I forgot to add in these pictures…we had a chance to visit with Shannon (Wells) Coleman and family who were in from Arizona. What a fun afternoon! A bunch of friends, a fine group of quality women, came down and got a chance to chat while the kids splashed and played. So nice to catch up with old friends. We have facebook and our blogs but nothing beats seeing people in person. Thanks for inviting us, Sheri and Shannon!
If you want to check out their blogs, here are the links:
The Coleman Family – http://thecolemanfamilyadventure.blogspot.com/
The Schmidt Family – http://chongoandblondie.blogspot.com/

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to a mid summer party hosted by one of the boys friends from school. It was at the “old” country club (where I used to nanny) and it was a perfect afternoon for our crew. They had a horse drawn cart that the kids loved, tasty food and we also got to swim at the pool. I should have taken more pictures of the scenery, the pool is right at the water and you look out across to Blake Island. Many cannon balls, jumps and dives were performed and many otter pops consumed before we returned home. What a treat!

The weather has cooled off, and it’s right back to perfect. We had friends over for dinner and we had a wonderful meal while the kids played mostly peacefully in the yard. You just have to love these days where the kids are in and out of the pool, running around, riding bikes and having the best time. We needed a relaxing day like today.

Trey can fall asleep ANYWHERE and we’ve taken lots of pictures over the years of him sleeping in random places. Before our trip last night, one of our friends said “be sure to take pictures of where he falls asleep. So, we did a little staging and here’s a play by play of Trey “sleeping” through our trip to the big city.
He’s a joker, that Trey!

Last night was the much anticipated Member’s Movie Night at the Seattle Aquarium. You probably guessed it, the movie was Spongebob Squarepants and the boys were amazed to see that Spongebob was really there. Levi did ask if it was really him, or someone in a costume but that was funny because he truly believes Spongebob exists. They loved the movie, belly laughs through the whole thing.
Levi and Carlos had worked hard to earn money so they could buy mini tape measures at a little souvenier shop on the waterfront that they had seen last trip. That was our first stop. Then we sat down at Red Robin for dinner, only to realize that the movie started in 1/2 hour so we munched down some french fries and iced tea and made our way down the waterfront.
One of my favorite parts about movie night is there aren’t too many people and we get to go through the aquarium before the movie starts almost alone. We got up close to the otters and seals and of course, the boys favorite is the touch tank.
Stopped at Ivars on the walk back to the boat to get some food, fed the seagulls and headed home. Ran into my cousin, Nathan, on the boat ride home and got to chat a bit. All in all, a great night. Thanks to our friend, Katie, for hanging with the wee ones so we could go!

Schwan’s is offering $10 of free food, and they definitely have a lot of items you could order under $10. The first 500,000 new customers on Saturday, August 1 after Noon (CT) will receive FREE FOOD from Schwan’s. As you can imagine, their website is busy and I haven’t been able to place my order yet. Please let us know if you get through by leaving a comment, and I’ll update this post once I am successful ordering. Schwan’s says that “no purchase is necessary” and there is no delivery fee so this does look like a great offer for those who are new customers and within a Schwan’s delivery route. You can just enter your zipcode if you aren’t sure if Schwan’s delivers to your area.

I got mine ordered this morning…2lb bag of tortellini, can’t wait!

You wouldn’t think that one of our beautiful brown skin boys would have such a dramatic tanline. Can you tell we’ve spent the last few days outside all day in the 100 degree heat?

Went camping down at Fay Bainbridge with the Barnums and had yet another great time! Our families just seem to camp well together, the kids play and play and the adults get along well, too. That’s sometimes hard to find. This time we camped next to two sets of friends from the island, which was fun too. One of the nights, one of the teachers that subs at the boy’s school came down and Carlos made it his job to shower her with roasted marshmallows and he even got out his lantern and took her on a beach walk. It was pretty cute.
Alexis had her 16th birthday at the campsite, complete with an ice cream cake and balloons. She managed to entertain all the kids by sucking the helium and talking funny over and over and over. Hope there’s no permanent damage from doing that!

Last week was gymnastics camp for Levi and Carlos. Trey was scheduled to go, but we opted for him doing summer session at school (that boy needs structure!) He was great with it, he loves the teacher, Jessie, and he’s benefiting from it in a huge way. Even they could tell the difference in his behavior after a weekend without school.
This year, both Levi and Carlos had special buddies for camp, which meant they got some extra support from a camp counselor. The best part about it for me was that one of Carlos’ buddies was a guy who was in my 2nd grade class when I was the assistant at Island School. Full circle. I think Levi has some real talent in the gymnastics area, he really stood out with his skills. And I’m not just saying that as his mom! 🙂