Guemes Island Ricks Family Reunion

This year was the Ricks family's first stab at a semi-annual family reunion. This year, his family decided to spend a few days at his parents house near Seattle and a few days on Guemes Island.

Of course, we know how to entertain ourselves at home. 

Epic couch-cushion fort building (it helps that his folks have a half-zillion cushions)

Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Penny, was a huge hit with Phoebe. This dog is seriously addicted to catching the ball. Luckily, after the rest of the family wore the poor dog out, she still had plenty of energy for toddler throws.

Kevin and Nathan spent a bunch of time teaching the family how to play Werewolf, the self-described "party game for devious people," on make-shift cards. It has some similarities to Mafia. There's lots of lying involved.

Here's Phoebe trying to play pickle ball with Grandpa. Most the siblings took a turn playing, and it drove the ball-hungry dog nuts!

I think it was our second day there when we all went into Seattle to ride a Duck. We figure it's ok to be touristy when you live there. Colin's folks had heard lots of good rumors from their friends about how energetic and funny the tour guides are. This is Phoebe taking her beloved "pana bear" along for the ride. She was really into the dancing. They gave her, and all the other kids these quacking duck bill whistles, that thankfully she never learned how to use. While riding the ducks was fun, I wouldn't say it's an activity for the shy or faint of heart.

This is Captain Marv Ellis. Get it. MARV ELLIS :

When riding the ducks, one must of course bring quackers....sorry...just couldn't help myself

This picture is from the cabin we stayed in on the island. I have no idea how old the book Rodger is holding is, but it might be as old as the cabin. ABC books are classics. I think they both had a good time.

While we were on the island, Colin and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. His folks were nice enough to stay with the baby so we could have some time to go off exploring. I definitely felt like I was having a true west-coast experience when we literally stopped by the side of the road to pick blackberries. Nothin' tastier than mooched foragings.

That night we went out in hopes of catching salmon. There were a few other boats that pulled fish in, but we weren't lucky enough to catch anything. This is when I became familiar with the fishing term "getting the skunk off the boat." Cheesy jokes are to follow. Even though we didn't catch anything, the views were to die for!

Of course, there were lots of other diversions on the island amuse ourselves with. This is Phoebe trying to play horse shoes.

 And trying to throw the ball to Penny. Still a classic. Poor Penny really got a paw full of salt and rocks, so we had to take it easy on her a day or two into the trip.

Dominating your big brother is a time honored tradition as well--a noble pastime, if you will.

Here's KelliAnne trying to teach Phoebe how to do knuckles.

When we were out exploring and berry picking, Colin and I came upon a trail head, for what I'm sure is one of the only hikes on the mountain. LaRee had talked to someone who had done it before and described it as short, but a grueling straight-up climb. We looked it up online and found mixed reviews. I was a little hesitant since it was the middle of summer and I was about 30 weeks pregnant, but we decided to give it a shot anyway. I decided as long as I took my time I'd be ok. LaRee, Colin, Phoebe, Penny, and I started off first while Rodger went to get the second carload of much faster hikers. Phoebe actually hiked almost all the way to the top on her own two feet and was an excellent pace setter for her mama. It actually turned out to be a pretty doable little hike. Props to the island for having a stand of borrow-able hiking poles at the trail head too. We had great weather and the hike was nice and cool for the most part due to all the trees. The beauty of the slow pace was that we got to see lots of silvery spider webs, fuzzy little critters, and wild flowers. Penny also got to sniff and snuff to her little heart's content.

Brian and Mary Celeste took the reigns over on the dog after a bit. I think she enjoyed the faster pace too. 

Cheesy grins "we made it!" at the top of the mountain. Colin came to join me in the shade, where I was resisting the urge to pop my belly out and feel the breeze.

Here's Phoebe with daddy on the boat pretending to be a pirate. Stay tuned, there's plenty more where that came from.

While we didn't have a ton of success with fish, we did have a great catch of crab. I was suprised that Phoebe wasn't scared at all by them when they were alive. However, when she saw the giant bowl of legs on the table at dinner, she refused to eat and of them.

