Summer fun at the lake!

We got home from Mexico, had one day to wash clothes and pack up and then headed to Washington the next day.  It was a lot of car time in a short time but we survived!
The summer was filled with the usual, tubing, knee boarding, party boating, hiking, bbq'ing and relaxing!

 He is looking really old!

Lummi
We celebrated Ainsley and Khalif's birthdays

 They saw some jellyfish this year

We had a little rowboat adventure to see the seals/sea lions on the rock and they all jumped in right as we got close and then they swam over to us and got a little too close.  Grandma walked the shore to make sure we weren't sinking because we had a little problem with the boat taking in water (just had to tighten the plug) and its good she did because the girls didn't want to brave the water with the seals so close, so they all walked back and I rowed (against the wind-it was good they weren't in the boat because it was quite a work-out!). 

Washington does allcomers track meets that you can sign up for on a weekly basis and we thought it would be fun to sign up the kids.  Ainsley was really the only one who wanted to do it, but I'm all about experiencing life, so they all signed up.  They even did a relay!
Ainsley broke their record in the 50....I guess she really is fast (her PE teacher tells me all the time, but I didn't really think it was true!).  I don't think Ainsley will be a high jumper unless she has some serious coaching.  It was great that they got to try jumping, running, shot putting and relays.

Khalif improved so much in the long jump.  He ran the hurdles and did a couple races and rocked it.  He's got some wheels too!

Reggie did the relay but the file was too big to upload.  He also did the shot put....doesn't he look so excited!

We painted rocks at the fire hall:

We went to Funko...the kids got to hang with the twins quite a bit this summer :)

Kneeboarding
Reggie really got the bug after watching me go kneeboarding.  He started to practice turning around and it wasn't long until he mastered it!  Then Ryan and I went and stood up, so that was his next goal and he figured that out too.  Ainsley decided she wanted part of the actions so she also figured out how to do both, but she had the cheater board when standing up (you can hook the rope on it).  It was fun to see them push themselves.  Khalif went straight and that was great for him!

We still got it!

Ryan also had his team party at the lake and that was fun to torture them on the tubes.  We also played a volleyball game or two and had a lot of fun watching Justin dive for the ball.
 Had to set off the cannon....there's something about guys and explosives.  I'm pretty sure they all thought their boss was crazy!

Birthdays

We had a little too much excitement during Ryan's birthday dinner.  We were just about to sit down and Liha noticed smoke billowing up over by the point.  She took off for the jetski (I don't think I've ever seen her run that fast) to see what was going on.  We were looking in that area and all of the sudden we saw a tree light up and flames shoot very high in the air.  That's when we knew there was a big problem, so we all loaded in the boat to see what was happening.  Unfortunately, someone was BBQ'ing on their deck and the tank hose had a leak and flames immediately caught the house on fire.  It all happened so fast and sadly there was nothing left, but it was a miracle that no other cabins were consumed....the wind was blowing ever so slightly out toward the water.  God is good!

 Lots of people out watching.  A party boat used their hose and the fly jet ski guy used his system to help extinguish the fire and likely saved the neighbors house!

Peggy visit

I'm not sure why, but Peggy thought it would be fun to drive back to California with us!  It was actually a pretty quick drive, but all day in a car is no fun, especially when the kids can't agree on what to listen to.
I had made a lot of appointment to get the kids ready for school, so her visit wasn't all that exciting since we couldn't go too far, but we did manage to do a lot in Livermore.
Playing Bocce ball at Campo Di Bocce

 Outdoor concert by the Bankhead.  The songs were great for us older folks but the kids were bored and wanted to go.  Ryan had to fly back to Seattle, so he missed our outing to Sweet Tomatoes on Ainsley's birthday and the concert.

 Peggy had a milestone birthday while she was in town....the big 60!!!  We did paint night and it was actually a really hard painting to do, but I think ours turned out pretty good.  It was also incredibly hot the whole week, but she did o.k. out in the Casita with no air conditioning.

