Summer Update

Here are some photos from our recent vacation bible school program and or backyard.  I've been pretty bad at keeping the blog updated, sorry!

The western theme of VBS was great fun!

Corn and veggies from our church garden are amazing this year!

Our garage has been so full with tools, bikes, etc. that we decided to build a structure for storage.  Kent is looking forward to fitting the truck in the garage this winter!  He has been working very hard the last few days to construct a solid addition!

The area on the left will be open and the rest will be covered with white lattice.  We'll replace the roof on the garage and have the new roof cover the entire thing.

Kent used the bricks from our old chimney to make a path from the house to the garage.

We have a few more plans for the rest of these bricks.

I'm working on getting rid of an "ugly" bush in our backyard.  It opened up a nice view above our fence.  We are thinking it might be nice to add more grapes back here!

Pumpkin growing in our compost!

I can't believe how many apples are growing on our little tree!

Parade Day

Saturday morning the kids got to read a few stories with Kent before he took off to the Manson Parade.  Gotta love Brooke's bed head!

I was busy holding an umbrella to keep the kids out of the sun, so I didn't get many photos.  Here are Cashmere's drill team and below is a crazy motorcycle stunt team.

I couldn't resist pairing this photo with that quote.  IT'S SO OLIVER!

Brooke and her friend Riley!  Riley has a new baby sister, so we have spent a little time with this great friend to give her Mom and Dad a little rest!

These girls had the best time playing water fight with me.  My clothes got soaking wet, but it was so much fun!

Bees and Flowers

In early May there were tons of honey bees and a few of these big bumble bees in our garden.

Grass in with the flowers.  That's what a garden looks like when you have young kids. 

Lincoln Rock State Park

It was a beautiful night and we just had to get out of the house!  So we headed up to Lincoln Rock State Park for a picnic and playground time.  What a gorgeous night it was!

Oliver's 3rd Birthday Party

Oliver knows how to use my ipad and find Netflix!  One day he found old Spiderman cartoons on there and became obsessed!  So, he got spiderman cupcakes for his 3rd birthday party today.  He thought they were very cool.

We waited most of the day for the 2:30 start time and then no kids showed up! Haha!  Woops!  At least our good friend Pennie and her mom Jan showed up!  

How old are you Oliver?  This many!

Water spray toys were a hit with Brooke and Spencer!

Grandpa Bing got a few quick hugs before they left for home.

The girls enjoyed cooling down in the pools.  It was probably 85 degrees today!

Louise and the kids loved the homemade fruit popsicles I made!

Pipeline Trail

A few weeks ago we decided to try a new hike.  The hike starts by crossing this cool bridge and then following the river (very flat).  It was a good one for kids, but still a little cold and there were quite a few wet spots.

Early signs of Spring up Tumwater Canyon.

A boy and his stick.  He loves them!

More signs of Spring!

It's hard to show how difficult it was to cross the bridge.  Lots of built up water with a few rocks on the right hand side made it challenging with the kids and dogs, but we did it with hardly getting wet!