Work in Progress

Wade's in the process of painting the house ~ a convenient Indian Summer heat wave was nice enough to cooperate! The new color is close to the old, but a little more blue than grey. He got about half the house done in one day, then took the boys bowling. Any bets on how sore he might be tomorrow??

First Day of School 9/5/06

Ready to go on the first day of school. Neil: 1st grade, Larry: 6th grade, and Alan: 5th grade.

Happy Labor Day

Darling little Ella! We had a Labor Day BBQ today with Tyler & the girls (Anna wasn't feeling well). Here's Eleanor, a bit soggy from the sprinkler. Behind her is Uncle Wade.

Audrey playing on the deck ~ what a doll!
Here's Megan swinging on the Zip Line in our back yard. Note the green stripe that resulted from the pool leaking...otherwise it's as brown as can be! This was a very hot, dry summer for the Seattle area. Meg is now in 3rd grade ~ so beautiful & very grown up!

Here are 2 of my boys ~ their friend Alex is on Larry's computer. Alan's (10) on the left, Larry's (11) on the right. They are very excited for school to start tomorrow! I will post photos of the first day of school. Until then....

Camping at Penrose, Aug. 18-20

Here's Ruby, "guarding" the campsite! The weather was hot, and the kids kept busy swimming, fishing, crabbing and their favorite activity, poking sticks in the fire.

Alan, his friend Kevin, Larry's friend Jacob, and Larry (can't put that Gameboy down!), sitting around the fire.

Neil and cousin Nelson goofing around... other cousins Elliott & Joseph were there too, but I didn't manage to get photos. It was a fun trip to squeeze in before school starts - only 2 weeks to go!

Alan had his first football practice today - here he is looking tough! They have a pretty rigorous practice schedule, every day for 2 hours until school starts. Larry has soccer twice a week and works just as hard.... he's in the top division this year and the coach keeps them busy with running stairs and lots of drills. I'm glad sports are starting up, it's nice to have them exercising and away from the TV and computer.

Bandon Trip, July 31 ~ August 4, 2006

We just returned from a great trip down to Bandon, OR to visit my grandparents. We stayed at the beautiful Jetty House right on the beach with Tyler, Anna and their 3 girls. With 6 kids and 1 dog in the same house, it was lively. Pictured above, L-R back (Tyler was taking the picture): Uncle Dave, Aunt Cyndi (who DROVE from Wisconsin!), Carrie, Me, Wade, Larry, Anna with Eleanor, Grandma, Grandpa, Megan, then L-R front, Alan, Audrey and Neil.

This year we got to celebrate my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary! Cyndi & Dave organized a nice luncheon at the Bandon Boatworks restaurant for family & friends. This is the happy couple, ready to cut the cake...

Carrie was able to make it too, even though she just graduated from the University of Oregon and is busy settling into "real life." Here she is on the dock in Old Town Bandon with the boys (notice how Larry, at 11, has already caught up to her in height!)

The weather was great - sunny, but the wind made it chilly at times. That didn't stop the kids from getting soaked or burying themselves in wet sand, though. They also enjoyed building campfires on the beach at night, dropping crab pots off the dock (we ended up with 3 crabs that were big enough to keep), exploring the shops in Old Town, and picking blackberries out behind their great-grandparents' house.

The last few photos were taken at the West Coast Game Park Safari, which Tyler & I have many fond childhood memories of. Neil really loved taking pictures and feeding the roaming animals (especially the goats!). We all got a laugh when we learned that the ugly, unfriendly and extremely ill-tempered baboon was named Larry :-)