Dahlias, Dahlias, and more Dahlias.

Yesterday I was able to get out for my first little outing since my surgery on Aug 19th. My hubby drove me to Sky Nursery for the Puget Sound Dahlia Association Show. Wow! What a treat for the eyes!

Some more photos to share.

The show was free to attend. I highly recommend it. It is open today (Aug 24th) as well.Pin It

Trip to Yellowstone (an overview)

Clepsydra Geyser in the background.

We finally did it. We went to Yellowstone National Park. No, we didn't camp. :) Everyone seems to ask that question! It is pretty hard to camp there and I'm not much of a camper anyway.

Idaho cabin

For accommodation we stayed 3 nights at a cabin west of the park, near Island Park, Idaho, and 2 nights at a cabin east of the park, in Silver Gate, Montana. One was a vacation rental by owner arrangement and the other was a motel -- but still a log cabin. Both had kitchen facilities so we were able to make our own breakfasts and pack lunches to save some money on food. We booked our accommodation about three months in advance.

We took 2 days to drive to Yellowstone. My hubby did most of the driving. On the way home we took 3 days and took a slower pace. We used Priceline for our hotels in Missoula and Spokane. The boys enjoyed the pools in those locations.

We were surprised by rain and cold weather on our 2nd day in Yellowstone. It rained for much of the day but we tried to make the best of it. There isn't much to do that isn't outside!

C fulfilled the requirement to become a Jr. Ranger while in Yellowstone National Park. He has the patch to prove it.

We saw many bison, many elk, pronghorns, a grizzly bear or two in the distance, and a ground squirrel up close. We saw lots of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, steam vents, and many waterfalls. Oh, and a canyon or two. The views in the park are spectacular.

On our return we stopped and took the 2 hour tour of the Lewis and Clark Caverns located between Butte and Bozeman in Montana. My oldest son said this was his favourite part of our vacation.



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One Thousand Gifts #434 to #447

434. purple gladiolas starting to bloom in my garden

435. some new garden art which I found at Sorticulture back in June.

436. a quiet Costco - it was a Monday morning, if you're interested.

437. finding a fantastic old window at a tailgate sale

438. a friend meeting me at the tailgate sale

439. pinching out tomato suckers - strange, but I love doing this!

440. a city full of beautiful and interesting places, only a few hours away - Vancouver.

441. the look of pure joy on C's face as he rides his bike

442. sweet peas

443. a husband who can fix things

445. five dollar bouquets from the farmers market

446. watching the bees on the lavender.

447. a beautiful red sunset that makes everything glow.


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An afternoon on the Jetty

Going to Jetty Island has become a summer tradition for us. Shallow and warm water, tons of space, beautiful view, what else can I say? It is a super quick free ferry ride across from the Everett boat launch to the island.

The highlight for the boys was finding a mud lagoon. They were "all in."

mud buddies

They also dug some big holes and promptly put their heads in.

There were lots of wind surfers (which were fun to watch) but I didn't photograph them. Some kites, too.

If you haven't been to Jetty Island, I highly recommend it. If you put together a group of 8 people, you can phone and make a ferry reservation. If you have your own boat, even just a canoe, you can travel over any time you like!Pin It

Our 4th of July

photo credit: Colette!

This year we went to the Edmonds 4th of July parade with our friends from church. We liked it a lot. No SeaFair pirate cannon booms to freak everybody out. Last year we went to the Kirkland parade thinking we would avoid that but they showed up there for the first time in years! You would NOT believe how loud that thing is.

We had front row seats and didn't have to put chairs out days before. What I liked best at the Edmonds parade was all the bands. There was even a small high school jazz band. The kids love to catch the thrown candy and get the various handouts. The church that we meet at (we use their building) was in the parade. We yelled "hi" to the pastor. The weather was perfect. Sunny but not too hot.

In the afternoon, we watched some World Cup at home. Brazil vs. Columbia was actually pretty boring and I almost fell asleep! Our neighbour was selling snow cones to raise money for her upcoming trip to Uganda. C is holding a snow cone in the photo below.

The day before, J and the boys loaded up on supplies for our own fireworks show at the cul de sac.

While the dads were shooting off the fireworks I took up the challenge of long exposure photos - sparklers making shapes. I had lots of failed attempts but I got a few that worked.

One funny thing was when the strobe light type fireworks went off, the kids all danced around by the strobe light in a flash mob style.







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A Mini Vacation to Kick Off Summer

We met up with my parents in Vancouver this past week. They were able to get accommodation at an independent living centre similar to where they live in Victoria. We stayed in a hotel near to where they were staying. It was so much easier and cheaper for us to travel up there than to travel to Victoria. We didn't need to take a ferry AND cross a border.

The first place we went to (after picking up my parents from the Tsawwassen ferry) was the VanDusen Botanical Gardens. It is so big! 60 acres! We were thankful that they loan out wheelchairs for free. My dad pushed my mom around since it would have been too much walking for her. I was wondering how much boys would do with so much time at a garden. They LOVED the hedge maze.

I went through the maze. 

I did feel a tiny bit of panic at one point thinking I wouldn't find my way out. :)

The centre of the maze.

The boys did great during our visit since there was so much space that it seemed more like an urban hike. It is much more "wild" than the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. 

My favourite spot was the delphinium garden.

Lots of beautiful water lilies.

We went to Swiss Chalet for supper - gotta love that chicken.

The next day we headed to North Vancouver. Our first destination was Lynn Canyon. It has a large suspension bridge which is a great alternative to the Capilano Suspension Bridge which has an insane entry fee of $36 per adult and $12 per child! Entry is free to Lynn Canyon.

The bridge is a very short walk from the parking lot. After crossing the bridge, we took a short hike to the 30 foot pool.

