... But Before I Go

Here are some pictures from July that I'd love to share.
I took the kids downtown to McKinnley Park. It's a beautiful park with lots of large trees, a pond and a super cool wood play structure.




We had Uncle Chuck, Kiele and friends down for dinner recently. It was wonderful to see them.

Getting Out of Dodge

Soon the kids and I will be in the Seattle area to visit my mom and family there. I can't even begin to express how excited I am. For the first time in my life I have not visited my mom's home in two years and I just can't take it anymore!!

My mom is flying down on Saturday (time enough for Walt and I to get a night out) and she, the kids and I leave Sunday and are driving up to Seattle over the course of three days. We'll be going over to the Oregon coast for two nights of camping to break up the drive and to experience something new. Did I mention I was excited? I have always been a fan of road trips, well at least since I got my license at 16 and had control of which way I was headed.

The first two things I'm packing are my camera and my computer so stay tuned for updates. On second thought, the last thing I'm packing is my computer but it will be the first thing I check for once we hit the road.

Cheap Entertainment

Today while I was trying to finish up the last week of my summer online Microeconomics class, Josh asked if he could put some soap in the little wading pool to make some bubbles. Initially I thought "Ooo, bad for the lawn" but really what the heck. I told him to grab the dish soap and only use a little. I have no idea how much he and Carley put in the pool before they filled with from the hose, all I know is I was able to work on some homework and got the months bills paid before they got bored in the backyard. They played in the bubbles (mostly just Josh) for over an hour. Wow, that's some cheap entertainment!


Josh has been wanting to dye his hair since the middle of the school year but I refused to let him do it until summer. First we tried dying his regular hair color but the blue, which is supposed to be mostly permanent, washed out in less than a week. This is our second shot at it. We bleached his hair this time and the blue came out much brighter. This picture is from the day we did it. It's been almost a week and it's still blue but definitely has faded. He's due for a big haircut before school starts.

Ice House Camping

Shelly and Nick drove down to go camping with us at Ice House Reservoir. We did it together last year too. This year we camped on a different loop and surprisingly we had no bears in our campsite. It may also be that we learned our lesson over the last two summers; we put all of our food in the car during the night. Either way, I slept much better without hearing the bear eating from my ice chest.
The day that we arrived, our friends, Wendy and Chris, came up for the afternoon, dinner and games. That evening was a bit smoky from the fires still burning in Northern California but the rest of the week cleared up nicely. Walt brought his boat, he and Nick attempted an evening of fishing around the perimeter of the late but they didn’t even get a bite. We spent most of our time lounging at the campsite or down by the lake. It was a terrific four days and we’re already making plans for next year.
Are you ready for picture overload? Here are some of my favorite shots from our camping trip.
(Not sure why it gets pixelated each way I try to load it to this blog but to see the larger, nicer version just click the picture. I'm still trying to get it figured out)

On our last morning there, I made it out of the tent in time for the sun to come up over the mountains. It was nice and peaceful out. The only other person I saw up had a camera around her neck too.



Smokey has something against the little waves that roll up on shore after a boat drives by. Every time he heard them, he'd jump up, run down to the water and start biting them. It's really funny.

Independence Day

Aunt Shelly and Uncle Nick drove down from Seattle on the Fourth of July (staying for a week) and we invited our friends, Wendy and Chris, over for a barbeque and fireworks at home. It was a nice evening visiting with family and friends.