Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan took off his birthday from work Friday (the only day he took off this summer) and we had a really nice day, filled with activities.
We went geocaching (treasure hunting) that morning and found the 2nd and 3rd ones at the lake.  We went a few weeks ago to find the one Uncle Wade hid and had to get grandpa to help us!  We felt pretty good to be able to find the other 2 by ourselves.

We soaked up a little sun and then headed to see Chuck, the bee man.  He gave us a nice lesson on bees and showed us his two "hives".  The kids kept their distance since I got stung right when we got there!  I had forgotten how bad it hurts :o(.  Glad it was me and not them.  The bee man was a little shocked since they don't usually sting, but it landed on my foot and the dog went after it, so lucky me.  I was given an Epipen in 5th grade because they thought I was allergic and Reggie was very worried about me...what a sweet boy he is :o).  After our lesson, we went to his workshop and got to taste some honey.  It was minty and tasty.

 Suiting up

Honey!

We had a nice dinner after that and headed to Skagit Speedway to enjoy the sprint car races!  Ryan has been taking Reggie for the past couple years, but we were lucky enough to get tickets from Mike Shelley, so we all got to go.  It has been years since I've been there and I had forgotten how loud and fast they are.  It was a beautiful night and we had lots of exciting crashes and everyone had a great time despite the dirt/dust being thrown in our eyes.

 Grandma even captured the car in the background!

It was a really fun filled day and I'm glad we got to have a special day with Ryan.  He really is such a great husband and dad.  Reggie stole Ryan's hat and Ainsley ended up with his sunglasses...he would do anything to make his kids happy :o).  And even when he's tired, he'll play take out and help me with the mundane tasks around the house or rub my shoulders if I have a headache.  I am blessed to have him as my partner :o).

Birthdays, birthdays and more birthdays!!!

Ainsley and Khalif have been spoiled with party after party!  Since we are leaving earlier this year, we decided not to do a party for Ainsley, so we've combined the birthday celebrations :o).
We started the festivities at Lummi and made our usual rounds, looking for sea glass, baby crabs, starfish, cool rocks and any other treasure the kids could find.  We stayed 2 nights this time and everyone was very tired the second night!  Here's some pictures of our fun....

 Dancing in their fancy silk nighties that grandma got for them.

 Enjoying cake!

 Notice the butterfly on Reggie's hand.  They tried to save it, but since it had fallen in the water, there was little hope and it died the next day :o(.

 Searching for crabs...

The next celebration was at Uncle Anthony's and Uncle Dustin's.  We have been able to see them a few times this summer and it is amazing how much Easton has grown!  Ainsley was warming up to him and it was fun to see.

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Happy Birthday K!

Can you guess who's sunglasses???

I think K was starting to wonder if the day of his actual birthday would ever come!  We started his festivities in June before we left and then had 2 more celebrations here in Washington and when the day finally came, there was a look of amazement....he was so super excited to be 5!  He made it well known that it was his birthday and he could do whatever he wanted!
We love K for lots of reasons:
He keeps us on our toes
He is very intelligent and we have some fun conversations
He is full of life and his face lights up when he smiles
He is full of love
He is very helpful
He is a loving brother
He is a huge Seahawk fan
He is aggressive in take-out....Ryan is hoping he will wrestle some day
He seems so much older than 5, the mature things he says (like it is a figure of speech) and does (playing games like UNO and Pokemon with Reggie and building lego's).  He keeps up with the older kids for sure!
We hope this year brings K some permanency, finally!
Height: 39 3/4
Weight: 35 lbs

4th of July weekend

Our reunion festivities started the morning of the 4th of July.  Our class was in the Sedro-Woolley parade and we had a really good turn-out.  We were near the end of the parade which gave us some time to catch up with old classmates.  Grandma Peggy, Uncle Dustin and Easton were with the kids, but they thought the parade was boring, lots of trucks and horses.  Ainsley said the best part was seeing us (so you know it wasn't that exciting!).  Ryan handed out candy to all the kids and got in a water fight with Justin Melton that turned into a wrestling match.  It was pretty comical and I'm glad no one got hurt.  Of course, everyone cheered for them :o).
Tired out after the parade:

 We headed up to the lake to spend the afternoon with friends and family and the weather was beautiful.  Ryan went up with the kids and blew off some tanks and spinners, but then the clouds rolled in and it got a little chilly and then rained around 6.  That was enough to send almost everyone home.  Ryan's friend, Russ was just arriving and our high school friends, Jeff and Katie, came with their 2 week old!  How brave are they??!!  Ainsley stopped everything and just looked at the baby.  When she was done eating, she and Cadia held little Olivia and they were in heaven :o).  The kids were really tired and wanted to go to bed, so up they went and we watched fireworks from the deck for a bit.  I have to say, I was really tired too.  We didn't venture out on the party boat, but Aunt Sue said the show was fabulous.  Maybe next year.

Video of the canon:

The next day we had our class of '94 dinner at a winery in Lyman (I think).  We went over to Tisha and Alden's cabin beforehand to visit and that was great.  Both Ryan and I wanted to try to talk with everyone, so having a little more time really allowed us to make the rounds.  There were a few grandparents in our class!!!
We rode with Seth in a 1970 something convertible Cadillac and that was quite the experience.  I guess we were late because when we got there, the parking lot was full, so he just went right up front.  Tim came up to Ryan and was like, "REALLY, a Cadi....I wouldn't expect anything less!"  I guess it was a little funny.  We had a really great time visiting and there were only a couple people (I found out later) that I didn't get to chat with.  We went to the Train Wreck (bar in Burlington) afterward and visited a bit more.  Anthony and Emily graciously were our designated drivers, but I was fine.  I had 4 Mike's over the course of 8 hours, so no hangover for me :o).
I think there were a little over 50 of us there:

Natalie and Carly

Mike and Seth

The next day was the family BBQ and we knew that evening that there was a large group of people that were not going to make it!  They did a tour of the high school that we really wanted do, so we made the trip down with the kids and they got to see where we went to high school.  They had restored the theater and added on quite a bit...Reggie said he could never go there because he would get lost :o).  It was neat to hear about some of the programs they have.  They are top in the state for getting kids Microsoft certified in Excel, Word and Powerpoint and they still have auto shop, homec and welding.  Such great skills to have!  They also redid the track and turfed the field and it is amazing how nice and new it looks.  The principal who gave us the tour was really great and it sounds like a really good place to be.
Wrestling state champions wall:

I had to take a picture of this because Ryan's record might not be there for that long, since he's at the bottom.  Not to shabby for a full back who never got the ball!

Wood carving was going on downtown on our way to the BBQ, so we stopped to look at the amazing creations (there's a face inside the bear)!

We were exhausted when the weekend was over, but feel very blessed to still be happily married to each other :o).  It is good to remember those fun times in our lives.....We have done o.k. for ourselves!

Life at Lake Cavanaugh

We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves!!  Although, I only have my Iphone pictures to prove it....I forgot both cameras and am so bummed :o(.  Had a little bit of rain (monsoon type rain) the first week, but other than that it has been overcast with light drizzle or sunny :o).  We didn't do much the first week which was really good for everyone to get adjusted.  K had a few issues, but we are doing much better now (transitions are a bit tougher for him).
I took Ainsley to Dimensions of Gymnastics the first week, where I used to go, and sure enough coach Michelle was still there, along with her sister Toni!  They still look the same...I guess that is a youthful profession :).  Ainsley learned her cartwheel on the high beam in about 20 minutes (she has been working on it for 7 months!) and told me on the way home that she wished that could be her gym.  At least we get to enjoy it for a month.