There were other trails but since my parents were waiting back at the trailhead we only stayed a short time.

My mom really wanted to go to the Lonsdale Quay (in North Vancouver) to enjoy some fresh fruit. We had lunch there and watched a bit of World Cup on TV.

I heard about a popular gelato place with over 200 flavours so that was our next destination. La Casa Gelato is in the industrial area of east Vancouver. It was interesting seeing the unusual flavours like curry, pesto, dill pickle, and maple bacon. Both C and I had "death by mango." Yum!

Some drawbacks: no where to sit down, no restroom (that I could see) and they don't take plastic.

Next, it was time for a little rest, especially for me! I had done a lot of tricky driving in Vancouver traffic with its crazy left turns without turn lanes or advance lights. The men of the family all played mini mini putt (only 2 holes) in the courtyard of Shannon Oaks. Hockey golf was much more fun to play.

Dinner at the White Spot.

On our last night in Vancouver, we enjoyed the sunshine and drove around the shore by the University of British Columbia and found a nice beach (near Jericho Beach) to hang out for a while and soak in the gorgeous views all around us.

In the morning, we sat for an hour waiting in the line at the border.
I hopped out of the car and got some photos.

I think we did a good job of finding things that interest both eighty year olds and ten year olds. :)




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A Great Dad

My husband is a great dad. Right now he's unclogging a toilet. On Father's Day.

I'm going to brag about him a bit. He is a software engineer. Super smart. Do you know he turned down M.I.T.? He went to one of those snooty east coast ivy league schools. He did his Master's degree in a year.

He works hard for our family. He loves his job but his family is more important to him than his career. He teaches Sunday school and his pupils love him. He is also a Cub Scout leader. He coaches the robotics team at our school. He's done robotics coaching for three years now.

He built two tree houses in our back yard for our boys. He's working on putting roofs on both of them.

He's very funny. He is passionate about protecting the unborn.

My boys love my husband and so do I. Happy Father's Day J!Pin It

Summer Plans 2014

Today was the last day of school Yippee!

As my children get older, they expect less planning from me during the summer. I do, however, need to keep them creative, active, and away from the dreaded screen.

The boys will be attending one week-long day camp this year with a science theme. My oldest son is now too old for VBS and the church we usually go to for VBS no longer uses the curriculum that we love. :(

We will vacation for a week in August and the boys usually spend two nights on a father son camping trip.

Here are some ideas (at least for my kids) for outdoor/sunny day activities:
- play 4 square
- make stepping stones
- slip and slide
- croquet
- play "hot lava"
- badminton
- paint rocks. I found a great book at the library with inspiration called Painting on Rocks for Kids.
- water balloons
- street hockey
- hide and seek
- wash the car
- painting
- fly a kite
- run through the sprinkler
- climb a tree
- frisbee
- lawn Twister. Good photos here.
- sidewalk chalk
- make and throw sponge water bombs.
- water gun fights
- play with bouncy balls

Here are some ideas for indoor/rainy day activities:
- stop motion animation
- practice typing (my younger son)
- write letters to grand parents
- play board games
- make things with clay
- drawing
- bake cookies
- write a story
- do a chore for Mommy
- make tie dye shirts
- C currently loves to make finger puppets out of paper. His inspiration is the Origami Yoda books.
- of course, reading.

Outings I hope to do this summer:
- Jetty Island
- Mini golf - Willows Run in Redmond
- Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium
- Gasworks Park
- Woodland Park Zoo - they have cheetahs this summer!
- Bellevue Botanical Garden - they have a new suspension bridge.
- Beaches
- Parks especially those with zip lines.
- Parks with water spray. Willis Tucker is great.
- Hikes
- Berry picking is a tradition in our family.
- Festivals and Fairs.

I might try to have one day a week that we do an outing and the rest are free days. I also hope to invite the boys' friends over for "play dates" even if my oldest doesn't like that term anymore. :)


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One Thousand Gifts #422 to #433.

422. new sod for our front lawn. The boys and their neighbour friends are suntanning on it. :)

423. a night out with my hubby, celebrating our former senior pastor's 19 years of service, with many old and new friends. Lots of laughs.

424. we found a babysitter for last night, after a few unsuccessful attempts.

425. my youngest son gave thanks for the food at his own birthday party. It was his idea. :)

426. witnessing my boys' good friend at church (who is the same age as my oldest) being baptized.

427. a new rose for my garden.

428. school is almost over which means less driving for me.

429. we have had a very long stretch of days without any rain. Unusual for June in this area.

430. my oldest son will be receiving the President's Award for Academic Achievement on Wednesday.

431. Yesterday we had our first boat ride of the summer. We took the inflatable boat out to a nearby lake.

432. While looking for moving boxes to give to a friend, my hubby found a long lost box of summer clothes of mine. Many of them still fit and are still in style. Yeah!

433. People praying for my health. I am having a PET scan this week to check for cancer.


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3..2..1..Party!

My "baby" turned 9 this past week. His party was on Saturday at Galaxy Hobby. He had 9 friends attend. That number wasn't planned.

At the store each boy received a Tamiya model car (with a motor) to put together. This took about an hour.

We were very thankful that one of the dads stuck around and helped the boys.

After their cars were made, they raced them on a track at the store. They went super fast. What fun!

After this, we drove to our house to continue the party. I had a full van of 6 boys. You can imagine the noises that a large group of nine year old boys make!

In our backyard we had pizza, cake, and present opening. We bought C an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.

The boys enjoyed climbing the two tree houses and eventually the Nerf guns came out and then the water guns. After the party was over my boys took their cars out to our street and had more fun with them. I'm thankful for a successful party and such a beautiful day to be outside.

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