The Beautiful Northwest

Last weekend we made one final trip for the year to the beautiful Northwest and boy was it gorgeous! My cousin Greg was getting married (finally!! :) to his lovely fiance Mandy, so we decided to add a couple days to the trip and go camping at Deception Pass State Park and crabbing in the bay. 

Some of our favorite Weber family members (Uncle Chris, Aunt Lisa, Patrick, Ashley, and Zach and even Cousin Kate too) joined us for the adventure. I have never seen weather soooo perfect on Whidbey Island. 

Thank goodness for the great weather because it seemed like everything else was going wrong.....major boat motor issues (Jason and Ashley finally had to ROW out and pick up the pots!) was one of them.

Despite the hang ups, they pulled 29 legal dungeoness crab! That was some goooood eatin'!!

After two nights in the tent, we packed up, rushed back to my parents house and re-grouped just in time to get to the wedding. It was lovely! We were sad to leave the evening so early, but we had a 12-hour drive back to Great Falls the next day (the kiddos had already missed 3 days of school).

Now that we're home and the 50-year-old motor is getting fixed - again, there is talk of next summer and "how many times can we go next year, hon?". 

Future Rock Star?

FINALLY!

Emmett has been envious of Gracie and her Tooth Fairy earnings for at least a year. I think he was on the verge of doing something drastic so he could start cashing in too, when God helped him out. About a month ago we noticed Emmett had a tooth coming in behind an existing baby tooth, so I told him to start working on it. And finally, hours before leaving on a quick vacation last week, he let me pull it out. It came right out, but he was a little traumatized (lots of blood for a couple minutes). After the dust settled, he was one happy toothless little guy and $2 richer (prices have gone up since I was a kid). He's already working on the next tooth.......

Back to School

Emmett's first day back was on Monday and it was 100 degrees!

Yesterday we finished up some summer fun - it was 101 degrees! I think the hottest two days of the summer (which has been hot and fabulous since the end of June) were Monday and Tuesday this week.

Working on a craft project I promised Gracie we would do before school started.....we'll be finishing it today because the paint took a long time to dry.

Gracie's first day was today and it was just like the old routine, but more exciting! :-)

Jessie was in a mood and wouldn't stand with Emmett and Gracie for a picture....I think she's ready for them to be back in school too.

I am so happy for the kiddos to be growing up and experiencing new things, but I really can't believe I have a 2nd grader this year! Next year all three will be in school - crazy!

August Fun

We're squeezing in a lot of outside stuff before the white stuff hits.  The kids experienced their first multi-day camping trip, Amy visited friends in Colorado Springs, and in-between trying to wrap-up some lingering projects, we've hit the water park and taken in a baseball game.  By the way, Gracie is becoming quite the Quirkle player...

While Amy was visiting friends, I loaded up the squirts and we spent 2-days camping along the eastern front of the Rockies.  Only complaint, really, was having to dig a hole to go potty... :)

Kids loved chasing the cows

Very, very cold water

Jessie really did wear more than one shirt... :)

Amy came home to a bunch of hugs and good stories...

Watching the plane land

A little birthday cake

We've missed a lot of photo opportunities this summer but we attended the Voyager's baseball game tonight with our neighbors - we lasted through the 7th inning and Amy won a door prize...  man, she's lucky :)