LIFE with LEXIE

I think he makes a fabulous princess and clearly so does he. Then Lexie insisted that she had to put "glass" slippers on him and she was the Grand Duke (yes she knows Cinderella by heart and is clearly mixing up her princesses.)

Then Mackenzie had to get her finery out and everyone practiced the correct way to curtsy.

Blake asked for Snow White all the time. I mean every morning he'd come into our room asking for it and several times during the day. Sadly Snow White was kidnapped by the Big Bad Daddy and has never been seen again. (By the way Jim, let me know what the ransom is so I can get Lexie back her outfit!)

After a couple of days of visiting at Angie and Jim's we were off to Galveston for the family reunion. Angie was not allowed to be more than 15 minutes from her hospital so she stayed home with Jim & Blake. I took Cody & Mackenzie along with Lexie and Mom and my Aunt Mary Lou (seen in the picture above with Jim & Blake) who was down from Michigan on down to Galveston where we meet up with some of the rest of the family. Only about 25 of the over 90 Schutter/Kopmeyer/Quast family managed to get down for this one. But it was wonderful to see everyone that did make it. And for Lexie to finally meet some of her extended family.

My little gang getting ready to hit the heat I mean beach for a LOT of sun. Did I mention it was in the 100s most of the weekend. Oh yeah!

Saturday night Jeff sitting to the left of mom (who he and his wife Betsy arranged the whole reunion - great job guys!!) set up a wonderful dinner for everyone. Here is the seniors table. Sorry Jeff & Debbie.

It was great seeing everyone and we look forward to making the next one in two years!

Then while back at Angie's waiting for the babies, Lexie and I got to finally meet in person another soon to be adoptive Kazakh mom, Lisa. We have had hours of "conversations" through email and blogs as well as on the phone during her extended wait to finally travel to meet her daughter Stella Sabrina. It was wonderful to finally sit across the table from her and talk face to face. It felt like we were old friends. Thanks for driving down to see us Lisa. Next time Lexie & I will come see you and Stella!

Safe travels back to Almaty Lisa!

Then it was a couple of days of helping Angie with some last minute nesting and then the big day arrived - Aug 16. My job was to keep the 4 kids occupied during the wait for news of babies. As every good Aunt (& Mommy) knows snacks are good for at least 20 minutes of waiting time.

For more details on the twins check out the post before this. It has lots of pictures of their first 2 days of life. Here is a picture of the new family of 7 (plus cousin Lexie!)

The kids and I were planning a welcome home party but sleep deprived Daddy Jim pushed to get out of the hospital 48 hours after the twins were born so we had to scramble. We made BIG Brother, Sister & Cousin shirts which the kids looks great in!

We even made little onies, hats and bibs for Maddie,

and Maddox.

Then signs, balloons, decorations and a diaper cake where thrown together as we called mom to pick up a cake. It was crazy but we all had fun.

The kids wanted to make sure the twins knew that they lived in a fun house. So they swam...

The aquarium is really pretty small which was a bit of a surprise but it was set up very nicely in little vignettes of different types of environments where you'd find the fish as well as reptiles, insects and even white tigers. This was the entry - all aboard Captains Z & Lexie!

I love this of Blake. He was just amazed at how big the fish were.

Then we went under the sea where the boys were interested in the fish..

Then we were off to the rainforest.

Including a HUGE python (so not my thing!)

here's diver Lexie reporting for duty.

Since we saw the tigers inside the aquarium in only made sense that we would have to go outside to ride the train through a tunnel of sharks.

So we were done with the aquarium proper but right outside the building is a small amusement park with a ferries wheel, some rides and a beautiful carousel which of course they begged to ride on.

Blake wasn't so sure about it which really surprised me. He loves the pool at home and splashing everyone near him.

Intoducing my newest niece Madison (Maddie) and nephew Maddox. They were born to my sister Angie and her husband Jim on Aug 16th with Maddie coming first weighing 7lbs 6oz and Maddox a minute later at 7lbs 4oz joining their older brothers Cody & Blake and big sister Mackenzie.

Here they are with Mom & Dad on their way home from the hospital. I think Angie looks pretty darn good for someone who gave birth 2 days before to almost 15 pounds of babies!! Nice job Boo.

Welcome home Maddie & Maddox!!

Here she is normally. Poor thing!

Then the next day she couldn't control her bowels. Fun times! She's all better now but clearly the carpets need to be cleaned which is happening Monday.

I had acquired two baby dolls and umbrella, her ladybug backpack, a ball and Jakie the horse complete with her crown cowboy hat. What you can't see in this pictures are two princess books, a purse and a magic wand.

Do you think she misunderstood?

It was a little windy at the front of the boat but clearly Lexie didn't care. And here is what she was looking at - Port Orchard where we live.

This is looking back at our town. How blessed are we to get to see this every day!

We went inside for a little while and I thought this was a great shot with Bainbridge Island behind Lexie as we passed it.

Then we are heading towards Mt Rainier for a while. Clearly God's handy work.

Here she is my sea faring girl with Mt Rainier in the background.

We take another turn and Seattle comes into view.

And what a view it is. It's days like this when you understand why Seattle is called the Emerald City.

Here's the rest of the city from the end of the ferry.

After our hour ferry ride we are ready, set, go!!!!

I had to grab this shot as we walked along the piers to the.....

Aquarium. Lexie was very excited to go and she wasn't disappointed.

Here she is checking out a star fish through the glass. But then...

she got to experience them through live. The touching tanks where just terrific.

As you can see Lexie agreed.

Here she is pretending to be an octopus but when she saw one up close....

she was totally grossed out. We were lucky she was out of her cave. What an amazing creater. But I didn't get to spend much time watching her as Lexie was off.

This was the only kind of octopus Lexie wanted near. Help it's got her!

Eventually we headed outside to view the seals, puffins, other sea animals and birds. This reef was just breath taking. A couple hours later we were both done which left us enough time to head up to Pike's Place Market. I haven't been there in probably 5 years. I don't know why I just never seem to take the time. I'm so glad we did today. A lot has change, on thing is the walk up. It used to be dirty and felt like you were walking through smelly allies (maybe because you where.) No more.

These beautiful blossoms where planted along the walk ways and stairs to get up to the market. Nice job Seattle. We found some great local treasures. Home grown fruit especially the Rainier cherries, some cute baby clothes for Angie's twins and of course my princess found crowns. These are bridal crowns I'm told by my crown expert and she had to have one. Soon after that purchase we headed back to the boardwalk because I wanted to make sure Lexie got to ride on the famous indoor carousel.

Here she is with her new crown on her horse Princess Pink Rose. Fitting name I think! Then we were off to Ivar's for some equally famous clams - yummy. Lexie was much more interested in feeding the "e-gals." I couldn't convince her they were seagulls.

She would have thrown all my yummy clams to them if I hadn't stopped her.

A few more stops along the way and it was time to head back to the ferry. My feet were certainly ready! Here's the problem with bride crowns - they are uncontrollable.

Good Bye Seattle. We'll be back - sooner than later!

Now that was a perfect Seattle day spent with my favorite person on earth - Princess Lexie Lou.