Catching Up

Oye!  We've had a busy summer.  I can't believe it's the end of September already, but man, am I ever ready for things to slow down.  In mid-July, my cousin and her family came to visit and we all went camping in the Olympic National Park.  We played at Ruby Beach, where we saw more starfish than I've ever seen on a beach.

Then we went to Sol Duc Falls.  These pictures don't even do it justice; the colors are so intense and beautiful.

And we ended our adventure with a hike through the Hoh Rain Forest.  So much moss!

 I love spending time with family . . . and it was fun to have my cousin and her family come visit me and my family.

Our next summer adventure was the Schnell family reunion in Montana - at Ken's Dad's new house, plus camping in Glacier National Park.

Due to little legs and endless whining from kids and teens, we only went on one hike, but we were able to see so much beauty just driving through the park.

 The chipmunks were a bit too friendly ;)

And the water - so blue!

 We went swimming at LoLo Hot Springs . . .

 And cooked and laughed together.

 It was definitely time well spent.

After we were back, I took the girls to pick blueberries,

 treated our neighbors (and the girl's best friends) to ice cream before they moved,

 hosted a neighborhood water balloon fight (balloons courtesy of the neighbor),

 and took the girls to the SW Washington Fair.  The girl's favorite part was the animals :)

We did a few miles together on our bikes on the Chehalis Western Trail,

 watched the eclipse (courtesy of glasses from a neighbor (we have the best neighbors)), 

and then the girls and I went to Portland for a few days to hang out with our friends, the Bullocks.  The girls and I had fun shopping, splashing in the river, and playing on the Bullock's swing set and trampoline.  And eating ice cream sundaes made especially for them by Burt Bullock.

Ken had to work on Labor Day, so we did our annual beach trip on the Saturday before.  We were blessed with sunshine, blue skies, and it was only mildly cold - hence the fleece I'm wearing and the long sleeves Ken has on.  The girls do not seem to mind the cold - they  must be from the NW ;)

 The girls were excited that it was windy enough to fly their kites.

On Labor Day, I took the girls to hike the Sequalitchew Trail, near Dupont.  It is 1 1/2 miles each way, but it is a flat path and ends at the Sound.  I thought the girls would love playing in the water since it was so hot outside, but there was "too much seaweed", ha-ha.  So they played on the rocks instead.

School started for Amelia on Sept. 6 - 2nd Grade - I can hardly believe it.  I think she is liking it so far . . . keeping our fingers crossed that the enthusiasm will continue :)

Sophia is repeating Kindergarten, but with a new teacher.  Some days she likes it, some days she wishes she was in 1st Grade with her friends.  Hopefully it will be a good year for her as well.

Then it was my turn for some fun - without the kids.  I flew to UT for 6 days to do the Time Out For Women conference in Logan - time spent with childhood friends, while getting inspired and uplifted, 

help my Dad de-clutter a bit at his house (pardon the bad selfie - neither my Dad nor I are very good at it, ha-ha), 

 and relax, including eating UT ice cream with my niece and nephew.

 The next weekend was Sophie's tap class,

 a free night's stay at the McMenamin's in Bothell (courtesy of Ken's Dad)

where the girls LOVED swimming in the shallow, warm, salty water,

then we headed home in time for the Primary Program - my favorite time of the year.  My good neighbor bought these cute matching dresses for the girls after we invited her to come see the girls in the Primary Program.  Such thoughtful neighbors we have!

And that's our summer in a nut-Schnell!  

How can it be half-way through July already?  I am getting so bad about updating our blog.  Ken had a PT conference in Canada the first week of June, but before he left, he taught/ convinced both girls to ride their bikes without training wheels.  They literally just took off :)

And now that it's mid-July, they've both upgraded to a bigger bike and are zooming up and down our cul-de-sac as much as I'll let them.  But apparently I haven't taken any pictures of them with their bigger bikes . . . 

. . . Amelia definitely needed a bigger bike, ha-ha

Next came crazy hair/ dress-up day at school.  I'm not super creative, but the girls were happy to do anything out of the ordinary ;)

The girls have been bugging me to paint rocks . . . so we made "lady-bugs" to give to their teachers and to decorate our yard.  I love this picture of Sophie with her tongue out while she paints.  My Dad often has his tongue out just like this when concentrating.  I love that she got this gene from him!

Sophie's class field-trip was to Tolmie State Park.  It was raining - of course - but the kids still had fun finding things (dead and alive) in the water and didn't mind getting wet at all.

 Sophie didn't want to go out too deep in the mud . . . she preferred to stay put and dig.

I've been to Tolmie quite a few times, but I have never seen the beach with piles of oysters on it.

I must have taken at least 10 pictures of Sophie's class . . . this was the best I got 😂  It's hard to get 20+ kids all looking in the same direction at the same time!

Field Day at the elementary school was June 9 - where it rained, of course!  Ken and I volunteered with the activities and I was able to join both my girls for lunch.

By the time Ken got home from his week-long trip in Canada, I was ready for a break.  Ken took the girls to spend the day with his Mom in Portland.

