Summer fun

Catfish catchin!

rope swing fun!

Fishing boy!

This girl loves to ride the boat.

Chillin'

When he is mean to sister he writes what he loves about her!

When a girl has a brother sometimes babies are in danger.

Another one bites the dust.

Fun summer; I miss you today!

I love our lake couch in the pic!

Now that is a watermelon! Our largest one yet. Each year something different is great and something different fails in our garden. This was the year of watermelon and okra.

Skeeter girl!

We were watching home videos and you have amazed us!  You are talking with about a million more words, and your little feet that once turned in are running and jumping strongly with no turning at all.  You like me to call you my baby-girl and we also call you Skeeter-girl!  You love it.

 You still love to run, jump, flip, twist and hop around on the trampoline!  You love to dance and sing.  I think you were born to cheer even if I don't really look forward to that!   

 AND, you love people. I don’t think there is one person in our lives that you don’t run up to and give a big hug.  You find some way to connect with everyone and you really seem to miss them when you don’t see them again the next day.  

You and I have some good times singing in your bed at night, but you mostly still love Zaccheus. 

You really enjoy saying, “my dooes it.”  “No, my don’t!”   You also are fond of, “I nose it”—you “knows” a lot of things to be three girl!  

I wish you were still sleeping later, but you kicked that habit.  You still take a great nap though so I can’t complain.

You like your nails painted, but you still play with guns as much as the boys.  You and Daddy have been playing baby dolls at night (and I play some during the day). I still think you are going to be a little nurse.  You love taking care of boo-boos and rubbing backs when someone is hurt.  

I am amazed at how well you can swim! You can jump off the diving board and swim to the ladder these days all by yourself.  If I push you down you can get rings off the bottom, and you love doing that.  

You make a lot of funny faces!  When Daddy is dirty or you smell something stinky you make the most disgusted face.  It is really comical.

Then, when you are frustrated and I am trying to teach you something, you roll your eyes back in your head and sometimes cover your face…it is cute…but not funny to me at the moment.  

You prefer counting to reading and words any day; this is going to be tough for me!  

I love to hear our giggles and you do it often and much!  This is the best part of having a girl.

You love to ride the plasma cars with the boys.  

You love going to church.  You are in Cay’s class now and he says you are being really good!  

You love the new boat sister! 

You LOVE to ride your Minnie Mouse bike, but you are not loving learning how to brake.  

You know how they say something that isn't funny at the time will become funny. Well, J and I have both had exhausting lessons on teaching you how to use your brakes.  Despite falling terribly today at the park, you are not interested in listening to us teach you how to ride!!!   Daddy worked on teaching you and had sweat pouring down his face and even dug a hole in the ground to put your tire in so you could see it spin and then try to stop it!  I am laughing now b/c I have already done some extensive pointless lesson myself, and I bet one day one of us is going to experience the joy of seeing you stop yourself!  

You like broccoli and you LOVE tomatoes.  Amazing!  Still, you like just about everything dipped in sour cream.  You don't like meat too much, but you love a " smoovie," and boy you love my smoothies!  

We battle for about a month over the openness of your door at night, but now you are going to bed so peacefully and we are so thankful!  You look adorable in your sweet pink and purple butterfly room!

You were following Cay around the other day and he told you to go away.  (Now, when Cay follows Je-je I usually say...let him play with you...he loves you and wants to be with you.) So, when Cay told you to stop following him I died laughing when I heard you shout, "I LOVE YOU," in this pleading voice.  

I love you.

Jeopardy games with J

fun times this summer at our fav mtn lake! 

 I am embarrassed to confess, but feel it is worth recording for posterity that J and I have really competitive Jeopardy matches at home. We play where each person gets a point for each correct answer, no deductions for wrong shout outs (we are terrible so guesses are allowed), and then we can wager whatever on the daily doubles.  We sometimes fight and argue about who shouted out first, so I think we are going to get Wii Jeopardy for ourselves soon!  J gets all the ones that are common sense unless they are plays on words (I get some of those).  I am slow to get the catchy titles of the categories, and he reads ahead to beat me to the punch.  I have realized that I am not too quick on my feet and he can beat me to the answer.  Still, usually we have a close game with one person only winning by a point or two and it is usually funny.  I have stormed out of the room during our sessions, I must confess! 

Cay is ALWAYS fishing.

Skeeter catches a catfish! 

 I am embarrassed to confess, but feel it is worth recording for posterity that J and I have really competitive Jeopardy matches at home. We play where each person gets a point for each correct answer, no deductions for wrong shout outs (we are terrible so guesses are allowed), and then we can wager whatever on the daily doubles.  We sometimes fight and argue about who shouted out first, so I think we are going to get Wii Jeopardy for ourselves soon!  J gets all the ones that are common sense unless they are plays on words (I get some of those).  I am slow to get the catchy titles of the categories, and he reads ahead to beat me to the punch.  I have realized that I am not too quick on my feet and he can beat me to the answer.  Still, usually we have a close game with one person only winning by a point or two and it is usually funny.  I have stormed out of the room during our sessions, I must confess! 

Oh the joy of Cay!

 

This little doll never stops smiling. He lives for fishing.  He always has a gun...no longer calls them "a bun."  He eats quite adventurously.  He loves animals.  He brings me JOY.  He makes me laugh.  He thinks the strangest things are sooooo funny.  He plays by himself a lot.   He is in love with ONE girl and really thinks she is perfect and that he is going to marry her.  He always has a hat on at home: coon skin, camo, ball cap, cowboy hat.  He adores his daddy.  He says "Thanks for taking us ....."  He can swim like a fish, dive, do flips, and go to the bottom of 9 ft. at barely 4.  He keeps us in stitches.  The other day he and big bro were talking about their "balls" for some reason. Sister said she had those too and he said, "No, you have a pouch."  I THOUGHT I WOULD FALL OUT OF THE CAR.  You are growing up too fast and I can't wait to spend our last year together at home.

Millie and Cay

What other cat would allow this?

First summer swim 2012

Loves to fish at the creek with his minnow trap and nets.

He loves his pups.  Can you tell?

Wild Wonderful Washington by Ferry: North Cascades Pt V

 

I was totally enamored with the moss!  It was so pretty.  It was so thick on all the rocks it was like someone painted it on there to hide them. 

Ranier at Sunrise

There were LOADS of apple and pear farms and about as many wineries.

Wind power!

Winery From our ferry on Lake Chelan into the  heart of the North Cascades. 

Loved that this ONE ferry that comes daily in the summer but only MONTHLY during the rest of the year (only 90 folks live in this village of Stehekin in the Cascade Range) brings all their groceries and their mail! The mailman was the first to greet the ferry with his small cart.

Rainbow Falls

Wineries abound.

Love the teal Lakes!

I was so excited to see where my organic cereal is grown and packaged!

This is only the 2nd time I have seen a sea plane take off .  It looked like he was going to fly into the mountains, but he whipped it right around!