Levi’s Police Academy Graduation

It’s finally here! Levi graduated Police Academy and I could not be more happy or proud. It was a long 16 weeks, especially with me being very pregnant and working full-time. There were many weekends that he did nothing other than eat, sleep and study. He did extremely well on all of his tests, scoring in the 90’s on all of them. He also ended up getting the marksmanship pin. To receive the marksmanship pin, the officers must shoot perfectly during 5 different shooting activities. It makes me feel really good that he is such a good shot; he’ll get the bad guys quickly if need be. ;) For the next couple months he will be having another officer ride with him to make sure he is doing everything correctly. Doesn’t he look so handsome in uniform! I had to include the picture of Claire crying, she was really upset about something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully the next time I post is because I had a baby!

State Fair and Riding Horses

At the end of August we scored some free tickets to the Oregon State Fair. So we headed out with Grandma Janet and Sara (Levi’s cousin). My favorite part of the fair is all the little baby animals and that is always our first stop.

Claire was begging us to ride a unicorn, we just don’t have the heart to tell her the truth about unicorns, she’s obsessed with them. We did manage to get her to ride a pony and she of course loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The petting zoo was awesome! I didn’t manage to get very many pictures in there because it was pretty jammed packed. But there were baby pigs, goats, ducks, and many more than my preggo brain can’t remember. Those poor animals, getting chased around for two weeks by a billion little kids, that must be exhausting!

We didn’t end up going on any rides but Levi did take Claire through a fun house. She loved it!

Then in September we went horseback riding with the Young Women (from church). Claire found this kitty and of course had to play with (aka terrorize) it whenever she wasn’t on a horse.

She had a blast riding the big horses. Of course there were tears when it was time to leave. And no, as much as I wanted to, I did not ride a horse but the thought of riding one to induce labor definitely entered my mind.

Seattle & Boating

We had been talking about wanting to make it to Seattle before the baby gets here. We really enjoy Seattle and hadn’t taken Claire yet. So we left after work on a Friday and spent 2 nights up there.

Our first stop Saturday morning was to hop on the ferry and take an hour long ride over to Bremerton. The ferry was so neat. It held so many cars and so many people, what an impressive boat!

 

 

 

 

Once in Bremerton we walked around the boardwalk a little and then took a self-guided tour of the USS Turner Joy. It is a decommissioned naval ship that they really let you explore every nook and cranny of. Claire could not have had more fun (despite the look of the picture below, haha). I can’t imagine sleeping on a 3 high bunk; that would be so claustrophobic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I definitely would not recommend doing this 7 months pregnant; there are a lot of stairs, ladders, etc. I made it, but just barely. :)

 

We grabbed lunch trays and pretended to put lunch on our trays; Claire thought that was super fun.

 

 

It was neat to step back into history a little bit and to see what a sailor would have experienced. And all of that exploring really tuckered out the youngest member of our family; she fell asleep on the return ferry ride.

We went swimming that evening and as evidenced by this photo, Claire really hates the water.

Sunday morning we headed out to the Space Needle. Levi somehow had made it to 30 without ever having been up in it and I hadn’t been since I was a teenager. What an amazing view, slightly dizzying, but amazing!

 

 

 

 

Every once in a while when we have a chance to watch TV, we enjoy watching the food network/TLC food shows where they travel around the country and find the biggest, best and most unusual foods. So Levi started researching somewhere we could try in Seattle that had the best of something. He found this little gem, Red Mill Burgers. Supposedly the best onion rings and yep, they were pretty darn good. The burgers were delicious also.

And last but definitely not least, no trip to Seattle is complete without a stop at Pike’s Place Market. We didn’t get to spend as much time there as we would have liked but we were able to watch the guys throw fish (Claire loved it!) and walk around a bit.

And on our way back to the car, we stumbled upon this. The look on mine and Claire’s faces says it all, “Disgusting!” The Gum Alley, yes, as in people chew on their gum and put it on these walls, yuck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all so exhausted by the end of the weekend, we really could have used a weekend to recuperate. But we could not have had a more fun mini vacation. I am so blessed to have such a sweet little family.

The following weekend we headed down south with our church youth group to Foster Lake down by Lebanon & Sweet Home. We swam while the first group of kids headed out on the boat.

 

 

 

 

Then we had our turn to hop aboard the boat and Claire was brave enough to get out on a tube with Daddy. We were going super slow and Claire was beaming the entire time.

Until she had to get off the tube; then we saw this face.

Perfect weather, great company and all around wonderful day!