Goodbye June - Hello July!

Wow...time flies when you are having fun.  Seemed like just the other day the kids got out of school and we had the whole month of June in front of us.  Now we are past the 4th of July, summer has officially kicked into high gear and we are just a few weeks away from August!  Yikes!

June marked the end of a couple things.  First, another awesome school year.  Maddie finished the year with straight A's all 4 quarters.  Steph and I are thankful for both Maddie's desire to learn and for her awesome teachers at Hope.  We are also puzzled on where she gets it!!  Kenzie officially graduated from Pre-School and is ready as ever for Kindergarten.  She has a huge heart and love helping out whenever and whereever she can.  Prediction for Kenzie's profession was a teacher and we can believe it.  The other end, was Mike's 10 year long run with Daptiv.  He bloged about it on his new blog (http://mikejensen.posterous.com/) and is taking it all in stride. Daptiv was a great place for him to get a ton of experience and he is excited about finding that next challenge.  It couldnt have come at a better time with the summer in front of us and opportunity to be with all the girls a little more.  He is actively networking and meeting a lot of great people so we are excited about what might be next.

In June we also went on a group camping trip with a bunch of friends.  The same group where we have always had some kind of "run in" on our adventures.  One time it was a huge rainstorm the day we arrived...the next time it was an ER trip after a knife/carving incident.  This time, no major injuries, but the weather got us again.  First night was great...second night was OK...but the next morning..the morning we were packing up and heading home..DOWNPOUR!  Either way, it was a ton of fun with great friends.  Later in June we also had the chance to hang out with the Lakewood Jensens who were up for their annual NW visit.  We packed the days with fun times, and the kids loved every minute of it.  I think all the cousins were up early every morning asking what was next.  Our highlight was probably the Lincoln Park trip where the kids played on the ZIP line, worked on a little curve ball with Ben and enjoyed the swing set.  Always great to see and hang out with family and the cousins!

As we moved into July, we hit July 4th weekend.  Fingers were crossed that we would get some great weather for a change, but that was about 3 days late (just wrapped up some 90 degree heat).  Either way we made the best of our time.  Friday night we had dinner with Jenn and Tracy who were staying down at Hood Canal.  It was a great time to catch up and make some smores. Saturday was the big Tahuya Parade.  A parade where anyone that really wants to, can be in the parade.  Usually some great "floats" that make us all chuckle. 

There are hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, etc...An all American experience.  It was great to have the Doerrs and the Millers there with us...so along with all our family we had almost an entire block of chairs saved on the parade route. 

That night was a prelude to the Fireworks show for the 4th.  When the 4th came, it was GO TIME....The folks on Maggie Lake spare no expense and really do it right.  2 1/2 hours of non-stop fireworks...and BIG stuff..no roman candles and sparklers...big stuff like Lake Union stuff.  Anyway, it was a great show, and a great time.  The girls even got a chance to get in the water...Weather didnt stop them!

Whew...so here we are.  Post West Seattle Summer Fest (aka Sidewalk sale) and in mid-July.  More family coming to town in the next couple weeks and then we are on the home stretch for back to school in August.  Let's not get there too fast!

Watch out Golden...Here come the Landskovs

We knew this day was coming, but goodbye is never easy.  Today we said our final goodbye to the Landskov family, great friends that are moving to Golden, CO.  We have grown close to these guys over the years, especially since Luke and KK are 1 week apart.  They have developed a special little bond while growing up together.  So, aside from the Moms and Dads struggling and sheding a tear (or two), it was tough to see KK start to cry as she said bye to her little buddy.  We plan to stay in close contact with the Landskov, and although this goodbye was tough, we are anxious to see them again soon.   We snapped this quick photo before we took off

Good luck Landskovs...we love you guys!

Memorial Day Weekend

Better late than never, but wanted to recap our memorial day weekend trip to the cabin.  We got a little later of a start since Maddie had a softball game on Friday, but it actually worked out well.  We grabbed the early morning ferry and were up to the cabin by mid morning.  It was a a mini-garage sale weekend, so while the crew was in the garage trying to move some high quality merchandise, I decided to take advantage of no rain, and headed out onto the lake to fish.  My "vessel" of choice was the paddle boat.

I was surprised that no one else was out there, and the fish must have been hungry, because they were biting!

Then later in the afternoon, Steph, Maddie KK and I headed back out in the boat...and luckily the fish were still biting.  By catching some fish, we had the opportunity to feed the resident eagles..yes feed the eagles.  You have to check out the video below where the eagle swooped down to gobble up the fish we threw out there.  This was actually the 2nd of 3 times we were able to do this.  It was awesome to witness, and something we will never forget.  The kids are still talking about it.




We wrapped up the only sunny day we had with a fire at the fire pit...Good times!

The San Francisco Treat

Last week, we took advantage of a business trip to San Francisco to pack up the family for a short mini-vacation.  While Mike was in meetings for a conference, Steph and the girls toured the great town of San Francisco with rides on the cable cars, a stroll on fisherman's wharf, a visit to the wax museum, etc.  They had 1 1/2 days to wander the town and see the sights.  Luckily the weather held out...it was actually nicer in Seattle the few days we were there.

