Along Came Our Monkeys

Monday, October 31, 2016

First Day of 2nd and 4th Grade

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Fall Pictures 2016

Here are the annual Fall Pictures. The first sets are them being silly and fun and the last few pictures are the final pictures.

Why not throw a pine cone at the photographer?

This is how he really felt taking a picture with his sister!

She loves being a ham

Alia age 7 years 6 months- 2nd Grade

Avery age 10 years- 4th Grade

We decided to include the dogs in a picture this year. Venus is 13 years old and Maia is 5, almost 6.

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to finally explore the coast of Washington. We drove to Kalaloch and Ruby Beach. The Washington coast is so varied and wild. There are so many sea stacks jutting out of the ocean and many rocky cliffs.

The kids loved climbing in and out of the rocks when it was low tide.

She kept rolling her eyes when I would ask to take a picture so I told her she didn't have to smile. She responds with an excited, "Really?" and then gave me this face and pose. Apparently I have been depriving her all this time with the expectation of a smile with a picture.

You can get an idea of the area from this picture. The rocks jutting out of the ocean were so big and in the far background you can see the piles of driftwood. I have never seen so much driftwood piled up.

It's really neat to time your visit just right to see all the ocean has to offer at low tide.

We built a small dam and created a town down stream to watch it flood once we removed the dam. Scott always did this as a kid on Lake Superior and was happy to help construct another dam and town.

That is Abbey Island in the distance. Most of that island is largely volcanic rock. It was really neat to see what volcanoes and glacial ice can do to an area. The sea stacks were huge and made the coast look so wild. The ocean seems less forgiving here than Florida.

There were so many flat stones all over the beach and the kids had fun building cairns. They also loved climbing over and under the massive piles of driftwood on the beach.

He wanted to find the smallest rock he could to finish the cairn.

We enjoyed camping at Minnie Peterson, one of Washington's many free campgrounds.

Why eat the marshmallow when you can create a marshmallow man?

Or burn a marshmallow tree.

This was Salt Creek. We decided to take a detour on the way home and explore more places. There were really cool tide pools here and the moss colors on the rock walls were so vibrant. We missed low tide here and would love to come back to explore it another time. It was windy and cold when we were there and the sun was just coming out. The area reminded me of Split Rock on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Wisconsin

We spent a very fun filled week in Wisconsin celebrating a wedding, birthdays, a reunion picnic and spending time at a water park. It was so nice to be able to see everyone and be a part of each celebration. Now that we live so much farther away, these moments are really special to us.

Every summer the Wunderlins get together for their annual Christmas in July reunion picnic. Left to right: Cheryl, Dad, Judy, Susan, Larry and Linda.

Linda's crew: Trevor, Troy, Stacie, Will, Linda, Sarah, Peyton, Charlie and Alexis.

Mark and Sue

Sherie, Bradley, Kelsie

Heidi, Tucker, and Vera

Lisa, Honey, Maverick and Jeremy

Bree, Gaven, Joel, Papa, Cassie, Kay, Scott, Austin, Bama, Jaycent, Amanda, Avery, Me, Dad, and Alia

Sisters

Dad needed a lift and we needed to show him how strong we are.

Patrick, Corissa, Cheryl and Duane

Every year we play bingo for prizes and every year it's a blast!

We were able to celebrate Steven and Natasha's wedding with them in Rewey. It was a beautiful day and one of my favorite weddings.

Shaun, Mike and Steven

While in Wisconsin we decided to celebrate Avery's 10th and Gaven's 18th Birthday in Jellystone. It has been 4 years since we were last there and Avery has asked to go every year. I am so glad we were able to make it work this year, we all had so much fun.

Cindy Bear!

Yogi Bear!

Avery 10 and Gaven 18

Yogi with Gaven and Avery in 2011. Gaven was 13 and Avery was 5.

Yogi, Gaven and Avery 2012

The gang in 2011. Alia was afraid of Yogi here.

The Gang 2012

This year Bama went down the waterslide! You may not think this is a big deal but she can't swim. She decided she was tired of watching everyone else go down and she wanted to try. We were all so proud of her.

Bree, Gaven, Cassie and Kay going for a pedal bike spin.

Riding the train is a tradition!

Craft time.

We had so much fun on these paddle boats. We even lined them up for races. Avery and Cassie took home the gold.

Avery and Jaycee having fun with a phone app.

Austin, no smoking propane!

I had an amazing visit with my best friends! We are going on 31 years and counting. We spent a night laughing and catching up and it was as if no time as gone by. I love these girls.