West Seattle Street Fair

On a very hot Sunday in mid July the kids and I headed up to West Fest, the Annual West Seattle Street Fair.  It is normally mayhem with tons of kids and tons of waiting in line for the various bouncy houses and rides.  This year we arrived around 12 and bought the unlimited arm bands.  As it would turn out, there weren't as many kids there this year or I guess on this particular day of the festival and these two little sweaty, red-faced kids jumped and swung and rode the rides for FIVE hours.  They would end one and run to another and would only have to wait a minute or two in line and then they were back on another ride.  Josie takes the job of "watching out for Benjamin" very seriously!

It was Benjamin's first time really being able to do all of the rides and big slides and things.  At first he was a little intimidated by the size of some of the rides but after a few minutes he was keeping up with Josie. 

Wheeeee... Benjamin going down the big slide.

 Josie ran into several of her school friends.  She had been out of school just over a month at this point and it was fun to see her reconnect with a few of them.  Below are Benjamin, Nate and Josie posing on the West Seattle float.  As you can tell, Benjamin was not amused.

 Josie tried out the rock climbing wall.  She was quite good.

 Later in the afternoon Marty and Jodi and Josh came and joined us.  Now with two little boys to "watch out for" Josie was in heaven... and so were the boys.  She lead them around like puppy dogs and they loved it.

Sleeping With Siri

In mid July, Marty and his business partner, Michael Stusser, threw a fabulous party at the Seattle Center to showcase their documentary film "Sleeping With Siri" for their friends and family in the Seattle area. Of course, it received rave reviews. Below some friends (Jodi, Mechell and Nicole) with the signature "Siri-tini" 

 And better blurry than not at all.  Good friends, Jen and Markus.

Summer Camp (s)

This summer both kids had fun at summer camps.  Josie did 3 weeks at 3 different camps.  She started off the camp season with an acting camp at Seattle Children's Theater in Seattle Center.  Other than it being highly inconvenient to get there and back it was a fun and successful camp.  Thankfully, her friend Hank also attended and we were able to carpool but even still it was a bit of a pain.  Here she is on the final "presentation" day. 

 Getting her award....

The side benefit was that when I dropped Josie and Hank off in the morning it gave Benjamin and I a good excuse to hang out at Seattle Center and The Pacific Science Center

And on the other days we hung out at parks and playgrounds and went swimming.  One day I met up with my friend, Marjie.  She had a pair of cowboy boots and Benjamin decided to strip and put them on... who knows why but he looked pretty funny. 

The following week Josie had a blast at a local Gymnastic Academy.  She attended with her good, long-time friend, Bryn and a good, new friend, Lilly.  

Below are Josie and Lilly walking into camp. Note her gymnastics suit.  This was a hand me down from a friend of mine and she insisted on wearing it almost daily. 

 Smiling girls walking to camp.

 During this week Benjamin did his first ever summer camp.  We worked out a carpool so he rode to and from with friends.  There were a couple of rough drop offs but despite himself I think he had a pretty good time. Here are the cute boys on the ride home:  Henry, Charlie and Benjamin

 And as a treat for being such a big boy for the 3 days of camp he got a "huge" (not mini) cupcake

Here are a few videos from Josie's final day at gymnastics camp.

Of course, as it would turn out, her favorite camp ended up being her final camp which was a PE camp at her elementary school. I have no photos of it, it was the least expensive, most convenient and she had the most friends attending.  Lessons learned:  Sign Benjamin up for more than one week and make sure ALL of Josie's camps are in West Seattle.  But overall it was a very successful summer camps experience.

Little Music Man

Benjamin LOVES music.  iPod listening is his new activity...eyes closed enjoying the music, iPod in waistband, bebopping all over the house.  What a little crack up. 

Raspberries

In early July we headed toward our favorite u-pick raspberry farm and loaded our buckets with fresh, ripe, delicious raspberries.  13 pounds picked and paid for another probably 5 pounds eaten while we were picking :) 

Josie takes it all very seriously

 And Benjamin just runs through the rows and eats.

 Trying to get them both to pose for a photo is nearly impossible.

 Doing what he does best....

 Maybe he ate a few too many ;-)

 When we got home we filled up the pack of water balloons that Semi had given them.

 And the fight was on..

 Look at those long legs!!  She definitely didn't get that from me.

I ended up making several raspberry/apple crisps to freeze but the rest of the berries we just ate fresh.. and we went back a couple weeks later and pick another 15 pounds.  Obviously, we all love raspberries!!

 I had the best little sous chef.  He is an awesome kitchen helper.

Belated Birthday Ride

Last year for Marty's 50th, Liz and Ed gave Marty a gift certificate to rent one of those fun bikes down at Alki.  Every time we were down there we either had forgotten the certificate at home or there were just too many people on bikes and beach to enjoy a ride.  Nearly a year after his birthday we finally made the trek down to Alki with that one purpose in mind.  And it was worth the wait.  Everyone had a great time!!    Marty and the kids at the entrance to Schmitz Park, our little piece of wilderness right in our own backyard and our favorite route down to Alki. 

Instead of the bigger 4 person bikes, Josie picked out this low rider.  

 We had it for two hours and barely made it back in time to turn it back in.  True to Marty's character, we took it off road and in places, down and all around and up Jack Block Park and other places that I'm sure were off limits... but we had fun!! Other than Marty, we all switched up our seats and positions several times. Although I felt like a slacker the little back seat was kick!

Thanks again, Hare Family :)