Family Trip to Sacramento

We had opted not to take a big family vacation this year because our ten year anniversary is looming on the horizon and we are thinking of doing something big for that momentous occassion. So this year we decided to see what wonders lurk close by in the capital of California.

After we were done at the zoo (where I almost picked up a new kid in the form of a chimpanzee...he looked so much like my kids...) we decided to head over to Fairy Tale Land. The entire time we were on our way there the boys kept telling us that they don't really care for Fairy Tales anymore.

However, after the first five or ten trips down the vast number of slides, they decided that maybe they could have some fun there, too.

Point Defiance Zoo

Sam & Brownie

Well, we decided to spend some time at the Point Defiance Zoo to see their new baby leopards that they have. We started out in the aquarium and Jen got to put her degree in Marine Biology to good use talking about her favorite topic (after her kids...): sea life. They actually had a very interesting poop exhibit....I'll keep the pictures out of the blog. We ended up spending time in the budgie house. Everyone liked the budgies. They got seed sticks and fed the budgies. We had a lot of fun there.

We took a brief break to have a picnic lunch.
And then we finished our trip out in the kids play ground complete with a water park. It think the last time I was at the Point Definance Zoo was sometime in 1979 and I was there with my cousins Chris & Pat. It's a relief to know that they've updated things since then. It's even more exciting to realize what a spectacular job creating an amazing place for kids to learn all about all the animals they love. The kids had a great time and they were exhausted in teh end. It was great to get some more time with Grandpa Bill and Nana Joan. They even got to meet their Great Uncle Pat (Sam & Riley's Grandpa) at the end of the day.

Grandpa Bill's Retirement Party!

So we started planning a retirement party for Grandpa Bill in July. The plan was that we would all meet in The Dalles. Aunt Becky would bring Grammer and we could all get together for a little bit. Unfortunately, Aunt Becky had a stroke and so we decided to bring the party to her instead. This was just as good because the point of the visit was to celebrate Grandpa's over thirty years in service to other people via the Mid-Columbia Medical Center. It was even better to get together up in Tacoma. Uncle Charlie very thoughtfully loaned us his home for this fete, and we all had a great time getting together. Aunt Becky is doing very, very well. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and it is so much fun to watch the kids with their Grandparents and Great-Grandparents. When I was a little girl, dad would tell me that he pulled call at the hospital a lot so that he could retire early. Apparently his idea of early and my idea of early are pretty different (as it's been 34 years...), but he is an inspiration to me for his work ethic and the way that he stayed dedicated to his job as a Medical Technologist for so long.

Headin' to Auburn

After we left Bremerton, we headed over to Auburn. Cousin Sam was excited to show us the amazingly cool giant banana that she won and Wild Waves. Everyone needs one of these!

The boys were also granted unlimited Wii privleges (normally they only get to play the Wii for half as much time as they read. They were a little low on their time when we headed up).

Riley has some serious moves where Dance Party is concerned. She taught the boys a thing or two.

And the best part is eating the amazing food that Aunt Gab cooks. She is awesome! She took some time off and we went to the lake by their house. Sam took care of Brownie.

Pacific Northwest fun

So we took a quick trip up to the Pacific Northwest this summer. We spent our first day with my cousin, Courtney, and her family. Her son, Colin, is 10 and the boys thought he was pretty amazing. We went up to the school by their home and played some basketball. Colin, Brody & Brady teamed up against Colin's dad, Ryan. It was a tough game, but the boys lost by one point.

Brownie kept trying to get into the action. However, Courtney kept her out of trouble so I could talk to my Aunt Patty.

Colin showed the boys his very cool puppeteer skills. Colin has many amazing puppets!

The boys also found another fan of legos. Colin has many collector sets of the little plastic things and the boys were very excited to check them out. The boys also learned a few tricks to playing lego Star Wars on the Wii. It was a lot of fun!

Camping #2

The last time we went camping, the boys were fascinated with the deer family that liked to walk through our camp each night. This time, they pretty used to the ungulate collection that we shared space with . Fortunately we didn't run into the bear that Cousin Nate saw on his way to visit us.

We spent more time on the boat on this trip. Our friend Travis came out and he seemed to be the most daring on the tube.

Courtney and Connor gave it a try.

We all went out as much as we could on the boat. And our friend Jonathan came out with his son.

Idaho

Daddy took the kids to Idaho to visit with Grandpa Tim because Mommy took some classes over the summer. Apparently, they showed up in Salmon at the peak of mosquito system because the little buggers were so bad that they spent most of the time inside playing with legos and their amazing cousin Austin.

Austin was the hero that supplied most of the stash of legos for the building. The boys love their legos.

Grandpa loved having the kids visit, as usual. Even with Brownie screaming (and the girl can scream) in his ear right before they left.

When they weren't playing legos, they were having a good time with the laptop. It's nice to know that even though Austin is getting ready to start high school he still has time for playing with his little cousins.

The boys love playing together. And Austin is taking a break before he has to go home and get ready for football.

Camping Trip #1

We decided to expand our camping expeditions this year and went out for five entire days. So, we packed up and headed to Frenchman's Lake for some family time.

The boys (all three of them) managed to catch their limit of fish all day. It was mostly rainbow trout, but our fridge is full for quite awhile. We will not go without our essential fatty acids all winter.

The boys woke up early to fish with daddy. Most of the time they were out by the nearby rocks. However, they ended the day on the banks by us. We also learned about a new defintion of time. When Daddy says he's going fishing for "twenty minutes", he'll come back after an hour. We're going to use this same explanation of time the next time we go to Joann's or another fabric store....

Daddy did have an unfortunate experience and in the act of doing a good deed (keeping a lure out of someone's face...) he ended up with a fish hook in his finger. It went through the nerve, which made it a rather painful experience and we decided it should be treated by an expert, so we took a camping hiatus to go to the hospital.

The boys played with their friends, Connor & Bradly all day long. They also played with Cheyanne & Shawnee. The kids played very well together from sun up to sun down. We had some really tired and DIRTY kids.

Brady became very good at catching frogs. He waited until they came out every night and they had a great time.

We did end up leaving a little bit early. We were rained out and ended up in the truck at about midnight the night before we were supposed to leave. We had to wait to go and get the boat, or we would just headed for home.