Mukilteo Lighthouse Park

Yesterday after church we went for a drive. We ended up in Mukilteo which is right on Puget Sound. This is a beautiful area and yesterday was gorgeous with sun and blue skies. Not one single cloud! Lulu has a little lighthouse decoration and she was talking about it and Mark said "let's go see a real lighthouse", so we got in the car and he took us up to Mukilteo.

Here's Lulu getting ready to go inside and see it. She was so excited and couldn't wait to go up to the top. We had to wait our turn because there's not much room up there. Only about 4-5 people can go up at a time. Here's Mark talking with the lighthouse volunteer. This light house's light shines for 2 seconds and then goes off for 3 seconds and the light never goes out. Here is Mark making the trek up the spiral stair case. Here we are at the top. Here we are facing the other direction. It was just beautiful. Both Lulu and Levi loved looking out at everything. Here is a Washington State Ferry Boat getting ready to take off. The floor of the light house had tiles with donors names all over it and I saw this one and thought it was perfect and so true. Here is the light. It's was like a piece of art. Here is Lulu enjoying the view. Mark went down and got a picture of us out on the lookout deck. Here we are on our way down. It's very narrow and steep, a bit nerve wracking for a mom. Then Mark took Lulu back up for one more look out. We had Lulu take our picture.......it's just a tad off kilter. Here is Mark, Lulu and Levi on the steps to the light house gift shop. Here is Lulu and I on the porch of the gift shop. Isn't it just beautiful? And to think we live only a small drive from here. I felt like we were on vacation. While Mark and Levi went to go get the van Lulu and I went down to the beach and tossed rocks into the water. We had a great afternoon.

Boeing

This afternoon we went for a drive as a family. Mark gave us a driving tour of where he used to work way before I even knew him. Mark didn't work for Boeing but he did work for an electrical company that worked on many projects for Boeing. As we drove around the Boeing campus it got me thinking about jobs. How blessed we are that Mark has a job and that we live in an area that is overflowing with opportunity. My Grandpa Jack retired from Boeing years ago and my mom worked at Boeing for a few years before she was married. When living in this area it's hard not to know someone who works for Boeing or at least used to work for them. It's amazing to see this HUGE plant and think about all the jobs that are created here. It's amazing to think how many families depend on Boeing for their income. But truly who should we be depending on for our every need? Our employer? Our investments? Our family? Our self? No!! We need God and only God!! He knows what we need and if we surrender our entire life over to Him then we can rest each night not worrying about if we will have a job tomorrow or not. "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 This picture is neat because that is the Boeing Dreamlifter sitting right there next to one of the many employee parking lots. Here is a optical illusion of sorts. This parking lot looks like it goes up to the building in the background. But really there is a freeway in between that building and this parking lot. There's an overpass that connects the two sides of the Boeing plant and this parking lot. The big Dreamlifter jet is on our side of the freeway and has to actually drive across the overpass to enter into the hangers. The blue part of the building that you can see are the HUGE doors that the airplanes drive through. Here you can see the overpass and the freeway. Wouldn't it be neat to be driving on the freeway while an airplane is driving above you?

This picture is another one from the freeway and a optical illusion. This building doesn't look that different then most typical industrial buildings.....until you look closely and notice the size of that bus compared to the big blue doors and if you look really closely you can see the tiny cars parked near by. This is where the airplanes go to have their stress tests done. They were actually working on a plane as we drove by. I hope it passed!Then as we were driving through another parking lot this is what we saw. The tail of the planes peaking over the top of the blast shields. Then in the picture below was the sign posted on our side of the blast shields. This was just another typical employee parking lot we were driving through. Can you imagine just going to work finding your parking spot and WHAM! the engines go on? I guess you would have to plan your hairdos accordingly. Then the best view we saw from the Boeing plant was of Mt. Rainer. God's creation is just amazing!

First Steps!

Tonight Levi took his first steps! We had dinner at my parents house and he took his first steps there. There's something about Papa and Grandma's house for our children because that's where Lulu walked for the first time too. My little baby is not going to be a baby much longer....boo hoo. But it sure is exciting to see him starting into this next stage.

Volkswagen Car Show

This past weekend Lulu asked Mark if we could go look at Volkswagen's. She was just thinking small toy Volkswagen's but Mark had an even better idea. Since it's summer Mark was sure that somewhere, someone was having a VW car show. So he got online and looked it up and sure enough there was one about 20min from where we live. So, Mark pulled the car seats from the mini van and squished them into the back seat of our VW bug and off we went to the show. This really is a roomy little car for all four of us. But now when we have more children we will have to get a VW bus. I really liked this red convertible. I would drive this in a heart beat.Mark and Lulu both liked this Karmann Ghia.

Here's a blast from the past. On the left is me now standing next to a camper bug. And the one on the right is me in 2002 by the same bug at a show Mark and I went to.
Here's a picture of Mark and I back in 2002 at a VW show. Ok.....now back to our recent pictures. Lulu loved the color of this bug. She saw it and just started pointing at it while walking towards it. This was Mark's pick for "best in show." We had ballots and had to vote on the different categories of Volkswagen's we saw. We told Lulu to pose next to this bug and so this is what she did....LOL. Here is Levi and I standing in the shade waiting to hear the results of the voting. We had a fun afternoon and had some really fun memories from when Mark and I used to go to these shows when we were dating. Lulu and Levi had so much fun they both fell asleep on the way home.

Hood River, OR 2010

This past week Lulu, Levi and I spent a few days with my parents in Hood River, OR. Mark had to work but is excited to come next year with us! We had a great time playing in the water at the beach. Hood River is on the Columbia River and the beach is just perfect for little ones. There's no big waves, no salt water and you can walk out a good 100 or so feet and the water is only up to about your knees. Levi found a new love.....the beach and water! He LOVED being in the water and didn't want to get out. In town we enjoyed the shops and especially the ice cream shop. Here we are heading for ice cream after enjoying pizza at a local restaurant. On the way back to our hotel we stopped and played in a fountain. It was very refreshing because it was in the 90's while we were there. The next day we took a drive to see the orchards and we stopped at some of the local farms to buy fresh cherries and lavender. Here my parents are with Lulu in Levi and Mt. Hood in the background. Then after a long day we decided to head to the beach for a late night dip, this was around 8:30pm. We saw the sun set behind the mountains. Levi and Lulu slept really well that night. On our last day we headed East to Pendleton, OR. We stopped at the woolen mills and bought some fun Pendleton Wool gifts. Lulu got a fun horse and she named him Pendelton. If you ever find yourself in Pendleton, OR you must stop by Hamley's especially if your a cowboy or cowgirl or just a wannabe cowboy or cowgirl. As we were walking to Hamley's we ran into two of the 5 Pendleton Rodeo Princesses. Lulu was a bit shy but very excited to meet some real princesses. I had to take this picture of our van for Mark. It looks like it grew antlers. It looks like an 10 pointer too! Get your gun! Hamley's makes custom saddles and of course we had to try some out. We had a great time with Papa and Grandma. Can't wait for next year!