The Last Hoorah!

On one of the last days that our neighborhood pool was open we had some great weather and took total advantage of it. I knew this was it, and we had to make the most of it. I decided to snap a few shots of our last big swim! After our pool time we headed over to the park knowing it was going to be raining in the very near future and wouldn't be able to enjoy that much either. I love our neightborhood and feel so lucky to be able to live here!

Circus,Circus!!!

We had a chance to go to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus! It's so fun! We went a couple years ago and loved it and decided to check it out again this year. We let Samantha bring a friend this time, telling her this was her "birthday party" since last year she had a meltdown after her party and told me she didn't want another BIG party. SO, we toned it down a bit by just taking her out and inviting just 1 friend instead of 15! It turned out great! Her birthday isn't until the end of this month, but we figured a little early wouldn't hurt. Anyway, the circus was great and the kids had a fabulous time. Before the circus started they let us go onto the main floor and see some clowns, an elephant, and some other acts. After the circus we stopped for some ice cream (like cotton candy, popcorn, and lemonade weren't enough!). Yes, the kids were on a sugar rush, for sure. But, the circus only comes once a year, so you might as well make the most of it! The kids got some huge circus hats as well. It was a fun day!

CHEERS!

FHE Bowling

A couple weeks ago we decided to do some bowling for Family Home Evening. The kids loved going with Grandpa Fred and Tanner, so we decided to take them back. Of course, we did the bumper bowling, which made my score look awesome! The kids did a really good job. Parker only got the ball stuck in the middle of the lane once. Samantha had a little more strength and was able to get more pins down. It was a great family night! Poor Collin was locked up most of the time, but that was better than him running down the lanes of everyone, or getting his fingers squished between the bowling balls, which he was trying to do before he got locked in his stroller. We hadn't gone bowling where we actually paid for a long time. Boy, times have changed! I didn't realize it would cost over $40 for one game! Now we know. It was still fun. :)

Backyard Fun!

I have to say, I love our backyard. It may not have the trampoline we've been wanting to get or a fancy swing set, but it's got LOTS of nature and a ton of room for imagination. Our kids are happy playing in the dirt, finding bugs and picking berries and flowers from our yard. We live on .98 acre and we love the space and freedoms it gives us. Yes, someday we will have that trampoline (I look on craigs list all the time!) and maybe a fun swing set, but for now the sandbox and nature do. Here's a few fun things we've got going on on the outside... First, the tree house, or "fort". Jeremy has been working hard on getting this done for the kids this summer. For the past month or so he's been building a tree house in the woods on the side of our house. I'm a nervous mom about it, but so far they've been fine and they love it. Almost every time we get out of the car, instead of going into the house they run to the tree house. They've been bringing their snacks up there and making a stick collection (that's mainly Parker). They both have binoculars, so they "spy" on our neighbors and cars that go by.

Here's the trail to get to it. This trail runs next to the garden and off of our driveway.

Here's a view of it from the street. It's hidden in the trees, so it's perfect for their "spying" idea, which Jeremy gave them!

View from the bottom.

Here's the kids at the bottom of the stairs.

View from the top. Pretty high up!

Made it up the stairs!

Say "cheese"!

While building the tree house, Jeremy came across this little guy. A salamander. The kids had fun holding it and kept it for a while. They wanted to keep it, but we have enough critters around here! Here it is, in the house and on the table....Nice.

The other day Samantha and Parker were out in the sprinkler while Collin was asleep. Around the time Collin woke up, the kids decided they were done in the sprinkler, but it was still on so Collin took a try at it. He got to it before I could get his clothes off and this is what happened! He was having fun, so I just let him be.

And last, but not least we have our garden. We were skeptical that it would grow due to lack of sunshine at the beginning of the summer, but it's doing quite well now. We've got a pumpkin patch going in hopes to have a Harvest Festival within our neighborhood. We'd love to get to know them better and have a party! A free pumpkin would be the added touch to the event. It may not work out, but it looks neat at least. We've also got some corn that's growing. I have a feeling we won't get any corn, but there's hope. We already harvested our red potatoes, which were delicious! They were getting eaten by slugs, so we dug them up a little early. They were kind of small, but still tasty.

HOT!

It's HOT here in Seattle! Too hot for my liking. It's been around 95 degrees for the past couple of days. Tomorrow is supposed to be nearly 100! Too bad our house gets to be the same temperature as outside. I don't like it. So, what do you do when it's hot? You make ice cream cookie sandwhiches! SOOO yummy and cold! We've also been eating way too many Otter Pops! They're so good! Stay cool fellow Seattlites!

Seafair

Seafair was last weekend here in Seattle. For those of you who don't know, Seafair is basically a summer celebration that Seattle puts on with hydroplane races and an awesome show from the Blue Angels. The problem is that the big show and races are always on Sunday. So, for my whole life, living in Seattle, I've never been to it. Crazy, huh? We do get to enjoy the Blue Angels for a couple days before that though, when they are practicing. So, on Thursday I took our kiddos out to the beach where I knew we would be able to watch them put on a little show for us. It was so cool to have them so close. They flew low and right over the beach. Very fun!

We also did some swimming, of course. The goal for Parker, the whole time, was to make a big hole in the sand and put water in it. Don't know why, but he worked so hard to make it. He half way did it. It turned out ok. Some little girl next to us made a huge one and Collin took a swim in hers more than once. She was nice enough to let him. Maybe next time, now that Parker has had some practice, he'll be able to reach his goal a little better...

I now realize that most of these pictures are of the boys! Didn't mean to. Sorry, Sam!