We have been hitting up picnics in the park as much as we can again this summer. Every little bit helps and free lunch really helps. The boys aren't as interested in the little kid activities anymore, but they tend to run into a few friends at the library. And just like last year, they asked us to get in a picture to promote it. And it made the beachcomber. Looking cool Tommy and Lucian.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Rainiers Game with VBA
The boys and I went to the Rainiers game with VBA. It has been so long since we have been to a game that the boys don't even remember it. They had a great time. I can't say they watched a ton of the game. But they had a great time with their friends. Once the kids found out there was a full baseball playfield it was hard to convince them to leave it.
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Office Takeover
I have been continuing to move things over to the new house as I can find places to put them. The office is one of the last places that has been figured out. I have resigned to the fact that with the cats needed a place to be at least for now I would not really have an office even though I would still store some of my things in there. The boys are also struggling to fit all their toys in their rooms so likely we will have to have some of the toys in there as well. Now I just need to figure out where the screws to my desk went so i can actually assemble it.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mHXejp8LhaNv53eg9
First Sleepover
The boys have waited a long time, but the day is finally here. Their first sleepover. Jake had Lucas stay the nigh up in his top bunk in his room. Tommy also had Lucian over for the movie we watched. He couldn't do a sleepover that night but will another time. The boys had a great time and really got to see why they were working so hard to get the house built, which meant a lot of sacrifices over many years.
Sunday, July 28, 2024
VBA Marysville Tournament
Tommy may have a head full of a little hot air for a few weeks. He won his second ring in 2 weeks. Not a huge tournament. It was only 3 teams. It was also weird 3 inning games. But he hit the game winning sac fly in the championship game. So that was cool.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VvEpKBzThvm7V8TZ9
Friday, July 26, 2024
Wild Waves
Jake is a lucky kid. His friend Lucas took him along on a Wild Waves adventure. This was Jake's first time at Wild Waves. He had such a great time. He said he did all the fast and crazy rides.
Sell Sell Sell
A yard sale has been in planning for a while. We knew we would have a few things to sell as things would no longer be needed after the move. For instance our window AC unit. We have yard sales maybe once a year or every other year though so we didn't have a ton of stuff. You do tend to find unused things when you move everything though. However, my mom has been cleaning out all the rooms in her house and making piles of things to get rid of. Wes was moving into their basement so he was downsizing and also had a bunch of stuff to get rid of. So once we had our initial move done I told them they could start putting things into our garage to start preparing for a garage sale. It ended up being a lot of stuff. So we had a pretty big sale. We didn't make a ton of money, but did make some. And we got rid of a lot of stuff we no longer needed.
Getting Used To The New House
The cats are getting used to the new house. Since moving the kittens over they stay in the office most of the time so they are easier to manage. But they do come out when we can watch them. They are getting closer and closer to Jessi to check her out. Jessi seems to have no problem finding places to sleep in the new house. Although when she goes outside I have found her walking back to the old house trying to figure out what is going on.
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Mariners Kids Club Day
The boys had wrestling camp in Tacoma this week. Since we were already in town I figured we should go to the Mariners game as it was kids club day and we really haven't been to games this year because we have been so busy.
Sunday, July 21, 2024
VBA GSL Tournament in Everett
Since I had sent Tommy with a teammate for the weekend, I did not see the games on Saturday. Good thing I didn't try to leave the island Saturday to see the games because they went down a boat. But I did go up to Everett on Sunday to see the second day of the tournament. Tommy has never won an actual championship in any sport before. Today was the first time. He has invested a lot of time. He is not the star of his team, but he had 3 hits and an RBI today. He was super pumped about it. And his hear really got big when they gave him a championship ring.
Festival Sunday
On Sunday Jake and Eric went to festival. They did the bounce house again, saw the reptile man (which is always a big hit), and saw the cars at the car show.
Saturday, July 20, 2024
Saturday Night Music
We gave Jake a bunch of tokens for the arcade and Eric and I went to listen to some music for a bit.
Parade and Festival
Jake and I headed up to the parade and then walked around festival. He had a good time. They had Bouncy houses and slides for the kids, music in the park, Legos in the library (which had AC) and a pinball pop-up. We had a good time.
Jenny Trolling
While Jake and I were at the Burby race Eric and Jenny went to the troll. She stayed at our house last night as our first guest at our new house. She stayed in Tommy's bed. He was staying with teammates in Seattle.
