Hennessey Happenings

We have been keeping ourselves fairly busy recently. We find a good combination of fun and work on the weekends and have managed to get some stuff done around the house as well as enjoy all Fall has to offer. Being that it is fall, raking the leaves in our yard was a HUGE task.

Alistair helped between doing laps with his mail cart. Seth was filling a spider leaf bag to display on our roof and Alistair would stop to put a few handfuls in.
Seth also celebrated his 32nd birthday. No mustangs this year, but I think a trip to Hawaii was a close second! We had a nice dinner at home followed by some delicious brownies and book reading.

The weekend before Halloween found us out at Grayland Beach yurting with my parents. They brought their trailer. There are hook-ups in the yurt sites, so we were able to all be together. We had a blast! The weather was gorgeous, almost slightly warm during the day but then it got bitter cold at night. There was no precipitation at all! The best part of the weekend was that they opened razor clam digging. So my mom, Seth and I got 3-day clam digging licenses and got our limits (15 clams each) in about 20 minutes both Friday and Saturday. It was amazing to see how many people were out digging. My dad was the official wrangler of Alistair. He brought out his mail cart Saturday, but quickly was escorted into the stroller when it became apparent that we would have out clams dug before they got there!

Here I am digging those fabulous clams. It is back-breaking work as you can see.

The first full weekend after we got back from Hawaii we went to Craven Farms in Snohomish to get pumpkins. It is a really neat place. I am not sure we really got a deal on our pumpkins, but the outing and experience was fun. We had lunch in downtown Snohomish afterward.

Roar! Happy Halloween!

Huge props to my mom for making such an awesome (and cute!) costume!!

No Instant Gratification

Our camera broke. We had a mishap in Hawaii where Seth slipped on a rock by the water and threw his hands up in the air to catch his balance and with them came the camera. He did have the strap around his wrist, but the camera went flying anyway. It landed in a puddle of water on a rock and I was right there to pick it up, wipe it off and check it to make sure it still worked. It worked for 2 more days, but it stopped working after we finished at the Volcanos National Park. So our last 2 days of our trip went undocumented; hence there haven't been any posts. I know a photo isn't required to post (possibly some people might argue this), but still. Besides the time since we got back from Hawaii has been very busy. I have been playing single mother as Seth has been away on 2 different business trips. The week after we got back he went to Palm Desert for 2 nights and then this past week he went to Atlanta for 3 nights. I commend anyone who is a single mother because it is HARD work!! I was exhausted every night! Oh we are getting our camera fixed, it should be in the mail on Monday! In the meantime we have been making due with a disposable camera. It is weird to take a photo and not be able to review it and just hope it came out ok! (:

Oh ok for those of you who need a photo, here is a cute shot I took of Alistair and Sadie in August while I was making Alistair's lunch and pacifying his impatientness with goldfish:

A little R&R for Seth & Kelly

Seth and I just got back from a wonderful 10-day vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii. Here is a link to our photos, if you want to look at all of them: http://picasaweb.google.com/kellyhennessey/Hawaii92007

We stayed in a condo in Kailua-Kona that was right on the beach. The photo above is from our lanai. It was literally about 15 feet from the edge of the water and when the tide went out, there was a little lagoon that remainded that usually had a turtle or two in it! We did all kinds of fun stuff. We did some relaxing in the form of laying on the beach, we did some snorkeling and saw lots of turtles and fish, we went on a 1/2 day kayaking trip down the coast, we did lots of driving (we put 800 miles on the car in the 10 days...the island is about 276 miles around!) and we did an awesome trip to the summit of Mauna Kea (13,760 ft) to watch the sunset and then gaze at the billions of stars that came out once the sun had gone away. Hawaiians have graffiti in the form of dead coral on lava rocks. The sides of the road are covered in the messages. We did this at South Point, the southern most point of the USA.

Sunset from 13,760 ft...an awesome site
Self-portrait in our tour-issued parkas and the observatories in the background.

Turtle resting on the black sand beach. There were quite a few of them just laying around sleeping.

Alistair stayed with his grandparents while we were away. He stayed the first part with Seth's parents and the rest with my parents. He did really well, slept and ate well and seemed to have a great time. He didn't really seem too fazed when he saw us when we got home. It was almost like he was thinking, "Oh yeah, you guys weren't here!" Since we have been back, he has been a little weary of where we are if we aren't in the room with him!

You can do it at a trot, you can do it at a gallup...

