Westport 2013

On the drive to wesport, the kids and I had a great time! We pulled over to watch a crop duster

dive right over our car.  Then we stopped at the Thorp Fruit Barn for some treats for the road.

 The Bishop reunion at Dans' rental house.

 On the trip, we realized Danissa had finally caught up to grandma! 

We checked the week previously and she wasn't QUITE there but now she is!!!

 Waiting for the boys to come in from the boat... We heard it was a bit rocky at sea that day...

Apricot Jam!

So far, we have done 14 jars of apricot jam.  I'm so excited to have gotten

this fruit for free.  It saves so much money to be able to do this and

I love to have the kids take part in the canning process.  Woo hoo!

Birthday

This year my birthday was spent at home hanging out with Mike and the kids.

We took a small break from our laziness to go to the movies, seeing Despicable Me 2.

Then we came home and resumed life as normal; I had a photo session,

Danissa had youth group and Mike went off to basketball.  All in a day!

The day following, my parents took us to Habachi Grill.  

That place knows how to do a birthday! ;) LOL

Grandpa Bob

Grandpa Bob passed away in his home on the evening of July 9th.

As he got older, our time with him became less and less but

we have great memories of him with the kids when they were small.

I'll always miss our late night card games and reminding him

what an old geezer he was.  He always had

a great sense of humor.  Love you Grandpa Bob!

Spoiled Pup

This puppy is loved and spoiled! She's getting nibbles

of Chezney's cereal while tucked in with a blanket on her lap... oh brother!

Marathon for Burundi

Danissa was invited to do a 5 mile marathon to benefit widows in Burundi with

grandpa Steve. They walked the whole thing but it was at least 95 degrees and I'm 

proud of them for finishing! =)

Pybus

We have spent a few saturday mornings down at the new Pybus Public Market now.  We love the fresh produce from the farmers market; grabbing a cinnamon roll and coffee isn't half bad, either! Today we had some yummy homemade salsa from the produce, walked around the pybus and...

ran into a "movie prop".  The kids wished they were "BIG" =)

And... We Have Tadpoles....

Cohen-isms

We pulled over to a rest stop for Cohen to use the bathroom.  All four kids go in while I wait in the car. All four kids come out and Cohen says "Those bathrooms are REALLY clean!! The only thing that would make them better is if they were full of ladybugs... or at least some caterpillars!"

Watching "Akeelah and the Bee" Cohen starts singing "I haaaave logorrhea.... I have logorrhea... IIIIIII have logorrhea..."  

Last time we watched this movie, he kept saying "Xanthosis starts with an x!"

Just now he walks in asking "Can I feed my tadpoles some of my popsicle?!"

Fourth of July

On the Fourth of July we headed up to Ephrata to spend the afternoon/evening

with the Riggs family and their other friends.  It was a bit windy so

we weren't sure if we were going to actually be able to let the fireworks off but

with some tentative mothers hovering, the men set them off without a hitch.

Fresh Air and Cool Water

I wanted to get out and do something a little different today so 

we headed up to Nason Creek for a bit of fresh forest air.

Then we moved along to Lake Wenatchee State Park.

The kids had a great time and it was a nice change of scenery.

It also snapped the kids out of summer fighting for a bit ;)

Pool Party

As temperatures reached 104 today, I desperately went to 4 different stores looking 

for a pool that would be bigger than a kiddy pool and smaller than something

that would require filters and such.  This is what we came up with. 

When full, it's 30" deep, but even with only about 5" of water, we had 9 

neighborhood kids scrambling to get into it. =)

Hoopfest 2013

Mike went to hoopfest again this year and I was finally invited!

They went 2-0 losing their first games but came back

to be champions of the consolation bracket.

Saturday it was supposed to be warm and sunny. 

We ended up waking up to a monstrous thunder storm

and a monsoon of on again/ off again rain.  

Day 2 was HOT and HUMID... but we still had a lot of fun!