Hooray for Haircuts

After about 5 years of hair in the eyes and whining by mom, Nate decided on his own to get his hair cut this week. I think it looks great and he's getting used to it. He's loving being a big senior and just got a job lifeguarding at the aquatic center. Life is good. He gave me permission to put his picture up here and in fact insisted on many posed shots. So here's couple for you. And here's the even better news - his hats don't fit anymore!

Flying away

Since we've moved on from "front door" pictures for the first day of school, I think I'll do pictures of my kids at the airport as they fly away to one destination after another. Today Elizabeth departed for Korea again. It was great to have her here and share some "girl time", but I know she is very excited to begin her new job. She's looking forward to new challenges and more travel and perhaps a ride on a yak in Mongolia! Happy trails, Elizabeth!

Last First Day

Today was a momentous day at our house - we took our last "first day of school" picture. Here's youngest son's first day of kindergarten and first day of senior year of high school.

I've always enjoyed the start of the school year. My mom verified that this week when she told me I always loved the first day of school.

To me it is more like New Years Day - a new beginning and much to look forward to.

I even loved it when my kids went off to school the first day- new challenges for them and back on a schedule for all of us. Every September we take a picture in front of our front door.

We have an amazing collection of these shots that measure size by the door frame and fashion by the outfits. I might feel a twinge of sadness today, not for Nate to be off to school but an end to an era and an end to the fight with mom over "why do we always have to take a picture?"

Raspberry Season Continues

The second crop of raspberries is beginning at our house. Let me know if you'd like some!

Happy Birthday, Lori!

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday! Here she is with some of her favorite neices and nephews. Have a great day, Lori!

Hiking

On Sunday, when the heat in the valley finally let up and the relatives headed home, Nathan wanted to go for a hike. We headed to Beazell Memorial Forest, a pleasant half hour drive south. We've been there several times before and it's just a nice peaceful place. We found a new loop trail and a cute gazebo, both added since our last time there. It was very green and cool and it was nice to move around after the heat that had left us motionless. The new loop trail has several cute bridges. Lucy had a great time, too. Here's my companions:

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

Today is one of my niece's birthdays. Here we are 36 years ago. You can do the math and figure out which significant birthday it is for her. Now she's all grown up and even lives in my town and is a teriffic mom to three cute boys. I got to celebrate with her this weekend and we had a great time. Here's to you, Lisa!

Family Fun

I thought I better post before I lose all my (2) loyal readers. This weekend was the annual family reunion par-tay! Some of us hiked to Niagra Falls, sporting our purple bandanas.

Some of us goofed around on the beach.

And some of us hardly moved. Bonus points for you if you can identify the buns!

P.S. - I love my family! Thanks for being there, guys!

Home Again

We are back from sailing. We had a glorious week- great weather, great company, beautiful places, and fun sailing. It's hot in the valley and summer is here. Here's what we came home to and a view of the OUTSIDE of the kitchen. Hurrah for roses and honeysuckle and a very tired dog after a week at the kennel!

We got Crabs!

Hello today from Coupeville, Washington from the "Local Grown" store providing internet access. We continue to have a great time sailing and have had terrific weather. Thursday we went from Port Townsend to Langley, on Whidbey Island. We did a lot of motoring as the wind was not blowing the right way. When we got to the docks, there were boats coming in with live crabs, from a short (50 hour) crab season. We did some trading and got 2 live crabs which we cooked and ate. We also found another ice cream store with internet access.

Here's our boat at Langley with a local heron visitor:

Today we sailed from Langley to Coupeville. The sailing was great and we all had turns at the helm. We got in to Coupeville in time to explore the shops and relax. We'll post pictures of Coupeville later. Tomorrow we start back toward Seattle.