A Vacation and a Life Lesson

The life lesson? Plans Change. We had big plans for our trip to Seattle to see our good friends. On our way there, we found out Justin was sick in the hospital and we considered turning around and going home but decided to make the most of the situation and go with the flow.
We planned on driving straight through to Seattle. . .plans change. We ended up stopped on the freeway for rock blasting (that started literally ONE MINUTE before we got there) so we danced, and played football and posed for pictures while we waited.

Our plan was to stay with our friends, but instead, we got to stay at her parent's beautiful lake place on Lake Goodwin.

The one plan that remained was a trip to Pike Street Market. We shopped around, had a shrimp cocktail,

some oyster shooters (Garth was the only one), and the kids got to pick out their own dinner for Garth to cook that night.

No surprise, Carter chose Dungenous crab!

We did get to see our friends that evening for an amazing sea food spread from Garth and some fun times splashing in the water.

We had not planned on seeing my brother Jordan and his wife Kailee who live close by but our plans changed and they met us for a really fun day at the Woodland Park Zoo.

They also came to the lake place for round 2 of our sea food cuisine and a little dip in the lake.

The trip was so different than we planned but turned out to be a lot of fun and we were glad to be there to support Heather and Justin and their kids while he was getting well.

New Specs

This post is very belated. Perhaps you have noticed the appearance of glasses on Carter's face in some of the more recent posts. This Spring, he failed the eye test at school and we found out he is on the road to being like his mother. He is in the early stages of near sightedness and needed corrective lenses. I wasn't terribly surprised, I had noticed (and been in denial) that he was squinting a lot and asking me to read things that were far away.
After searching many stores in Spokane to find a handsome, yet affordable pair of specs, we found these. . .
They are Converse in a cool blue with yellow on the inside. I was amazed at how much better the selection is for girls. Then I started to feel like he needed a second pair, just in case. I heard about this great website Zenni Optical and got him this second pair of glasses for only $15!!!

So far, we have been impressed at how responsible and careful he has been with his glasses. We were also pleasantly surprised that he feels handsome in them and has not been teased at all for having them. Whew.

She made a funny

Garth was sitting in the living room cleaning his golf clubs and getting things in order in his golf bag. Sydney walks in and sees his dirty equipment and says, "Daddy, your GARTH BALLS are dirty . . . (little giggles) I meant to say GOLF BALLS."

Lost At Sea

When I graduated from college, my Dad surprised me with my own water ski. From the first time I skied on it, I loved it! I've realized lately how amazing that is. I have tested a bunch of other people's skis in the past 8 years and I have never liked one as much as my own.
Sadly, last week, we were out skiing and I left my ski on the back platform as I pulled in the rope and put my gloves away. I then got distracted by a kid or a friend on the boat and forgot to put my ski in the boat. Garth was up next but decided there were too many boats where we were and drove up the river a ways before he skied. We realized after his ski run that my ski was not in the ski locker. My heart sank. We back tracked, asked other boats, had a couple of false alarms that turned out to be ducks, and eventually gave up. I honestly felt sick to my stomach the whole way home. I feel like I've lost a friend.

One Rudder Man

Check this boy out!!!!

It is so fun as a parent to see your kids excell. Carter tried to ski on one last year but the ski was small and the weather was cold and we didn't quite get it. He was determined to be the youngest one skier in the family (which I knew he would since Garth was 17 and I was 11 when we learned). So this year, we let him try with my ski and it only took him a handful of tries and he was up!! Days later he even braved crossing the wake. He still has days that he struggles and doesn't get up but he is doing so well! I am such a proud waterski mama!

Keep it up Carter! I hope you remember the joy you felt when you wanted something badly, worked hard, and accomplished it!

Breakfast

Carter has a new found passion for cooking. He especially likes to wake up before me and make me breakfast. We had to learn a couple of lessons. . .like don't pour the milk onto cereal until people are awake. . .and use a knife to cut bananas, don't just mush them apart with your fingers. Recently he moved on from cereal and toast and learned to cook scrambled eggs and pancakes. One Sunday morning, I heard commotion downstairs and this is what I found.

He was doing pretty well. He plugged the griddle in, he just didn't turn it on so he couldn't figure out why they weren't ready to flip yet. We also had to practice putting the batter a little further from the edge to avoid spillage. It has been an adventure and a growing experience for him and I think his future roommates will thank me for teaching him to cook!

Payton

My sister had the chance to go to St. Louis with her hubby for a work-related getaway in July. She shipped her kids off to different places and I got her 3 year old, Payton. I was just the tiniest bit nervous about having an extra kid for a week, especially since Payton has a track record of being a bit mischievous. The week went well, however. The boys played, and played and played together. Their favorite thing to do was ride up the hill past my house then fly down. The first time they chose to do this, they were alone and didn't tell anyone where they were going. I came out to the garage to check on them (where they were supposed to be riding bikes) and about had a heart attack because they were nowhere in sight. I ran across the street to check on the docks, and that's when I saw them and the top of the hill with huge grins on their faces.

I was glad the boys had this chance to get to know each other better. They were amazing together and didn't even fight. If only I could get my own kids to play so nicely with each other!

Kunda! Marimba Band

I've mentioned before that I love our little community library. One of the kids activities they did this summer was this Kunda! Marimba Band. They were an interesting group of people but the kids really enjoyed their music.

The best part about being in a small community is the opportunities. Since there weren't very many kids there, each one got to try out any (or all) of the instruments. It really made the event for my kids.