We've wrapped up schooling for the year. enjoyed some sunny warm weather days and some rainy cold weather days. we've lots of friends come play and a new summer routine in the making.
Sunday walk around the neighborhood.
playtime with friends and popsicles.
Playing puppies
slip n slide
baby bunnies
ready to run through the sprinklers
Dash point stake park
little shell
sunshine and a breeze. I feel like flying
chores. we're taking june and july off of school so we can get reorganized and deep clean the whole house.
Esplin Cousins came to visit. We went to the zoo, the children's museum and played
I took the girls to get pedicures for the first time. It ended up costing a lot It won't happen again for a while but the memory was worth it. The girls got spoiled and the nail technicians gave the girls cute designs on their toes. I gave a 10% tip but the lady looked at me as if she was disappointed. ooops. I hate tipping.
First time pedicures
Gwenevere
Grace
Grace mopping. It feels so good to see them clean.
Everett practicing his typing.
And then it rained. and rained and rained.
We missed our homeschool group so we invited them over for some rainy day fun
Watched Cars 3 for Preston's birthday. By far my favorite Cars movie. Grace asked to buy it on DVD.
Stephanie came for our annual seattle outing and fun stuff.
We went to the temple this time
Grandma Thomas brought the Thomas boys down for a visit. We went to the zoo. It was so fun to watch all the cousins get along so well.
Everett and Riley
feeding budgies
There's a bird on my head
The girls completed their first year of Girl Scouts. They participated in the bridge ceremony.
Look at her happy face
becoming a brownie
Gwenevere completed her first year as a brownie
one last group squeeze
I can't thank Sara enough for the amazing leader she has been.
We celebrated Father's day but that will be in another post
Grace and Everett started a summer preschool program through the Tacoma school district. The teacher is amazing and the kids love it.
Walking to the car from our first day of preschool Everett says
"I like this preschool. I like the coloring, I like the hat making but I LOVE the dance party."
This is huge considering Everett's dislike for a lot of activities.
This year plans for Father's Day where put on the back burner.
I had initially planned a camping trip for his Father' day gift over a month ago but James wasn't too excited about the idea of camping since he had so many other things going on so close to Father's day weekend. so we crossed that idea off of our list and I was stumped.
A few days before father's day I still had no idea what we'd do to celebrate our special Papa. The girls had picked out cards they wanted to give him but that was all.
I hadn't planned Sunday's meals or thought of a special way to let James know we love him. We just had a lot going on cousins visiting and birthday parties to attend.
Then one night, James showed me a little old sailboat he found for sale. we had the money and he's had the dream for years to own another sailboat. he figured we could carry the sailboat in the back of his truck and it wouldn't need to extra expenditures right away.
It was the perfect Father's day gift. (does it count if he picks out his own father's day gift?)
The Friday before father's day we took James' boat out for it's maiden voyage.
Steel Lake Federal Way
I can't tell who's more excited, the kids, or Papa
They loved helping Papa hold the boat still while he assembled the sails
Off he goes in the "Blue Octopus"
While James tested out the sails the kids played in the water with Big Ducky.
Everett found a feather and started flying
This girl and all her beauty melts my heart
Papa bringing the "Dinky Dingy" back (another name idea)
Grace with Big Ducky on her first trip to sea, I mean the lake.
Now it's Gwenevere's turn to ride in the "Guppy".
The day was perfect. When we where loading up the boat another boater guy came up to James and started talking about how fast James was going with his sail boat. the man was so impressed he gave us a sack full of fish they had caught. We went home and James fried up fish for us to eat for dinner. YUMMY.
It just so happened that Father's day weekend was the same weekend as the Tacoma Sailboat festival so we decided to check out all the free stuff at the festival of Sails.
waiting for the Link (train) to take us to the water front
Our handsome Papa
This girl looks up to her Papa in so many ways.
We found a big ducky
Everett was more impressed with the stairs and his jumping then the ducky
Grace wished she had brought her Big Ducky to see the big ducky
was we walked toward the Maritime Museum we stopped to throw pennies and make wishes. I spy Everett's penny.
We also stopped to explore the shore and hold baby crabs.
Lots of model ships
a kids discovery area.
Gwenevere and Everett stopped to rest and color while Papa and Grace kept exploring
This setup was so cool
They even had some bouncy houses
We toured the Sea Scouts ship and learned more about the Sea Scouts program. I can't wait till Gwenevere is 14. It sounds like an awesome opportunity.
Gwenevere presenting James with his chocolate bow tie
My sister in law Jenni made a video for my brother for Father's day. The kids didn't want to do interviews but they helped me make this movie for Papa.
It took a few days to make, so we presented the movie to him after Father's day.
He really like it.
He said all we need to do is add a few pictures of me and his death date and it can me his funeral video. LOL It's true being a Papa and a husband is all he wants in life.
