what another fun-filled summer full of wonderful camping trips. we took a total of 5 and went with our usual crowd of neighborhood friends. we’ve all been camping together for a few years now and it’s just so easy, comfortable and fun.
here are some highlights:
We are so blessed with this wonderful life.
what a summer it’s been so far. lots of fun camping trips (more on that in a separate post) and a super fun trip up to friday harbor to visit my parents. they have their boat there for the entire summer (beginning of may through the end of sept!) and it’s such a wonderful place for them to be, as well as to visit.
it’s an adorable town located on san juan island, the largest of the san juan islands. my parents have their boat at a slip right at the marina in town and it’s just perfect for them. we don’t have to take a car over on the ferry as you can walk to their slip / boat right from the ferry terminal. the town is adorable and it’s hustling and bustling all throughout the summer.
my mom can walk to the grocery store, run errands, etc and they do have their car close by when needed. they will take the boat out often and cruise around to the different islands and their favorite little coves. my dad has his daily kayak outings to check out the local happenings from the water.
dylan slept so well on the boat….even with all the light streaming in.
it’s fun to hang out, spend time on the boat, explore the town and spend quality time with my parents. they sure are living the dream….and they deserve it!
there is an old, blind seal who lives near the dock who LOVES to be fed fish from the little fish market right on the dock. as you can imagine, she is quite well fed.
each time we’ve been out with them, or beachcombing, we constantly scan the water for a sighting of orca whales, but to no avail. we are determined though and next visit we talked about going out on an actual whale watch tour.
I am so thankful and blessed that dylan will have such wonderful memories with my parents.
“Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.” A. Brandt
It would be fruitless to try and explain, make excuses for my year away from the blog....but I guess I'll just say life got in the way. It was our visit from Pam and Peggy (2 of Sean's sisters) this past May that really made me realize how important it is to keep this going. We are so far away from them, and it's so nice to have as a way to know what's going on in our lives. And to keep as a memory / record of our lives down the road. I know a lot of people who print out their blogs each year and make them into books...something to think about!
We had a wonderful visit with them....although much too short! It was so good to just talk talk talk and get caught up. We miss our MA family SO VERY MUCH! A visit back east in 2014 is a definite.
It's been quite a year. We decided last Fall to no longer continue with our adoption journey. Niall was with us for 3 months and for various reasons we decided not to move forward with the adoption process. My heart broke into a millions pieces and it was a very rough time for our family. My dream of having a house full of kids is over, and I try not to dwell on it too much or sadness just takes over for me.
A very smart woman, and one I hold VERY dear to my heart, wrote to me....."maybe your family is already so much greater than your in-house count". I continue to focus on that.
Dylan turned 10 in April…amazing. He will be in 5th grade this coming school year and had such a wonderful 4th grade year. School is not his favorite, but he goes without complaining. It makes us sad because he is “B” student with putting very little, to zero, effort in. He does his homework, but he rushes through it just to get it done. He still plays soccer and basketball and loves the trampoline and his video games. We continue to be very proud of him.
Sean continues to be very happy at Nordstrom and continues to be healthy and cancer free. We are very thankful and grateful for both. Big changes for me this spring as I started working outside the home. I stopped watching Makena last August when her grandma moved in with them…Dylan and I miss her so much and talk about her all the time! I continued to watch a few other kiddos here and there over the fall and started looking earnestly right around Christmas time. I found a part-time job at Ameriprise Financial at the end of March and it’s been going pretty smoothly. It was a HUGE transition for me, and I still really miss being home, but I am very blessed to find the hours that I did (10-3). During the school year Dylan doesn’t even know I’m gone. It has been an adjustment finding the balance for all the “home stuff” but it’s getting smoother and smoother.
Here I am on my first day….new shoes (semi-heels), new make-up, new pants (jeans and yoga pants are not acceptable attire – darn!), 25lbs lighter, and VERY nervous! I took this for my neighborhood friends saying “off I go!”. They all have been SO supportive of my new venture and a couple have recently gone back to work too, so it’s been nice to commiserate.
We have a summer full of camping trips planned. We’ve already been on one and are leaving Thursday for our second, and then one again over the 4th. Dylan is adjusting to his new summer schedule and so far so good.
I’ve been trying to catch up with my scrapbook pages over the last month. I have a couple different books going….ones for dylan, one I keep in our camper of all our trips, and general ones of our life. I strictly do all digital now, so it is much quicker and easier. but of course I still manage to get behind. I came across some random pictures from this spring….
dylan’s class did an “africa unit” in class and put on a concert. boy there were some great songs and drumming! not once did I hear him practicing/singing around the house….boys!
legos still rule the house. I have given up trying to organize them, he seems to work best by just finding the certain pieces needs from his big bin. the creations he builds are amazing…mainly space ships. we are running out of room in his room to display them all.
as much as it annoys me when I step on them with my bare feet (and he does need to clean them up every day!) I know I will be sad when we no longer see them strewn around the family room. and I don’t hear one being zapped up with vacuum….oopps!
I will be in the kitchen and glance over and he will always be building something…..LOVE!
another picture of popcorn loving dylan (and yes, she jumps up there every meal!)……sorry for the quality….taken with my phone
the summer posse….last day of school pizza block party on our street
my contribution….
we’ve already been camping twice already. this is the first year we’ve gone before school has let out. it has been nice because we’ve gone “east of the mountains” where it is sunny and warm. heaven! to say I am OVER the weather here is an understatement.
2 very very fun trips with our friends from the neighborhood. we have all been camping a lot together now, and it’s just full of lots of laughter and fun every time!
back to lake chelan, where we rented a house for a week last year with my family. we went the first weekend in may and there was practically no one there! the campground was right in town and we could walk to stores, ice cream, etc. it was great and we will definitely go back!
oh did the kids LOVE the cool skate park! the lake/beach wasn’t “open” yet, so that’s were we spent most of our time.
memorial day was spent at oasis park about 3 hrs. east. it was gorgeous weather….warm (mid 70s) and DRY! we didn’t do much but sat around and talked. the kids swam in the pool and dylan had fun playing with the 2 older boys that were with one of the families…riding bikes, swimming, baseball,etc. we barely saw him!
these 2 places were different in that they were not state parks. definitely different for us….more open, less trees and privacy. the sites are quite close together as you can see in the pictures. it makes a difference when the park is full.
each place has its pros and cons. dylan does NOT like swimming in lakes, so places with pools are better, but he and sean definitely prefer “the woodsy” feel to camping places. it is definitely fun to try out new places! and it’s SO fun when you go with a group of friends!
this is our good friend roger….he is the hubby of my good friend heather and they bought our first camper from us last summer. nice white legs boys! you can see we did a lot of relaxing that trip!
the guys LOVE to play cribbage….this is inside our new camper
another fun pastime, ladder golf
we are headed out tomorrow for our “big” trip of the summer….coeur d’Alene, idaho. it’s our longest trip with our camper and we are so looking forward to seeing a new area. the fact that we visiting a huge amusement/water park is part of it too! we are staying in a big start park that is supposed to be gorgeous and full of hiking and lakes. and lots of fun towns to explore as well. it will be a busy trip, full of different activities to do.
and very different from our first 2 this season which were more low-key and relaxed. but that’s ok….every trip and spot is different. and it’s fun to explore ~ the exact reason we bought our camper!
coming home from eastern washington…..so different from the green seattle area!