A bunch of us headed out in kayaks that belonged to the place we were staying. We thought about paddling out to that island behind KelliAnne, but somehow got a strange sense of what time it was and decided we only had enough time to go along the coast. Too bad, I bet we could have made it.

A few of the couples, including us and Brian and Mary-Celeste tried out the double kayaks. Several minor squabbles ensued about who was splashing whom, and who exactly was making the boat go the wrong direction. LeRoy couldn't make it this time due to a business trip, but hopefully we'll see him at the next one.

This is a piece of drift wood Colin tried to paint one night as we went out Plein Aire Painting. This was his first time to come out with me and actually paint himself. We had a nice picnic table that made for an ideal set up. Definitely going to have to do that one again.

Here are the final products.

I came to find out that LaRee was a collector of heart shaped rocks, so that was another little scavenger hunt that kept us busy.

I came to find out that there is a local root beer store. I never knew such a thing existed. I guess Colin's family have done this a few times, but we had a nice little taste testing on a few different nights. 

Kellianne brought a ton of black licorice for the same purpose, It got a little serious.Notes were taken. Things were swished and smelled. It was a whole event. Personally, I refrained from the tasting of the devil's licorice, because, well, I find it disgusting. But to each their own.

 So to end this post, and this trip, in fine Ricks family tradition, we all decided to take obnoxious pictures. This time we had something of a pirate theme going. In honor of the cheesiness of the event, I've chosen to capture each one of the following pictures with a terrible pirate joke. Please enjoy.

Pirate 1 "My what a fine vacation" Pirate 2 "Why yes, I could use some Arrrrrrhhh and Arrrrrrrhhh"

A pirate walks into a bar:
Bartender: You look awful!
Pirate: What do you mean?
B:Last time I saw you you didn't have that peg leg
P: Oh, I lost it to a shark, really it's not all that bad.
B: Last time I saw you you didn't have that hook.
P: I lost that one in a duel. Took my hand off, but I got away with this awesome hook.
B: Well, how'd you get that eye patch?
P: Bird pooped in my eye.
B: You mean you lost your eye from bird poop?!
P:Oh no, it was the first day with me hook. 

Yarrrr!!! Change me booty!!!!

Yarrr... I can never learn the alphabet because I'm always lost at C!

Never play cards with a pirate. He's always standing on the deck.

What do you call a pirate captain with no arms and no legs who falls overboard? Captain Bob.

Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

Phoebe has been kinda obsessed with dinosaurs these days. She wants to walk like a dinosaur, roar like a dinosaur, and take great big dinosaur bites. With this burgeoning fascination on the rise, we thought it might be a good idea to make use of our Thanksgiving Point passes and visit the Dino Museum. Phoebs was a little apprehensive at first, but once she realized how many opportunities there were to play in oversized sandboxes, she warmed right up.

Fourth Of July and Balloon Fest

Colin and I were so excited to take Phoebe to the Provo Freedom Festival Balloon Launch this year. We've enjoyed it ourselves in years past, but we thought with baby boo's fixation on her birthday "ta-moons" (balloons) in the not-so-distant past, she might be extra excited to see these big ones. Her reaction definitely didn't disappoint. All the early morning finagling it took to get out the door was completely worth it. 

Welcome Baby Boy Ricks!

Scheduled for arrival beginning of November 2015!

Phoebe at Two Years

I can't believe my little baby girl is two years old today! The time has gone by so fast. Everyone talks about how much change happens from birth to year one, but I think it might be even more pronounced in the second year. The first year is consumed with new abilities, learning to sleep, eat solids, crawl, walk, communicate, etc. But in the second year I feel like we've really come to see our little girls personality blossom. In keeping with our one-year tradition, here's a list of a few things Phoebe has been doing these days:

Park City and the Big 3-0

This month, my most favorite husband I ever had turned 30. In honor, of the the occasion (and mostly because I think birthdays are a big deal) we planned a baby-free trip to Park City. I didn't take a ton of pictures while we were there. We mostly relaxed, visited art galleries, did some hiking, visited the Park City Museum, and just spent time together. Colin is by far my favorite travel buddy, aside from the perks of being married to him (Duh), we tend to go at the same pace and like a lot of the same attractions.

