Trip, 2nd Week

Sunday the 15th, we went to church with my mom and dad.  We all took naps that afternoon.  Well, I don't think Austin and Julia did.  When everyone was up again, the kids went outside to blow bubbles.  I love Caroline's expression here!

All the kids blew bubbles in the yard.

That night we went to visit my Grandpa Andy.  We had such a good visit with him.  He told us lots of stories!  He talked about  liking the song, Letter Edged in Black, and how he might want someone to sing it at his 90th birthday party--and he might sing along.  Brian found the song on You Tube.  Grandpa held the phone to his ear like he was listening to a transistor radio.  :)

 My dad, my kids and me, with their great grandpa.

 My mom, dad, sister, and me with Grandpa.

Monday the 16th, we went to Lake Padden with my mom, dad, and Colleen.  We all hiked along the path around the lake.  At first Caroline and I were lagging aways behind everyone else (short little legs!).

Aunty Colleen got the kids to run, including Caroline.  Then they were all racing way ahead of us and it was hard to keep up with them!  Until they stopped for a break.  At least everyone could keep up a good pace this way.

Near the end of the hike, we stopped at the playground so the kids could play.  This is a funny picture of Austin and me!  It looks like he was in trouble and getting reprimanded!  When really I think we were discussing where to go for lunch!

Aunty Colleen nicely pushed Caroline on her swing...

Cute sisters

Cute Austin

Lauren having a little visit with Grandpa and Grandma...

We ended up going to Dairy Queen for lunch.  The kids always want to go there!  They love getting ice cream with their kids meals!

We stopped at my dad's work so he could introduce us (show off his grandkids!!) to his coworkers.

That night we went to Marty and Colleen's for a spaghetti dinner.  Austin played Star Wars Lego video games, and the girls, my mom, Colleen and I did Just Dance/Kids Dance.  Fun!

The next day we went to Boulevard Park in Bellingham with my mom and dad and Colleen.  We went on a hike along the bay.  Right at the start of our hike, Austin and Lauren had to go climb on these rocks.  Of course.  :)

It was another lovely, warm day.  We saw boats on the water.

You can see the boardwalk/path we walked on.

Colleen striking a pose!

Caroline did not run way ahead on this walk.  She got tired and wanted to be carried a lot, going both directions.  It's always fun to get a ride on Daddy's shoulders!  You can see my mom (white top) way ahead.  My dad was ahead of her somewhere.  And I think Austin and Lauren were even farther ahead!  No leisurely stroll back to the car for them!  They probably wanted to hurry back so we could get lunch faster.  Who knows?

Lauren by the park sign, before we left to get lunch.  This time we didn't go to Dairy Queen. ;)  We went to a little Mexican restaurant in Fairhaven.

 Wednesday, we went to my Grandma Arlene's house for lunch, and to visit with her.  Colleen joined us.  We all had a really good visit with Grandma.  She always fixes us a nice (and tasty!) lunch when we go see her.

She has started going through my grandpa's trains.  Grandma said Austin was the only descendant who was really interested in trains like Grandpa, and how Austin always liked to come see the trains when we were up visiting. 

Since Grandpa died last year, she is going to sell the trains.  But she wanted Austin to choose whatever he wanted (!!!) first.  Very generous of her!  Austin really wanted this locomotive and tender.  He also chose a few train cars.  He especially wanted the "money car", a car Grandpa Bill had made, and glued photocopied money on the sides.

We also took a handful of train people.  Please take special notice of these people.  Especially the 2nd and 3rd men...  When I was in high school, Grandpa Bill wanted me to sew clothes for these (and others!!) little men.  He'd bring me a few men:  cowboys, astronauts, soldiers..  

I was to sew clothes, including hats--with no pattern--for them.  I'd finish a few outfits, Grandpa would pay me a little, and bring me more toy men to outfit.  I was glad to not have this job anymore when I got married and moved away.  Then Colleen got the job!  Notice the lady in the middle.  Well, that is actually a Luke Skywalker man, with a broken light saber, that Colleen turned into a lady!  Guess she thought their needed to be some women in the train village too!

Anyway, we also came home with some miscellaneous track pieces and a control panel.  Austin wants to get it all set up outside!  Like right away wehen we got home to our house, Austin was ready to set up the trains.  :)

I should have taken a picture of Grandma Arlene; and Austin running the trains.  He had so much fun running them in Grandpa Bill's big train room!  We were so busy visiting and sorting trains and boxes, that I didn't take any pictures the whole day.  We were there a long time!

Semiahmoo

Saturday, July 14, we were just hanging out at my mom and dad's house, recovering from our late night at Caroline's party.  Doug called, inviting us to the circus.  His neighbor gave their family free tickets.  We decided to go.  Our kids have never been to a circus before (well, except for the circus that is pretty much everyday at our own house!!).

Annaliese and Caroline buddied up right away.  So cute!

It was a fun outing.  The kids liked being with their cousins and watching the circus.  These elephants performed at the end of the show.

That night we went to Semiahmoo again.  Scott organized a get together with a lot of our family.  It was fun to see everyone!

Austin and some of the other kids started building a bridge to Canada.

 Lauren playing with Uncle Scott

Lauren found a large shell and said it was her "shell phone".  She carried on a long conversation, talking on her shell phone.  Ha ha ha!!!!  Here Uncle Scott is talking on the shell phone.

The tide was in, much higher than when we were at this same beach Monday.

Here are the kids, making progress on their bridge to Canada!

Scott brought his guitar and played songs while everyone else sang.  That was very nice!  Julia said her favorite part of our whole trip was visiting with everyone.  She got to do a lot of visiting (as did the rest of us)!

Austin got to play with boys again!  These are my cousin Andy and Shelly's boys.