After the conference was over, we all packed up and headed down to San Jose to visit The Perrys.  It just so happened to be Haas' 3rd birthday party, so we couldnt resist the opportunity to stop in and celebrate.  Stacey and Ryan threw a great "Garbage" themed party for about a dozen other kids... garbage was littered in the backyard, kids picked it all up (ok, most if it) there was a garbage truck cake and garbage bag races.  One of the highlights for Maddie was that she was able to read the stinky story to all the kids...she did an awesome job, and many of the parents were wondering if she could do story time next weekend too!  We had an awesome time (like always) and cant wait for the next time we can get together.

Maddie Turns 9!

This past weekend we celebrated Maddie's 9th birthday.  Like everyone knows, these birthdays are not just one day, rather they stretch out over many day..but hey, isn't that how you'd want it too!  Things going rolling on Friday when she brought home her report card.....straight A's for the 3rd straight QTR!!!!  Nice Job Kid.

We kicked things off on Saturday evening with a visit to old faithful, The Spaghetti Factory.  Maddie has always loved this place (just like her mommy and auntie) so we got all the grandparents, and even great grandparent down there to celebrate.

On Sunday, we had a bowling party with Maddie and 15 other 8/9 year old girls!!  Wow.  The girls did great, and a fun time with it all.  2hr of bowling, homemade cupcakes from mom and sherbert ice cream...doesnt get any better than that!

Sunday night we met up with our friends; Jenn and Glenn and their two boys Owen and Ian.  It was like 70 degrees so we headed to the beach.  Although it technically wasnt another celebration of just her birthday, we had a great time playing on the swings, slides, and the whale.

Finally, on Monday, her actual birthday, Maddie had fun filled day.  It started with a class field trip to the aquarium, planned I'm sure just for her birthday :-)...then later a ride on the Water Taxi to another favorite spot of hers, Red Robin.  I think she likes all the attention and people singing to her!

We are very blessed to have such a great little girl.  She has always been positive and we love that about her and love celebrating her birthday.  Happy Birthday Binks!

Spring Break Recap

Last week we had that chance to get a few days out of town with our good friends the Doerrs.  In a last minute thought, I got a hold of Roslyn Properties and they had this house for rent at Suncadia.  4 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, game room, etc.  Sounds like the perfect option for us.  As luck would have it, the weather decided to act up.  The night before we left, about 4 in of snow fell in the mountains, and in the morning tractions tires were required to get over the pass.  We had to google what a "traction tire" is to see if we had them and if we needed to get some chains.  As we pulled away from West Seattle, we had decided to make a pit stop in North Bend, and good thing, because I-90 had just closed!  oh boy, here we go.  By the time we got to North Bend, the pass had re-opened, and the snow had stopped...but as we looked over to the west a storm was looming so we decided to get going.

Our drive over the pass was pretty uneventful, with the exception of having to stop to fix our windshield wiper, which was literally barely hanging on.  We rolled into Suncadia and found the house.  It was exactly what we expected, and started to settle in.

A little light snow started to fall so we decided to head into town for some "supplies"...and by the time we got back to the house, there was a legit 1-2 inches of snow on the ground.  The kids immediately threw on their snow gear (which was a last minute add to the list) and headed out to the golf course.  The house was about 20 yds from the 4th hole, and a nice small slope..the whole 4th fairway was quickly covered and the kids got to work on their snowman!

By the AM, we had a good 4-5 inches on the ground, with some steady flurries....The kids headed outside right after breakfast and we played for HOURS.  By early afternoon, the sun came out and we had a giant snowball fight before all the snow started melting away.  With the sun out we headed out on a drive up to Lake Cle Elum and along the way we came across a heard of Elk feeding on the hillside.  Our car missed them on the way up, but we snapped a few pics on the way back...pretty cool to see.

For dinner that night we headed to one of our long time favorite spots, Village Pizza in Roslyn.  We used to always go there when we went rafting on the Yakima river.  They are famous for having Trivial Pursuit cards all over, and more importantly honey for the pizza crust.  We wrapped up the day by checking out the Suncadia lodge, which was also pretty cool.  By that time, almost all the snow was gone, and the views were pretty amazing.  This is a shot of the Cle Elum river from the back side of the Suncadia lodge...I started to get the itch to grab a fly rod and go fishing!

The next morning we had to up and out pretty early, but we had a small little delay when the power went out about 7am.  We headed into town for a nice small town breakfast, then packed up and headed out.  On the way home we stopped by Snoqualmie falls for a quick visit.  Unfortunately there had been an incident with a lot of search and recovery activity, so we couldn't see a lot, but we got a couple pics of the amazing falls.  An awesome couple days with great friend and family for Spring break.

Easter Beach Trip

This weekend we set off on our annual trip to Gearhart, OR for Easter.  Always a great time to get away, visit the coast, see friends, and of celebrate Easter.  With the coast, you never quite know what kind of weather you will run into...could be sunny (one time it was like 80), could be (likely is) rainy, and for the first time this year, it was COLD.  By Maddie's account it hailed 11 different times! Here is a look at the kind of storms that rolled in often.

 I actually threw a hail ball at Maddie!  Even with all the cold and hail and rain, we made our typical walk into "town" for coffee and goodies.

After a visit into Seaside to the arcade for some skee ball, we figured we HAD to make a trip to the beach some how, some way...so we drove onto it. There are a couple spots where cars are allowed, so we tried our luck and made it to the beach..luckily we didnt get stuck :-)

Like always, a great trip.  This is fun area to come to and the kids love it...wish we could actually come down here more.  Actually, there is a nice 5 bd, 2 bath house for sale right across from where we stay...just a cool 1.6M..anyone???

HAPPY EASTER!!!