This is from a night at Molly Bloom's Pub. They had these amazing dueling pianists playing that night. They were taking requests and sounded great. At one point they had a whole party up and dancing the Time Warp. I was surprised that that many people knew the steps. The burgers were good too. I have to recommend it if you're in the neighborhood.

In other news this month, Phoebs and I spent a lot of down time being sick. These pics are solely to garner sympathy.

The rest of our time has been spent playing. Update: Stickers=still a big deal. Dog beds=best friend trap ever invented.

Emerald City Trip

I gave a presentation at the AWWA conference in Seattle for work, so we decided to make a mini-vacation of it. Katie and Phoebe got to have lunch and a visit to the Seattle Zoo with college friends Abby, Dantzel, and Aly one day when I was at the conference. 

April Adventures with Adorable Baby Animals

This Easter, we thought it might be fun to organize a little (very little) Easter egg hunt in the yard for Phoebe. Most of the eggs were filled with either stickers or a couple of fruit snacks (which may have been a bad idea in retrospect, as many a dusty "'nackie" was consumed after it had hit the ground).

Thank you Dollar Tree, for the hat and bag. Sometimes the simplest things are the most fun. Phoebs loved it and I think it definitely added an Easter flair.

This is a shot of Phoeb's Easter basket with some of her favorites. Elmo is definitely a big deal these days. Stickers are a classic. We thought that the shovel and pail might come in handy at the reservoir for building sand castles when it gets warmer. The tulips were an Easter gift to myself. Fresh flowers are just a delight.

We were so happy to host Easter dinner at our place this year.We invited all of Colin's local siblings (his brothers are all out here for school) and my sister-in-law's parents were nice enough to join us as well (and bring rolls...yummm...) and of course, my sister Julianna, who lives with us while she is getting work and school started.

Speaking of Nanni, this was her first time to see a live session of General Conference. You just can't beat the live experience. The Conference Center makes such an impression when it's all full, and of course, if you're into tulips, you can't find a nicer spot than Temple Square in spring time.

In other events this month, Colin and I ended up replacing our Craig's list classic sofa with a sectional in hopes of fitting more people into our living room. As a result, we have just a ridiculous amount of cardboard (and probably too much time) on hand, and we've been getting creative. This is Phoebe's custom fort, which has taken up residence in my studio, and seems to do a good job of distracting her. It has also become a pom-pom retrieval system and 3-D coloring surface. 

This is the other cardboard house that lives in the living room. Colin built this one so it folds flat and stores under the couch. It's basically become a means to exaggerated games of peek-a-boo, or as Phoebe says, "Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

Of course no Easter time would be complete without a visit to the IFA to check out the baby chicks. Who needs the petting zoo?

This is Phoebs getting ready to go to church. Yes, she really thinks she needs all of these "friends." Heaven forbid one might be left behind. They would be so SAD!

Oh yeah, it snowed this month too. That's Utah weather for you!

The last few pictures are from the Thanksgiving Point Lamb and Wool Festival. Seriously, how could that be missed? The one above is from a sheep herding competition.

This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it. I don't know why it struck me as so funny at the time,but I had a hard time containing my laughter.This poor sheep letting out these indignant BAHs every minute or so. He wasn't struggling to getaway, but I think he wanted the sheerer to know he did not approve of this process. To use a phrase from Beatrix Potter, the shearer had "disturbed the dignity and repose of his tea party."

There was a whole line up of these ladies with spinning wheels. I have a feeling that one day my fiberphilia will lead down this path. Call it a life goal. Something about woolly ladies makes me feel that I've surely found my people. 

That's about it for this month, but we have some good plans for May, so stay tuned!

A Few Moments At Home

This month we've spent a lot of time being home bodies. Colin and I have spent a little extra time working out in the yard and trying to feel more fully moved into the house. In lieu of any big adventures this month, I thought I'd just show a few snippets of enjoying home life.