...you can do it real slow so your heart won't palpitate, just don't be late, Do the Puyallup!

The Puyallup has thoroughly been done by the Hennessey's this year. We all went Sunday of opening weekend with the Sandholms for fried food feast 2007. We walked in the Gold Gate and immediately had Krusty Pups. Those were followed very closely by Empanadas and Scones. Once these items had all been consumed, we looked up to find we could still see the gate we entered through and hadn't made it but possibly 150 feet! Ah gluttony! We did go see some cows, chickens, rabbits, cats, pigs and draft horses as well as went to the Hobby Hall and just walked around. We did some more eating of burgers, curly fries and onion rings. We finished the day out with Ice Cream and rolled ourselves home. Seth, Gabe and Ranae look like they are having fun, but the boys seem to be distracted by something on the ground...

Alistair did a good job eating about half of his cheeseburger, then he decided to stand-up in his stroller and proceed to drop his hamburger and then stand on it. He also got to have Wilcox milk that we purchased in the dairy barn and he drank it out of a straw - such a novelty!

Yesterday Alistair and I accompanied my mom and Natalie to the fair. Doing the fair from the perspective of an almost 5 year old is quite funny. Of course the majority of our day was spent in Sillyville where Natalie rode and rode and rode. I went on the Giant Slide with her and my mom went on the spinning bears with her, but otherwise she went solo on everything. She is tall enough now to do some more adult rides, so we walked around and looked at them. She decided she wanted to do the 2 different octopus rides (one had 4 cars at the end of each tentacle and the other had 2 cars at the end of each tentacle). I wasn't sure what she would think of them, especially once we got going. I kept asking her if she was having fun and she would always giggle and say, "Yeah! This is cool!" Her last ride of the day was with me on the octopus with the 4 cars. Natalie also wanted to go to the Petting Farm. We all went in and Alistair enjoyed petting the little bunnies and then I got a pygmy goat to come over to us. Of course other children came too, although I wasn't calling them! Anyway, Alistair gave the goat loves (when he puts his head down on something like your leg or arm or on Sadie or on the side of a goat and smiles!). We also walked around and looked at some of the exhibits in the agricultural areas, saw some pigs, cows, goats, sheep and dogs and also walked through some of the exhibition hall to look at the stuff we "need" to buy!
Alistair is really enjoying his first scone, can't you tell - he is really contemplating the complexities of the shortbread paired with the raspberry jam and butter.

Labor Day in the San Juans

This past weekend we spent on Orcas Island camping at Moran State Park with Carolyn & Njord and Ethan & Jen. The Sandholms were also supposed to join us, but poor little Sully came down with croupe and had to stay home to rest and get better. This trip is something we have done with the Sandolms for about 4 years (not counting last summer when we didn't go because of new baby Alistair). So it was a bummer to not have them join, and even more so since they are moving to Minnesota soon!! ):

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. The weather held, except for maybe 10-15 minutes of rain Saturday morning before we even got up. We did some hiking by the lake and up on Mount Constitution, we walked around Eastsound and checked out their farmer's markets and we all took turns chasing Alistair around while he walked everywhere with either his mail cart or firetruck (but not unassisted, don't be silly!).

What do you mean there is a view, I can't see anything!I love hiking and swimming and running up hill and running down hill and and and......but man does it tire me out!! Sadie went to bed at the same time as Alistair on Saturday and Sunday night. We let her off leash as much as we could while hiking and she took full advantage of it! She hiked at least twice as much if not more in mileage than us!

The last night we were there we decided to get dinner in Eastsound rather than make a mess and have to clean up. Here's Alistair enjoying his cheeseburger and looking like he has been camping for 3 days! (:

Anniversary Weekend Away!

For our 6th anniversary, Seth and I got our first weekend away together since Alistair was born. We have both been away from him over night before, but it was one or the other not both of us. We went to Portland for the weekend. We stayed in a nice Bed & Breakfast just south of the downtown area. The first night we had dinner and then saw the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean. Saturday we spent a majority of the day walking around the downtown area, window shopping and checking out the Saturday market. That evening we went to dinner at the Greek Cusina (awesome greek food if you are ever down there!) and then saw Death at a Funeral. Very funny movie, we highly recommend it! Sunday we checked out after breakfast and headed north. Our cousin's little girl Carrie turned 1 on Sunday and they had a big birthday bash for her. Lucky for us they live about 10 minutes from our house! (:

Alistair stayed with my parents while we were gone. In addition to him, they also had Natalie and Sadie all weekend! It was a very full house, but it sounds like they all had a great time! Alistair did very well and makes us less nervous about leaving him for 10 days while we go to Hawaii at the end of September!!! I can hardly wait!

