Deception Pass Camping Trip

We just got back from a wonderful camping trip with our small group.  5 families, 10 adults, 13 kids...lots of fun and memories made.

 

There was a recreation area with a freshwater lake on one side and the ocean on the other.  The kids had fun playing at the beach and getting us to bury them in the sand.  (Although I still have a hard time calling it sand - its half dirt and rocks but still good for playing.)

 

We also hiked to the bridge over Deception Pass.  I walked out on the bridge but had to turn around immediately and go back - I am a wimp when it comes to heights.  Absolutely breathtaking scenery though.

 

Every time we went to the beach I came back with pocketsful of rocks that Ezra had picked up.  They were his treasures.

 

The dads had a chicken fight out in the lake.  They were way out in the lake but you can see them.  Barely.

 

Now we are off to Michigan in a week!

Camping in Wenatchee

I decided I am not going to try to catch up on my blog from all that we have been doing this summer.  Its just too much!  I will put some camping pics in this post because its the easiest thing I can do in a few minutes.  Other than this trip we have been.... doing swimming lessons, sports camp (VBS) at our church, weekly allergy shots, dentist appointments, golf camp, playdates with friends, biking/jogging around Greenlake, swimming at the lake in our neighborhood...and I am taking a class...and we are enjoying every moment of the wonderful sunny weather we have had!


Our new camper!  My parents GRACIOUSLY drove it out to WA from Michigan for us to have!  What a blessing.  I am super excited to be using it.  It has been in the family for many years but we haven't been able to have it out where we live because we couldn't get it out here, but now it is!  We had a lot of learning to do to be able to figure it out but we didn't have any complications on this trip over the mountains.

 

Christian learned to ride without training wheels last summer.  We needed to pass his bike down to Ezra so we got him this 18" bike and he has had a hard time learning to start and stop on it but he is getting the hang of it!

 

Fliers up!

 

We went to Wenatchee with a family we know from church who shares our love for camping.  Had a great time with these special friends!

 

It was 98 degrees each day.  I loved it.  My family thought it was a bit hot but we could swim a roped off area of the Columbia River.  It was COLD water but refreshing.

Toured the Rocky Reach Dam on Saturday.  Pretty cool place.

 

 

We got to go below and see the fish ladder - there were salmon already coming upstream through it.

 

Austin found a praying mantis...

 

 

More swimming...

 

Looking for river otters...they were supposed to be there but we didn't see any.  We did see a beautiful Great Blue Heron up close though.

 

 

Love these friends!

Sounders room

I have had on my to do list for quite some time to redo one of the boys' bedrooms.  It had been painted yellow with a cute "buggy" border.  I did that when we moved in and Ezra was 1 1/2 and it just looked too much like a baby's room.  We definately don't have a baby anymore!  So I decided to go with the Seattle Sounders since it is a passion of all 3 of the boys.  They trade off every 4 months being the one to have this room to themselves (the other bedroom has bunk beds).  I really like the way it turned out.  I'm waiting on a little more $$ to be able to add a little more decorations but its good for now.   I didn't get a good picture of it but I love the "soccer guy" (above the bed)  I found at target.com for the wall.  Its see through so it didn't clash with anything. 

 

 

The painting took a week but I enjoyed it.  Tim has some friends who are huge Sounders fans who had the green and blue paint and let us have it.  I'm still looking for some soccer ball black and white fabric I can use to cover the self adhesive lamp shade I bought.  There is no pic of the closet because its still yellow!  That is going to change this week...

Baseball championship

Austin's team won the Pony League 9-10 year old playoffs this last week.  It was a playoff with 8 teams and Austin's team finished the season undefeated.  Quite a change from last year.  Needless to say, we were all pretty excited.  We work hard to make sure our kids know we are proud of them no matter what the outcome, as long as they are respectful, try their best and listen to their coaches.  It is pretty fun to win though!

A new pitcher is born!

Christian got to pitch at his game on Saturday.  He is in a coach pitch league but his coach gave him the opportunity.  He was the only kid that got to pitch.  I was so proud.  He has turned into a really great and enthusiastic baseball player!

 

An afternoon at the driving range

Tim's mom took the boys to the driving range and putting green recently for some practice time.  Christian and Ezra might take lessons this summer.  Austin has already had some lessons and once in a while plays 9 holes with his grandparents.  Tim and I hadn't watched them do this since last summer when Ezra was too young so we went along to watch.  It was pretty cute watching Ezra walk down the path with his bag of clubs on his back.  I was quite impressed with how well they hit the ball!