Sarah crawled for the first time (not counting her backwards slide) on 7/7.  Here’s a video:

Here’s another video of her crawling two days later:

She’s crawling all over the place now, pulling things down from shelves, playing with cords, getting into trouble.

We had a HOT weekend here in Seattle, but we still had some fun.  Blaine was so excited to see the wading pool being filled.  The pool attendant even showed him the tool to turn the water on and off.

We did a lot of our dining outside on the deck.  Sarah has developed a fondness for laying her face down on her tray, in her food (perhaps inspired by Aunt Molly?).

Sarah and Blaine playing on the futon:

On the 4th we met up with some friends at Mt. Baker beach on Lake Washington. Here’s Blaine working on his beach bum look.

Some more al fresco dining – we enjoyed some patriotic strawberry and blueberry shortcake.

On Sunday we went for some walks and went to a BBQ.

This weekend Sarah also worked on a new skill – she pushed up to a sitting position from her tummy for the first time!  Here are two videos.

At one point she somehow ended up sitting under a kitchen chair.

We don’t think it’ll be long before she’s figured out crawling!

A few other photos from June.  Nellie and DH joined us for dinner on 6/22.

Daddy took Blaine to a fire station open house on 6/27 – here’s Blaine in the fire truck!

Sarah’s first time in a swing.

Sarah was not sure what to make of her first taste of baba ghanoush.

One final trip to the zoo before our membership expired.  We saw the brown bears and some playful otters.

Cuddly Sarah.

Sarah also started moving a bit in June, though primarily backwards.

Aunt Jody was in town for a conference and stayed with us on Saturday night.  We all had a great time at the zoo!

Our zoo membership is expiring June 30, so Sarah and I went to the zoo on 6/25 for a very brief visit in between naps.  Most of the animals were sleeping but we had a nice view of the tapirs.  Sarah was fascinated.  We also got to see the hippos swimming around.

We started Father’s Day off with some delicious buttermilk waffles and bacon.  Blaine was very helpful in pouring out the measured ingredients, whisking them together, cracking the eggs, and (of course), testing the waffles.  He decided they were just right.

Our maple syrup was frothing mysteriously, so Daddy made an emergency run to the QFC for more syrup.

Sarah was eager to get her hands on the waffles so we let her have some of her own.

Blaine also decorated this cookie monster card for Daddy.

We’re sorry that we couldn’t be there with you to celebrate, but we hope that you had a wonderful birthday (weekend)!  We can’t wait to see you again soon.

Love, Blaine, Sarah, SA, and Andrew

Blaine loves his new fireman helmet!

He also likes wearing it backwards sometimes.

Not sure what is going on here.

Blaine enjoying a muffin in the park.

Sarah enjoying the grass.

We finally got both kids into the double stroller this month.  It’s a good thing Daddy’s so strong.

Blaine’s teacher, Vanessa, sent us these adorable pics of Blaine bouncing on a ball at school.

This morning the whole family went to Blaine’s Little Gym class for show week.  I was so impressed to see how Blaine has improved on all his skills over the last few months!

Here he is during the awards ceremony, receiving his first ribbon:

And he was first in line for the hand stamping at the end.

Everyone’s been saying how Blaine’s been growing, so we measured him today, as well.  He’s up to 35.5 inches, from 33.75 in January!  Here are a few extra pics of Blaine, pondering something to do with firefighters, no doubt (he’s pretty obsessed right now).

I also love this one of Blaine with his trumpet, just like Daddy.