow, you can just imagine what we looked like!!