Back to School

Back to school! It's a difficult reality...

 Both kids were excited and ready!

 Shan started 1st grade and Mitch is in 3rd this year. I'm back at 5th.

The day went well! Bryan fared the worst with a 'lovely' behavior kid at EHS, but otherwise we're off to a good start. 1 day down, 179 to go!

Dave's 70th

Family came to Ephrata for a celebration of Dave's 70th this past weekend. We hosted a dinner at our place, as well as enjoyed gatherings at the new Johnson home.

 Septuagenarians Dave and Dianne climbed into the tree fort to check it out.

 Their elder brother took aim and launched an attack!

 There was a lively baseball game in the park.

 The kids beat their elders resoundingly!

 Fans kept tabs on the game

 BJ got to show off his home run trot

 The Johnson brothers put on a good show, too!

 There was a very intense game of keep away that morphed into water polo.

 Result: sore muscles and a new appreciation for water polo players!

 I don't know who came out the victor in this game of bags.

 Siblings extraordinaire

 Dave and Vicki celebrated 43 years of marriage.

 The results of their wedded bliss...

 We had Dave's childhood 10-speed tuned up and regifted it to him.

 There were lots of jokes and much laughter!

 We siblings gifted a drawing of the old home as a housewarming gift.

And in the spirit of old made new, we gave Dave back his father's hatchets after having Russ refurbish them. It was a great time with family!

Fair Bet!

Erin came to visit and we had a "fair" time! Serious wildfire smoke has settled in the Basin so our activities were somewhat constrained. We spent Monday at the movies, having fro yo, and hanging out at home - mostly indoors. Tuesday we headed to the fair.

 We met Grama A there and saw this exhibit - it was a chair impression.

 Fair hair!

 Shan makes a wonderful Olive Oyl!

 This cow could not get enough of Mitchell! We watched some animal shows this year, both horses and sheep. It was new and interesting! 

 After seeing all the exhibits, the animals and having lunch, we went to the rides. The kids wanted to go on some biggies. After our free Ferris wheel ride, they hit up the ship and a Rock Star ride. Both were freaked out during the rides (Erin can attest to that!), but were thrilled afterward and ready to go again! Happily, we had limited tickets.

 They finished with Shan's choice of the Dizzy Dragons.

 Their dragon spun the most, by far!

Then it was home to make pizza! Shan loved helping with the dough. It was a great visit with Erron and has launched us into our final week before school!

That Crazy Number 9!

 Mitchell has entered his final year of single digits! We love this little boy and kind of wish we could freeze time at this age. 

Mitch and Dad went to a birthday lunch at Tequilas, complete with singing and a sombrero. Mitch was a titch embarrassed!

We celebrated his birthday while camping with cousins, at the Mariners game with Warners, and with a trip to SlideWaters with friends. So, the evening of his birthday was a low-key affair.
We had halibut tacos (his request!) and time shared with the older birthday boy. 

   Dave rang in 70 years! He was a good sport, cackling over an insulting card and being grateful for second hand XtraTufs!

  Mitch was happy with books, baseball card binder and pages, a Wilson jersey and Legos from Shan.

He is eager to read these new titles!

We had birthday pies to celebrate the birthday boys. Hard to believe how quickly he's growing up, cliche though it may be. We love you, Moose!

SlideWaters

Instead of a friend party this year, Mitch chose to bring a friend to Chelan for the day. So, we collected Hunter and Cora and went to SlideWaters!

 It was a fun day! The kids were well-behaved and tolerated 3 applications of sunscreen in the 5 hours we were there. Result - no sunburns on that fair and freckled skin!!

 The kids went on almost all the rides and so did Bryan and I. The lazy river was a good chance to relax and warm up, as well as providing me with a photo op!

 These boys weren't very lazy in the river!

Capped off the day with ice cream in Chelan at our favorite church courtyard. A successful birthday outing!

Warners Visit!

We love having company and this summer has been full of visitors: Ry and BettyAnn, Waibels, Jayme and kids, Watsons, Sharps, Hogues, and now the Warners!

The kids wasted no time sliding back into their groove. They were playing baseball almost instantly and the transition to swimming didn't take much coaxing. 

 Shannon, Avery and Audrey were a delightful trio of chalk artists!

 On Wednesday the guys went to Seattle and the girls played in the Basin. We swam with Barb and her girls, and then headed to Moses Lake to paint pottery.

Avery chose a stemless wineglass (!) and it is a masterpiece. 

Shannon made a lovely plate with scalloped edges. We had frozen yogurt afterward to cap off our girls afternoon.

 Meanwhile the guys went to a Mariners game! These three are perhaps the most baseball-orientated boys around. They were so excited the night before that they didn't go to sleep until after 11...

 A couple of Mitches!

The M's lost, but the guys had a blast. We enjoy these friends so much! A lively game of Mexican Train dominoes rounded out our night and they returned to Hermi on Thursday for swim lessons. Amy's mom told us when we moved that we'd have the chance to have more quality time together - and she was right! As always, we love the Warners!