River Days Parade

Saturday the boys and I participated in the River Day's parade with Scouts. There were about 70 cub scouts in uniform along with the cub leaders in uniform. They marched in 4 rows with the American flags and Scout pack flags in front. Kyle and I held the banner that "contained" the parents with the wagons full of bottled water if the boys needed them.

It was about 1 mile of walking and it was fun. We will probably do it again next year.

Kevin waiting in his row.
Now that we are in our rows, lets sit down and wait for the to call us up. We were number 59 out of 88.
Kyle and I holding the banner getting ready to walk.

Leavenworth

Okay so it took me a couple of days to get to this but on Saturday we drove Lake Wenatchee to check out some camp sites then went to Leavenworth to walk around. It was about 95 degrees but the shops were cool. One of the many candy/chocolate stores had this bear chained to the bench for photo ops. We of course took advantage. We picked up some chocolate and brochures for things to do when we go camping then drove home. It was a very long but fun day.

Kevin and the bear.
We made Kyle sit there with a smile.
Aren't these flowers cool. Chris takes great pictures.

Scout Camp

Today I went to Scout Camp with Kevin. We had lots of fun. We started the day with Field Games. Today it was an obstacle course, here's Kevin hopping through the Frisbee minefield. He did so well.
At crafts Kevin decorated his felt piece with a green wolf and put orange crosses around it as a border.
Kevin at the archery range.
Kevin also shot three bulls eyes at the BB range, started his treasure chest in woods and made baked apples with cinnamon and sugar at the cooking station. Tomorrow is an exciting day with the egg launch. He has had a fun week.

Camp, Camp and more Camp

Last week Kyle went to camp with some of his buddies from school with Highland's church at Camp Berachah in Auburn and had a blast. We dropped him off at HCC on Monday morning where he met up with his friends and boarded the bus then he was gone until Saturday at noon. He went last year with one friend and this year they talked more of their friends to go so there were six of them in the cabin together.

Then Sunday we took him to church where he gathered with his friends from church and boarded the bus for U-Turn Youth Jr High camp at Warm Beach. We will pick him up tomorrow at 5:00. I'm sure he had fun at this camp too.

Kevin started Cub Scout Day camp today and will be going each day this week. Today he had a blast and is looking forward to the egg launch on Friday. I get to go to camp on Thursday with him to be a "walking parent". He is excited to show me how well he does at the BB guns and the archery range. Today he got a bull's eye.

Have a great week.

Alaska - Final

Fourth of July was spent with my sister-in-law Holly's family. We went to a parade and had a family potluck. It was nice visiting with them.

Saturday we went into Anchorage and went shopping at the Farmer's Market and had our family photo taken. You see it when you open the blog at the top. Aren't we just all so cute bundled up in all the fur?

Afterwords we all went to Red Robin for dinner then we stopped at this park near the airport. That's Anchorage in the background.

All the cousins had a great time and I know my boys can't wait to see them again. Here's all 7 of them together before we had to leave.
Here's my "little" brother, well at least younger brother, can't say he is little anymore. Smile.
Paul and Holly - Thanks for letting us stay with you and we hope we get to see you all again soon, well at least in less than the 3 years it took this time. Love ya all bunches!!

Seward - Fishing

After we were done walking around Seward, we went fishing. Well the kids, Chris and Paul went fishing. I stayed in the car and kept warm for the most part.

Kyle and Chris trying to catch that elusive Salmon.
Silas and Ahna watching.
Claire with the little pole.
All the kids in the back seat of the Toyota. Paul had to take the van back into town as the passenger window decided not to roll back up after it was half down. With the rain, we knew we had to get it fixed before the 3 hour ride home so Paul left Chris and I with the kids and headed back. Paul did find someone to put the window back up, there was a short in the motor.

The kids did well for about 45 minutes then were getting cold and tired since we really only had 2 poles. I decided that they could all fit in the backseat if they took off their coats and sat on each other's laps. They were all for that and were warm in about 5 minutes between body heat and the car's heater. I'm surprised it took that long with 8 people squished in such a small car.

Seward - Sea Life Center

We also went to Sea Life Center in Seward, basically the aquarium. Here are some pictures of the kids.

