Sunday, July 11, 2010

Family Pictures and a Whole Lot More!

In February we had a fabulously fun little family reunion in CA. Last fall we discovered my brother was gonna be going home to CA w/ his family in Feb. Since this is a rare occurrence w/ him being so busy w/ his surgical residency, we all jumped on the chance to meet them for vacation. All the siblings and most of the spouses (except Rick and Donald) were able to attend. We stayed for 2 weeks and had a great time celebrating Sara's birthday, going to Disneyland, hanging out in San Diego and letting the cousins play together. They all got along great and I was sad to split up Ty and James when it was time to leave
This picture makes me crack up. I'm sure the photographer hated me...I'm talking in more pics than anyone else. This one looks like Chris and I are singing a duet...and mom is busting a gut.

Out to dinner celebrating Sara's Bday. M & D, siblings and cousin, Tim.
Happy kids at a happy place! We hardly had any wait for the rides too! Very fun day!
This was at a fun park designed to look like an old village...each bldg is a play structure, some of the building are connected by tunnels/bridges. Very cool! We also fed ducks and despite the kids' best efforts no one fell in the nasty green water.

And after surviving the flights (both w/layovers) to and from LAX w/ 5 children under the age of 8....I feel confident that I can do just about anything! Makes me tired just thinking about it. We did have one traumatic experience at SEATAC. We were walking on the moving walkway, and I was coaching the kids to keep moving and watch their step as they got off the walkway. Hannah, who has always been my "has to experience everything for herself" child, noticed a penny conveniently located on the metal plate at the end of the walkway. So, she stopped....in front of all of us, at the end of the walkway, and fell (thank you Mr. Newton). James fell over her. The rest of us managed to get around her, but in her efforts to get the penny, her shoelace was eaten by the walkway. I had to yank her free. I'm sure it was a sight to see...carrying a backpack on my back (where else), a baby on my front, and someone else's carry-on in a hand, while trying to haul my screaming 4 yr old away from the jaws of the walkway monster. Good news: She got her penny, and was pretty pleased about it too! Lesson learned? Probably not.

March was a great month as well. James had a violin recital, which went really well. I've been very impressed w/ his focus and love of playing. I hope he never loses either. He's the blonde, left of the very excited little brunette.
Jillian celebrated her 8th birthday. We had a fun party w/ family and a few of Jillian's friends.


In April, both sets of Grandparents came out here for Jillian's baptism. We also went to the Skagit ValleyTulip Festival.


Beautiful! I think the tulips liked the weather well enough, but I was a little chilly.


So, I found this picture on my camera....I didn't take it, but this is pretty typical. I love that my kids love to read, but I hate that there are usually at least 50 books strewn across the living room at any given time.


Other than that, just life as usual here. Got the garden planted, it doesn't LOOK as great as it has in years past, but we've already gotten lots of carrots, spinach and sugar snap peas, so hopefully the yield will be good despite my neglect.
Donald and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary last month, and there isn't anyone I would rather go through this crazy life with. He's a wonderful friend, father and sweetheart. So glad I convinced him to marry me. ;o)
Finally enjoying some summer weather, after my coldest 4th of July ever...the kids were all in coats, hats and gloves and complained to leave before the fireworks show was even over. Love that coastal breeze!

I've been attending a weekly open water swimming course w/ my friend and fellow triathlete, Kori, and it's been great! I've learned a lot that I can hopefully apply come tri. time, and the class is about 45 min. away, so it's been nice to have time to visit on the drive down and back.

Donald has been away a lot recently w/ small training dets...gotta love the Navy, always keeping life interesting! His squadron should be getting orders soon...originally they were headed to Afghanistan for a 7 month deployment, then the general over there was fired for expressing his discontent w/ Obama, so we've been waiting for some time now, to see what the new verdict will be....Japan? Afghanistan? N. Korea? I've found it best not to think about it.

And that about sums up the past few months. Here are a few family pictures. These were taken in June (gloom) by my friend Debbie.





4 comments:

Alison (Abby's Mom) said...

Thanks so much for this glimpse into your crazy, but very blessed life. I hope our paths cross again soon! Good like on the tri scene, I'm just getting back into the marathon distance but it's pretty hard with kids. I can only imagine how hard it is with 5 of them! Take care.

Anonymous said...

It's great to see your siblings and parents! You all look great.

~Gus

TracieCarter said...

How in the world do you get to go swim?! You must have worked out a good babysitting situation which makes my heart so happy for you! The pictures are fabulous!!! I hope Donald gets to stick around a bit longer, that they take their sweet time figuring their game out. We're sure learning a bit about how that stuff all works here watching friends. The guys here are now going for much longer - 14 mos not including all that training time away. Not fun! I LOVE that poem on your sidebar!!! Soooo true and makes me feel better about my efforts! Love you!!!

Jen said...

great pics, and good update! All the pictures of your kids are wonderful. I love seeing the clothes(and shoes) I gave you put to good use.