Firsts..

 First day of school...1st and 3rd grades

First Seahawks game of the season...finding a shirt for Jordan was quite the ordeal. Those things must have been flying off the shelves, because after striking out at all the regular stores, I had Andrew check out a grocery store on his way home from work. He couldn't find one, but a nice lady at the customer service desk said she had one stashed behind the counter that she was going to give to her grandson. SCORE!!! Go HAWKS!!!!

 

...and first time for this...and so it begins!!!!

School Haircut- Before and After

Pack Trip

Andrew took the kids on the family pack trip, which was to Twin Sisters Lake this year.  I had to stay behind with Austin, but luckily Andrew took lots of pictures to document the trip.  The kids had a great time being with a ton of cousins in the great outdoors. So fun to see this tradition being passed onto the next generation.... 

 

 

 

 

More Summer Fun

We spent time cooling off at a newly-discovered swimming hole near our house...

and went hiking at Union Creek Falls

....and of course, some much needed time at the cabin.  Andrew had a week off so we spent 10 days up there, something we had never been able to do before.  The trip went great until the last few days when Austin decided he'd rather cry than go to sleep in the middle of the night.  This resulted in me making the 2 hour drive home with him in the middle of the night when I just couldn't take it anymore.  We made it through 7 nights...just couldn't do 2 more. 

The brothers built a bunk house this summer as we have officially outgrown the cabin. 

Hike to Summit Lake

We enjoyed a day-hike to Summit Lake this summer.  The kids made it, although I had to do quite a bit of coaxing to keep Megan moving.  Andrew lugged our huge baby up the mountain on his back and we discovered the wet back he acquired during the hike was not just sweat, but a little bit of a problem with a leaky diaper.  The lake was beautiful and we enjoyed awesome views of Mount Rainier...feeling so blessed that such beauty and serenity lies not very far from home. 

 

Teddy Bear Picnic

The teddy bear picnic was the long-anticipated event of the summer and it did not disappoint.  We enjoyed all of the typical festivities...parade, picnic, Cinderella, puppet shows, piñata, crafts, games, horseback rides, good food and even better company.  Mike joined us this year and it was fun having him there, especially since it was his first time back to the cabin since Marianne's passing.  I was thinking how the kids will never know what a "typical" 4th of July celebration entails since we are always at the cabin having the teddy bear picnic.  That's okay with me...this is much more memorable and meaningful than blowing up a bunch of stuff anyways...

 

Cabin Days

We headed up to the cabin the day after school got out to kick off summer properly.  The big project of building a new bunkhouse commenced and everyone put a little bit of sweat into the project as the summer went on.  We have officially out-grown the cabin, so building a bunkhouse seemed the right thing to do.