Finally Summer

We are so happy it's finally summer here in the Northwest! Since I'm on summer vacation now, Dylan and I have a lot of free time to spend outside playing and we are pleased that the weather is now cooperating. Last week we spent an afternoon at Alki beach and met up with my friend/cousin =) Sheri from work. We also got out Dylan's little pool over the weekend and he really enjoyed splashing around in it. He call's it his "beach". When he was playing yesterday he kept saying "you wanna come in my beach?" Last week during one of our outings I bought him a cheap little squirt gun and he picked out one for dad too. He could not get enough of that thing! Unfortunately he doesn't understand that mommy and the dog don't appreciate getting squirted. I've now decided to keep that to a father/son activitiy.

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one for our family as we had lots of activities centered around Robyn's wedding on Saturday. It was such a beautiful event and we really enjoyed spending time with family and celebrating with Robyn and Mike.
The wedding was at the Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish. It was a gorgeous facility and Kevin was drooling over the incredible golf course- too bad you have to be a member to play.
On Friday evening we met up at Sahalee for the rehearsal. This was the first time Dylan was able to meet the other ringbearer Kian and his sister Michaela who was going to be the flower girl. He ended up being pretty shy during the run-through of the ceremony and only wanted to walk down the ailse with me. At this point I wasn't feeling very optistic that he would actually pull it off on the big day! Later that evening we had a nice rehearsal dinner and were able to enjoy visiting with Kevin's family and getting to know Mike's family too. Dylan was a great kid all evening and even stayed awake in the car all the way home after 9:00! He ended up staying up past 10:00 so he could see my parents when they arrived to spend the night at our place.
Saturday it was Kevin's duty to get Dylan dressed and ready for pictures since I had bridesmaid duties. I was shocked when I rolled up to Sahalee to find my boys fully dressed in their suits! Thanks to an unusual morning nap Dylan was in great spirits and ready to party! He made it through pictures then Kevin took him for a drive to get another little nap in before the ceremony. It was perfect! He really enjoyed playing with the other kids before the guests started arriving- they were running and chasing eachother and getting spoiled with lots of candy from their aunts and uncles.

Dylan, Michaela, Robyn & Kian

Kian and Dylan- they looked so much alike and were born on the same day!

Finally it was time for the ceremony at 4:30. Since I had to walk down before the kids I was able to stop at the end of the aisle and so that Dylan could see me. It was so entertaining to watch the little pumpkins! Kian literally ran down the aisle carrying his pillow, Michaela daintily dropped the rose petals from her basket and Dylan just stood at the end of the aisle frozen. Finally he decided to head my way (after Kevin walked away from him and he couldn't see anyone else to go to). He just sauntered down the aisle and didn't even bring his pillow--- he was holding a pouch of fruit snacks and eating them the whole way down! The best part was that Kian and Michaela walked back down the aisle to meet him and the three of them finished together. It was just adorable!

We of course had a lot of fun during the reception visiting with friends and family. Dylan enjoyed the music and was out on the dance floor busting a move which consisted of jumping up and down and running in circles. Around 9:00 I finally wrangled him in from playing with the other kids, put him in his jammies and sent him home with my parents. They said he was asleep in the car within minutes but only after he asked "Where's my shoes? Where's my tie? Where's my jacket?" I guess he ended up liking that suit after all!

The Lee men with the newest member of the family- Mike!

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Kevin and I were able to enjoy the rest of the festivities free of parenthood duties and it was a treat! We had a lot of fun dancing! I'm sad that the wedding is over because I have been looking forward to it for so long! What a great weekend!

Girl's weekend in Vegas

This past weekend I went to Las Vegas with my college girlfriends to celebrate my friend Razi's bachelorette party! There was 15 of us all together including Razi's family and a few other friends. This was the first trip we have all taken together as well as our first destination bachelorette party. We definitely lived it up!

On Friday I flew down with Bre, Rachel and Natalie. We were the last ones to arrive but quickly found the others hanging out at the poolside cabana. It was crazy hot but felt so great to those of us traveling from the soggy and gloomy northwest. The afternoon in the sun was followed by dinner out at the hotel (Mandalay Bay) and hitting a few clubs.

The next day we spent more time by the pool in the morning and then most of us ventured down the strip. Bre, Marcy and I went to the Forum shops at Caesars Palace (and quickly realized most of the stores there are not in our budget!) then to lunch at an outdoor cafe at the Paris Hotel, and finally stopped for some delicious gellato at the Belagio! After a little rest in the hotel room we got ready for another night out! That night we went to dinner at Tao an Asian inspired restaurant at the Ventetian Hotel and out to the club Pure at Caesars Palace. We had a lot of fun dancing and watching the performers.

I left for the airport at 5 AM on Sunday morning so needless to say I was quite sleep deprived yesterday when I got home! Kevin did a great job being a single dad and Dylan was the best greeting I could have hoped for! I'm thankful I was able to have such a fun weekend with some of my dearest friends.

I couldn't resist taking this picture of my boys cuddling on the couch yesterday. Zoe of course has to be right in the mix too!

Preparing the ring bearer

On June 21st Kevin's sister Robyn is getting married. We are all so excited for the big day! This past weekend I hosted a bridal shower for Robyn and enjoyed getting to meet her future in-laws as well as getting to know some of her friends. That night we went out in Seattle to celebrate her bachelorette party.....needless to say it was a busy day!

In the midst of the wedding countdown we are also preparing Dylan who is going to be the ring bearer. During Easter season Robyn purchased a cute black suit for Dylan and the other ring bearer Kian (the groom's cousin who is the exact same age to the day) to wear. Unfortunately when Kevin's mom and I tried to get him in it on Saturday he wanted nothing to do with it "No way, don't want it" were his words exactly. So...we now are telling him all sorts of things to make it seem like it's so cool to wear it. I started calling it his special suit and told him he'll get all sorts of treats when he wears it, etc, etc, etc. and finally, he has decided it's ok. Yesterday he was willing to put on the suit jacket and tie and carry the little pillow around. He also says he's "going to work like daddy" when he has the tie on. Hilarious. Now we've just got to work on getting the rest of the outfit on- including shoes which will probably be the hardest part considering he wants to wear his crocs everywhere.

Here's some preliminary photos of the ring bearer.....obviously there will be more to follow after the big day assuming we actually manage to get him dressed! (He doesn't even have a shirt on in these pics which is kind of funny). I can't help but think that having a girl would be so much easier in this situation- what girl doesn't love a pretty dress?? Maybe someday.....

Ocean Shores Weekend

On Thursday my family met up at Ocean Shores to spend the weekend together. It amazes me that a family of 6 (4 kids + mom & dad) has grown to a family of 19! Fortunately we had 3 condos to accommodate all of us! On Thursday Dylan left early and rode with Darcy & Mel and my parents to Ocean Shores a bit early. After getting Zoe to the kennel and packing Kevin and myself up for the trip, he and I took off later in the day. It was nice to have a relaxing car ride by ourselves- we brought our i-pod along and got to listen to our own music instead of Barney or the Wiggles. What a treat! Dylan did great without us and was quite the ham according to my sister and parents! My mom took him down to the water and he got really excited about the waves and sand. It was a giant sandbox! He did get a little sad when we didn't get there in time to put him to bed but Uncle Mel sang to him and he was fast asleep when we got there.
On Friday we were all up early and the kids were ready to hit the beach. Dylan stuck pretty close to us- he wasn't as brave as the older kids who were running into the waves (mind you it was only about 55 degrees at this point) I'm convinced that kids body temperatures are not like adults! I was freezing when my feet got wet! Luckily the sun came out a bit later in the day and we enjoyed flying kites, barbequeing hotdogs, and drinking beers on the beach. After a family dinner we were all ready for a good night's rest.
Looking back up the beach toward the condos.

Evan, Morgan, Henry, Christina, Dom & Maria enjoying their hot dogs on the beach.

Saturday was much the same- beach time, eating, drinking and enjoying our time together. Kevin and my brother Mark did manage to get a round of golf in and the kids enjoyed eating s'mores on the beach (with a little bit of sand mixed in).
I feel so fortunate that my family is able to get together like this every once in a while. I know some of Dylan's best memories will be include playing with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Since coming home he has talked about everyone he saw over the weekend and all the fun things he got to do. We will look forward to the next time!
Morgan and Dylan playing in the sand.
Jen, Mom and Darcy
The ones who started this crazy family!

Jen and Darcy

My sis and family

This past week has been a busy and fun time at the Lee household! Last Saturday Darcy, Mel and the boys came out for a visit. Dylan was thrilled to have the "big boys" as his personal playmates and I of course was thankful to have time with my sis and her family since it had been so long since our last visit! The days just seemed to fly by while they were here as we were busy playing at the park, playing the Wii (I'll need to figure out how to put that video on here!) and hanging out as a family before heading to Ocean Shores for the whole Deming family gathering.
Dylan really became attached to his auntie, uncle and cousins during this visit. I know he will be excited to see them again when we make a trek out to Wyoming this summer for a visit.

Dylan and Auntie Darcy (Darceet) made cookies together. He was so proud of his work and thought it was great to lick the beaters afterward.