Good Wood

So, We had a Woodpecker visit the other day. I had never seen one up close before. He was so cool. I thought that he was checking out the bird feeder we have hanging up on the deck. But, the more I watched him, the more I realized he was sizing up our house. (Hmmm..that looks like very good wood on that corner, nope this corner looks much nicer. Maybe I should start from this end and work my way over.)Anyway, my picture taking scared him away. Whew, that was a close one!

Family fun

So we had a great family week in August. Sean came to stay for a week and we went to the park and the water slides.Of course Carmen went down the big slide with Sean Nana and Mamma. She loved it. She was the last one to get out of the pool when the slides closed. Sean was "surfing" on the slide at the park. Sean, Grammie, & Toni went down together too. I love the photo of them. Sean is all laid back, Grammie is screaming, and Toni is holding her breath for the "big splash"

Fire House

One of our friends knew a fireman and she set up a tour of the firehouse. Carmen did not want to get out of the truck. It is a good idea to let the kids learn about the firefighters early. They were all pretty scared of them at first but once the realized that there is a real person under the suit they were OK with that. I never thought about how hard it would be to rescue children. I mean, they would run away from a firefighter if they saw them during a fire because they are so scary.

Childhood Wonder

Isn't it amazing how the littlest things are so wondrous as a child? Carmen loves caterpillars. We found one on a plant and she loved it. She let it crawl all over her. She kept petting it and it would fall off her and she would just laugh. She doesn't know her own strength.

County Fair

We took Carmen to the fair. She had such a blast! She loved the rides and all the animals. She is such a dare-devil. She loved the roller coaster and the big slide. There was a kids version of the Tilt-O-Whirl and we went on it . We were spinning it as fast as we could go and she kept saying "faster, faster" I took her on the carousel and she was bored. It didn't go fast enough. There were a couple of kids on the roller coaster screaming and she kept saying "stop yelling, kids!" She is so bossy.(wonder where that comes from, must be dad. LOL)

Beach Beauties

We took Gillian and Carmen to the beach and they had a fun time. The tide started to come in so we had to wade out to get the picture of the girls on the tree. This is one of my favorite pictures of Gillian.

Church Goings

We have been doing alot this summer with our church. I am on the Children's & Family ministry team and Joel has been helping out the Facilities team. He took down the bell tower and we have been redoing the Youth Room.

We did a Magic & Miracles night w/ a magician and everything. We have been having a lot of fun! Carmen has been helping too. She thought she was really something getting to "help" paint.

Summer Fun

So here a few pictures taken at the 4th. It was a nice day and the girls had fun!

Just Pickin'

Wes & I took the girls out strawberry picking. We went with a friend and the farm was so cute. The girls had a blast and were so full of berries they didn't eat lunch! This is going to be another tradition. My friend said Carmen looked like she just got out of surgery...I'd hate to see the guy(LOL)

Snack Time

Carmen had a playdate and the girls had some strawberries at her little table. It was very cute and fun!

Fishing

Carmen's first fishing trip was this summer. We had fun but, didn't catch anything. She enjoyed holding the rod and trying to reel it in.

It was a fun afternoon.

Summer Sunsets

I just wanted to share one of the beautiful sunsets we have in the summer.This is driving down the hill we live on, looking out over the countryside.

Amazing!!

Going Batty

Well, we had a little visitor one evening. I went in to take a shower and happened to look up and there it was.......(this is where I scream!!) a BAT!

We had our sliding door open all evening and it must have flown in.

Joel was not to happy that I woke him out of a dead sleep to make him take care of it.

I wish I had a video of us fighting about whether or not to kill it(Joel's idea) or capture it and set it free(my idea). We both sort of got our way..Joel knocked it down I captured it a tried to set it free but I found it dead the next day. :(

Fun in the Sun

So we started our summer in May. We went to Long Beach, WA for a few days. What a blast. There are sand beaches and Carmen loved it!

Carmen had her first S'more! We flew a kite and Mom and I shopped. Carmen and Nana buried each other in the sand and Carmen went to her first lighthouse. She also got to see the pirate ships in the harbour.

I think we will make this an annul thing.