Summer has finally really arrived here! We walked down to the beach to play with a friend yesterday. It was beautiful! Sunny! and clear. We were able to see Mt. Rainer on the horizon. The water was still a little chilly. Izzy got in all the way for a few minutes, though.
In the Pacific NW, we have something called geoduck. It's a really big clam with a big neck that lives deep in the sand. At low tide during the spring/summer you can dig them up. It's a real treat. So, last weekend we went clam digging and geoduck hunting. The beaches here are very different from what we were used to on the southeast coast; as you can tell from the pictures. It was actually a very nice day with mild temperatures. Last year we were all freezing and this year we were able to at least be comforable in short sleeves. Izzy really loved turning over the rocks and picking up the little crabs and finding sanddollars.
Happy Father's Day everyone! We had a lazy day, going to one of the city beaches. This one is at Madrona and is no more than 1.5 miles from the house. It was a beautiful day with blue skys and temperatures between 65-70 degrees. A perfect day!
Izzy celebrated Preschool Graduation this week from the Capitol Hill Cooperative Preschool. She's really excited about starting Kindergarten this year, but will miss her preschool friends (none are starting at the same elementary school.) 
So we finally got out and starting enjoying some of the great northwest last weekend. Friends invited us to go hiking with them. Little did we know what we were getting into. I'm very proud to be able to say that we made it all the way to the top of Mount Si. It's a great climb, 4 miles to the top with a total elevation increase of 4,167 feet. It took us 4 hours to get up ( and 2 to get down). Izzy did awesome and walked about half the time getting piggy back rides from our friends at times. And Xander did great in a baby backpack. Izzy reports the her favortie part was the rock climbing at the end. We even saw snow at the top. Here are the pics from the trip. My legs and feet are still feeling it today.
