School is here!

 Yesterday we enjoyed our last official day of summer and went canoeing at Raab's Lagoon.  The kids really wanted to try out our inflatable raft we bought years ago so we towed them behind. 

 Once we finished canoeing the kids each had a turn on their own paddling the raft.

 Today was our first day back to school.  Alia is in first grade this year and is in the multiage program with Mrs. Wilson.  She is in a classroom with 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders.  She will stay with this group of 1st graders for the next three years.  She will also have the same teacher for 2nd and 3rd.  Her teacher this year is retiring after the school year is over.  She absolutely loved school and kept saying, "It was the best day ever!"  Her favorite part today was working with her third grade buddy and making a tin-foil tube.  She was also ecstatic that she answered the science questions right when the teacher asked why the tin foil ball fell faster than the tinfoil tube.  

She lost another tooth yesterday.

 Avery is in 3rd grade this year with Mrs.Wilke.  Despite all of his reservations he had he was in good spirits this morning.  He said he was excited to see how the day went.  His favorite part was of course recess so he could run around and gym class because he got to exercise.  

We started soccer last week.  This is their first year.  Avery wasn't too excited at first because there were a lot of players that had been in for a few years and were really good.  He did enjoy the scrimmage on Friday. 


 Alia loves soccer and is a very determined girl.  She loves to practice soccer and wants to get better and better.

Yearly Picture Update

Bubble Run!

 We joined 20,000 people today in Everett to run the 5k Bubble run.  

 

 She was so excited and so very competitive.  She didn't want to stop running the whole 3 miles.  Every time she would see someone in front of her she would say, "Oh they can't beat us Mom!"

 There were 6 different bubble machines through out the run.  Each shoot had so many bubbles!

 We made it through!  Alia would just giggle.

 The bubbles were so high I had to hold hands with the kids so I didn't lose them.

Bama and Papa visit Vashon!!!

We started out the weekend by going to the Strawberry Festival.  It was record highs this weekend with temperatures pushing close to 90 which is so rare here, but we enjoyed the time at the festival.  

 We watched the parade on Saturday morning despite the heat.

 

 On Sunday we went to a car show.  There were some really cool foreign cars.  My favorite was the Citron but the kids loved this Lotus.  

 

 All ready to take off!

 We stopped by the O Space for a crazy game of mini golf.  The holes were cleverly crafted with everyday items but in the style of Vashon which means artsy and quirky.  The most impressive hole was the one that had 6 golf clubs spinning.  It was a game of timing on that hole.  

 The Thriftway was sponsoring free train rides around town.  The driver ended up being from Appleton Wisconsin.  He travels around the country in the summer driving the train at festivals.

 We had an amazing game of soccer with the boys against girls.  The boys won 8 to 6.  

 During the soccer game, Venus went wild!  We thought she was cheering for us until we noticed a raccoon enjoying the compost pile in the woods.  He climbed the tree and watched for a while!

 

 We are on our way to hide Avery's first geocache.  

 It's hidden and ready to be found!

 Papa was putting transmission fluid in the van and Avery was very interested in learning about how a car works.  Papa took the time to explain and point things out. 

 It was great to see Papa relaxing and enjoying a book!

 On the bus and on our way to the Space Needle and Pike's Place Market.

We ate lunch in Sky City which is the restaurant in the Space Needle.  The food was fantastic and the view was amazing!  The inner part of the restaurant revolves once every 40 minutes so we were able to view all of Seattle without getting out of our seats.  We learned the Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair and it's 605 feet tall.

 Enjoying street art in Seattle.

 It's always fun playing with Bama.

 We played lots of fun games when they were here, the kids didn't want them to leave.

Thanks for all of the memories!  We love you to the moon and back!