The Rinehardt's came up on the weekend and we took advantage of the free strawberry picking.  We initially went to field 3 and the strawberries were beautiful and abundant, but we were the only ones there, besides what looked like an organized group pretty far away.  It felt like we were in the wrong place, but there was another person we chatted with and we decided to go for it.  About 5 minutes later we were busted and told the free field was number 2.  So, we headed over there and found a much picked over field with lots of moldy berries :o(.  We were able to get a bunch, but they barely made it home, so we mashed them for waffle and strawberry shortcake topping and jam.  It was an experience....a very muddy one at that!

We left bright and early on Monday to visit a college friend in Port Angeles.  The kids enjoyed the ferry and loved hanging out with her kids.  Reggie was very impressed with their toy collection (tons of lego sets) and they just played and played for a day and a half.  K learned to play the WII which he was very excited about and now wants a game for his birthday.  It gave Ann and I lots of time to catch up and look at old pictures and remember the good old days and talk about all the craziness life has brought us.  We will have to make it more regular thing :o).
On our way back, we stopped in Sequim at the Olympic Game Park.  I had read about this several years ago and wanted to make the trip, but then we moved and it didn't really make sense.  Since it was right on the way, we had to stop and it was a riot!!!  We all had so much fun and ended up going through it twice.  It will be one of those events that the kids never forget :o).   Here's a few pictures and videos:

Funny video of the buffalo chasing us down!

We made it!

I woke up Thursday morning and didn't feel so well :o(.  Unfortunately, I didn't escape the bug.  Although by lunch time, I was hungry and trying to figure out if I should eat or not.  Thank the good Lord above my version of stomach bug was only a few hours!  God knew I couldn't handle any more than that.
We had the babysitter coming that night, so we could go to the fair to see Eddie Money in concert.  What a riot that was.  The people were there were overly intoxicated and Eddie himself looked a bit altered, staggering around on stage (maybe it is because he is 65!!!).  Nobody seemed to care that he wasn't really singing much....he let the crowd do that....there was even a guy in the audience who was air playing all of the instruments.  Let's just say that we laughed a whole lot :o).
Ryan when Eddie came back on stage to play his final song....it is blurry because he was moving around...you can see the pure joy on his face!

 We got news that night that the judge signed off on our trip, so we packed most of the day on Friday and were on the road at 5:45 Sat. morning.  The trip went very smooth, but we didn't beat our time, 14 1/2 hours seems to be the best we can do.  We rolled in at 8:15 and everyone was so excited!
Elsa found a nice cozy spot in the car (K would tell you he was looking down, but he was actually fast asleep!)

The apartment my parents built above the garage is awesome!!!  Dad worked so hard to get it to a place where we could stay there and it has been great.  Here's a view from the deck:

The kids spent all day playing with the cousins and neighbors and have been having a ball.  I ran the lake yesterday and it felt so good to be out and about!!!
Today is supposed to be the end of the sun for a bit and I am very glad I brought rainy day activities :o).

Stomach flu

First week of summer and Reggie woke up with a stomach ache.  About an hour later, he tossed his cookies.  I sent the other 2 to VBS, but they called me at 11:30 and told me K was puking.  He was absolutely fine in the morning, so it came on very quick.  It seems with this particular bug that the older you are, the worse it is.  Reggie took a nap (he never ever naps!) and was pretty lethargic all day.  K was up and about, helping me pack his shoes and stopped to tell me he had to puke.  He ran to the bathroom and came out like nothing had happened!  We got it from the sitter and it took about 36 hours for the boys to get it, so I knew Ainsley was due Tuesday night if she caught it from the boys and sure enough, she started complaining of a stomach ache after dinner.  She was really happy once she started throwing up, so she must have felt REALLY bad.  She was a champ, puked in her bucket and brought us the bucket to clean out.  I heard someone else puking about 12:30 last night and it was Reggie.  He is a deep sleeper and didn't make it to the bathroom.  Luckily, I fed them the BRAT diet, so it was colorless and easy to clean up outside his door, except the smell has lingered.  He then made it to the bathroom, but decided to use the bathroom rug for his puke station.  It was a fun night...
Then, Ryan woke up this morning not feeling well, but went to work anyway.  He lasted until about lunch and then came home and crashed.  As of now, I am the lone survivor and I really hope it stays that way!!!!
It has to stay that way because I am still packing for our trip to Washington.  I have most of the major stuff done and I guess it was good that I was forced to stay home with the sick kids because I feel pretty organized and ready for the long haul.  That is if we get to go.  I got a call from the social worker tonight and K's dad is contesting our trip.  He has always given his blessing and I'm not really sure why he isn't this year, but the social worker was quite upset and worst case is we don't go or we go without K.  His lawyer is pretty confident that they are outside the window of when they can contest, but we should know in the next couple days.  Prayers are appreciated!!!

