Last Days of Summer

It was back home and back to the reality of school starting soon.

I needed to get my things unpacked in my new classroom!

I made a huge LEAP and transferred to Skyline after 15 years at Central!

Still teaching 4th grade, and best of all, I'll get to see Annalise at school each day!

It was a good time for a change!

Although I'll really miss some things about Central....

especially these two...(yes...this was there to greet me on the first day!!) 

Lots of hours unpacking and setting up a new classroom....

thankfully Avery's friends thought it was fun!  They were good helpers.

There was also some back to school shopping to do!

Look what we found at the mall in Burlington.....

 Annalise thought it was the greatest thing ever!!!

We even convinced Avery to give it a try!

 

Drew invited Mark and Annalise to go crabbing for a day.

They were super excited!!!!!

And the payoff was pretty awesome, too!

Ahhhh.....it was an amazing and crazy busy summer.

Guess now it's back to reality.

100 Years of Camp Reed

After having the girls at Camp Reed this summer,
they were almost as excited as Flea and I to go back for the 100 year reunion.
It started with a "grown up" night on Friday.
It was at the Manito Country Club.
It was so smoky out because of wildfires and we were worried that the air quality
might put a damper on Saturday's Family Day out at Camp.

It was super fun to see GENERATIONS of camp counselors on Friday night.
Counselors that Mark and I had as kids, and then having campers that had us as counselors approach us and tell us their stories of becoming counselors themselves.
Everyone got their STAFF shirts.  Color-coded by which camp director hired you.
We couldn't wait until the next day.....
the weather held and we were all super excited to go and spend the day at Camp!

We hung with Guac, Carisa, Emera and Skyla for the day which was awesome....along with TONS of old camp friends.  I am happy to report that camp is still "THE BEST!  Yesssssss!!!"

 We toured the camp, including all of our old cabins (looking for name tags), etc.

The girls all thought it was awesome they could go in the staff lounge!!!!

There was a turtle hunt.
I wish I had been brave enough to take a camera/phone out on the water.
It was AWESOME!!!!!!!
We ended up having to split up into two boats...Avery and Emera came with Mark and I...Annalise and Skyla went with Guac and Carisa.
A picture of one of the boats made it into the paper the next day!!!

Again....wish I had the pictures of Avery and Annalise as they jumped in to the Mushy Pancake hoping to come up with a turtle! They were completely covered in slime....smelling horribly.....
and smiling from ear to ear!!!  It was the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to hang out and catch up at dinner....

After all of the boating and swimming excitement, there was a CAMPFIRE!!!
So. Much. Fun.
Generations of songs....songs from our time as campers, junior counselors, counselors and Avery and Annalise as current campers.  Wow.

One of the greatest blasts from the past....Jockey and Ducky.....a classic skit.....Goon!!!!

A banana?  A bandana?
This never gets old.  Even the girls couldn't stop giggling.

A coming together of past and present.

There is one thing that hasn't changed.....
Camp Reed continues to change lives and create lifelong memories.
It's the BEST!!!!!!

Spokane

We headed back over to Spokane to spend some time with the cousins who weren't there 

while we were in July and to attend Camp Reed's 100 Year Celebration!

 
The girls always love having time together....
the 'bigs' love to bake!

The 'littles' love to TALK!

 

And everyone loves trampoline time!

There was even a hurricane simulator .
All the girls got in and got BLOWN away!

 

And it's especially good for the grown ups to have some family time!
Does the heart good.....

Time At Home

We don't have much time at home during the summer.

So when we are here, we try to pack it all in!

Time with friends for the girls is always a top priority!!!!

We got to have Ella for a sleepover....

Annalise got invited to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle with her buddy Calli....

Avery had a day at the water slides with her friends....

And we were sure to get some Whatcom county raspberries to make some jam stock the freezer!

It went pretty quick and then it was off on the next summer adventure!