Pam with her mom and sister Jackie up in Portland for her wedding reception. This was trip #1 to Portland. Short but sweet.
Death in the family. Megan brought home "Tippy" from school at the end of the year. He, unfortunately, smelled rather strongly and was banished to outside dwelling. We had some very hot weather a few weeks later which he did not survive. Funeral services were held that night and he was interred under the Japanese Maple that we were planting. In lieu of flowers please send condolences to Megan.
Fun visit in mid July of Melissa and Laura. The kids loved their time with their cousins.
After visiting Brooke's baby blessing in Seattle we drove down to Oregon for visit #2. Dad dragged the family off the main highway to take in Mount Saint Helens. The before and after mountain is amazing as is the changed landscape over 25 years later.
Abby and Megan enjoying some beach time with cousin Grace. We had a super time spending the week there with Pam's family.
Pam and the kids.
Joshua putting on a big smile. Our kids love nothing more than digging in the sand.
The summer ended with a first time boating excursion with the family. Here I am trying a bit of wake boarding. Blake was able to get up but not stay up on the wake board.
The kids really had fun the the pulled tubes. They got to try "Molly" here as well as the "Rock Star" which Blake flipped on several times. In all a great time out in the sun together as a family with the Carvers who let us come with.
Finally - back to school. Joshua has been SO excited for the start of kindergarten. After years of being the little guy, he's finally feeling like he's made it into big kid status. The only problem for him was that his first day was only one hour with mom and a few other kids as orientation day. He was trying to decide what to bring for lunch that first day and the older kids were giving him a hard time about it. "You don't need a lunch for one hour, Josh." Needless to say, he's now pleased that he's staying longer and bringing a lunch. He's even stayed afterwards for the 50 minutes until Abby and Megan finish since that's what some of the other kids do. Now, he's been asking when he gets to ride the school bus. He'll have to wait for a field trip for that. 