It was a rainy, wet July day…but we went out to the beach to re-create a great childhood memory I had. When I was a kid, the USS Missouri came into port in Bremerton. Our family drove out to Rich Passage to see it go through and it was incredible. The passage is so narrow, it seemed as if you could reach out and touch the gigantic aircraft carrier as it went by.
Today, the USS Stennis left on a mission to Iraq and I wanted our boys to see it leave. In the many years that have gone by, the foliage has overgrown so there wasn’t a good place to watch it go through Rich Passage, so we headed over to Fort Ward boat launch. We waited, waited and waited. It was neat, though, because we had a chance to teach the boys how to skip rocks. Around the corner came the support ships and then the Stennis. It was HUGE and the boys were impressed. Carlos was very serious about seeing the soldiers and respectfully saluted as the Stennis went by.

Carlos and I were lucky enough to be invited our on our friend’s boat to go crabbing. It was drizzling but not cold. I haven’t seen Carlos so happy in a long time. He LOVED it! After we checked and reset the pots, we went to see some baby seals and the salmon farm. I wish we could throw a line in there, there were huge salmon jumping all over the place.
Came home with some tasty crab and had Nana and Papa over for dinner. It was incredible!
Thank you Curt!

We celebrated Trey’s birthday with a family dinner (toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato soup) on the day, then with his friends at the dojo for Surf’s Up movie night. It was a GREAT party and everyone had a blast.

A few more pics from the 4th!

Happy birthday to the sweetest, most loving, funny and smart 65 pound 6 year old boy, Trey Cameron! You are AWESOME!

Another year, another Rotary Auction come and gone. I passed on the “running of the bulls” type entrance and opted for the late, casual entrance. There was nothing I needed, which was a good thing. I came home with everything I never knew I always wanted:
3 lacrosse sticks, badminton rackets, banana hanger/fruit basket, Fletcher reading sets vol 7-10, educational computer games, workbooks, intercom system, signed Dwight Howard shoe and…Carlos’ baby crib set to use for the foster babies!

I always love to see what others came back with, so I asked my Facebook friends….here’s a sampling of their finds:

– a great mt bike, and girls filled their bags with Polly pockets, barbie accessories, playmobil, fairy stuff, Jessie from toy story, and a build a bear koala bear complete with fancy dress. Nothing we needed, except the bike and a fun morning!

– A sweet TREK hybrid for Jack. We got there at 6:30 am and waited….it was mayhem, but worth it.

– Loved it! Won a bid on a lovely little sailboat, and of course bags full of totally unnecessary stuffed animals, Barbies, and action figures.

– We came home with a bag of books for the girls, three Breyer horses for Abby, a stuffed Teddy bear that we donated and had to buy back, and four soccer balls for the dog to chase around the yard.

– Books, a mint condition set of dvds for hubby’s b-day, two vases and a framed ’17th century Nun’s Poem’ for the church, two bags of baby clothes. That was such a feel-good score that it makes up for the fact that I didn’t get the popcorn machine I wanted. Maybe it will be back next year and I’ll have another chance at it!

–Four-drawer filing cabinet, swing hit batting practice thingy, skateboards, lacrosse stick, golf bags, chess set, dominos, food dehydrator, Harry Potter grab bag, big train whistle, painted wooden eggs… We ♥ the Rotary Auction. Next year it’s all going back. Except the filing cabinet.

– American Girl doll clothes and book set, doll bed, pug Beanie, Nerf gun, Super Soaker, Garfield and Far Side books, Silver Palate cookbook, Frank McCourt books, magazines, and a troll doll that our dog promptly ate. (Whoops. Guess we won’t have to take THAT back next year!)

– 2 lacrosse sticks, a rebounder, a lacrosse goalie helmet, 2 sets of K2 skis, a spinning bike, and a computer monitor…and a bunch of stuff that should never have come home (note: don’t leave your kids unsupervised while you run for the big ticket items!).

– Hockey helmet, elbow pads, mason jars, badminton net, toaster, tennis balls, sombrero, unicorn hat.

The one great thing about the auction is that if you don’t get something this year, chances are it will be back next year!
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