 They had fun visiting a small farm in Molalla and riding the train that went around the farm.  

 It was even better that they were the only ones there and got one on one attention and opportunities to see/pet the animals.

Ken and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary with a walk in the Refuge and dinner at a Korean restaurant downtown Olympia, where they were playing Christmas music as background music - it totally made me laugh.  Happy Anniversary to us and here's to many more!

The girls were still in school when the strawberries came ripe, so Ken and I had a date picking and picking and picking.  You can never have too many NW strawberries.  Yum!

 And of course, when you have 2 flats of strawberries, you make freezer jam . . . 5 batches!  Hopefully that will be enough, combined with the 3 batches of raspberry jam, and who knows how many blackberry and/or blueberry jam batches to keep us supplied until next summer.

We FINALLY got out of school on June 23.  I wasn't quite ready for the girls to be home from school all day every day, but we were definitely all ready for school to be done.  We celebrated the last day of school by joining our friends at one of the local lakes.  Unfortunately, this is the best picture I got of the 2 girls.

And then suddenly it was July!  We started the month by attending the city of Lacey's fireworks display on Jul. 3.  As a compromise to the girls to not attending the city of Tumwater's firework display on July 4th, Ken painted the girl's faces . . .

and we lit off fireworks with our neighbors at the end of our street.  It was a blast! 😏  We love our neighbors and are going to be so sad when they move in a month.

 

Last month I mentioned Ken's dream purchase (his drum room).  This month, my dream came true and I was able to buy a baby grand piano - thanks to the sale of our condo in AZ.  I can't even describe the joy that I felt as I watched them bring in my piano and set it up for me.  And then to be able to play it in my own home!  Yeah!

And added to my joy has been watching my girls play on and enjoy the piano.  It's probably time for piano lessons soon, but for now, we're all enjoying the piano at our own level.

For a change of scenery, I took the girls to Portland to visit the Bullocks.  While we were there, we visited the temple grounds . . .

 had Tillamook ice cream in Lake Oswego . . .

 (that "play-dough" ice cream turned Sophie's whole mouth blue 😂  )

. . . and visited a playground with a splash pad before heading back home the next day.

The Children's Museum had Providence Night on the 14th for Providence employees and their families.  I took the girls for a few hours of play and we ended up being 3 of the only 11 people that were in the museum.  It was a pretty sweet experience having the museum mostly to ourselves.

Caught up for now . . .

May Day May Day!

Ken took the girls to the Lacey Fishing Day . . . they didn't catch anything, but they sure look cute standing there with their fishing poles . . . and they said they had fun, so it's all good . . . and there's always next year.

While Ken was fishing with the girls, I set up the annual Easter egg hunt in our back yard.  Due to 2 different neighbors dropping off baskets full of candy for both girls, I filled their Easter eggs mostly with puzzle pieces and stickers.  It seemed like a hit - I think I'll try that next year too.

One of my friends at church gave me these adorable dresses for the girls that her daughter had grown out of.  It was perfect timing and the girls love them!

One of the advantages of church staring at 1pm is that there is plenty of time for the girls to play before church.  Ken and I found this welcome sign upstairs.

And this cute hostess ready with "tee" and desserts.

The Lacey Spring Fun Fair was the first weekend of May.  I've never taken the girls before, but decided to be "brave" and try it this year.  There were a lot of people, but it didn't seem as bad as I expected AND the weather was perfect, so the 3 of us enjoyed the few hours that we were there.  Next year maybe I'll even plan to stay longer.

While we were at the fair, Ken was busy setting up his new drum room.  After driving to Vancouver BC a few days prior, he was like a kid at Christmas and couldn't wait to get it all set up.

I'm not sure how Amelia figured out how to do it . . . or how she can do it without hurting herself, but she can hula-hoop around her neck . . . it seems painful to me 😲

On May 19-20th, our ward had their first annual ward camping trip, held at Zion's Camp in Belfair, WA.  The campground is only about an hour away from home and had lots of fun activities for the kids . . . and adults. 

 But who needs activities when you can entertain yourself with fern fronds, ie. "fairy wings".

We went out in a paddle boat, but it was a bit too sunny and "too far from the dock" for Sophie.

So Ken and Amelia dropped us off and went back out on their own . . . and then took a canoe for a spin.  I'm glad Ken has a boating buddy!

Amelia also really liked swinging on the rope swing . . although she wasn't quite brave enough to jump in.

We have really enjoyed going to STEM/ Math nights at the Elementary this year.  They've all been fun, but this one was definitely a hit - rootbeer floats, cool science experiments to watch, and fun/messy "science" to play with and take home.

The girls love the "gak", ie. slime, ie. so messy it isn't allowed in the house and I've already had to wash/ scrub it out of cloths and carpet 😒

For Memorial Day, after attending the Stake Memorial Day breakfast, we headed to Millersylvania State Park for a few hours of lakeside fun.  Amelia loved "swimming" with her floaties . . .

 while Sophie preferred to dig in the sand.

I think that's it in a nut-Schnell.  Stay tuned next month when we finally celebrate the end of the school year.