Summer's Last Gasp

I'm glad we decided to head out for an adventure yesterday as it may very well be the last bit of summer we'll have this season. We decided on a hike, and I was thinking of something more the kids could do with us, so decided on Tumwater Falls. We'd never been, and I read that the salmon were running - sounded exciting. The hatchery was full of the largest salmon I'd ever seen. We saw plenty of salmon in the river making their way to the final ladder too! It was a good choice. We learned that Maddie is afraid of bridges and falling into water. We tried to get a good family shot, but Maddie was hysterically hysterical about being dropped in the water. We then had a nice picnic lunch and Ryan came up with an adventure all by himself. It was a surprise he said, so when we neared the destination off Reservation Rd. in Shelton, he had us close our eyes, then open them once we were in the middle of the High Steel Bridge. We parked the car and walked to the middle of the bridge and peered over. I think we'll be back for a nice hike sometime. It's gorgeous out there. -Surprisingly, Maddie did not get hysterical and actually enjoyed peering through the guardrail.

Can you see the worry on Maddie's face?Our attempt at a family photo with two ill-coping children.Long way down Dad.

Outdoor Playdates

I love getting the kids outside-someplace different than the backyard. We are so blessed to live in such a wonderfully rich area of nature. A couple days ago we had the opportunity to visit one of our favorite beach parks close to home - Tawanoh. We met some friends this time, which adds even more fun to the adventure. The kids inspected the rocks and oysters and clams. They showed each other things, ran with one another, and made up games and ways to play. We found a great picnic shelter that I have GREAT ideas for this fall and winter. It has a fireplace! Can you imagine some outdoor preschool!? And at the end of our visit there were hugs to go all around. Okay-at the absolute end there were tears all around, but I'm pretty sure it was because everyone had so much fun no one wanted to leave. :)

Tea Anyone?

Art Smarts

We love art! Thank you Kelly for the wonderful painting idea! -pudding paint turned body art. We came up with a new way to get paint on paper.














































This project I discovered through Crafty Crow was wonderfully colorful! I used water and a dab of artist watercolor to make liquid watercolors. They are so lovely that I've had a hard time dumping them out. They sit on our counter looking lively. We used some for coffee filter painting which we are going to make into flowers. I'd like to put the rest into spray bottles so they can each paint a bed sheet, but that means I have to remember to buy the spray bottles...which is unlikely.

End of Summer Happenings

I feel like summer came to an abrupt end. I'm not sure why as my kids are not in school yet, so I don't feel that we were hit by the school-bus. The weather turned down its thermostat rather quickly I feel, and my outside to-do projects are slipping ever- so- quickly from my hand. My visions for my yard are a little foggy; or perhaps, I'm just not sure on how to accomplish my tasks. OR - could it be that I'm just a regular mom with tiny hands to hold and crafts to conjure that I couldn't possibly do it all? I think that is why summer is now at an end when I feel like it just began; I let it slip by too quickly while I was playing "race you to the big weed and back".

Near the end of this season we went blueberry picking with our sweet friend. I asked Maddie what she wanted to do with her berries and she said, "Make a pie!", so I made her pick all the berries for that pie, and she did! It was yummy.We've been enjoying our boat quite a bit, and decided to use it as our mode of transport to Olympia's "Sand In the City" festival. We drove to Harsteine Island, plopped the boat in the water and jetted off. I say jetted - Ryan would probably say cruised at a mediocre speed. At any rate, we were off and found ourselves spotting the capitol building about 20 minutes later. Unfortunately, we were uninformed about the docks being under construction, which wouldn't normally be a total catastrophe except that the lone dock remaining was "reserved for Sand in the City". We understood this to mean that we could dock our 15 ft. boat next to the behemoth yachts that were tied up, but once we tried they told us that we could not, they were saving the space for some other boat on its way. Ryan was able to let us out while manned the boat away from the dock. We learned a few things, so we were glad we went anyway, plus we got some cute pictures of the kids. Annora was out like a light after just 5 minutes in the boat.

Inspired

I discovered Jim's Pancakes this week, so had to give it a try. Ryan was pretty excited to try it out as well. I think we might be having some very special pancakes around here from now on.

My Friend and Me.

Sand In Our Nose

We love owning the Prius because even when we don't have any money, we have a bit more freedom to do something fun with the kids. So a couple weekends back, after I spent all our money on crumpets we went to the beach - a kids favorite playground. We haven't spent a lot of time going to the beach...it's not quite the same as the Oregon coast, which we love - but I can say that we'll definetely be going more often now that it's only a couple gallons of gas. Ryan got to dig his big hole. Annora was reminded how much she truly likes that grit between her teeth, and Maddie learned to dive for a frisbee. Oh, and I got to sit in the sand in the sun an d watch my family smile.