Natalie was a big helper. She played with both Alistair and Sadie quite a bit, she helped take care of Alistair's needs (diaper changes, feedings, etc) and she took Sadie for walks.

My dad went out and bought a pool for the grandkids to play in...and grand dogs too apparently! Although if you know Sadie, nothing will keep her from going in the water!

Ahhh...those pesky kids are gone and now I have the pool to myself!

Camping at Lake Easton

This past weekend we went on another camping trip - we went up to Lake Easton, which is just on the other side of the top of Snoqualmie Pass. We went with the Folgedalens and the Sandholms. Ethan and Jen also came and stayed with their friends Jay and Ellen Mirro and their 2 kids Leo and Ivan, who just happened to be camping the same weekend! Friday night was just Seth, Alistair and I. This was our first night camping alone since before we were married! Everyone else came up Saturday and we had a nice day walking along a portion of the Iron Horse trail and into the "town" of Easton. Easton is a blink and you'll miss it kind of place, even on foot! (: That night everyone converged into one campsite (11 adults, 4 kids and 2 dogs) for dinner, campfire and s'mores. This was our first time camping without a trailer available in 2 years. One thing I took away from our trailer-less trip was that we got much dirtier due to not having hot running water to wash up - especially Alistair. He got a couple of good wipe downs with baby wipes before he put on his PJ's both nights! It was a fun weekend - it is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end soon! ):
Alistair taking an early morning stroll in his penguin PJ's - we had to unsnap the bottom of the legs and pull his feet out and roll the foot portion of his pj's into the leg so he could wear his shoes!
Mmmmm - a nice warm bowl of oatmeal on a cool summer morning!
The gang taking a break on the rail bridge over Lake Easton. The Iron Horse trail is an old decommissioned railroad bed that has been turned into a trail. It starts in North Bend and right now ends in the middle of nowhere Yakima. I think the eventual goal is to groom it all the way to Idaho. There are campgrounds all along the route for those who want to backpack the entire trail.
Seth entertained Sully for a good 30 minutes on Sunday while we got things cleaned-up and packed-up. They were having a good time! (: Alistair was napping!

Other Weekend Activities

Getting Alistair's hair cut wasn't the only exciting activity for the weekend. Saturday night we attended a Rockaroke party. For those of you not familiar with this term, it is very similar to Karaoke but instead of singing along with recorded music, you sing with a live band. Reagan and Jesse and a couple of their friends have a band and provided the music. We were encouraged to wear band t-shirts/concert t-shirts. I don't own any, however Seth wore his David Hasselhoff tour t-shirt from Germany and Alistair wore a New Model Army onesie that his Uncle Ethan picked up for him at one of the shows. Ethan also wore a New Model Army t-shirt: Alistair seemed to have a good time. Mommy forgot to bring any toys for him, so he was resourceful and found his own. He found a small plastic cup and found pushing it around on the linoleum entertaining. Aunt Jen gave him a second one and then things got crazy! He was pushing them everywhere. Here is a little video of him, notice how he mows down anyone in his path? Very polite! (:

(Please note: the noise seems louder than it was for those concerned about Alistair's ears!):
http://my.videoegg.com/video/eqpPqH
(You'll have to click on the path to see it on the other website because for some reason I can't get the html code to work!)

Alistair stayed in the house for the most part or played under the ping pong table outside. He went outside when the band started playing as they were WAY too loud for him. He did watch them warm-up though and seemed intrigued: Once the band got warmed-up, Seth volunteered to go second and sing a song. He sang "Should I stay or Should I go?" by the Clash and did a good job. His mike wasn't as loud as the amps, so at times it was impossible to hear him, but you could occasionally. Notice the liquid courage in his hand with him on stage! (: Oh and thanks to Ethan Frey for the dancing! http://my.videoegg.com/video/eqOQpX

(Alistair was outside for the performance)

Alistair's First Professional Haircut

We took Alistair for his first professional haircut today. He was starting to look a little shaggy and needed more than what I feel I am capable of doing. We found a place in Lynnwood called Fun Kuts. They have all kinds of fun chairs, Alistair showed interest in the yellow volkswagon. He was very good. He didn't squirm much or whip his head around. He sat fairly still and cooperated for the most part. No crying either! We got a Keepsake Card with a polaroid picture of the finished product as well as a little bag of some of his locks.

