So we started out the vacation by cracking open the three Miller High Life’s that were left in the trailer. They tasted surprisingly good but we looked a tad like white trash, just a tad. But we were camping in this crazy little RV/Campsite called the Sou’wester. You’ve really gotta check out their website, it’s funny. They have a Bed and Bed & (M.Y.O.D.*) Breakfast meaning a Bed and Make Your Own Damn Breakfast.
They have trailer/camping spaces and you can also rent their trailers. Pictured above are theirs…the yellow on is “the slums” with no running water and you have to have your own sleeping bag, it rents for $59 per night, and the one that was next to us we named the “Lap of Luxury” and it was their top of the line and rented for $179 per night. Seriously, ridiculous rates but a fun place to stay. We were A-OK in our tent.
One of the days we ventured to the beach for the kite festival and again embraced our white trashness by using the diaper bag as a cooler for our Coronas. It’s funny, we were in the beer aisle at the local grocery store and there was cooler after cooler of MGD, Pabst, Miller and Budweiser and then half a cooler of “import” beers. I think we were the only people in Long Beach that drank Coronas and by the end of our trip we had bought the last dusty 12 pack.
More pictures to come!

Road trip to Long Beach with the kids (oh yes, camping with all 5 kids plus MayMay and Alice!) and it started out with Carlos getting a bloody nose in the van. The rest of the 5 hour drive was uneventful, the kids slept and watched movies and all were fairly content. Good travelers, they are.
We got the tent set up next to Mary’s trailer and headed down for a beautiful sunset at the ocean. Three of the five kids fell in the water to some extent and got mega sandy but all were so happy to be at the ocean they didn’t care.
More pictures to come…we got some great ones.

We’ve had gardening success this year, with all of Mary’s research we have produced more than ever and it’s so, so tasty! I’m so glad our boys appreciate how great a carrot or tomato is freshly picked. We did have one incident with the deer hopping the fence and enjoying a feast, all of our little crops were chewed down to nothing and we had to start over. Why don’t they eat my mint that goes CRAZY every year? The problem was solved, though, with a coating of invisible fence (STINK’O’RAMA but effective). Hoping to have much more to harvest…even our pumpkins are going nuts at this point. We have big plans for overwintering that should benefit us next year as well.
What are we growing, you ask? Here’s the list:
Tomatoes
Tomatillos
Green Beans
Peas
Raspberries
Strawberries
Cucumbers (regular and lemon)
Acorn Squash
Sunburst Squash
Carrots
Lettuce
Broccoli (not a success)
Lettuce

So the boys are really loving the Wii…this game we have (Wii Sports Resort) has archery, table tennis, sword fighting and so many more that the boys can actually play. They are GOOD, too. At least this way they aren’t sword fighting eachother as much now that they have computer opponents.

We’ve had the heat this summer (record breaking 100+ degree days) and last week we cooled off and actually had a little rain. The boys all have umbrellas hanging up with their coats and couldn’t wait to use them so the minute the drops started to fall they were out on the deck with their bumbershoots in hand. Happy, happy Northwest boys!

Things have been busy at our place, having 5 kids 6 and under is a LOT! We have been taking the pictures and doing lots of fun stuff, but the time just seems to slip away when it comes to blogging and posting the pics. I’ll do better, I promise! 🙂

Off early this morning to take little ones to the dentist. Waking up 5 kids and getting on the road by 7:30…WISH ME LUCK!

We have a couple of new pets, a big frog (who was found in our basement) and a tiny tree frog (Levi found at Nana and Papa’s). The boys are all about Spongebob Squarepants right now and decided to name the big one Patrick and the little one Gary in honor of the show.
We were a little concerned about the whole feeding thing, as it turns out frogs only eat things that are alive. With a houseful of boys armed with a bug vacuum (that’s Godma Ann!) it wasn’t hard to get volunteers to catch some creepy crawlies. Our frogs have been happy so far. It’s been the entertainment of the month for sure, every time we catch a bug they are there for the feeding. I caught a gigantic moth that I was sure was too big, but two seconds later Patrick had a feast.

While we were at the wedding, we found out that the Brehm’s had bought 40 tickets to the Mariner’s game for Sunday, in hopes to continue the party post-wedding. Dee and I didn’t think we could swing finding babysitters for 5 two days in a row, so we decided that I would take Levi and Carlos to the game, while Dee hung out at home with the others. The way they were acting on the ferry, I wasn’t sure I really wanted to take them at all, but they pulled it together. We hopped in a urban rickshaw (cool!), got a bunch of peanuts and red vines for the game and made it happen. So things have changed since last year, we were going in with our treats and 3 bottles of water, sealed of course. Apparently you can’t even bring sealed bottles in anymore so we had to dump out the water and bring in empty bottles to fill once we got in.
Met up with Beth, Bert, Rachel and Michael, Jason and Michal on the way in and got some more time to hang out at the game. The funniest part was when Levi was comparing his belly with Rachel’s “baby bump”. HILARIOUS!
After the game the boys got to run the bases. It was SWEEEEET to be down on the field. Rode the urban rickshaw back to the boat and came home for family dinner with Mary. 🙂

Congratulations to Jason and Michal! We were so honored to be at their wedding on Saturday. It was held at the Court in the Sqaure in Seattle (just north of F.X. McRory’s) . It was an intimate setting, and just gorgeous. I got a few pictures with my iPhone, so they aren’t the best quality but you get the idea.
So great to see these two tie the knot, great to have an evening kid-free with nobody needing anything from us, great to have some time with Dee (although I have to admit we were so tired we mostly just stared at eachother!) and having a chance to catch up with Beth and Bert and Michael and Rachel (who are going to be parents any day now!). They had fun extras as well, my favorite was the photo booth. You got to dress up with props and pose for a photo shoot. Can’t wait to see those!
Here are some links to the Brehm’s blogs…amazing people, the best!

Jason and Michal’s Wedding Blog – http://michalandjason.blogspot.com/
Beth’s Blog – http://bethgedney.blogspot.com/
Story of the Peanut King – http://babykingsblog.blogspot.com/