Boulevard Park

contemplating her next move

Searching for crabs- we found 5
And 7 dead Jelly Fish (that's what she's covering and poking at with rocks)



Ella's first tree climb. I'm so proud!

Enjoying the Sun-while it lasts

This may be the last few weeks of sunshine we see for awhile so we've been taking full advantage of the beautiful weather and spending many, many hours playing outside. We love walking around Lake Padden.
Ella thinks it looks like a forrest where dinosaurs would live.
There are a lot of varieties of mushrooms to examine from a distance.
But she loves picking up leaves and looking at them under the mini microscope Nana gave her.

Summit love going to the dog park after we walk around the lake.


On Sept 7th Greg and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been 5 years already! How time flies when you move so often! We spent the weekend on Orcas Island, it's the first time we've been back since our wedding. Ella stayed with her Mimi and Pubah and didn't miss us at all.

Sweetness

The only thing that would make this sweeter is if she were not in my bed!

This is Ella

I LOVE this picture of our Bruins shirt wearing, dinosaur playing, fairy princess in high heels. This is our girl!

Ella's first day of school!

Ella is now a preschooler, and she's loving it! She's going to a great Montessori school 3 days a week. This is her first time in a school like setting so we were a bit nervous about if she'd even get out of the car (the teachers get the kids in and out of the cars from a car line) We've talked school up big time this summer and visited her school whenever possible- even if just to peek in the windows. She was also able to meet her teachers at a school work day the week before school started. Well, all the excitement we'd built up about school payed off and she had no problem jumping out of the car on the first day.

Ella's first day of school lasted a whole hour-they're really easing the kids in- but for me it was a whole hour of coffee with 3 other parents without being a human jungle gym!
After school we went on a picnic with Mimi and Pubah, Greg's parents. They sold their summer home in Arizona and arrived in Bellingham a week after we did. They have been staying with us as they look for a new summer home here. Ella is really excited to have them nearby!
Lake Padden is down the street from Ella's school, it has a playground and a 2.6 mile path around the lake. We went there twice in Ella's 1st week (3 days) of school, once for a playdate with 3 of her classmates.

The path around the lake is through beautiful dense forrest.

Settling in

We are loving our new town, it's even more beautiful than we'd realized when visiting. One of our favorite parks/playground (and coffee shops) is right on the Bay- What a view!


as usual the cold water didn't stop our little fish
On our first day in town one of Greg's coworkers, who we'd never met, invited us over for dinner and to go out on their boat. They have 2 children, one of whom is adopted internationally, and it ends up that both of their kids are in Ella's preschool! June, the mom, also invited me to join her book club and I enjoyed a lovely meal out with a bunch of fun women Wed night.
Greg and Ella on Lake Samish


On Friday night we threw a cookout for the 5 families we know in town. We figured that if we had people over right after moving in there was no pressure to have everything perfect. And it is so environmentally friendly here that I don't know if I again could throw a cookout using paper products or non organic beef!
On Saturday we explored the nearby state park.

A seaweed skirt
A seaweed "restaurant"

On Sat night our good friends Jeff and Sheena came up from Seattle to have dinner at the local brewery with us, it was so great to catch up!