This is the before shot

Sporting his new 'do...looking cool.

Ft. Ebey State Park...Camping AGAIN?!?!?

This past weekend we headed out with the usual crew to Ft. Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island. We had a great time, the weather was nice and the meals were excellent as always. Alistair still isn't walking on his own, but has a few different things he likes to walk behind. The fire truck is the latest walking implement...it also has a seat to be able to ride on it too!

Alistair cruised all over the camping site as well as on the road walking from the beginning of one site to the end of the next site!

Saturday we took a day trip to explore the southern part of the island. We checked out a couple of other state parks and then spent a few hours wandering around Langley. It is a cute little town with lots of fun stores to poke around in. Coupeville is another town similar to Langley which is also fun (not visited on this trip). Alistair chilled in his car seat between stops, refusing to sleep until the last 20 minutes back to the camp site!Ft. Ebey is up on a bluff overlooking the water and looking across at Pt. Townsend. There are great views to be seen and makes for a beautiful backdrop for a wedding which just happened to be taking place that evening!

Alistair and Sadie hung out in the backseat. We sat in line for the ferry for about an hour - not to worry, we had drinks and snacks!

Hennessey Happenings

Seth and I went salmon fishing off of Westport 2 weeks ago. It was a lot of fun, although I didn't catch anything. I summed up my portion of the trip as the official hors d'oeuvre provider for the fish. They kept taking my bait and then going and hooking on someone else's line. At least Seth caught a fish so we didn't come home empty handed.

For anyone who has ever been to our house, you know that Sadie doesn't get into things and therefore we can keep her treats on the floor and she won't bother them. We usually have to put them up for visiting dogs as they clue in really fast. But now we also have to find a way to keep our son out of them. Seth and I have both caught Alistair nibbling on a dog treat while he is playing. He just goes and grabs one and continues playing with whatever, occasionally sucking on his newfound treat!
Alistair loves his fruit and these 2 photos show it. The above photo looks like a massacre has taken place on his tray when if fact it was a delicious end to his breakfast. We shared Bing Cherries and I couldn't get them pitted and diced quick enough for him! The below photo is Alistair eating his all time favorite fruit, watermelon. No more diced pieces for him here; he just takes a piece and slowly works it down to the rind. Then he will trade you for a new piece.
Since our last camping trip we haven't been up to much except trying to keep cool in the heat wave. I went to Walla Walla with Carolyn and Ranae for my first weekend away from my family since Alistair was born. We went wine tasting and had a great time. It was fun to be in Walla Walla again. We rented a house, so it almost felt like I was living there again. My old house has been torn down. They are building some new academic building or something on the sight. I came home with 10 bottles of wine!!! (:

Ike Kinswa State Park

Over 4th of July and into the weekend we went camping with my parents and Seth's parents to Ike Kinswa State Park. It is located near Mossyrock, off of Hwy 12, and sits on Mayfield Lake. It was a gorgeous week! Lots of nice, sunny, warm weather and hardly any bugs!!! The water was somewhat warmish, at least by Washington standards! We all had a great time! Alistair cut another tooth while we were out, which made for a hard Thursday night and Friday. But he got through it and was better the rest of the weekend! Jen and Ethan joined us for the last night. It was nice to have them out with us! In the photo above he is wearing his official State Park ranger outfit. We went to Mt. St. Helens on Friday. It was a very clear day and you could see everything. The mountain was even smoking a little for us.
Alistair had his first experience swimming in a lake. Here he is just wading with Papa, but Jen and I took him out into the lake a few days later - he seemed to enjoy it!

Jen and I took the kayaks out for a spin or two. David and Seth also paddled around.
Here Alistair is getting his first driving lesson from Papa. We were trying to pack up and everyone was taking turns entertaining a fussy Alistair. He was happy to get home and be with all his toys again.

Alistair got this cute little mail cart for Christmas from the McDaniels. Up to this point he has been merely interested in the plastic envelopes that accompany the unit. But now that he is cruising and on the verge of walking, this toy has brought a whole new meaning to him. He spent quite a but of time walking around the campground and the beach. Here is a little video of him doing just that, but with a pretzel in his hand that he WAS NOT going to give up so he could fully use both of his hands! (: