Heidi and Judy

Having a baby in the house is pretty awesome, because people come and visit all the time.  I love it.  After Ali's visit, my Best Friend From Seventh Grade, Heidi, came--along with her Mom, Judy.  It was great to see them.  It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, and I did not come near to catching it all in pics.  It felt like a lets-try-to-catch-Jo-up-on-her-life-trip.  Which was great for me....but not sure how much fun those two had.  :-)  (why can't i make smileys on this dumb blog?)

Here are some of the things they did (for me)

pruned my hydrangea and batchelor buttons 

tamed the wysteria

took us to breakfast

insisted on buying the pies for lunch   (YUM)

played with, read to, bathed, and cooed at Reed

accompanied us to three god forsaken stores (Target, JCPenneys, and BedBathandBeyond)  (that triumvirate about did me in)

and then--they cleaned the back house upon leaving!

It was awesome.  I hope it was okay for them.  Here are the few pics I have of the weekend:

I know.  We bathe this kid all the time.  Once a day.  Is that too much?

Thanks, Heidi and Judy!  I owe you--BIG!!

Auntie Ali

Ali, Karen's sister came for a visit in September.  Reed was so excited to meet his second (of four) O'Connell Aunties!!  We had lots of fun.  I a little bit felt like we were playing "house", since Ali is expecting a baby just around Thanksgiving time.  It actually felt like I had some tips and tricks to share with Ali--which was kind of weird, but kind of okay, too.  We are so, so, so excited to meet her Wee One.  I love Cousins.  I love that Reed has Nelson and Gabe as cousins, he is about to get a girl cousin in November.....  And so you other O'Connel sisters, it would be fun to add to the bunch.  Just sayin'.

The Moby carrier never did work for me.  This is Karen and Ali trying to fold it up so that Ali could take it back to DC and hopefully make some use of it.  All 35 yards of it.  (even if only for a sewing project.)  

We took a trip down to the Ballard Farmers Market, because, well that is just what one does on a Sunday in Ballard.  Fun!

Dinner....bathtime....

We love you Ali---thanks for the visit!

Boys, boys, boys

We headed to Mazama, WA for Labor Day weekend for a little (super cush) camping.  Mazama is one of my favorite places.  Its on the sunny side of the mountains, it is dry, there are great swimming holes, there's lots to do.....there really isn't anything to dislike about Mazama.  The best part about this time is that we went with Sara and our two nephews, Gabe and Nelson.  We had a BLAST!  It was so fun to hang with the boys!!  Nelson took a special interest in Reed.  He is a very attentive cousin, indeed!  Gabe was happy to throw sticks for our Barley and dig in the dirt.  Love all three boys so much!  I hope we can make it a tradition of sorts!!!

(lots of pics to share here....might want to go grab a cold one.)

Gabe

Nelson

Obviously a relative of mine

Sara and Gabe

We had some pretty fun times hanging out in the tent.

Lots of eating shots.  Reed is loving to eat!  He still loves to drink his bottles, of course, but the "solids" is super duper fun.

Nelson and Gabe grinding the beans for our morning coffee:  Love it.

Barley still likes to camp with us, even though it may seem like she plays the second fiddle.

Can you see her?  Her fuzzy head is poking out of her personal sleeping bag. 

I love how interested Nels is in Reed.  So sweet!

And some more sweet shower shots.  Is there anything better than an outdoor shower?  I do not think so.

And my current all-time-favorite pic of our boy: