Summer Fun

Dan came home on Tuesday night and we have been running hard ever since. The weather is beautiful and we are taking advantage of it. We went bowling Tuesday night (I kicked butt!!). Wednesday we went to Lake Sammish and tried to throw Nate off the tube. I say tried, because that kid held on tight! We had a family dinner Thursday night. Dan watched 6 kids on Friday while Tiff and I got a much needed break. Yesterday we went to the lake again. Dan and I both knee boarded. I haven't knee boarded since high school, so lets just say I'm hobbling around today.

This is the summer we have been waiting for. The nice weather, the freedom to go to the lake when asked. We love having Dan home and are making the most of it! Not sure how much more my body can take, but I'll rest when the sun does!

Fabulous Photographer

I love these new pictures of Lily. My sister, Amy Parsons, is one fabulous photographer. She has a great way of catching people's personalities. She's super busy right now with weddings, but start thinking now of booking your family sessions for fall. Click on her link to see more amazing photos!

The House With All The Tractors

Yesterday our friend Gordon stopped by. He was telling Lily that this weekend he would be biking the STP, Seattle to Portland ride. (He's riding it now as I type, GO GORDON!!). He told Lily it was over 200 miles to Oregon. At the mention of Oregon, Lily's mind went straight to her Grandpa and Grandma that live in Oregon. She told Gordon, "When you pass a house with all the tractors in the yard, that's my Grandpa's house, so wave hi to him". We had a good laugh and told her that Gordon wouldn't be near Grandpa's house, but that was nice of her.

Speaking of Grandpa and Grandma, they are visiting this weekend. They brought with them the newest addition to the family, Maddie. She may be cute, but she has peed and pooped on my carpet, TWICE. Maddie is now in the backyard with our dogs, who are not happy to see her.

Grandpa also brought a water balloon launcher. Last summer when we visited them, Grandpa made a redneck balloon launcher that was the hit of the week (also took all week to tweak it so that it would actually launch a water balloon). Click HERE to see the one from last summer. Now you have to remember that my Dad is a big redneck. So lets just say he doesn't buy water balloon launchers at the store. He makes them from whatever he has laying around. Here's our new water balloon launcher. I'm surprised that the hydrangea's survived the water fight last night. Don't ask me how he made it, all I know is it's covered in duct tape. I have no idea how he comes up with these things!

Lego Cake

Mom and I were talking about what kind of cake to make for Nate's birthday. She said it would be fun to do a Lego cake. I thought about it and figured I could make it work. I took a 9x13 cake, frosted it, then topped it with cupcakes made in mini muffin tins. Now, I know it's ugly. My cake decorating skills need improvement. But the kids loved it and Nate thought it was cool. My mother in law asked what the heck it was supposed to be. I could have used a fun color, but yellow frosting on my couch and carpet didn't sound good.
As I was making the cake, friends of mine on facebook were telling me that they made this cake with marshmallows, and that the Lego store sells the cake pan. All great ideas, if I was told BEFORE I started.
We topped the cake with a Darth Vader candle and Nate had is Star Wars/Lego cake. The kids scarfed it down, so it tasted good. And seriously, 10 year old kids are impressed with any effort......they must be if they thought my cake was cool!

Pinata

How much candy does it take to fill a Darth Vader pinata?


The amount of candy that my two kids collected at our local parade.


Don't laugh, it's called recycling! (And seriously, they don't need THAT much candy!).

Birthday at the Lake

On Nate's birthday, we spent the day at Lake Sammish with my family. Nate shares his birthday with my Aunt Ruthi, so we had two birthday's to celebrate. The kids loved riding on the tubes and going fast on the jet ski's (Lily is a crazy driver!). The kids are water bugs and they played in the lake the whole day. Thanks again to Marv and Ruthi! We hope to do this many more times this summer!

Double Digits

Happy 10th Birthday to Nate the Great!

I still can't believe my "baby" boy is double digits.....sniff, sniff.

Island Adventure

Mom had some business to do on Orcas Island on Monday. She asked if the kids and I would like to ride along on a an adventure. I thought it would be fun to ride the ferry and see the Island, and had no idea what kind of adventure we were in for. We left in the morning and it was raining. We made good time to the ferry and it was not even half full. The ride over to the island was cold, but the kids had fun.
When we got to Orcas Island, Mom stopped for business, then we got lunch from the grocery store and headed to the park. The sun was coming out and the kids played on the beach. We headed back to the ferry dock to catch the 2:30 ferry. We got about a mile away at 1:30 and were told to pull over on the side of the road, because we would be on standby for the 5:25 ferry. We couldn't leave the car, because we would need to move it once the 2:30 ferry left. So we sat there until 3:15, and were finally able to move to the ferry waiting area.
At least we had a nice view of the water. Mom bought a box of Popsicles and we shared with all the kids who were also waiting. We sat there and waited until 5pm when they told us to go to the cars and wait in line. As we were sitting, waiting for the ferry to load, two sheriff's officers came running up the car next to us yelling, "Get out of the car, get on the ground!". They arrested the guy right there. Mom and I looked at each other like, seriously? It was like watching a live episode of Cops.
So the ferry started loading and we moved up until we were the next car to get on. They had us pull up as if we were getting on the ferry, then told to go back in line. They told us we were about 2 feet too long to fit on the ferry. We missed getting on the ferry by 2 feet! So we were stuck on the island until the 8:30 ferry. Nate started crying saying,"I just wanna go home". So we had 3 more hours to kill, waiting for the next ferry. We can't drive off and leave our spot in line, and there is nothing to do. We pulled out our leftovers from lunch and ate some dinner. We bought coffee and drinks at the little store. And we waited.....7 hours from when we got in line until we finally boarded the ferry.
We were the first car on the 8:30 ferry, and Mom is showing the 2 feet that made us miss the last ferry. As we were getting on the ferry we saw the sheriff's officers take the guy away on the sheriff's boat. We laughed when they sped away into the sunset.
We had a beautiful ride home, but the kids were tired. We didn't get home until after 11pm. What a long day! While I love visiting Orcas Island, I don't think the kids will want to go back anytime soon.

Bring Back My Bar......Scentsy Bar

For the month of July only, Scentsy is bringing back my bar. We all voted on discontinued scents and the top 20 are brought back this month. Apples and Pears, Fried Ice Cream, Cheerful Day, and French Vanilla are just a few that I am excited about. Click on my Scentsy logo on the sidebar and check out all 20 of the scents. These are available this month only, in bar form only. If you find a favorite, stock up now!

Don't Panic!

Don't panic! Yes, I know there is smoke coming from my house. Don't call the fire department. It's July 2nd and I had to turn on my pellet stove because it was 66 degrees in my house. Yes, I put on extra clothes and socks (stupid socks should not be worn in the summer!), but I was still cold. Seriously, we are freezing over here. I'm not supposed to be needing to turn on the heat in July. Do I need to say it again? It's JULY!! It supposed to get really warm next week. I say bring it on. And if I hear anyone up here in the Pacific Northwest complain about the heat, I will not be nice. Bring on Summer!