July
To celebrate 4th of July we went to our annual Snoqualmie Ridge neighborhood celebration. This year Nathan was old enough to partake in most all the activities including bouncy houses, a pony ride, train ride, visiting the firetruck, etc. Then in the evening we did our own mini fireworks show in our alley with our neighbors. It was a fun day!
In a separate post soon I will describe the triumphal workout season James had this summer in more detail. But one competition I want to specifically highlight is quickly becoming a favorite annual trip. ChelanMan is a triathlon event in Lake Chelan. We go over and stay with some wonderful friends from church in a great house close to the park where the race is with a beautiful view of the lake. Everyone who competed this year did an awesome job and it was a beautiful and fun weekend! James especially did such a great job and we were so proud of him!
It's always such a blessing in the summer when my close girlfriends who live out of town come to visit. Even more of a blessing this year was they all came at the same time so we could have a big friend reunion! This year we did our reunion with husbands and kids too. We enjoyed a yummy Ezell's chicken picnic at Luther Burbank park and tried to get in as much catching up as we could between running after kids and cleaning up spills. But it was a fun evening all being together. I just love my amazing girlfriends that I've grown up with!
Luckily James made a quick recovery from ChelanMan so we could all participate in our favorite race--the Torchlight. It occurs every year around Seafair time. The race is just before the Torchlight parade that goes downtown and the run goes along the parade route. So the whole time you're running (or walking fast in my case) people who are lined up all along the parade route cheer you on. Plus you run downtown so it's just a really fun event. Then we grab a bite to eat and then enjoy the parade which is quickly becoming one of the kids' favorite activities of the summer. This year I walked the 5k and pushed Nathan in the stroller. We had a blast doing this together and hope that Cameron can join us next year.
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| Nathan ran through the finish line with his Papa! |
After our wonderful mini-vaca in Chelan which I blogged about here, the following weekend we had the unique chance to visit James' work! Every so often Boeing hosts Family Day where family and friends can go to the factory and see the behind the scenes of what people at Boeing do all day at work. It's pretty awesome I must say. We got to see James' desk and the building where he works. We also saw a bunch of great small prop jets that they had displayed outside. And the biggest treat was going into the cockpit of a beautiful brand new Alaska Airlines 737. We even got to sit in the pilot seats! I don't know how pilots know how to fly planes--there are a million instruments! It just so happened this day was James' birthday too (see below for his yummy birthday breakfast!) so we also went downtown and rode the Great Wheel (huge ferris wheel in downtown Seattle) and then had a yummy meal at Cactus to continue the celebration. It was a really fun day for the 4 of us.
Nathan and Cameron got their first chance to go fishing! With Papa, Gramma and Grampa, they visited a great place in Woodinville that is designed for kids' first fishing experience! They get a bamboo pole, bait, and get to fish for trout in a small pond. Nate did a great job and caught about 3 fish! We cooked one up and it was delicious! What a special bonding experience for the boys, their Papa and their grandparents!
We did another charity race all together--the Columbia Winery charity run and walk which benefits Children's Hospital. James did the 10K run and I took the boys in the double stroller on the 5K walk. The race route wasn't as fun as the Torchlight, but it was a cool, overcast morning and the boys and I just enjoyed all the excitement of the race. James came and met us at the end so we could all cross the finish line together. Then at the end they had a Kids dash which Nathan go to participate in. He was pretty excited about the little medal he got!
Thanks to my wonderful parents, James and I got away one night to go golfing. I haven't golfed in 2 years since I was pregnant last summer and needless to say I was pretty rusty. But we played one of my favorite courses, Mt. Si and it was a beautiful evening. Then we finished the night off with a yummy sushi dinner!
The next day we braved taking the boys out on a bike ride. Nathan loves going on bike rides and riding behind us in the Burley. Although when he was little he did not love it. I think it scared him a bit. So this year was Cameron's first time and we weren't sure how he'd react. Luckily he did pretty great--once he got some food in him. It was helpful that he had his big brother next to him. We rode the Burke Gilman trail to Redhook where we had lunch and then rode back. It was a gorgeous day. This was an activity we were really hoping to do this summer so we're glad we made it happen and it was so fun!
On September 1, the boys moved up in classrooms at their school. Nathan is officially in the preschool classroom and Cameron is officially in Toddler 1. Can't believe how quickly our little boys are growing up!
To cap off the fun summer we ventured down to Mt. Rainier on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We always like to try and get down there at least once if not twice a year. We missed last year since I was pregnant and Cameron came. This year we just did a day trip and then hopefully soon when the boys are a little older we can continue our love of camping in the park. We headed to Sunrise thinking the weather would be a little chilly--maybe mid to low 50's? Were we surprised when we arrived at the Sunrise lodge and it was 38 degrees!!! We packed warm coats and hats/gloves, but we weren't prepared for 38 degrees. It was definitely chilly. The boys were troopers and we managed to get about a mile mini-hike in before it was just too cold and we headed back to the car. But every time I'm up there I'm reminded just how majestic that mountain is. And being at Sunrise makes you feel so close to it! We can't believe how close we live to this amazing place--that we can just head there for the day. So glad our boys get to grow up going to this beautiful place on a regular basis.
All in all this has seriously been one of my most favorite summers ever. We made a list early on of the fun summer activities we wanted to do and then plotted them on the calendar and we actually did most everything that was on our list! Thankfully the weather was amazing this summer too so we could do all that we wanted to do. I'm a little sad to see the summer go, but I also love fall so excited to move into a new season with cooler weather, fall colors, and football!! Farewell Summer 2015--it's been a blast!!
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