tidbits from July

Bainbridge pool:

3rd of July BBQ:

Sunset from our dining room:

A few funny videos from the Belfair camping trip:

Point defiance zoo and aquarium

Someone little has the camera here:

The fountain area was lots of fun!

how I miss Hawaii

It's been two months since we set foot on the island of Maui. Two months since we swam in the crystal blue waters.
Looked at the fish.
Took a snorkeling tour (drinks included).

Instead it's two months of rain, cloudy skies, and cold days.
I miss the black sand beach.

The seven sacred pools.
I miss being alone with my husband.
Being able to drive all day without "are we there yet?"

I miss the sunsets...

But not the sunrise (10,000 ft is colder than you think).


Can we go yet?
Not that the crater wasn't cool - it was too cool :)

The pool was better:
The views amazing:



The lava beds surreal:

Not that I didn't miss my kids. Not that we didn't constantly say "Jamie would love this" or "the kids would have so much fun here". We will probably go back, probably with the kids.

But we'll venture somewhere else, somewhere by ourselves. Where I can play handheld video games or read or sleep all day. Eat dinner at 9pm, or just have chips and salsa with margaritas instead. Lay on the beach with no fear of sand getting thrown in my face. Sweet memories.

belfair camping 2011

Two weekends ago was our 5th annual Belfair camping trip. We have always gone in July and have never gotten rained on (at least not this much). The trip started great and I think we just didn't want to believe that rain was in the forecast. So when it started raining that evening and through the night, we were unprepared. No one had brought a tarp to hang out underneath and many didn't bring warm enough clothes or raingear. There were 4 families all together and two packed up to go home on Saturday (we arrived Friday). Since I was miserable I convinced Chad that we too, should pack up and go home. So we did. At least the packing up part. And when it was time to tell the kids to grab their shoes so that we could go home, the look on their faces told me that we (I) had made a terrible mistake. And since setting camp is SO fun, we did it again. The rain stopped. The kids were happy. I was a good mom.

Setting up (the first time) and testing out the creek:






Somebody loves anything with wheels:


When the rain started we all went our separate ways to stay dry. The boys hung out in the van with the DS until it ran out of batteries:

Abby was in the tent:
Chad and Tristan hung out under the back of the van for most of the morning:

Trying out his rain jacket:

The rain kinda stopped and we went to the playground:


Abby and her new friend Adrian:
Tristan loves to climb:

Tristan's friend Lincoln (they are only a few weeks apart):
Abby is saying something sassy to the creek (hence the hands on hips):
What would camping be without chocolate cereal?
Campfire time (without the rain!). These are all low-light shots, so you may notice some blur.




Otto and Isaac are supposed to be going to sleep:

Jamie thinks his friends are hilarious.
Apparently Lulu cannot sit still for less than 1/2 of second (not surprisingly). But we love her energy.
Poor Asher burns his hand on the lantern and had to soak it in cold water.
That's all til next year!