Busy Busy Busy

So for the past two weeks, things have been rather busy. Juliana's tearing through the place in a crawl/cruising sort of way. She's been doing more freestanding and is taking short 3-step handsfree jaunts between the furniture. I actually was able to get a picture of her standing and a short video of her walking, though you really can't see her legs, since i wasn't quick enough with the panning and zooming to keep her in frame. Needless to say, this increased mobility of hers has been keeping me on my toes. As soon as I have enough time, I'll have to upload the photos and videos and get them posted. I may have to recruit Derek's help with some of this in order to get it done before this Thursday.

Last weekend, the whole family made a trek into Seattle and we spent the day down at the waterfront. Many underwater creatures were shot (with cameras) at the Aquarium and then we strolled through Pike Place Market and the everyone picked up a little something. I got a new cutting board, Jessica picked up some henna for some home tattooing, Mitch got a stick juggling thing (where you hold two sticks and flip a thicker third one around), and Jonah got a plastic ninja sword and a leather cuff with an embroidered pattern of the Lakota tribe.

This weekend, Jessica and I had a girls' night out and took in a showing of Mamma Mia! at the theater. Hilarious and fun, we agreed that it was a bit too over-the-top to bring Derek to. But Jessica vowed to get the video when it comes out and make Derek watch it at that time (in the safety of our own home). Saturday was a (relatively) quiet day at home for Derek and the kids. Juliana and I took a trek to Bellevue to visit with Teresa and her boys, since we will miss them next weekend when they are in town for our high school reunion. Today, Derek took the older kids to an early morning showing of The Dark Knight (Batman sequel) at the IMAX theater in Seattle. They loved it. So now I'm 4 major releases behind this summer (at least for ones off the top of my head that I really want to see - Iron Man, Wall-E, Hellboy 2, and now The Dark Knight). But I knew this would happen with a baby in the home.

Tomorrow morning, Jessica leaves for Utah to spend a month with her Mom this summer. And on Thursday morning, Juliana and I leave for Hawaii for 6 days to spend some time with Pau-Pau and Kou-Fu. So much to do before then and time is running out. Derek's taking some time off from work, so it will be just the boys at home (and the cats). We shall see how the cats do and whether the boys actually step outside at all while we're gone. I suspect that expeditions out will be slim to none, since there has been talk of setting up a 3rd computer so that the boys can adventure together in Guild Wars. (Don't forget to blink, boys!)

I've got some more things to get cleaned up before I call it a day, but I'll do my best to get the pictures/videos uploaded in the next few days.