Motorcycle Chick....

Seriously?!?!
Annalise will so be a motorcycle chick!
She was VERY excited to have a chance to go sit on Jon's motorcycle.

And then Jon asked her if she wanted to rev the engine.

It was a nice visit with old friends.  The boys were all together again!
Thanks for playing Geoff, Robin and Jon!

Deja Vu.....

Once the weather got hot we put both pools up.
The little one was perfect for the slide.
I looked at the action outside and had a bit of a deja vu.
Same swimsuit.  Same slide.  Different little person.

Summer 2006:

Summer 2011:

Our girls are growing up so fast.
Sigh.

First Camping Trip of the Season...

We decided to try a new spot to camp with the Wood family.
Howard Miller Steelhead Park on the Skagit River. 

Turned out to be a great place!  The campground was beautiful.  Lots of grass, paved roads for bike riding (think Avery put about 100 miles on her bike!), an AWESOME playground and lots of cool little hiking trails.  Not to mention the sound of the river rushing by!

 It turned out to be a HOT 4th of July!  Yippee!!! :)
Mark and Jeff took a hike up into the mountains.  BEAUTIFUL!!!!



They even brought back a bucket of snow for the girls.

Jeff thought ahead and brought a sled in case we all went to find the snow.  And actually, you don't even need snow to enjoy a ride in the sled!  Hours of entertainment!!!! :)

Annalise and Allie had a great time playing together!!!

And Avery was such a great big sister!!!  She played/tolerated the girls so well!!!

It was a great way to start the camping season!!!

Bein' Brave

Our babysitter Breanna graduated from high school this year.
We were able to go to her and her boyfriend Austin's graduation party.
It was a great party filled with TONS of food and drinks, a big campfire and dirtbikes.

Annalise LOVED the dirtbikes.  In fact, she told Breanna's mom Brandi how much she liked them.
Brandi jumped right on it and asked her if she wanted to go for a ride.  Annalise was very much interested!!!!  She borrowed a helmet from Brandi's nephew and got to go on a very muddy ride with Breanna's brother Aaron.

What a sight it was.  This pretty little girlie girl in her flowery dress and pink sweatshirt, mud boots and a helmet so heavy she could barely keep her head upright in.





She was ready to go!!!!  With absolutely no hesitation, she jumped right on and they were off.
When they got back she was quick to let us know that when they got stuck in the mud she was a little scared, but she was "so brave with Aaron".



That was her "line" for the next few days.  "Remember when I went on the doodle bug ride with Aaron?  I was so brave with Aaron."

What a good sport Aaron was!! :)

Just A Mosquito Bite

So we went to a birthday party at Hovander Park in Ferndale.
Toward the end of the party, the mosquitoes started coming out and we noticed one biting Annalise's forehead. We got it mid-bite, but it swelled up pretty good.
In fact, this is right after it happened.  If you look close you can see it's a little swollen above her left eye.



The next day was Sunday.  WOW!!!

After our initial shock in the morning, throughout the day it looked like it was getting better.
We went to dinner with some friends and it seemed like it was starting to make her actual eyelid a little puffy.



Well....then this is poor Annalise when she woke up on Monday morning.



It took a good couple of days and a trip to the doctor for the thing to get back to normal.



Sheesh.  Guess the poor kid will be covered in bug spray and we'll carry Benadryl with us everywhere we go this summer.  
And we won't give her the 'ol "it's just a mosquito bite" line.

STRAWBERRIES!!!!!!

Maybe the colder weather was good for something.
Our strawberries in the backyard have gone CRAZY!!!!!
We've been getting about 2 or 3 of this size bowl each week!!!!

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
And I have a great strawberry-picking helper......

Definitely feels like summer is finally here!

Hands Across The Border

Avery's Girl Scout Troop participated in their second Hands Across the Border event.

 It's a day celebrating international friendship.  It's a fun event for the girls as they trade SWAPS (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere) that they've hand-made with other Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from the U.S. and Canada.  The Boy Scouts also attend this event, and they trade mostly patches.  There are THOUSANDS of people that attend.

This is Alice and her Mom.  Michelle is Avery's FABULOUS Girl Scout Troop leader.

We did a lot of swapping, had lunch and then got ready for the parade.

Last year we just watched the parade of troops through the Peace Arch.  This year, the girls marched!!  It was fun.  LOTS to see!!
Here they were getting lined up and ready to go....

It was another successful Girl Scout event.