Summer Update

Here are some of the highlights from June and July...

June 29th - We celebrated Dana's birthday by heading to Fargo for the day for  a bike ride and play time in the park and some Indian food for dinner. The boys made daddy a cake and he even got some Twins tickets!

July 4th - We celebrate the fourth with parades, picnics and fireworks. The boys decorated their bikes for the local parade. We had some fun ejoying the downtown festivities and then headed home to enjoy a barbeque and fireworks with friends.

ready for the parade

 July 20th -We survive T-ball and baseball. It was so fun to watch Avery learn the game. With every hit, he'd ask "Did you see my home run?". Ethan's team ended up taking first place in the final tournament - he's just a bit proud.

Cousin Fun

My brother and his family came to visit this week! We were SO thrilled that they made the trek from Yakima, Washington to the North Pole. It was such fun to watch 6 cousins having summertime fun. I don't have much to say. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

  

  

 

June

June was filled with some much needed fun and travel. We took off on the last day off school (with Starbucks in hand) for a west coast adventure. We had a great time with friends, my parents and my brother and his family. We also had 7 consecutive days of sun in the Pacific Northwest which is not typical.

Friends...

We started our week catching up with friends in West Seattle. Great food and even better conversation was a perfect way to start the week!

Some of our best friends in the world had the nerve to move away from the North Pole in October . Much like some parents need to leave a trinket for their kids to hold on to while they are away (it's said to help minimize separation anxiety), we urged our friends to leave their pop-up camper behind. We promised to bring it to them at the start of summer; giving us a great excuse to head west and see them again. It worked wonders for my grown-up-missing-your- best-friend version of separation anxiety. I stared at it all winter dreaming of it all popped up on some beautiful seaside campground. I could practically taste the wine and hear the sounds of all our kids playnig on the beach. I got my wish at the beginning of June as we set-up camp at Seaback Park.

The view from Seabeck Enjoying low tide

The fam...

We made a quick stop in Yakima to see my brother, sister-in-law, 2 nephews and 2 nieces. The kids got along as if they were next door neighbors (the kind that get along). I got a girl fix by holding our youngest niece and painting our 3 year old niece's toe nails.

The cousins...

You can't say Seattle at our house without saying "Poppa and Grandma-D". We had a fun-filled week watching the boys get totally spoiled. Visits to parks and playgrounds, trips to beaches and to get ice cream, playing in sandboxes, helping grandma plant flowers, running in sprinklers, roasting marshmallows and sleeping in sleeping bags in the living room. It's no wonder they don't like coming home to a house with vegetables, rules and bedtimes. It was exactly waht a trip to grandparent's house should be!

Poppa and Avery in the ocean

The grand finale...

We ended the week going to a Twins-v-Mariners game (where the boys got to run the bases after the game) and an all boys excursion to downtown Seattle.

After running the bases at Safeco field

On top of the Space Needle