Memorial Day Weekend 2007

What a weekend ~ full of wonderful visitors and lots of fun!! We kicked off Memorial Day Weekend with our Second Annual Lobster Fest! This year Bob, Rischa, Paige and Liam came up from Vancouver, WA to spend the weekend, and Sean and Amber joined us Saturday/Sunday! we had a terrific time!! Although most of the pics are of the kids, I can assure you, we adults had a blast as well!

Grilling brauts/sausages/hotdogs to go with the pesto and ...

Lobster!

Owen and Paige Saturday afternoon

After dinner, we lit a fire and roasted marshmellows for dessert! Collin played a round of Chubby-Bunny, stuffing quite a few uncooked mellows (5 or 6?) into his mouth. Holy moly ...

Once he'd "choked" those back out, he enjoyed a roasted mellow. Yum.

It probably goes without saying, but after that sticky evening, BATHS all-around were in order:

I think they are making bathtub stew. Paige is adding spice, and Owen's doing a taste-test!

This is one of my absolute FAVORITE photos! : )

Some battles just aren't meant to be had ~ how could I stop the splashing when clearly they were having SOOOO much fun!?! We'll work on splashing again after our friends leave ... : P
Sunday afternoon Chrissy and the girls also came up for a day-trip visit. Jacqui came too! We were so glad to see them! With the girls added to the pack, we had six kids running around (ok, Baby Liam wasn't exactly running!) and it was a fun challenge! Of course they played in the yard, running up and down the hill [and learned not to slide down the middle of the barked hillside ~ Marley! : )] and played in the sandbox [and continued not to learn that the sand is supposed to stay IN the sandbox ~ Owen!]. There was also window painting with shaving cream, one the boys' favorite activities, coloring with crayons (nice and clean ~ phew), jumping on a bed mattress on the floor, Ring Around the Rosie, more bathtime (thanks to the shaving cream and a game of "Let's Wash Owen's Hair - and then our own too"), and toys galore ~ every toy was out at one time or another. Here's a few pics of our other projects:

PAINTING

Thank goodness I had the good sense to move the easel outside! The kids created two wonderful pictures ~ one is still on proud display in our kitchen!

Collin shows Paige how to make hand-prints.

Paige, in true gal style, decides to polish her finger and toenails!

Owen "polished" his forehead!

BALLOONS

Every mother should have a bundle of balloons in her bag of tricks! Children love to play with them - hot potato, keep them off the ground, toss them to one another, or just innocent enjoyment and laughter, romping in a "balloon world." Notice below that all the balloons were the same color ~ another helpful trick if its later in the day and you don't want to battle the color-fights and spread the sharing lecture! What fun they had!

Mother's Day Weekend 2007

(Our Family's) Second Annual Mom & Me at the Zoo ~ 5.12.07

Owen laid down the law in the Spider Exhibit, laid out in a Courthouse setting.

They don't look innocent to me!

And of course, there was some "Monkeying Around"

The next day Chrissy and Tracey hosted a Mother's Day Brunch. Collin practiced his dribbling, then got cold and bundled up just like Marley!

Marley, I'll catch you!

I am so blessed!

Chelan July 2007

We had a fantastic time playing in the water, soaking up the sun (and the sunscreen!), and enjoying our extended family in Chelan last week! There were House People, Motel People, one Staffer (J/J Kim!), and Tent People. We were Tent People, and I wouldn't have had it any other way! We had a BLAST! Chrissy and the Girls joined us in our tent, and we had a gazebo tent set up for kids' play, mealtimes, and a bit of shade. The boys were perfect little campers ~ naps on time, bed on time without a fuss, up quietly each morning ... just came stumbling out of the tent, drank cold milk (over the preferred warm milk), ate their meals like champs. Collin even took one bath in the Lake! Way to go! (Everyone was cheering him on! That water is cold, and he was so brave!) There was pool time, games time, golf time, casino runs, innertube runs! And lots and lots of popsicles!! (Thanks, Aunt Theresa and Great Grandpa!) And thanks to Jim and Kathy (and their generous neighbors, whose site we camped on) for hosting a fabulous week!

The water was so warm by noon, it was like a hot tub and had to constantly be refilled with cooler water.

Owen fell asleep everytime he rode in the motor boat. We came back ashore at naptime, and Christi laid him down in the tent still in his lifejacket because she was afraid to wake him. When I removed it five minutes later, it was dripping with sweat ... needless to say, naps from that point forward were taken out of the tent, under the shade of the tree, and shorts only! : )

Keeping hydrated was definitely a top priority!

The kids found shade under an umbrella, and Collin played Peek-a-Boo with Taylor (looks like Marley and Collin are the ones laughing!).

Hot Fun in the Summertime

At long last ~ rest.

Owen was certainly not going to be dehydrated!!

Hit It! (J/J ~ they're tied to the dock and playing water basketball! Sort of the cheater's version ... : )

Looks like Emma's about to become Queen of the Dock ... push those boys off while they're not looking!

Paige considers jumping into the cold water in the eve after the sun has gone down ... go for it!!

Bedtime and playtime are synonymous, aren't they?

Fakers!! (Well, Owen was asleep ... but ...)

... these two were not! Can't fool me!

Collin stacked his markers together, end to end, one morning.

Cheers! Marley and Collin both wore eye-patches to strengthen their eyesight and pretended to be pirates taking the beach by storm!

Popcicles definitely helped to ease the heat of mid-day! It was over 100 degrees in the afternoons!

Floating with Aunt Chrissy

Our little Pink Eye(d) Lady ~ By the end of the trip at least 5 others had caught the dreaded Pink-Eye.

Collin's 1st Tube Ride (sans mommy) with Emma!! They wanted to go first!

That's Collin waving as the ride gets started!

Chatty-chat-chat

Faster!

That was fun!

Next Marley and Morgan took to the bouncy, wet ride!

Owie has the Surfer look down pat.

Cheese!

More chatting ~ perfect time to catch up on gossip!

Morgan dared destiny and was the first kid to stand in the tube the day before!

Hot Babes

What a handsome FlagMan!

He loved the rocking of the boat so much, he fell asleep on his knees while watching over the back-end of the boat.

Taylor's inaugural ride!

And she's standing!!!

The Girls : )

Time to wake O up ~ it's not naptime afterall!!

It's so much fun! Owen loved to rock back and forth so that the tube would lunge foward then whip back with the slack and pull of the boat! I was afraid we'd give him whiplash, but he loved it ~ and he survived! : )

We had a blast in Chelan and can't wait till next year to do it all again!!