Summer Recap

Seeing that the last day of Summer this year is tomorrow, I thought I'd finally crawl out of my blogging slump and give a brief recap of our summer this year. I don't think I've ever had a busier summer - ever. And this is just mostly the weekends!

Summer of 2008
(June 20th - September 22nd)

June 21st - July 1st - Our first official 'Family Vacation'.
We went to Gresham (Portland,Oregon area), Lincoln City (on the Oregon Coast) and Walla Walla (for the summer bible conference). Our trip lasted 11 days, PC turned 2 while we were gone and Emma started officially walking (that's when they know that I know that they know they can walk alone).

July 12th - PC's 2nd Birthday party.
It was also Sir's and my 5th wedding anniversary, but Sir decreed that having the party on the 5th was insane because that would have left me all of 5 days to unpack from our Oregon trip, get back into a 'normal' schedule as well as shop and prepare for a party. So, we kindof skipped our anniversary this year and went out for a quick no-kids dinner a few weeks later.

July 19th - Steveston Village Outing.
The day was gorgeous, and so we took the kids to an old fishing village in Richmond. We walked along the wharf side fish market and cracked up at Dolly's reaction to the smell of fish. The kids got to touch a dead shark, and gaze at live crabs in a tub of water. There was live music playing loud and clear and our kids couldn't resist kicking up their heels and bouncing about to the music. I don't blame them - it was so infectious, I wanted to join them. Before heading home we went to a little beach and walked out to the sand and water. It was very fun to have a spontaneous day.

July 26th - Big 80th Birthday party for Sir's Grandma.
It was a definite success, complete with tons of family. There were so many of us, we had to eat outside at a colossal table and even then, some of the kids had to eat on a picnic blanket on the grass. It was a great time though, complete with our very own live music entertainment!

August 2nd - Vancouver fireworks Grand Finale.
Tina came up to visit and we took her with us to see the show. We grabbed some pizza and headed to a little beach hours before the event so we would have a place to set up with two strollers, three adults and six kids. It was a blast, but also exhausting since we got home around 1am and would have to get up earlier than usual to bathe all the sandy, dirt-covered kids before leaving for meeting the next day.

August 9th - Stanly Park Outing.
'You'd think we'd learn to slow down, but no, instead we braved a yucky weather forecast and headed off to Stanley Park for the day. The weather cleared up almost before we got there, and the kids couldn't have had more fun. We explored a petting farm, and got to ride on a miniature train. And before we headed home (since the rain decided to come after all toward the end of the afternoon)we fed a whole loaf of bread to a flock of wild geese.

August 16th - Lynden County Fair.
We battled a 2+ hour line to cross the border in 95+ degree heat. Cooled off afterwards by stopping at the Dairy for ice cream cones, headed to a park so the kids that fell asleep in the car, could finish their naps, and then spent the late afternoon and evening eating cotton candy, riding the Carousel and just gazing at all the lights. The kids loved it - even if we didn't ride on the Ferris Wheel.

August 18th - 23rd - Manning Park Camping.
The kids and I met up with a number of families at Manning Park (3 hours away from home) to go camping. It rained most of the time we were there, and I managed to lose my keys the day I was supposed to go home to get Sir, but everything worked out just fine in the end and the fresh air and quietness was relaxing. We even caught the world's smallest fish (ok, it wasn't the smallest, but Sir thought it was too little to keep so we threw it back) and Silly (our too often neglected dog) came along too.

August 30th - 6th Annual Summer-end Barbecue.
Sir and I hosted our 6th barbecue, and for the first time I actually felt ready before all the guests arrived. Of course there was still work to do, but I wasn't already insane from preparation panic. This year a lot of people were out of town, but at least it didn't rain on us this year. It was cold though - someone said that the weather records said that the weather that week was more similar to mid-late OCTOBER weather than late August! It was cold.

September 6th - Quick Flight to CA.
Sir and I left Dolly and PC with Sir's parent's and we flew to LA with Emma to see Mr. & Mrs. Habib get married. It was a beautiful wedding and my grandma got to see Emma for the first time. After the wedding we took my Aunt Kedge and Grandma out to dinner and had a really nice visit with them. Then we flew home, picked up the other kids Monday morning and took them to the Zoo.

September 12th - The Zoo Again.
Tina and her boys came up one last time before she headed off for Texas and she and I took our kids to the Zoo. It was crazy with just the two of us and six kids under 5 years old, but I think the fun was worth the insanity. But while we were wandering the 160 acres of zoo-land, Tina's video camera and laptop computer were stolen from her car. It kindof ruined the trip for her I think. We'll miss Tina and the boys, especially since we don't know when we'll be seeing her again.

September 13th - Sunday School Picnic.
This year the SS picnic was held at the same beach that we celebrated PC's 1st birthday. The day was warm, and even though I put sunscreen on my kids, PC managed to start turning a nice rosy red during the last part of the picnic. I put more sunscreen on him as soon as I noticed and we narrowly adverted another ugly burn. There were quite a few games, and PC won a prize for something although I don't remember why. It was fun to see the organized chaos at the picnic and between checking on my kids in various places, I managed to grab a few pictures.

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And that brings us to today. Where we actually decided not to go do anything for a change. Sir's parents did invite us to go fishing with them today, but we declined. I've been so tired from all of the running and doing that I didn't see very much fun in getting up at 6 so I could keep an eye on our kids while Sir tried to catch something. Besides it's raining here today, so I'm guessing it would probably be raining at the lake too.

Maybe I'm just looking for reasons to make missing out on a fun fishing trip not so much fun and thereby making our decision to stay home feel better. Who knows... I guess bathing and flea treating the cats, and finally writing a blog post after almost two months counts for something. Now just to finish flea treating the rest of the house.

Maybe I'll catch up on some sleep and actually feel like writing again. After all, my computer keyboard is working again, so that can't be my excuse anymore. :) And the summer is almost over, so things should start to slow down soon... Maybe. Next week is Emma's first birthday party... and the week after that will probably be a birthday dinner for Grandpa C... and the week after that... well, maybe I'll start potty training PC. We'll see.