 We also went wine tasting, another first for Peggy.  Not sure she is a wine drinker, but at least she knows she prefers the white over the red.  We split flights and it worked out great because I prefer reds!  Thank you Ryan for being our driver :)

 That's something you don't see everyday!

Summer fun!

I'm finally getting to the one posting I missed last year.  I had to go through about 1000 pictures from our Mexico trip and that was not a task I was wanting to do. 
It was an amazing experience to go on the mission trip to Ensenada and we had a little fun on the way.  On our drive down, we stopped at IFly so Ainsley could finally use her Chrismas gift.  That was lots of fun to watch and someday, I think I would like to do it.  She really enjoyed it! 

A little squirly initially:

She figured it out pretty good by the end:

From there we went to Solvange, CA (also known as the little Denmark) and spent a night there.  The kids had some pool time and we explored the town.  It really felt like we were in a different country!

We stopped in Santa Barbara for lunch and played a little volleyball before heading to Aunt Jeanne's for dinner.  Traffic was terrible but we finally made it and it was fun to see there place and get the tour of their community...so cute!  We stayed in Balboa Park and didn't think through things all that well, but it worked out!  Ryan needed his car for work, so we had to hoof it everywhere we went, so the location of the Worldmark was great....less than a mile from all the museums which we probably would've never gone to otherwise and it ended up being a lot of fun.  We hit the Air and Space museum, Natural history museum, Fleet science center, and Railroad museum. 

 Virtual pilots

After that we went to the beach, even though the weather wasn't so great.  Khalif and Ainsley spent a lot of time in the water and Ryan and Reggie played football. 

I spotted some dolphins super close to shore and that was quite exciting!!!

The next day we met our team of about 40 and boarded the bus to head to Ensenada.  Thankfully, there were a couple other families with kids and Reggie's good buddy, David, so it didn't take long for them to branch out.  We had no idea what to expect and we were pleasantly surprised.  We pulled off the main road and there was a very run down and half exposed hotel and I told Ainsley that is where we were staying and it turned out that we were!  But, part of it was finished and very lovely.  Our room was huge and the food was amazing. 

We did have to get used to not flushing the toilet paper!  It was the first time in a long time that the kids had no devices and the first time ever that Ryan didn't have his phone or computer!  Ryan thought it would be more difficult to be without work but quickly relaxed because he had no connection.  It was amazing!  He thoroughly enjoyed it and we were busy with group sessions and building the house, so I don't think he missed it at all.  It took Reggie a bit to settle in, but he finally stopped asking for my phone.  I didn't realize we were going to have speakers and reflection time and team building activities.  It was awesome and Khalif asked Jesus into his heart!!!!

We jumped right in and Ryan and the kids did a skit for a local church on Sunday and I gave my testimony (our group leader was very adamant about us getting out of our comfort zones!).  We were all stretched a bit...

 Practicing the skit

The next day, I went to an amazing medical facility that we were helping get ready for its grand opening.  Such inspiring stories about how it all came together to support this community that was in desperate need of medical and dental care.  Siloe is going to bless a lot of people! 

While I was there, Ryan and the kids were building.  Well, Ryan and Reggie were building and the other 2 were playing with local kids and the family puppy. 
This is the family and the home they live in:

 Lots of tears from Ainsley when we said goodbye

 2nd bedroom

 What an amazing thing to be part of.  It was so cool to change this families life.  I didn't even know they made a propane stove...what a great invention for this type of need.

Praying over the family and sharing our good wishes for them.

After we finished the home build, we visited an orphanage and did some work and played with the kids.  Those kids were extremely lucky to be at that facility.  It was beautiful and they had lots of activities, schooling and were very well taken care of.  The other half of the group ended up at a not so nice orphanage and they were disturbed by their experience, so I'm grateful we went where we did.

The kids will remember this trip always.