Isaac learning at the computer.
Silas, Kevin, Claire and Kyle standing by the wall at mom's request.
Claire and Kevin in the tug boat.
Silas standing outside looking at the seals.
Kyle standing by one of the pictures of the history of Seward.

Seward, Alaska

Thursday we got up early, 7:00 a.m., and drove 3 hours to Seward. It was a cute little fishing town but it was dreary Seattle rainy weather. We had gorgeous sunny 70-80 degree weather all week except this one day. We started the day at the aquarium, then we walked around town, bought some souvenirs, took pictures, ate ice cream, went fishing, caught a fish, went back to town to eat dinner, started the drive back, stopped in Eagle River, played in a park, sat in the Wal-Mart parking lot to watch the fireworks show and finally drove the rest of the way home to arrive about 1:30 a.m. The only disappointing thing was that Holly and Samuel could not come with us. Holly is a mid-wife and she had a mom who was due but had not delivered yet and she had to stay home just in case. She kept Samuel with her. I'll post the pictures from the day on more posts.

Here's the welcome sign at the harbor.
Yes, those are raincoats, and yes, Kevin is without one. He refused to wear one, he's his own person.
Another group shot.
The kids with Paul when he caught the fish.

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

Wednesday night was soccer night. Claire had two games and Silas had one. We started at Silas' game, went to dinner then went to Clarie's game. They are both great soccer players and really get into the game. My brother coaches both teams so Wednesday he had to get another dad to help with Silas' game while he was at both of Claire's.

Here's Ahna playing on the sidelines while Silas played soccer.
Silas with the ball. This kid is everywhere with the ball.
Future soccer player...he's great at dribbling the soccer ball.
Claire at her game. For this game she was a forward trying to score goals.

Independence Mine - More Pictures

Here are pictures of the boys "panning for gold" in the creek that runs down the pass. The information center had gold pans we could borrow for the kids. They had a blast looking for gold for about 45 minutes.

Kyle and Isaac.
Kevin and Silas.

Independence Mine

On Wednesday we went to Hatcher's Pass and the Independence Mine. We walked around and looked at all the old abandoned buildings and read the information plaques for each. We could also take a tour but thought with 7 kids that would not work very well.
Here's all the cousins lined up on the bridge.
The old mining facility. You can walk up to the top on the tour.

The Moose

Chris flew up Tuesday night and my brother drove him around to find moose. Well, they found a moose. It was on the side of the road and of course Chris had to get out of the car and get as close as he could to take the picture. According to Chris and Paul, Chris got as close as 7 feet away from the moose to take this picture. It was later that he was told moose kill more people in Alaska than bears. Just what was he thinking??

Alaska Trip Part 2

Tuesday was mostly a stay at home day as Isaac had a birthday party with all his buddies. My brother, Paul, has a fire pit at his home so we started the day with a fire going. The boys enjoyed putting all sorts of paper and wood in to keep the fire going.

Here's Silas and Kevin standing by the fire.
Kyle also by the fire. He had a great time just sitting by the fire. We did have s'mores twice. Yummy chocolate...
Here is Isaac, the birthday boy with his little brother. The neighbor is in the background chasing the kids with the water hose.
Paul brought home this bounce toy for the kids to play on during the party. They had a great time.

Alaska Trip Part 1 of Many

This past week we went on vacation in Alaska to visit my brother and his family. We had a blast and Kevin cried in the airport as he did not want to go home. He wanted to stay some more and play with his cousins and their dog.

These pictures are from the first day (Monday) we were there and were taken by me with my camera as Chris had not arrived yet (he had to work and came up Tuesday night).

This is Kevin and his cousin Silas. Yes I did say "his" as they are the same age they think of each other as "their" cousin. Both boys play soccer and my brother Paul coaches so he let Kevin suit up for practice on Monday night. Aren't they just so cute.

Here is Ahna, she is showing me she can do the splits. We were watching the boys practice.
Here is Samuel entertaining himself. He was just so cute. He would put each of the cones on his head as a hat. I miss that fun age.
Here is Claire playing Sudoku on my phone while we wait.
I did not get over to the baseball field and get pictures of Kyle and Isaac. Isaac had baseball practice and his coach was nice enough to let Kyle practice with them all week.

More posts and pictures to come.