Last week of school and Happy Father's Day

Reggie's class spent a lot of time this spring learning about the history of California.  There last endeavor was a play.  This is his 3rd play and this was the most enjoyable to watch.  His teacher asked him if he would like a part and of course he said no, but then he saw a few of the smaller parts and tried out.  Who would've thought??!!  

Last day of school....Ainsley hanging with her big brother :o).  

They had an awards ceremony on the last day of school and we learned that Reggie had perfect attendance this year (as they were announcing the few students, Laura and I were amazed that they had not missed a day and then they announced Reggie's name and she looked at me and I looked at her....who knew, way to go Reggie!).  I guess all those colds and flu bugs he had as a little one finally paid off!
Ainsley being recognized for her 2nd place finish in the run.

Enjoying the climbing wall on Olympic day.  Ainsley's country was Norway and they tied for 1st-kinda fitting :o).

Reggie had a sleepover at Tyler's the last day of school, K was at a visit with his Aunt and Ryan was traveling, so it was just me and Ainsley!  One child is a piece of cake!!!!  We went to a swim party at Laura's after school, then went to the market and then went to family night at the rodeo.  It was a busy day, but lots of fun.  The next morning we went to the Penner's for breakfast...a good way to start out the summer :o).  

The kids have been asking for quite some time to sleep with me, so i decided when Ryan started his new job and did all his traveling that the kids could sleep with me (one kid at a time).  Ainsley got lice, so that went out the window.  Reggie got lucky, but I owed K and Ainsley, so K slept with me on Wed. night and A on Thursday night.  Let's just say between them and the cat, I was really tired!  Very happy to have Ryan home on Friday.  Saturday, we went with our friends, Diana and Dennis to the Rodeo (thanks to the free tickets I won) and had a very nice time.  Only one bull rider stayed on for the 8 seconds.  It was pretty crazy!

We are all still loving the cat!  We have worked out most of our major cat issues.  We finally had to get the squirt bottle out to control the playing at night in our bed.  She is 90% better, but when it gets light out in the morning, she has such a hard time controlling her need to attack.  We also figured out the litter and food issue.  She was pooping 3 times a day and it was pretty soft.  Mix that in with sandy litter and you have a mess.  We had so much litter in our bed and the poop would stick to her feet and then the litter would stick to her paw and it was NOT good.  So, we got the crystals litter and it is fabulous.  No more issues and now that we switched her food she only goes once a day.  Phew!

We went to a birthday party on Saturday morning at the movie theater.  They rented the entire place and it was really a great idea.  We are thinking of getting a few of Reggie's friends and doing a joint party for his birthday next year so it is more affordable.  What a blast!  Ainsley with her new buddy Ginger:

Happy Father's Day!  It was a bit of a fast morning, made Ryan breakfast, went to church, Costco and then the movies to see How to Train Your Dragon 2.  Somehow, I missed getting a picture of all the kids with Ryan :o(.  After that we headed to San Ramon to say goodbye to the Fitzer's (Ryan's old boss, Bill, is moving to Arkansas).  It has been a couple years and their oldest daughter is starting college...talk about feeling old :o(.

Ryan is such an amazing dad and the kids love him so much.  How blessed we are!!!! (this has taken me forever to type because the cat thinks its fun to attack my typing hands!).