Summer Snapshot

Well, it has been quite the summer for us and I have sadly neglected my blog. I hope to pick it back up in full force as we enter fall, but would like to share some pictures and brief descriptions of our summer activities first. It is now the last day of August and I have two beach-blond, tanned, and athletic kids on my hands. They are the best traveling companions that I've ever had and we had a some fun adventures this summer.

First up was an amazing trip to Maui with my parents and sister, complete with snorkeling and an aquarium filled with sharks.

























We also adopted an adorable little dog named Skippyjon Jones (after a favorite character in the kids' books) who has since become the source of much entertainment and joy in our family:













We were awakened to all three animals (two cats and the dog) in hot pursuit of this poor little bird, in the house:













A group of our friends from Kennewick met at Hood Park, along the Snake River, for a mid-week camping adventure. There was a lot of swimming in the river and s'mores eating!













One of the highlights of summer for me, personally, was planning a visit to Homedale, ID to surprise my most enduring friend (she has endured me the longest, anyhow) Melyssa and her little sister, who is my little sister's longest-standing friend also. Here is a picture of the first generation "MALT" club (Melyssa, Aerie, Laryssa, and Tanager, although we didn't get in quite the right order for the picture!) followed by the second generation, minus one sleeping toddler:























The snorkels from Maui are still in frequent use, both at the river and in the bath tub (while Skippyjon looks on, puzzled):













August began with a trip to Cannon Beach, OR for the wedding of some very close friends. We shared a beach house with our friends Tim and Mari (and their two dogs, plus Skippyjon!). It was a beautiful location and the kids spent countless hours running on the beach and collecting sea shells:




























A few weeks later we headed to Seattle for the wedding reception and party and got to catch up with some old friends from Bozeman, MT, who now live in Seattle and whose children are the same ages as Tyce and Laney. Tyce and Riley were shocked and amazed to discover, during the course of their chatter, that they were both born in Bozeman!!! The kids had a blast playing together, having a slumber party, and exploring the zoo together:























As I look back over this blog and pictures, it is a woefully inadequate representation of our summer. We did so much that never even got photographed and so many photographs that didn't get posted. I promise to keep up better from now on!