camping @ kopachuk

On the beach

Tree Monkeys

Alan with a crab

Little crab vs. Big foot

Larry

Neil, Larry & flaming marshmallow!

Neil scooting around

Ruby with a nice seaweed hat

Cribbage lesson from Dad

cooking and other good stuff

Neil has always loved to cook, and watching the movie 'Ratatouille' really got him fired up to play chef. I had to nix his first few ideas... fruitcake (not in season), fruit soup (? yuck)... then we finally decided on a recipe.

Voila...Ratatouille!!!

Audrey & Meg. I love that Audrey wears her tiara at all times, even while swimming :)

Larry & Natalie. Soccer practices start for Larry this week, no more slacking off!

Neil: "Hey, I'm eatin' here!"

Eleanor feeding a carrot to the "mouse" :) ... after she beat me twice at Hi-Ho Cherry-O.

shipping alan off

Today we put Alan & his friend Kevin on a boat bound for Vashon Island to spend a week at Camp Sealth. I've always had a random (yet heartfelt) belief that all kids should go to summer camp at least once. We sent Larry last year and he had a great time, so this year it's Alan's turn!

That's gotta be one noisy boat...

beating summer boredom

In our ongoing quest to periodically pry the boys away from all things electronic, we took a little summer road trip, due East. First stop was Ellensburg for a picnic...

...then a little snooze.

Overlooking the Columbia River ~ Alan, Neil, Dad & Larry.

This is the Wild Horses monument near Vantage. If you look closely to the left, you'll see that people can hike up to check out the iron horse sculptures. We, of course, are far too lazy for such nonsense.

Mom & boys overlooking the river.

We spent a couple of nights in Spokane, and visited the Boulder Beach water park at Silverwood Theme Park in the northern Idaho panhandle. Here Alan shows off his scrawny gams while applying sunblock. Even with 50 spf, we all got burned! So sad.

A Three Boy pile-up in the bumper boat lagoon.

Log ride! Just like Splash Mountain at Disneyland, except instead of animated vignettes featuring Brer Rabbit, Bear and Fox with "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" playing in the background, the scenery pretty much consisted of a bunch of weeds and one dead bird.

Here I am... on the left. Ha! This water slide claims that you hit 55 mph on the way down, but the truly scary part is how it turns a nice conservative mom-suit into a thong by the time you hit the bottom. Yeow.

Larry, Alan, Wade & Neil, possibly in the early stages of heat stroke.

happy independence day

Happy 4th to all! We had a wonderful, scorching-hot 85+ degree day (I hear you laughing in southern CA, Mom & Pop) to celebrate Nelson's & Elliott's graduations. We partied at the Armstrongs' place ~ as usual, they were the host & hostess with the mostest!

Neil floating in the pool.

Bill & Wade work on homemade ice cream.

In addition to the graduations and 4th of July, we celebrated Grandma Mag's 88th birthday a couple of days late!

Ryan with his boys, Jacob & Chase

Mari w/Jacob and Grandma Jackie

Uncle Woofie & Lance, who spent lots of time putting up with Neil in the pool. Which was good because it made up for the fact that there was absolutely NO patriotic Jell-O to be found! None!

Uncle Bill & Alan, hangin' out.

Auntie Net-Net was the barbecue chef!

Ryan, Alan, Wade & Annette playing Bocce.

Jackie, Joseph, Derb & Greg by the pool.

Fireworks are technically outlawed in Redmond, due to fire hazards. But surely they don't include...snakes?

...or sparklers??