Parker Can Boogie

Building a New Bed

Levi is hitting two major milestones this summer: potty training, and moving out of his crib. We decided that it's finally time to try out a bunk bed type of situation for the boys' room, which will give them so much more very needed space. I spent some time looking around on Craigslist for something used, and trolled the Ikea web site for something affordable, and finally decided that something home made by Daddy would be both affordable and sturdy (hopefully). Jared has looked at building plans for all kinds of furniture projects on a pretty cool web site, and of course we found a bunch of bunk bed and loft bed plans there, too. So he chose one that spoke to him, and we headed to Home Depot for supplies. He worked for basically twelve hours on Sunday (with some help from Parker, as you'll see), and made surprisingly good progress--we were actually able to get the bed built enough for Parker to sleep in that night. We went with a loft bed design, which means that the area below the upper bunk is empty; we got Parker's old toddler bed down from the attic and set it up in that space for Levi. Once he eventually moves up to a twin size bed, there will be room for that there instead, or if future circumstances allow, Parker can use that space down below for a desk/play area/whatever place. Jared is still planning on building stairs on one side for getting up top, and the whole thing is still totally unfinished. We haven't decided if we are going to paint it a color or stain it with a wood finish yet...there are all kinds of possibilities for their room now! I will post more pictures when things get more settled in their room.

Skating

A No-Hitter...for the Giants...

Parker's souvenir: his first pack of (Padres) baseball cards

Levi's souvenir: a pink bat and ball set. He is really into pink right now...

Evening Fishing

We enjoyed a nice evening out on the boat after work on Friday with Grandpa Geoff. We hit up a local spot and stayed out until dark, enjoying some hot chocolate and not-so-hot fishing ;) 

Beach Days

Finally! Our kids love going to the beach! You would think that considering that we live about a mile from the beach, the boys would automatically love going there...for some reason, this hasn't been true--until this summer. I think that now that Parker knows how to swim, he feels much more comfortable in the water and around the waves. And the weather has been so nice and warm, and the water hasn't been too cold lately, which makes for a much more enjoyable experience. We've been trying to hit low tide so that the water is nice and shallow for wading in and jumping in the waves. Parker also boogie boarded for the first time last weekend, and absolutely loved it. It's great that he finally knows how fun it is to play in the ocean! Now he wants to go to the beach every day :) 

Work in Progress

This is a queen-size quilt top that I've been working on slowly forever...along with a few other projects :) I laid the blocks out today to get a sense of how it is coming along. It's a little colorful, but that's actually what I was going for...we'll see how it looks when it's done! It uses every fabric from a collection that I like--the printed fabrics--along with a rainbow variety of solid fabrics. The blocks are really big and simple, so they are actually really fast to make. I want it to be big enough to cover our bed, so I'm afraid that when it comes down to the final assembly and quilting I might be in a bit over my head. I'm hoping to have it totally finished sometime this year :)