May misc 2013

Tristan's end of school park party

We got to try out the great new Kiwanis playground that they built in Bremerton.

Tristan was proud of his rope-ladder skills

And it wouldn't be a proper preschool party without a parachute!

so fun!

Misc.

Abby's fiesta fun lunch.

Our new car!

Oh my, even Grandma Connie gets caught in the middle of this video debacle!

Port Orchard Invitational race

Even though I complained about the weather at the beginning of the day, this turned out to be a great race.  There were only a few sprinkles and we were first across the line, first in our division, and first overall!! YAHOO!  We had a great crew including Chad and myself, Jamie, Nick, James and Nathan.

Memorial Day weekend

We were hoping for great weather for the 3-day weekend but we just didn't quite get it.  The first night we anchored in Manzanita Bay rafted to my parents.  The kids had fun fishing with some leftover beef fat from mom&dad's steaks.

The next night we headed to Bremerton where they were having the Harbor Festival. It rained on and off and the kids activities that they had advertised were pretty lame.

That night we made hamburgers and supplemented our meal with fritz fries, yum!  The next morning after breakfast at Starbucks we headed on home.

Family games

I'd have to say that Sorry is our favorite family game (Tristan loves to give people "ouchies"!).  Most everyone else loves Uno too, but since I don't particularly like it, I can't rank it is as number one.  We have so many games in our game closet, I thought I'd make a few recommendations:



For preschool age kids these our top choices:



of course, there's always chutes 'n' ladders and candyland but sometimes those games can go on forever...



For slightly older kids (younger elementary or preschoolers with help)















 And for older kids or advanced game players, these are my favorites (Ticket to Ride being my personal favorite):

Meanwhile

Since I was gone in Texas, Chad took the kids down to our boat to spend the hottest weekend that we've had so far in Washington this year (ironic?). There were some other friends of Chad's down there too and also a friend of Jamie's. Sounds like they had a good time.

Trader Joe's orange chicken - apparently easy to make on the boat!

Looks like naptime!

Jamie's friend Blake.

who knows?  Although Abby looks pretty guilty

Having fun down on Bob's boat.

Post-sailing pizza party!

Life-jackets - that's what a mom wants to see!

Abby took some very artistic pictures.

And this one as well- very good lighting!

Mom's weekend away

My mother's day present this year was to go and visit my sister in Texas.  Since I arrived pretty late on Thursday there wasn't much to do except eat dinner and enjoy some Blue Bell ice cream (think Tillamook, only better).  The next morning after dropping the kids off at school, we headed out for a 5 mile run.  Luckily for me, Texas had a cold-front move in so I didn't get overheated. Later that afternoon, Carrie took me to a restaurant that I hadn't been to before - it was a South American grill - Chimichurris, and it was SO good!!  After picking the kids up from school, Jason came home a bit early so Carrie and I headed out to the L&L ranch retreat in Willis, TX where we would stay the whole weekend! It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere - a town nearby was called "Cut and Shoot".  But we had the whole house to ourselves and we each had a table to scrap at so it was fun a weekend. They had also put in a hottub and pool since I had last been there (in 2011) so it was fun to head out there at night and sip on some of Carrie's fruit-infused wines that were made in Texas.  Here are a few pictures of the place:

The room where my sister and I stayed (there were 4 different rooms)

hall decorations

delightful feather boa

looking out to the pool and hottub

kitchen area - they cooked (and cleaned) for us though!

dining room

bar area - but don't overlook that saddle with the bouquet of flowers!

Here's the living room - the furniture has been replaced by scrapbook tables!

After getting back to Carrie's on Sunday, it was Cinco de Mayo so we made some Carne Asada, chips&salsa and some refried beans. Carrie let me try one of her special margaritas that was made with the Catron she bought on the cruise ship (I didn't want to drink to much since we were planning on running 10 miles the following morning). It was all really yummy!

On Monday morning after dropping off at Kenzie at school, we just started from there and ran 5 miles down the road to Kingroad, turned around and came back. Despite the fact that it was a bit warm for me, at least it was really flat! Later that day we did a bit of shopping and of course had to end the trip with dinner at my favorite southern restaurant - Chick-fil-a!

To see the pages I completed, see my She's Crafty blog here:http://shesjustmytype.blogspot.com/2013/06/ranch-retreat-layouts.html

April misc 2013

Chad and Jamie went did race-crew duties one Saturday morning.  This means that they have to post the course (the combo of letters and numbers you see), and blow the air horn to acknowledge start and finish times, (and also record everything).

I think there were only 4 boats.

)

The kids had been wanting me to make banana split nutella pancakes from this kids' cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Sticky-Chewy-Messy-Gooey-ebook/dp/B004AHKEZA/ref=la_B001JSBLOQ_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1370732978&sr=1-3

I must say they were quite amazing (as are most of the recipes in the book)

Tristan found this shirt that used to be mine when we were cleaning out stuff.

He enjoyed wearing it around for a few days but seeing how it's a bit small - I put it away again!

Jamie and I took our 5th annual mother/son baseball game outing. This time we tried going opening night so that it would be fun whether they won or not.  They won too - so bonus!

Jamie's namesake (Jamie Moyer) throws out the first pitch.  Okay, maybe that's not the only place we got his name from!


And in case you haven't seen it yet on facebook, here is the mocktrial playlist that Jamie's class participated in: Pop A. Bear vs. Gold E. Locks

and a link to the Bremerton Sun's story:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/apr/12/bremerton-courtroom-becomes-a-classroom/#axzz2VfgXIwgA