August's Adventures

Ken took the girls to the Thurston County Fair, where they petted goats . . .

. . . watched the 4-H girls on their horses, ate an elephant ear . . . 

and left Mom at home to have a few hours of "me" time.  Everyone got just what they wanted.

The next day, we headed out to the beach, where it was so foggy, you couldn't even see the water.  And of course, we forgot jackets, but thank goodness for the baby blankets I keep in the car.  They came in handy as super-hero capes/protection from the wind.

The fog eventually cleared up . . . about 45 min. before we headed for home, and the water was too cold to do more than dip toes in, but we all enjoyed our day at the beach.

Ken took Monday, Aug. 3, off of work and we spent the day at Remlinger Farms - it was our 2nd year there and the girls love it.  They wish we had diggers like this in our yard . . . or at least in a nearby park.

 We rode the train . . . 

 paddled our canoe . . .

 pretended we were farmers after we petted the goats and rabbits . . .

and rode the ponies.

 We laughed and screamed on the roller coaster, the flying pumpkin, and the barrel spinners . . . and just had fun being silly and spending the day together as a family.

Two weeks later, we made our annual camping trip to Mt. Rainier.  The weather was perfect (never got colder than sweatshirt weather), didn't rain, our campsite was close to a bathroom (perfect for the middle-of-the-night potty needs), and no one got hurt or lost!

Our campsite had a lot of big rocks and fallen trees around it, and the girls loved climbing and playing on them.

We did some hiking around Mt. Rainier.  It's definitely a lot browner around the mountain than last year, but still amazing and beautiful.

 I love that Sophia always wants to hold my hand.

After a not-so-restful night (ie. air mattress deflating in the middle of the night), I took a nap, while Ken helped the girls build and decorate paper airplanes.  When mommy is rested, everyone is happy :)

 We hiked some more . . . 

 played baseball in our campsite . . .

 and explored the old-growth forest near the park's entrance.  I'm always amazed by how big trees can get. 

After a successful camping trip, with kudos to Ken for doing the cooking and cleaning up (my 2 least favorite parts of camping), we headed home, where I did 3 loads of laundry, gave the girls a bath, fixed dinner, and helped Ken put away the camping gear.  That was fun - let's do it again next year!

Is July Over Already?

On July 7, I took the girls to the Lacey Library to meet real princesses - the fair ladies of the Lakefair Royalty.  My girls were so excited and the princesses were so sweet.

Sophia doesn't look it, but she was thrilled to be with all the princesses and the queen . . . and to get a real glittery crown like theirs.

On July 13, we all headed to Klamath Falls for a Schnell/ DeVoll reunion.  It's not a big family, but it's a GREAT family.  My girls loved playing with their cousin Landon, who loved being the oldest for once instead of the youngest ;)

The resort where we stayed (thank you Grandpa Ernie), had an indoor pool - which, sadly, we only used once, but the girls loved every minute of it.  Here they are posing at the door, ready to go make a splash!

 Since I was swimming with Sophia, I didn't get any pictures of Amelia. Sophia loved "swimming" in this pool - it was only 1 1/2 ft. deep.  I didn't mind it myself, since it was considerably warmer than the big pool.

And of course we visited Crater Lake while we were down South.  It is as beautiful and blue as always.

What I didn't realize about Crater Lake is that there is a hike in the SW corner of the park that is quite different, aka. hot and not so blue, but just as interesting, especially for my geologist sister-in-law.  Here are the 4 grandkids with Grandpa Ernie - ranging in age from 3 - 17.

On our way back to Klamath Falls, we stopped for lunch and a dip in the lake at Lake of the Woods.  Where Amelia fed the ducks potato chips . . . 

 . . . played in the water . . . (or, if you were me, just stood in the water, trying not to freak out that my girls were on a floating dock in deep water without a life jacket on) . . . 

 . . . enjoyed some brother bonding time . . .

and ate ice cream . . . in a towel - because Mom forgot to bring a change of clothes.  Who knew that lunch at Lake of the Woods meant that there would be an actual lake to play in, right?

Here's the whole gang - looking happy after a delicious lunch!

And of course, there always has to be silly games played at a reunion, right?  This is the aftermath of our minute-to-win-it "toss the Cheetos in the shaving cream hat" game.  Notice Amelia in the background trying to salvage Cheetos to eat.  Obviously they're a rarity at our house and too important to leave lying around ;)

And after we said good-bye to the Schnells/ DeVolls, we stopped for a quick visit to see Richelle and Phyllis in Central Point.  

And finally, we stopped to visit Grandma Diane before heading the rest of the way home.

July has just flown by.  Maybe we'll catch our breath in August . . . or not.  But maybe I'll be better at getting pictures posted before they're out of date.

Fun Times

To celebrate July 4th, we took the girls to the Tumwater July 4th parade.  It's a "hometown" parade, so the floats/ entries aren't that exciting, but the girls seemed to like it . . . other than the loud cars/sirens/etc. that Amelia does NOT love.

It was so cute watching the girls wave at everyone that went by.  Sophia loved the horses.

And Amelia thought the school bus was pretty cool - she really is excited for school to start.

On July 3, we took the girls to the Lacey fireworks show - the girls loved it.  They also loved lighting small fireworks in their own driveway on the 4th.  They've got a handful of snaps and are ready for things to get exciting.

Yesterday I took the girls to the Lacey Library for Princess Story time - stories read by the Lakefair Royalty.  They were a bit shy at first, but they soon warmed up to the princesses and were excited that they even got to make paper crowns with the princesses.

And there were so few kids there, that they each got a "glittery" crown and got to have their picture taken with all the royalty.  It's hard to see Sophia's excitement, but she couldn't stop talking about how she got to sit on one of their laps.  I love fun, free events that I can take the girls to.

Ah, Summer!

Sophia completed her first session of ballet . . . and was so excited to get her certificate of completion.

Amelia was so excited she couldn't even stand still for the picture.

Ken's Dad came up to visit for Father's Day . . . and helped us be silly with the ears of corn as we husked them . . . because, hey, doesn't everyone put ears in their ears?

Ken and I celebrated our 10-yr anniversary with a hike to Lena Lake.

Just the 2 of us.

It was so quiet and peaceful.

No interruptions, fighting, or whining.

And the views were beautiful.

Happy Anniversary!  Here's to Eternity and Beyond!