Washington Apples

There are tons of apples and orchards out here.  We even have an apple tree in our front yard.  Jack likes to play with the apples.  We've eaten a few, but they're mostly past and the bugs/worms have claimed their territory.

Mamaw's House

We met a wonderful woman at church last week who has an in-home daycare and preschool.  She not only invited Jack and I to their Halloween party, but also to come play on Friday afternoons.  (She started the daycare/preschool when her 14 year old granddaughter was that age, and I think that's where Mamaw came from.)  Mamaw, her helpers, and the kids have been just great...so kind and welcoming.  The kids all greet Jack when he comes in, help him with toys, lining up to wash his hands, etc. (he is the youngest one)--it's really sweet.  She has her kids trained well!  We've also gone home with music, videos, and toys to borrow.  Mamaw gave me a CD of photos of Jack from the party yesterday when we were over to play.  (Ryan things she's "super-woman". :))  Here are a few...

Snack and party favor time...good party!

Thrilled with his pumpkin plate. :)  "Pumpkin" has been one
of his favorite words lately and he notices them everywhere. 

Getting in on the big kids' joke...Mamaw missed it the first time
so she had the kids laugh again so she could get Jack laughing :)

Pinning the nose on the pumpkin.  He must have realized he was
at an advantage without a blind fold, so he missed intentionally ;)

I'm so thankful for "Mamaw" and her kindness

...she's also a great resource after "raising" so many kids!

Happy Halloween

I didn't pack a costume for Jack (I was trying to pack minimally...which is why Jack is wearing a t-shirt, sweater, sweatpants, and yellow socks right now while we wait for laundry to dry--we'll leave my wardrobe alone this morning! :/), but thanks to Roxana, Jack had a pumpkin shirt to wear to the Halloween party we went to yesterday.

My little pumpkin ready for the party

And a few more randoms of the little man...

Jack & his horse Mac

Jack apparently didn't realize the "Dardinals" (Cardinals)
were out of the play-off, so when Ryan turned on a
World Series game last week, he pulled up a seat right in
the front and started to cheer.  Sorry buddy...not this year!

Sunday afternoon

This afternoon was one of the nicest days we've had thus far, so we went down to the Nature Reserve that is about 30 miles south of where we live.  Then we stopped at Ryan's job site so he could show us the progress  and so Jack could play in the skid. :)

the Nature Reserve 

Loving the hike!

All boy...throwing rocks and sticks into the running water

It's been cool to see such a variety of landscapes

More rocks...

And...the real reason we're here :)
As with pictures of the mountains, this picture
doesn't do justice to how big this really is.

Trip up the Columbia

On Saturday we took a day trip up the Columbia River.  It was a beautiful drive.  We stopped in Wanatchee for a walk along the river and the Farmer's Market, where we picked up some varieties of pears  that we don't see at HyVee back home. :)  Then we headed up the mountain to Leavenworth--a cute little Bavarian villiage where we had lunch and a bakery treat and checked out a few little shops.  We found a great apple orchard on the way down the mountain--it was fun to do something just for Jack.  He's been such a great sport on our trips.  From there we drove up to Lake Chelan.  It was a pretty mountain lake, but didn't compare to our drive up the river.  Could have skipped the extra time driving, but oh well!

Headed up the river

The Columbia River at Wantchee 

Walking by the river 

Leavenworth
All the shops and restaurants had this cute style 

There were some fun little shops in Leavenworth,
like this Nutcracker shop

Jack's favorite part of the apple orchard

Shopping at the orchard :)

Our Place

I can't remember who, but someone asked for a few pictures of our place.  You may have already seen this much from other pictures, but this is it...I took one picture and turned around and took the other.  ...unless you really wanted to see the bedroom and bathroom.  We did a little rearranging.  For example...though very nice looking, decorative plants take up entirely too much room when you have a little guy in a place this size.  Not complaining about the size...honestly...it's been rather refreshing actually!

"Happy"

When Jack is happy...i.e. he likes what he's eating, what he's playing, what he's seeing...he says "happy! happy!", sometimes accompanied by "happy feet"...i.e. dancing feet or for the Helmkamps "Missy's prance", as Ryan calls it.  He has been a very happy little guy since we got here.  He seems to enjoy the change in scenery.

Oatmeal w/ a View
(our front windows look out to the lake) 

I cleaned out the little closet in the kitchen for Jack to play in.
It's his new "house"...luckily it hasn't crossed his mind that mom & dad
crawled into his "house" at home to read to him...not gonna work here!

Fewer toys actually seems to be better...he's already spent hours w/
his tractor.  We'll see if it fails to entertain him after a month!

This should have been with the vacation pictures...
Jack was very interested as Ryan showed him pictures
of what we were going to see on vacation.  "Moutmouns"
(mountains) is a new vocab word for him now.
Pretty sure he wouldn't have picked that up in Iowa!