Ethan and I went to a high school basketball game the other night for our date night. When I told Ethan what we were doing he started crying (mostly fake tears) saying that he wanted to go and do something fun. We picked up some candy on the way and some popcorn and tootsie pops at the game. We got there part way through the first quarter and stayed through most of the third. It wasn't too bad, I think he even enjoyed some of it. I didn't get any good pictures.

Ethan with candy on his cheeks

Here he's looking for an extra ball to play around with during half-time - he didn't find one :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0rMHMRVTo4&feature=youtu.be

Our team made this video for a meeting, it shows our dedication of foosball and kanban.

The other night Rachel and I went to a communication workshop. It was a lot of fun, especially since they had child care (so it was like a date!). It was a lot of fun chatting w/ Rachel, mostly practicing what not to do. For instance, we were told that it's good to start out with the positive, so we were saying things like "before we got married, you used to look really hot but I've noticed lately that you..." One thing we learned at a similar class that we've really liked are "I feel" statements, like "I feel ____ when you ____." This class added on a great piece: "I feel ___ when you ___ and the message I get from it is ___."

So we've once again decided that every one should be forced to take classes like these (you really only have to be forced the first time, then you'll want to go on your own). And you can't beat free, w/ child care, and dessert!

We were going to go camping Friday and Saturday, but, I was on-call and we had a little emergency Friday afternoon that lasted until about 8pm Friday night. So we weren't able to go :(. But we still wanted to have some fun so we went to a 'farm':

I spy a crazy man

Hint: he's not the one wearing a red cape

Rachel was out of town this last Saturday so the kids and I packed up a lunch and set to exploring the woods outside of Seattle. Most places we found to park required a "discovery pass" but we eventually found a spot and headed out. Makaylin didn't enjoy the part where we walked across a mucky swamp via fallen trees. She kept saying "I'm falling, I'm falling" - but she never did! I on the other hand ended up with mud up to my knee when I slipped off.

Jacob, Ethan, and I went camping overnight Friday with some friends. We ate way too many marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, and chips. We also had a couple of hot dogs to keep us going.

The campground was pretty nice, we were about 20 feet from a river. They had a pretty fun 'slip-n-slide' which was a small hill covered in a tarp (a friend took a video of the kids and I, I'll post it later). After that we ventured out in the canoes on the pond they have. At first the boys were deathly afraid we were going to tip over; they were grasping on tight, looked like they were about to cry, and begging to go back. After a couple of hours and way more sun than I wanted to absorb, I was the one begging them to let us go back.

It was great trip!