Summer's Sweet End

A few shots as we wrap up the summer of 2013.  It was a full, fun and sunny one.  

Below a couple of photos of Benjamin, Josie and her good friend Elliott at Menchie's after an hot afternoon at the Hiawatha wading pool. 

And we spent several days this summer swimming in Lake Washington at Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island.  Below are Josie and Elliott testing the water.

Our relatively lame garden harvest.  

While shopping at Costco I noticed this ENORMOUS jar of Nutella.  If any of our German friends or family still lived here I might have thought about buying it.

Near the end of summer, Grandma and Papa stayed with us for a few days.  We walked down to Lincoln Park and Papa, Marty and I went swimming at Colman Pool while the kids and Grandma ate lunch. 

Benjamin, who normally prefers to hitch a ride on Marty's shoulders was all about going it on his own on our walk to and from the pool.  Even up the big hills. 

Josie and Boyan have been friends since they were 3 months old when we meet through our PEPS group. Our families became fast friends and even joked that they had their first kiss together. Check out this post from 4 years ago here  Near the bottom of that post is the photo of their first kiss. At the end of August he turned 7 and had a Despicable Me themed birthday party.  

Well maybe that kiss 4 years ago was not their last :-)

Benjamin always wants to show us how tall he his by standing on the counter and touching the ceiling.  Any and every time you mention to him that he is getting bigger he pushes a stool over, climbs us and proves it.

A few of Benjamin's masterpiece photo's....

Our awesome neighbor, Mary, got the kids these really cool new lunch boxes.  Perfect timing for back to school lunch packing.

I had a couple of coupons for free cupcakes that expired at the end of August... just what the kids wanted after a day at Pacific Science Center.  Josie was in a "no photos" mood, however.

Benjamin, on the other hand, always likes to pose. 

A few of Benjamin's Magna Tile works of art.  One down low and one up high. The projects with these tiles is endless.

Several times this summer when it was just Benjamin and I, we would grab a prized doughnut at the store and head to Alki. It was more of a bribe than anything else.  I would get a good 7 mile roller blade work out in while he rode in the stroller.  Some of the time he ate the doughnut as we went but on this particular day he wanted until afterward and ate it down on the beach.

Concerts

We did not go to nearly as many outdoor concerts this year as we have in years past but we had fun when we did.

Below is one at Hiawatha and we ran into Steffie (Julie's friend) for the second time while she was visiting from Germany.

And here is a link to another cool video Marty took at our only concert at the Woodland Park Zoo this summer.  When they open the gates to let people in it is pretty funny to watch them run to get a good place on the lawn. Marty took this video from his helicopter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx9NqLm-aYM

Portland

On our way home we stopped in Portland for several hours to break up the trip, do a little (tax free) back to school shopping and play in our favorite fountain.  

First up was the back to school shopping at H&M.  Seriously, I don't know how they can sell stuff this cheap.

Josie, like her mother, starts out strong on a shopping trip but within 10 minutes has lost interest and energy and starts to get grumpy!                                                               

 But we left with a lot of really nice outfits for her to wear in 1st grade.

 And then on to fountain fun.

Four Riemer Swimmers

It is no secret that Marty and I love to swim.  The day that all four of us could swim is a day I've been looking forward to for awhile. And I credit the kid's pool with Benjamin's final steps in learning how to swim. Josie and Mia, already fish, enjoyed jumping into the pool and swimming all day!! For Benjamin it all clicked on our last day there when he simply could not or would not keep his head above water.  Even without goggles

And here he is at our neighbor's pool the day after we returned from Bend.  Benjamin our little swimmer.  Awesome video by Marty:

http://youtu.be/LHfh0Qxy2ak

Smith Rock

For the second year in a row we hiked up to the Misery Ridge Trail to the top of Smith Rock.  It is not for the faint of heart nor really for the kids but they grunted their way through it and although not particularly happy about it did it.  Benjamin had a ride on Marty's shoulders for 80% of the trip and Josie complained for the first 20-30 minutes... but again, we did it!!   The Draper-Kunz clan didn't really know what they were getting into when we set out, much like we didn't our first time up.  But they all made it at as well.  

Even Markus made it with all of his bandages and war wounds from a previous bicycle accident. 

The group, minus Marty, at the top. 

 The kids at the top

 The Riemers

 The Draper-Kunz' 

 Monkey Face - where rock climbers from all over the world come to climb.  Simply incredible.

 Josie and I - tiny little dots in the landscape. 

 Sitting Pretty

 We are only about half way down but they already have smiles 

 We found a good place to jump in the (freezing cold) river to cool off.

 Naked buns

Marty even took some aerial shots before we started with his drone.  Check out the footage here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LuvvLzreJk

After the hike, everyone was hungry. 

 And thirsty!  Marty and I were able to sneak in a happy hour date after the hike while Grandma and Papa watched the pooped out kids.  Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Floating down the Deschuttes

Every year that we go to Bend we talk about how much fun it would be to float down the Deschuttes.  This year the kids seemed ready so with half of the Draper-Kunz clan we got our tubes and headed into the cold water.  Markus had taken a nasty spill on his bike a day or two before and couldn't get his wounds wet so he and Ellie biked along and waved at us as we floated by. 

 It definitely was a laaazzzyy river, so much so that Marty spent most of the time eating cherries and snacks along the way.