Hawaii - Day One (Guest post by AMANDA!)

I had to wake up at 6:00am this morning and ride a bus to the airport. When we got there I ate a quick breakfast. Then we went to my mom and dad because I had been with my grandma and Geri. When we got on the airplane it took a while to get in the air. When we were aloud to use electronics, I watched a movie on my dad's Zune. I also did some homework and listened to music. Finally, I got to play on my mom's computer. When we got to Hawaii we were really hot so we put on flip-flops. We finally got to the house and unpacked. There are lots of birds, dogs, people, and car noises here. It will take a while to get used to that. Love, Amanda

Surprise, surprise! I'm still here:)

I can't believe how fast life just keeps moving. I'm hoping to get back to really blogging this summer, with lots of exciting adventures planned with the kids and John. This month alone I've gone to Phoenix with John, gone to Great Wolf Lodge with the Girl Scouts and teh rest of the family, and I'm packing for Hawaii right now. Nate leaves tomorrow morning for 5th grade camp. What an exciting month!

I hope to post pictures from our many adventures, but don't expect to see any while I'm in Hawaii. I'm not sure we will have internet access in the house we're staying in.

I have to get back to packing if I'm ever going to be ready for our wonderful trip to Hawaii!

My (apparently) Monthly Post...

The summer is almost over, the kids are almost back in school, and you might think that we spent the whole summer doing absolutely nothing, since that is what I've posted:) It seems as the kids get bigger, our outings get more intense, frequent, and ongoing.

For the third year in a row, my friend and I committed to dedicating each Tuesday during the summer to taking the kids on a weekly adventure. We let the kids each choose an activity that they've always wanted to do and we scheduled them into our Tuesday outings. We went to Snoqualmie Falls (Nate's choice), Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (K's choice), and the Scratch Patch (Nicole's choice). We also committed to spending every Wednesday in the summer to the Grandmas and we've gone on many adventures with them too:) The kids have loved every moment of it.

We've also gone to the beach for nine days, to Grandpa's house (over in eastern Washington), and on several hikes. Amanda has gone to the fair with her best friend, Nicole has gone on a long boat trip with her best friend, and Nate has gone to two Cub Scout camps and to several over night trips with his best friend. We also finally made it to Jetty Island, a little ferry ride from the Everett marina to an island that we can see really well from our house.

I'll post pictures as I get through them. I can't believe how much the kids have grown over the summer!!!

Wow, is it really almost August???

I know this is no excuse, but we've been incredibly busy this past month. Let's see if I can remember everything we've done. We went to Grandma's house for 4th of July and the kids set off fireworks. John and Nate attended Cub Scout Resident camp for four days and three nights. The girls went to several birthday parties. We climbed the rock climbing wall at REI. We went to Cub Scout Twilight camp every night for five nights, and we went to Grandpa's house to a family reunion. We tamed the jungle in our backyard, but it took six people two days to do it. We've had an old friend visit from Texas, an Uncle and Aunt and their family visit from Ohio (six people in all), and now another Uncle and Aunt from Ohio is in town. There, that covers it. As for pics, I'll be working on those next. Next we'll be headed to a 10-day beach vacation out of state. I sure hope we have a few minutes to catch our breath there!

Cruising in Seattle...

At the end of a long day exploring the Seattle Center, we decided to take a Seattle Harbour Cruise to check out the view from the water. Raelee was so tired that she fell asleep in her mom's arms and napped for a little while. I took a few pictures before taking the kids below with me to keep them entertained for the duration of the cruise.

The kids enjoyed playing games in the galley while waiting for the cruise to end:

And having their pics taken at the end of the cruise:

We traveled home with four very tired children. We had such a wonderful day!!!

Swimming in Seattle...

On Stephenie and Raelee's 2nd day exploring Seattle, the day dawned bright and beautiful. We drove to Seattle and rode up to the top of the Space Needle to see the panoramic view:After we got done looking at the view, we took the kids to the International Fountain to eat a picnic lunch and play in the water:

I think they all enjoyed it!

After the kids got done playing at the International Fountain, we took them to a wading pool close by to play for a little while.

After they got done swimming, we changed the kids back into their clothes and traveled to the Seattle waterfront to get in line for a harbour cruise of Seattle's Elliot Bay. That will be the material for my next post. We enjoyed having them visit so much!!!

Seattle Center Roaming...

After we finished at the Science Center, we took the kids for a walking tour of the Seattle Center grounds. The Seattle Center is a huge park containing the Pacific Science Center, the Space Needle, the Seattle Children's Museum, the Seattle Children's Theater, the International Fountain, the DuPen Wading Pool and Fountain, the Key Arena, and other local attractions. Raelee was really interested in the International Fountain and enjoyed running around the outside of the fountain and dodging random shots of water. She heeded our warnings about not getting wet, but Amanda was unable to escape ALL of the water:We took some pictures of Stephenie to prove that she actually visited. I don't think we got many of those.We enjoyed the day. It was warmer than it looked (in the upper 60's and low 70's), but still not Louisiana hot. We tried swimming later in the week.