Caroline's Birthday Party, Vacation Part III

Since we were in Washington so close to Caroline's birthday, we had a party for her up there. Aunt Colleen and Uncle Marty let us use their house.

I made Caroline this butterfly cake. Auntie Colleen bought these balloons for the party.

We had Dominoes deliver pizza for dinner. After eating the kids went on a treasure hunt in the front yard. Aunt Kim and Aunt Colleen had hidden toy rings for the kids to find.

We had a Tinkerbell pinata. That was a hit (ha ha ha, get it?!)!

Though the birthday girl didn't know what to make of the pinata, the big kids knew exactly what they had to do! Aunt Colleen gave Caroline some scented bubbles as one of her gifts, and the kids blew those too.

Before the party our kids were checking out Uncle Marty and Aunt Colleen's DVDs and Rock Band instruments.

Second picture: Those two look pretty guilty! I think they had been getting into the M&Ms! ??? And is Annaliese giving Caroline [back?] her candy bag? Caught, anyway, whatever they were up to. ;)

Caroline had lots of eager helpers, come present time. She got lots of nice gifts, including: a doll stroller and baby doll with clothes, a Kailan treehouse set, a couple books, some bath scrubbies, play dough, crayons, coloring book, a ball, a teddy bear, and a sock kitty Aunt Colleen had made.

The party guests were: Grandpa Ivan and Grandma Sharon, Great-Grandma Arlene, Uncle Marty and Aunt Colleen, Uncle Scott and Aunt Kim, and Uncle Doug, Aunt Annette, Alyssa, Annika, and Annaliese. Since Grandma Alvina and Aunt Holly and Alexis were also visiting in WA, they came to the party too! We had quite a group!

Holly and I tried to get a picture of all the cousins together. Oh my, that was quite the undertaking. Alyssa told Holly and me, "I am not going to look at you!" And didn't, the whole photo session. Austin wanted to blow his noisemaker.

Julia and Alexis tried their best to keep the babies from running off.

The babies didn't like being restrained. The group (such as it was) unraveled quickly. LOL

Happy Birthday, dear Caroline...!

I had practiced blowing with Caroline. I don't know where she got the idea to open her mouth at the candles! She kind of ate the flame, and I think got a tiny bit burned! Not bad, but enough to look alarmed and say, "hot" afterwards!

Second picture is Caroline with the sock kitty Auntie Colleen made for her. She calls it "Birthday Kitty" and has been sleeping with it, and her new teddy bear from Aunt Annette, that she calls "Birthday Teddy", every night since! So cute!

After the cake, Uncle Marty played song requests and the kids danced the night away. Annaliese sat herself down in Caroline's new dolly stroller. Caroline spun around the dance floor plenty herself. We finally called it a night just after 11 (I think).

July 4 Festivities, Vacation Part II

July 2, my brother and cousin put on a fireworks show for a bunch of people at my mom and dad's house. After dinner, some of them played croquet.


Julia! So much for nicely posing for a picture. ;)


She will pose...

While we were at Grandpa and Grandma's, Julia rode this bike around their yard almost every day. It used to be Auntie Colleen's. See the bubbles? Colleen had brought bubbles for the kids. They all got to roast marshmallows. Aunt Kim brought giant marshmallows that were the size of about 4 regular ones!

Caroline hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma. They've trained our kids to like coffee. Ha ha. The oldest three like drinking their "brown" (with plenty of milk and sugar) coffee with Grandpa and Grandma. And now Caroline says, "Smell the aroma!", when she sees coffee, just like Grandpa taught her!

Scott and John with the stash of fireworks they bought at the Lummi Indian Reservation.

Ready for the show to begin

Scott and John put on a good show! They had lots of "big" fireworks. Even the neighbors were watching from their yard! My fireworks pictures only turned out so-so. I didn't even bring a tripod and was too lazy to rig up a makeshift one. Here are a couple pictures. I like the 2nd one--it was one of those fireworks that goes "pop pop pop", instead of a loud boom with the display.

Today I read the little girls 101 Dalmations before their nap, and London was mentioned on the first page. Lauren piped up, "Can you do big fireworks in London?"

I paused, thinking about what she was asking, and said, "Maybe..."

Lauren, nodding, "I think you can. Uncle Scott said you can. I think California is the only country where you are allowed to only do small fireworks!"

I realized she was thinking "London" was "Lynden", the town where we grew up!

Anyway. On the actual 4th of July, we went to church with my mom and dad. That night we went to a BBQ and Scott and Kim's and the girls were outside hunting slugs again. This time in Auntie Kim's yard! They were delighted to find lots of fat ones! I am sure Scott and Kim were delighted to have those fat ones destroyed! Ha!

After eating, Brian and I took our kids to Bellingham to meet up with Doug, Annette and their kids, his mom, and Holly and Alexis, to watch the city's fireworks over Bellingham Bay. They were beautiful too! I'd just taken out my camera, and rain started. Just sprinkles, and we had blankets to keep warm, but enough drops where I didn't want the camera getting wet. So no pictures of that display.

Monday, July 5, we went to Berthusen Park in Lynden for a reunion with my dad's side of the family. Here we are eating our lunch. It was a potluck picnic. There was so much yummy food! And lots of good desserts. And then strawberry shortcake later in the afternoon! Julia wore Brian's baseball mitt for her crazy hat. That was kind of a last-minute decision. Hee hee...

There was a crazy hat contest, and Uncle Scott wore this one. My kids said it was a Lakers hat, but I think he bought it thinking it was a Huskies hat. I think. ???? He let them take turns with it. Notice Lauren's nametag; I love how she wrote her own name!

There was playground playing. And picture-taking (that's Annette). I think she was taking a picture of our grandpa auctioneering for the live auction. My dad was happy to walk around with these two girls...

Caroline pretended to be afraid and shy around John the night of the fireworks show at my mom's house. John was being friendly to her, and she'd just hide, sucking her thumb. Later she told me, "Don't like it, Gohn!" LOL The next day at church she first saw John singing in front, with my dad, his dad, and Scott, for special music. Caroline saw him, and said, "Gohn!" Then later she saw him running the sound system and said, "Gohn watching TV!" Silly girl. Here's John and Scott. John really looks scary, doesn't he? ;)

Annika and Lauren sitting on the wagon tongue. They were busy visting the horses one of my dad's cousins brought for pony rides and wagon rides.

After our picnic lunch there was a straw pile with candy and treasures hidden in it. The kids loved that! They all got a lot of candy, as well as crazy-straw sports bottles, little notepads, little footballs, bracelets, etc. Caroline stacked up all her chocolate coins. I think she thought they were actually money!

There was a tug-of-war contest. Julia's side did not win. LOL All the participants got a big candy bar just for playing!

Brian and Austin played in a softball game that afternoon. We also went on wagon rides.

Here are Austin and Luke, and Julia getting a pony ride.

That night Brian and the kids went in the hot tub with my dad. A good way to unwind before bed!

When we arrived at the park, Brian backed up the van, and one of the back tires caught on a huge bolt sticking out of a pole. The pole was laying on its side, kind of marking the edge of the drive through the park. There was only one bolt sticking out of the whole long pole, but it got us! AAA came out to change the tire. The worst part was having to take up some of the next morning getting the new tire put on.

We were happy with Costco's service, though. They said since Brian was driving when the tear happened, the tire was covered under warranty. They said they would have to replace two tires so the van would be balanced correctly, and since we only needed the one tire, technically, they gave us the second tire free!

Vacation, Part I

June 25 we left for vacation, and drove up to Washington. We came home July 11 with a boatload of pictures! I've been gradually sorting through them!

We arrived about 8 pm on the 26th. Sunday was church and everyone had naps that afternoon. Well, not Julia. That night Scott and Kim came to visit. The kids were busy hunting slugs around Grandma and Grandpa's yard. They had the *best* time doing this! They'd find a slug, then chop it in two with a trowel. My mom was only too happy to have those slugs gone. ;)


Caroline liked this little yellow chair and hauled it around the yard, here and there, where everyone else went.


I sewed Lauren's skirt before we left (in June). Monday night Colleen came to see us. She got out the sidewalk chalk and drew pictures with the kids. Austin drew this train:

Lauren drew these people, and had named them all.

They drew fireworks as July 4th was fast approaching.

Colleen and Julia

Tuesday we went to Jump Zone (Fun Zone?) with Annette and her kids. They all had so much fun on the slides and in the bounce houses! Every one of them was sweaty and red-faced, with their hair a mess, when we left. We ate lunch with them at Dairy Queen.

Austin helping Grandpa mow the lawn

Wednesday we met up with Annette and the girls again, this time at the Everson Library, where they had someone bring miniature horses for their summer program. The kids took turns leading the horses. Julia's was being a little uncooperative! Austin did *not* care about leading the horses, had no interest whatsoever! We checked out a few books at the library with my mom's card.

After the library we all went to pick cherries. Annette knew these people with this loaded cherry tree, who let people pick them. And pick we did! We brought home lots of cherries to my mom's house. I ate a bunch fresh, every day, I think--love fresh cherries! My mom made a cherry crisp and cherry jam with some too. Austin liked climbing the cherry tree (Alyssa did not). That was more up his alley than leading horses! Though the girls liked that. Funny!

Annette and I busy picking... All the kids wanted turns climbing the ladder.

Wednesday night Scott and Kim had us, my mom and dad, and Colleen over for dinner. Brian suggested getting this brother/sisters picture.

And this one of us with our mom and dad.

Thursday the kids wanted to stay at Grandma's house and play. I think they were tired of running around here and there. It worked out well since I needed to do laundry anyway. That night we went to Doug and Annette's for dinner. Julia stayed overnight at their house, and Annika came home with us to sleep over with Austin and Lauren. Annika and Lauren shared the top bunk. So cute! Friday morning they played in my mom's yard--picked strawberries and played croquet.

Caroline liked this little trike my mom has. She thinks she is one of the big kids and picked a few strawberries too. They are teeny tiny, but tasted fine. The kids liked them. :)