Sunday, July 29, 2012

Week In Review

By now anyone who has read this blog is well aware of my sporadic blogging abilities. So, I will once again inundate you with pictures and a little bit of an explanation to go with them.
Monday, the big event of the day was the girl's swim team try outs. She had to swim freestyle two lengths of the pool, backstroke one length and breast stroke one length with no breaks. She did it and qualified for the fall swim team. Unfortunately, she is on a wait list. The coach told us that there had never been a wait list in July before. She thinks there are so many kids trying out for swim teams because of the Olympics. We will keep our fingers crossed.


Tuesday, was one of the funnest days the kids and I have had in a long time. My Aunt C, Uncle A, their kids and grandkids had rented a beach house and invited us to join them. Since my cousin A and his family live in Washington and his sister E and her family don't live nearby it was great to hang out with them.
Heading out in the surf.


Luckily, all of my cousins and their kids are half fish, so there were lots of adults and kids riding waves with some of us wading in the waves to watch. I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of all of the grown up boys and little boys when they rode onto shore at the same time.


Uncle A and the boy having a serious conversation.


A new way for the boy and L to warm up after boarding for hours.


The kids dragged their parents on almost every ride at the boardwalk. The boy is above the 52 inch mark, so he is able to ride almost every ride. Including my favorite wooden roller coaster. He and his cousin L, who is older by a month were the only two kids to want to ride it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of their faces. According to them "It was awesome". Those little daredevils.



Most of the family waiting in line for the carousel.


The girl trying to throw the brass ring in the clown's mouth.


Cousin A riding a pretty horse.


Wednesday, we spent the day at the water park with the girl's friend K. Those kids love water slides.


The kids Thursday morning getting in a little reading. Obviously, they are in the girl's room.


On Thursday, my friend and I traded babysitting duties. I watched her daughter K for several hours and she watched my kids later on. Since it was a nice day, we went to the park.



At the end of the week, The Godfather (of the boy, who insists he be referred to that way) was brave enough to bring his girlfriend around us...finally. We went out to dinner and had so much fun that we invited them over for dinner the next night. We take it as a good sign that she didn't "run for the hills" after the first get together. She is a keeper! The kids love her.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Not Quite Little Red Riding Hood

This is a picture of the girl with an actual full blooded timber wolf. Deacon is taking puppy obedience lessons at a local pet store. The dog trainer did his thesis on wolves and lived in Alaska while he worked for a reintroduction program. Evidently, this wolf's parents were not able to be reintroduced into the wild, so he was able to keep them (he has a special wild life license). The trainer has this wolf only because he was born with a heart murmur, so he was unable to be reintroduced to the wild like his parents.

He is a beautiful, very sweet and well behaved wolf. He is 7 and is trained like you would a dog. I can't pronounce his name, but it means guardian in the Intuit language. Deacon had a lot of fun playing with him. The girl petted him to her heart's content and now wants an additional dog that is part wolf. Since the neighbor behind us has a part wolf dog, I told her she can pet Nala the next time she is out walking.

Friday, July 13, 2012

What's In A Name

We took the kids camping for a few days. They had fun hiking and playing in the redwood forests. They completed a junior ranger program all about spiders. I didn't know there only 4 different types of spider webs.


The kids were going to go white water rafting, but the "pull out" area had been washed out. So, they did some swimming, in a reservoir and river.



There were two horses in the meadow next to where we were camping. Since, the kids didn't see the owner, they felt the horses weren't getting enough treats and attention. Needless to say, the kids solved those problems. They fed the horses our entire bag of carrots and would pet them every day.
The girl named the Stallion Geode and the boy named the Mare Chocolate. Can you see where their interests lie?



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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Happy Sweet Sixteen

Happy 16th birthday to one of the sweetest, kindest, smartest most beautiful young woman I know...my niece B.

We hope you have a wonderful birthday! Your cousins send you hugs and kisses.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Happy Birthday My Boy

Today, my baby is turning 7. I can't believe it! Where does the time go?

Here he is just a few years ago.

And this is him now.



Happy 7th Birthday! You are an amazing, kind and funny kid. We love you!

I am off to make red pancakes for breakfast...the boy's request.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

The Eagle Has Landed (And The Hummingbird)



The kids got their faces painted and patriotic tattoos at the 4th of July celebration we attended.  It was a hot, but fun day

We hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday.