Water Balloon Fight

This summer Holly got her first real container of water balloons... a huge container! So, whenever the sun appears and it is remotely warm she begs and pleads to have a water balloon fight. Here are some photos of her and Bryan enjoying some water fun. The funny part is that she is popping them as quickly as Bryan can fill them up. I am thinking next year we'll have to designate buckets and pre-make them, then play. She had a blast and that is what matters... oh, and she won!
Okay, so it got a bit one sided.... Poor Daddy!

Brewing

A couple weeks ago Hawk came over for the weekend to visit and the boys brewed some home brew. This brew is a bit special because it is with hops they both grew... very cool! Byran is now on a mission to really improve the growth of his hops for next season - I think we will end up relocating them to a new place in the yard and they'll receive a lot more TLC.

Here are some fun shots of their brewing day.

First Place

Yesterday we ventured out to the Puyallup Fair for our annual family outing... and had a great time! Bryan took a half day so that we could fully take advantage of the fair, rides and all the other goodies that go with it. Holly was a trooper and made it from around 1:00pm till about 9:00pm - with no complaints or anything! Of course she fell asleep before we even made it home and for those that know... we live about one mile from the fair, I'd say she was exhausted!

The highlight of our visit to the fair though was checking in on Bryan & Hawk's brew entry. They have once again taken first place of their division. I'd say these two are pretty darn good brewers! Bryan seemed a little bummed he didn't win the grand prize, but they won first and best in show for their category - nothing to balk at in my mind! They are pretty proud!

Good Job guys, you deserve it!

Busy Times...

This poor blog has had some neglect lately, like a forgotten closet that still needs to be cleaned out. It's always in the back of my mind, I'll get to it tomorrow... and then tomorrow passes - still a cluttered closet.

So, I am here to share... we are here! Life is good, really good - Just busy! I have barely picked up my camera even, which is bad. However, I think things are slowing down a bit again and I will be able to resume my normal blogging and sharing of our life's tidbits that happen each week.

In the mean time we have been enjoying family time, out of town visitors, illnesses, house preparations, purging of stuff, planning a garage sale, working with an architect on house designs, doctor appointments, work schedules and more.... busy I tell ya!

Maratime Fest

Every year we head down to enjoy our local Maratime Fest event and it is always a lot of fun, this year was no exception! I enjoy how each year the organizers do things just a bit different so it doesn't feel like a complete repeat of last years festivities.

The weather started our gray and drizzly, which kept us debating if we should even head out or not. Finally, I said... what better weather to enjoy a 'Maratime' activity then in a heavy drizzly gray morning. I think the weather added to the event and the captured moments of pirates crossing our path. It kept the morning particularly interesting and dreary - a great northwest morning!

We enjoyed the docks and boat tours, watching and cheering on the Dragon Boat races, building in the sand next to a real sand sculpture artist and many other sites and sounds. Afterwards we headed over to Freighthouse Square for a nice family lunch together - a fun place because we all tend to choose a variety of foods and share... a nice way to dine!

Lego Fun

Holly received Lego's on her birthday, 'big kid' Lego's she calls them. Whenever she can get a chance to involve Daddy or Mommy in Lego building she will! She has become quiet skilled already for the small time frame she has been using Lego's. They are such fun toys that offer so much imaginative play and creative process.... a favorite in our house for sure! I see more Lego's in our future!

Staircase Camping... Annual camping trip

Each summer for the past several summers we have headed out on a five day camping trip with friends and family! The group sometimes changes but the fun stays the same. This year we headed up to a family favorite, Staircase in the Olympic National Park. I grew up camping here and have several fond memories from this park. It rarely changes... however this past winter Staircase took a pretty big blow from storm damage and there are definitely changes. The river campsites are gone, washed away. The few swim holes throughout the park are gone, either filled with sediment and debris or to changed due to massive boulders and trees being shifted. Pretty major changes... but that being said, this is still a beautiful area and it really offers a great camping time!

This year we had several kiddos with us, five kiddos between the ages of three and six. They had the most amazing time together -- playing from morning till the week hours of darkness. For the most part they were covered in dirt from head to toe the entire time but full of smiles, grand ideas and more nature time than most kids get in an entire year.

The week was also filled with great cooking. I remember a day when our camping weekends were filled with deli sandwiches and hot dogs. However, now that the men have discovered the joys of dutch oven cooking - we are pretty gourmet for the most part. We all seemed to share in the meals as you just had to try out what the others were having. My favorite by far was the chicken and cream cheese rolls created by our friends... we will be having those for dinner again one night this week!

There were some basic hikes taken, massive hard hike taken by the guys, water play galore and games to be enjoyed - we have all mastered the old time game of Canasta. Overall it was a wonderful weekend and I am really looking forward to next years adventure!

Thanks for the memories everyone....