Summer Wrap Up

Summer has come and gone, but there is still so much to post about.  We had a wonderful summer this year.  It was packed full of great activities and best of all--we had fabulous weather.  The summers in the Pacific Northwest make the rest of the year full of rain bearable.

I've already posted about the first part of our summer:  a trip to the beach, two family reunions, Sarah's week at EFY, family coming to visit, etc.  This post covers most of the rest of August.

Swimming Lessons
Ben and Kate took two sessions (each session is four mornings a week for two weeks) of swimming lessons this summer and both improved tremendously.  They were both excited to have passed their levels this summer.  

American Lake with the Andrews
We spent an afternoon at the lake with our friends, the Andrews, who moved back to the Northwest from Texas.  We met them in medical school and are so excited to have them close again.  We came close to having them move right in our same town, but unfortunately for us, they found a fabulous house about 30 minutes away.  We are glad to see them as often as we can and had a fun time playing at the lake together.

 Rachel and Melanie had matching swimming suits.

 Ben loved the slide.

Sleeping on the trampoline
The kids slept outside on the trampoline a few times this summer.  This always tops their summer list of activities they are looking forward to.

School shopping
After one horrible attempt at school shopping at the mall with all five children, I learned my lesson and made multiple trips shopping for clothes and school supplies.  It is a much more enjoyable experience one-on-one.  I definitely appreciated my big girls taking turns babysitting to make the shopping trips happen.

20-year high school reunion
We spent one weekend back home for my 20-year-high school reunion.  It is hard to believe it has really been 20 years since I graduated from high school--I certainly can't be that old!  The reunion was fabulous!  I was blessed to grow up with a wonderful group of friends.  Those girls have grown into amazing, talented, intelligent women.  It was so great to see them.

We all went to breakfast together on Saturday morning.  We spent several hours there talking, laughing, and crying together.  Every one of these sweet women has had to overcome trials and hardships in life, but has come out stronger and better for their challenges.  I love these amazing women!

We had a family picnic in the afternoon.  We gathered as many as we could for a large group photo.  This wasn't everyone, since some people left before we took the picture.  I had about 120 in my graduating class, and we had about 65-70 people attend at least one activity during the weekend.

Me with my wonderful friend Anne Marie

On Saturday evening we had a fun dinner.  We had so much fun looking through old yearbooks and newspapers.  I was on both the newspaper and yearbook staff, so it was funny to read some of the articles I had written.  I am glad to say that my writing has improved since then.

One of the newspapers we had written what our future dreams were.  Mine stated something like:  Go to college, get married, have lots of kids, be the best mother I can, travel the world and become a painter.  Most of it is right on track, but I am definitely not very artistic, so I don't know why I put the "become a painter" part.  So funny.

Such classy women--Rebecca, Karissa, and Stacey

With friends at dinner

Anne Marie, Logan, Michelle, Elaine, Jenny

I loved seeing everyone at the reunion and was sad when the weekend ended.  We decided it is too long to wait for another reunion again, so we are planning to get together more often.  So excited!

Kayaking in the Harbor
One week in August we were supposed to go camping with some friends, but we ended up cancelling the trip due to fires near where we were going to camp and some schedule conflicts with some in our group.  Because the trip was cancelled, we had a free day and decided to do some kayaking in the harbor.

It was a beautiful day!  I didn't want to risk ruining my big camera, so I took all these pictures with my (not-so-good) iphone camera. 

 We kayaked across the harbor to the lighthouse. 

 We had a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier. 

 The little kids had fun looking for shells during our stop at the lighthouse.

 Our group of kayakers.

Then the next evening David and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 18th anniversary (which really was a few days prior).  We ate dinner at a nice restaurant down on the water overlooking the light house and Mt. Rainier.  I love gorgeous summer evenings.

Other events which we did this summer that I have no photos of:

• Sarah and Rachel spent a weekend in Portland with their cousin Suzanne who was there doing an internship.  They had a great time hanging out, making caramel apples, and even took a trip to Cannon Beach.
• More boating trips with friends
• Lots of friends over for BBQs in our yard
• Football camp for Ben
• Art camp for Rachel
• Kate started soccer and Ben started football (Pictures to come soon of those seasons that are now in full swing).

It was a great summer!