Summer 2014 - The Summer of FUN

Because I'm always a bit behind in my blog posts I can safely write (on September 16th) that Summer 2014 truly was the summer of fun!  When school got out we were talking about summer plans and what we all wanted to do this summer and we said that this summer would be the "summer of fun."  If it was fun we were going to do it. It lived up to our hopes.  We had a fabulous summer together, kicking it off with a trip to Bend ending it with a trip to Orcas Island with a whole bunch of trips to pools, parks, beaches, camps, concerts and so many other things in between.  Summer of 2014 coming up next....

End of the School Year Fun

Benjamin's co-op preschool finished a few weeks before Josie's school did.  We had several play date swaps with his friends Charlies and Henry.  This particular afternoon we spent several hours at Hiawatha.  

 Since Benjamin and I were not on a schedule we did a few fun things.  One of his favorites was getting a hot chocolate at Metropolitan Market when I did my grocery shopping.  They put the whipped cream on top of the lid and then put sprinkles.  Makes sense.  That way they can lick off all the goodness before drinking.  He loved it!!

 We went to Josie's poetry reading in her class and then went to recess with her.  He was in heaven being surrounded by doting big sis and her good friend, Elliott.

 Pure Bliss!!  He wanted to wear his Batman costume to walk to the bus stop to pick up Josie.  The running with the pinwheel just added to the fun.

Josie had a field trip to the beach. The kids walked down through Schmitz Park and observed a lot of sea life during low tide.  Elliott's mom, Amanda, captured a bit of the exploration and discovery. 

 Studious little girls.  SO cute.

While Josie was still in school, Benjamin attended a few days of co-op camp at the community college.  The first day was a bit rough as he doesn't necessarily like new things.  But by the second day as we were pulling in he said, "I love this place!!"  We've come a long way with separation and new things anxiety.  

After the successful week we had a celebratory cupcake. 

The kids continue to create incredible things with the magnetic tiles.

 Josie has been using her walk-in closet as a little reading nook.  She has her bean bag chair in there and a little light.  For a long time she was using an old banana box for a book shelf.  I saw a little bookshelf on the street corner for free so I picked it up and painted it and viola, a new to her place to put her books.

 I have been working on renewing my teaching certificate.  SO, so happy when this showed up in the mail.  I have 5 more years to get 15 more credits to keep it up to date... June 2019 seems so far away but will be here before I know it.

Benjamin enjoying a bowl of fro-yo from Menchies. 

 And this.. this is a common scene around our house.  Benjamin's favorite way to relieve himself is this, "a nature pee"

 One of the last weeks of school we all hopped on the school bus with Josie and rode to school together.  Josie went on to class and Marty, Benjamin and I walked home together.  Benjamin, of course, felt like such a big kid.

Bike Rodeo

Josie's school has a yearly "Bike Rodeo"  Josie happily participated this year.  In addition to the bike rodeo, her current PE teacher at Schmitz has done all sorts of fun things with the kids.  She was the one organized and facilitated the Spring Showcase which included the hula hooping  and she has inspired Josie to try and excel at using the stilts, pogo stick and unicycle.  In fact, as I type this, Josie is at her PE summer camp.  Each day has a different theme. Tuesday was water day, yesterday was wheels (kids brought their bikes, unicycles and scooters) and today is tennis down at Alki and then they walk back up through Schmitz Park to the school.  There are many people and things that we will miss about SP when Josie moves to her new school, Fairmount Park, next year.  Her P.E. Teacher, Ms. Sealey will definitely be one of them :( 

 Speaking of her new school, Josie drew this falcon because her new school will be the Fairmount Park Falcons.  Love that she wrote: "age 7 and a half"

The Diamond Club

Our incredibly generous neighbors let us use their pool as much as we'd like, they were there when our house was broken into and watched the kids while I was away in Canada and Marty had to deal with the police and aftermath by himself and they give us front row tickets to The Storm (post coming later) and Mariner's games.  On top of everything they do for us they are just such kind people.  So thankful to live across the street from the Harrelson's. 

I like going to games and I like the Mariner's but going to the Diamond Club at the Mariner's was a whole new ball game!  It was Little League day so the kids each received a baseball cap - they were excited!

Then we went to the food area - awesome food everywhere you looked and a whole table full of doughnuts!  Benjamin was excited. 

I have always wanted to try a bloody mary.  I'm not sure how I've made it to 45 and not tried one.  But this was an awesome bloody mary.  I was excited.

Josie, true to character, filled her plate over flowing with fruit.. and then she tried a bit of the chocolate fondue fountain. Note the chocolate still on her right cheek.   Josie was excited.

Our seats were literally right behind home plate.  Wow!!  We loved it.

Marty's knee... and home plate.  Seriously?  Such awesome seats. 

On the way out to the field there was an entire wall of candy.  The kids were beyond excited!!

And even though he doesn't look it in this photo, Benjamin was thrilled to get this bag of peanuts and cotton candy after he begged for it for 20 minutes.  How much sugar can this kid eat??

And then Russell Wilson shows up and sits RIGHT in front of us!!  The entire Safeco Field was excited!!
 Check out his back!!  What?!?

 Not the best photo of Josie but so cool to have her photo taken with him.  He was so nice and kind but watching the attention that he and Robert Turbin (Russell's teammate who was seated next to him) received made me realize how hard it would be to be famous.  They really were gracious but it seemed that they could never relax and fans kept calling their names and those that were allowed came up and asked for autographs.

I'm not sure we will ever return to a M's game.  What could possibly top that day at the ball field??

Constellation Park

We spent a few hours at Constellation Park during low tide.  Marty flew his helicopter, the kids explored and we all enjoyed the June sunshine. We really are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the world with water, beach and mountains just minutes from our home. 

Driveway Derby!

As school was finishing up the weather starting heating up and our weekly Wednesday family night dinners with Josh and Jodi became more and more fun.  We have two steep driveways.  One is very very steep and a great place to go sledding in the winter where you have a nice cushion of soft snow if you fall.  The other one is not quite as steep but perfect for bikes, scooters and little cars.   The kids had a ball one Wednesday in mid June racing down the driveway.  Amazingly, no one got hurt.