The sun going down...

Beutiful sunset!

Everyone brought their own meat to the picnic.  We roasted hotdogs--easy!  Everyone also brought somthing to share.  A lot of us made s'mores.  Yummy!  And messy!  Caroline had marshmallow all over her face and even in her hair.

I took some girls to the rest room and when we returned to the group, wasn't happy to find my kids putting 1/2 of a Hershey bar on their s'mores!  They all had plenty of sugar this night, for sure! 

The sticky, dirty kids went straight into the tub when we got home. :)

O

One more sunset picture before we went home.  It was a beautiful night--very warm again!

June 17-23

 Father's Day

Brian chose BBQ hamburgers for his Father's Day dinner.  He did the grilling.  But I at least made breakfast, which he usually does on Sunday mornings.  We had spinach frittata, fruit, and little cinnamon rolls from Costco.  I made the casserole the night before, so just had to put it in the oven in the morning.

A sleepover in Julia's room.  Lauren and Caroline each got a turn sleeping in Julia's bed.  They felt so honored to have a sleepover with Julia!

Austin and Pongo

Monday morning these kids built tall, tall towers!  They all worked together, then someone got to knock it down.  Sometimes the towers fell on their own....this one looks a little unstable here!

Julia had a movie night with the Jr. High group at church, so I took the younger three to the park up the hill, right next to it.  They were so excited!  Brian was in Harris Ranch overnight for a meeting for work.

Sliding together.  Whee!

Friday Brian's mom and our niece, Alexis, came to visit us.  That night we all went to the drive-in to see Brave.  It was a lot of fun! 

I'd baked a big Costco pizza and sliced it at home.  I kept it warm in a 9x13 dish in my Pyrex insulated case.  We had tons of popcorn, cookies, and other snacks we brought from home.

  It got cold once the sun went down.   The second movie playing was The Avengers.  Austin and Brian really wanted to see it.  I was curious about it, since I heard other people say it was really good.  Alexis fell asleep in Grandma's car (it was late!  And cold!)  Caroline fell asleep.  The rest of us watched the show.  Lauren said it was boring.  I think Austin (!!!) and Brian enjoyed it the most.  I thought it was good, but kind of like an old Batman episode (conquer the bad guy) that just kept going and going.  Ha!  I wasn't bored, but it wasn't quite as exciting for me as it was to Austin.  :D

Saturday night we went to Avila Beach.  Brian grilled chicken.  The kids all loved going in the ocean! 

Caroline wanted so badly to go out with the big kids!  I did let her go in the waves--just not as far out as they went!  She has no idea the waist-height water for the big kids would be about up to her neck.

Posing in the waves...  The water felt fine while the sun was out.  But like the night before, once the sun went down, it got chilly, and we needed our sweatshirts.  Thankfully it wasn't windy.

Cute kids

After eating our picnic dinner, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  The kids played on the playground for awhile, and then we left.  It was a very nice night at the beach.

May 27-31

The boys were still on their camping adventure.  So the girls and I went to church w/ just us.

We went to Claire's at the outlet mall afterwards.  Each of them got a bunch of jewelry and fun girl stuff.  All the clearance stuff was 10 for $10, so I had them choose from those racks.  Some of the more expensive things were just 75% off or so, but still on super clearance.  They all loved it!

We went to McDonald's for lunch, which they were all happy about.

 Ever since she was really little, Lauren has sat like this, with her feet crossed, while she plays.  Cute.  :()

I had my breakfast group here May 22.  The night before, I was cleaning, and ran into the laundry room door, jamming my little pinkie toe.  It hurt soooo bad for several days.  Not sure if it was broken or not. ???  The first few nights it hurt even to turn my foot in bed, with the weight of the blankets and sheets.  Ouch!

Memorial Day weekend we headed down to Ontario to visit Brian's mom and sister and family.  Saturday we went to a park with them.

Swinging with Kaitlyn

The little girls liked these wobbly stool step things.

The kids had fun on this spinning toy too.  We went to Chik-Fil-A for lunch.

Brian, Julia, and Austin went to church with his mom.  I stayed home with the little girls, including Kaitlyn.

I had come down with a bad, bad cold a few days before, and did not feel well at all this weekend!  I couldn't taste or smell for 4 days!  My ears hurt, my head hurt, my eyes hurt.  My eyes were stuck shut several mornings in a row.  I really think I had a double ear infection.  Maybe a sinus infection?  I don't know, but it was the worst "cold" I've had in years!  I even got a cold sore, which hasn't happened in 10 1/2 years!

I really had no time to be sick!  I tried to rest--took a few naps--as in about 3 total--and tried to go to bed earlier.  For over a week I was miserable and just took Advil and got on with the day.  I took Nyquil at night, but then would wake up so stuffed up, so tried drinking wine before bed a few nights.  That helped, but not with the coughing!  Ugh.

I kept thinking to myself, that "you can get over ear infections on your own...you don't need to have antibiotics..."  I told myself if it didn't get better after 2 weeks, I'd go to the dr.  Then right at about 2 weeks, I started feeling a little better.  Not well by any means, but better.  It took a good 4 weeks before the illness was gone for good!  Even after I felt better, one ear and then the other would hurt.  But now it's gone.  Thankfully!!

Brian and the kids went in his mom's pool.  I didn't, as I was not feeling well!   I knew my nose would drip like crazy.  It might have felt good to sit in the hot tub, but not to have kids climbing all over me.  ;)  It's not like you can just sit and relax with all these kids around, who want to play.

Back at home...Caroline was pretending to sleep, that Lauren put her to bed.  Lauren covered her up with these Barbie blankets.  Hee hee

Lauren, while Caroline "slept".  She sorted artwork and school papers she keeps in a special binder.