Cousins

One reason that I love going to Washington a couple times a year is watching my kids make memories with their cousins.  I have great memories of playing with my cousins growing up and so will my kids! We got to go to aunt Cortnae's house to see all the animals!  The kids always love that.  Ducks, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, cows, etc.  

All the cousins on Reese's side.  They are funny together!  All those girls love Lane and Raylan!

Brielle, Estelle and Hazel with their littlest cousin Oren!

I got a couple of cute pictures of Lane and Estelle when we took a walk one day.

We went out to my aunt and uncles in Sandy Point and played with lots of extended family too!

Lane and Kai, good buddies :)

Suncadia

The last three days we were in WA we stayed in a house with my dad and my siblings and families in Suncadia, in Cle Elum, WA.  It was a beautiful place and it had an awesome pool that the kids loved swimming in.  Here are some pictures of our stay.  I got lots of pictures of the little girls because they still stick close to us, but I hardly got any of those 4 big boys! It was a fun end to our trip.  Early on the last morning we got up and drove to SeaTac to fly back up to Kodiak.  We were greeted with some nice weather (not raining) and were thrown right in to football and school!  

The Fair

Last week was the Lynden Fair. I went every year when I was growing up and it's really fun to be able to take my kids now. On Monday we met my sisters and friend Kristen. Monday night was the demolition derby. Lane watched it last year and loved it so he was really pumped to go again this year. 

Tuesday night Reese and I met Matt and some friends to see Dwight Yoakum in concert. Fun times.

Estelle was crazy about all the animals she saw.

Wednesday we went with Mop (grandma) and aunt Cortnae and girls. The kids went on rides. Estelle was a little unsure of the rides but with Erawyn, Shallon, and Marryn's help she was able to go on quite a few!

Lynden

We have been in Lynden for a week now and we are half way through our trip. It's been busy and the kids are really tired but it's been fun. My dad has a golf cart out at his place and the kids and I have driven that around a lot.

We've gotten some cousin time with many of our siblings kids. And Michele comes today!

Reese and I got a little time in Seattle when I picked him up from the airport. We walked around Pikes Place. We hadn't been their in years!

And of course time with my friends!

And a little Dutch culture in downtown Lynden.

Next week is the Fair! Lane is so excited. More pictures to come!

Long Island Camping Trip

 In June we got a really cool opportunity to go camping on an island off of Kodiak.  Reese and his coworkers train there with all the classes that come through and thought it would be fun to have all the families come out.  We all took boats out their and set up for one night. There were around 50 people I think, lots of kids! The island was home to over 3000 troops during WWII.  So there are foundations from old buildings scattered around the island as well as quonset huts and old bunkers.  Lane loved exploring in those.  There was a lake nearby to fish in and a beautiful beach that we camped at.  We were blessed with GORGEOUS weather and I got my first Kodiak sun burn!!

 Emmy and Estelle have such fun together.

 Reese, Lane and I went on a hike and found all sorts of bunkers, etc.

 Kaysia, me and Jen hanging out at the campfire.

Lane enjoying the boat ride home.

Old Women's Mt. Hike

 The wildflowers are in full bloom here!

 My friend Kaysia and I took our older kids up Old Women's Mountain.  It was a pretty good hike, I think like 5 miles roundtrip.  At the top there is a beautiful lake.  This was the easy part of the trail.  The first 2/3 of the way was a rocky, steep, brushy trail.  The kids hopped up it like little mountain goats, we kept yelling at them to not get too far ahead.  The bears kind of freak us out and we didn't have any spray or gun or anything.  Just a dog with a bell on his collar :)

 This is one of the views looking down, the airport.  Lane was watching a FedEx plane take off.

 The kids were a little tired at the end.

 Me and Laners at the top.  It was beautiful!!

Kaysia and I, had to get a picture of the moms at the top!

A Visit From Grandpa Jim

 Grandma Jim came to visit a couple weeks ago!  It was fun to have him here.  We didn't do too much, the weather wasn't all that great.  But we did drive out to Chiniak and Pasagchak, which is as far as you can drive on the island.  We went out to dinner a couple times and Reese and Dad also built the wood shed below.  That was something Reese had wanted to get done this month and it turned out well!  Estelle sure loved having "my Jim" here.  She took a couple hours to warm up to him but from there she just wanted to hang out with him and to "huggle my Jim."

 Here is a picture of the shed and my garden beds too :)  We tore down a shed that was about to fall over when we moved in.  This one took it's place, and looks far better!

 Here's some pictures of Fossil Beach down at Pasagchak.  It is beautiful out their, too bad it was a cloudy day because it's even more beautiful when the sun is shining.  Kodiak is called The Emerald Isle for a reason!  Right around June the whole island turns green and now with the wildflowers blooming, it is gorgeous!