Burby Race
Early Saturday Jake and I headed out to work the Burby race. Jake went with the Smith's and flagged at the corner. I was given the job of time taker. I had a partner who would give tell me the times and I would have to write them down on a clipboard as fast as humanly possible. It was a little stressful. But we did are parts to help raise money for the wrestling team.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gPrYuYo6pXYHRFYv5
Friday, July 19, 2024
Ice Cream Social
It is Strawberry Festival weekend. We have a pretty packed schedule. Tommy has a baseball tournament this weekend. Not super thrilled about having to ride the ferries this weekend. So I told Tommy that I would take him uptown on Friday since he was not going to get to go on Saturday. So we went to the ice cream social since there are always a lot of families there. We hung out for a little while and then walked down to Ober Park to listen to music. The boys ran around the park and I ordered a pizza. Then I heard through the grape vine that the ferry workers planned to strike on Saturday to try and negotiate for a better contract. Tommy's coach decided to go a night early and said he would take Tommy with him. So at least now I don't have to worry about figuring out how to get him to his games tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Backyard Underwear Baseball
I don't know what is going on here. Baseball in the backyard in your underwear. They must have gotten this idea from their dad.
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Driving Home Through Montana
After staying the night in Livingston we woke up and began our trek on I-90 through Montana, briefly through Idaho and then through Washington. It was a lot cooler in this area, even in Eastern Washington. Or at least 80's felt cool compared to the 109 of Boise. I got to cross two more states off my list of states to visit this trip as I had never been to Wyoming or Montana. It wasn't a long stay, but it was interesting to drive through. The rock formations in the mountains of Montana looked like they were from Lord of the Rings or something. And it was interesting driving through Butte as that is where my grandma first came to in America as my Great Grandpa was working in the mines. You could see the mining in the hills. It looked like a huge operation that had been mined for years. The ride home was much better than the ride there. But it was a brief and exhausting trip. We are now ready to be home.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HwD7qkg8Hrg9T5Yf9
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Yellowstone
So on our way home I convinced Eric to drive up toward Montana and go across I-90 through Spokane. We had never driven this way, and it was a little longer. But since it took us over 20 hours with all the delays in Oregon we figured it couldn't be worse. As we were driving through Idaho we came to a rest stop and saw info about Yellowstone. I looked it up and it was really only 30 minutes or so out of our way. Eric wasn't sure about it, but I convinced him that we should try as we may never drive this way again. We didn't get to the west park entrance till 4 PM. But it was only $35 per car so we drove on in. We went to Old Faithful first as we new that was a must see. Then we walked around and saw more sites in that area. The family had a running joke that the geysers were throwing a ton of sulfur into the air. Some of it may have been the geysers. Some of it may have been that I had about 20 coffees so far on this trip to keep me awake while driving. At least we weren't in the car when the eruption happened. Eric went back to see Old Faithful again and to get the truck. The boys and I walked the trail to the next basin. We stopped at Riverside Geyser to see it go off and it was really cool and lasts for a really long time. We weren't going to wait but there was a guide hanging out there with some friends and he told us this was his favorite geyser and worth the wait. It really was. Then we walked on to Biscuit Basin. We walked around there. The Sapphire Pool is mesmerizing. We also walked past the Black Diamond Pool. Of course we later heard on the news that it exploded 10 days after we were there and made a huge mess. The sun was starting to go down. Eric wanted to see the sun set but we didn't know a good place to see it from. We lucked out again. We drove up to the next basin and it was an amazing sunset over the Grand Prismatic Spring. We could not have timed it better. I could not imagine a more magical sunset. I just kept walking in a circle seeing it from every single angle over and over again. After we watched the sun go down we started to head out of the park through the north entrance as we planned to find a motel in the Livingston area. There was no way I was going to do 20 straight hours in a car again. As we were driving, traffic came to a standstill. There was a bison in the road. We stopped moving as he was walking right down the center line. Eric rolls down his window which freaked me out because this guy was huge. He sticks his camera out the window and the guy walks so close to the truck Eric could have smacked him on the butt. Pretty crazy. It was such a great evening. I can't believe how much we were able to see between 4 PM and sundown. So worth it. And even though we made it to Livingston pretty late that night we were able to find a cheap room to rest for a few hours before hitting the road again.
Friday, July 12, 2024
Shirley's Memorial
Today was Shirley's memorial. It was a nice service. They displayed some of her paintings. We were able to visit with some family. We were glad that we could be there to support Eric's dad.
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