Cameron's 10th Birthday

 

This sweet kiddo turned 10 just a couple weeks ago!  Double digits officially!  Can't believe it! 

He had a lot of fun celebrating with his friends with a pool party at the Issaquah pool.  Unfortunately I came down with COVID a few days before and had to miss it. But James did an awesome job pulling everything off with the help of my parents and our friend Amy. A great group of his friends came to the party to help him celebrate and they had a great time. It was a nice way to end the summer. 

He also got to celebrate again the following week with Warner and Vander who both have birthdays around the same time--similar to how we celebrated last year at Great Wolf Lodge but this time they had a sleepover at Warner's house.

And then we also celebrated him as a family with his favorite requested dinner of steak, mac n cheese and ceasar salad along with peach cobbler for dessert! The big presents this year were a Nike tech fleece outfit from Nana & Pops, Yeezy slides from Gramma and Grampa and a new scooter from us.  

Lots of celebrating!  Which is exactly what's called for for such a special kid.  

Here are the things we want to remember about Cameron at 10:

• So far he is really enjoying 4th grade. He has a really awesome teacher named Ms. Gjurasic and a fun class with a few friends in it. His teacher and the environment she creates is just what he needs--a good balance of structure, warmth and humor, encouragement, fun, and coziness. He actually wanted the other teacher, but now realizes that God knew exactly the classroom and teacher he needed to thrive. 
• Cameron made Cascade FC soccer back in the spring so this is his first year playing all year soccer. He actually made the White team--the second highest team out of three teams. We're so proud of him. And he's killing it so far! He usually plays midfield and sometimes defense, but he's a little speed demon out on the field. He has a really fun coach and a great team so he's loving it so far. So fun to watch him really grow his skills in the sport. 
• Cameron's favorite activities right now are playing Fortnite and other video games, playing Legos, doing art (drawing and watercolor), still playing with toys occasionally like his cars or super heroes, throwing the football or kicking the soccer ball with his brother, playing with Willa and Isabella in the neighborhood, and playing with Ollie. 
• He is really getting better and better with his art skills all the time. Grampa worked with him this summer on his watercolor technique and he just comes up with the most amazing pictures all on his own! What a natural talent he has for drawing, painting, penmanship, etc. We're hoping to maybe put him in some art classes sometime soon so he can continue to grow his skills and dive deeper into his passion.
• Cameron has such a special bond with Ollie. He really really loves our dog. Ollie hangs out with him in the morning while he's getting ready for school. And Cam is so good about playing with Ollie and giving him attention. They're little buddies and it's so fun to watch.
• Cameron's closest friends right now are Vander, Warner, Torin, Isabella, Willa, Lilly, Bella, and Wyatt.  
• His reading skills have really improved a lot over the past year. He's getting more into graphic novels and chapter books. Right now he really likes ready the Magic Treehouse graphic novels. And he also still loves being read to. James is reading Harry Potter to him and I'm reading the Wild Robot series to him.
• Cam still has a great relationship with his brother and loves spending time with him. They definitely have their moments, but for the most part they really enjoy doing the same activities together. They have similar interests and can really get on the same wavelength with each other when they're being creative with Legos, making up games, or doing artwork. Hopefully they can maintain that close relationship for a long time.
• I love what a thoughtful kid Cameron is. Other parents are telling me all the time how well behaved, polite and kind he is when he's at their house or when he goes places with them. He's also very empathetic and aware of others' feelings both with this friends and at home with us as a family. He still has that very sensitive, sweet nature about him which I just love. It gives him this unique authenticity and naturally caring nature. You definitely feel "seen" by Cameron. 
• Cameron has become quite the independent kid in the last year. He's gotten really good at making his own breakfast sometimes in the morning--including making eggs on the stove. He folds and puts away his laundry. This summer he got to ride his bike with Nate up to the top of the Ridge and they went to Starbucks or the Dollar Store to get treats. And he also went on a 4 day trip with Vander's family to Lake Chelan! He was really nervous and he got homesick at night, but he did fantastic overall and had a really great time. He just called us when he felt homesick and then he was fine. He was so proud of himself and now feels like he can take on the world!

Cameron brings so much light and love to our family and we love him so much!  Happy birthday buddy!!

Summer 2024 Highlights

Thinking about it and looking back, this was a pretty epic summer. I feel so grateful that we got to do all the fun trips and activities that we did--such fun memories. We definitely can't do a summer like this every year--in fact next year we plan to have a much calmer summer. But with a surprise trip and James turning 50, this year called for an extra special summer.  Here are all the highlights through pictures

Surprise Disneyland Trip

Last year when talking about what kind of family trip we wanted to do this summer, we brainstormed a bunch of ideas but none felt as exciting or desirable to us as going back to Disneyland. So we thought--why not do that again?  But this time let's make it a total surprise to the boys like on the commercials. And somehow we pulled it off! We didn't tell the boys until the morning we were leaving. And they were super surprised! What a wonderful week of reliving all our favorite rides, trying new ones that weren't open last time, eating our way through the park, and just enjoying being in one of our favorite places as a family again. 

Camping with Spauldings and Antis'

The next major highlight was our annual camping trip with Gramma, Grampa, Jacky and Johnathin to Lake Kachess.  This time Ollie got to join us the whole time! He did so great!  He loved being outside so much, getting to explore and swimming in the lake. We had great weather and a really nice campsite to all hang out in with lots of shade. The big bummer though was the lake was really low this year because they had used so much of it for irrigation with the lack of snowpack we got in the winter. It was kind of eerie and weird to hang out by the lake on a part that's normally underwater. But we made the best of it and still had a really fun weekend.

Lake Chelan with the Warners

Another favorite tradition in the summer is the bi-annual Lake Chelan trip with my parents. We stayed in the same Lake Chelan Shores condo we've stayed at for the past 4 trips and it was still so comfy and met all our needs. We did lots of pool time, walked around town, mini golfed, visited our favorite restaurants, celebrated Nana's birthday, took naps, went to Slidewaters, etc.  Faders were in town at the same time as usual and it was so fun to spend time with them and their extended family down by the lake. We had a little bit of smoke from a wildfire to deal with, but overall it was a beautiful and fun week.  Lake Chelan never disappoints!

Trip to Idaho with Friends

And another trip that has become a tradition (how are we so lucky?) is our trip to visit the Stevenson's property on Priest River with the Faders and Ridges. What a glorious weekend of good friends, lots of laughs, yummy food, kids having the time of their life, beautiful location, and enjoying the lake. 

Soccer Tournaments

Sprinkled in amongst all these great trips were 5 soccer tournaments between both boys. 😱😱 So basically we were gone almost every weekend.  And when we weren't gone on a trip, we were at a soccer tournament somewhere in the state. It was quite a busy time. But it was so fun to watch our boys grow in their skills and also to have the chance to get to know their teammates better and for us to get to know parents more. Both boys had a tournament in Burlington (which was right after Disneyland, we were exhausted and stayed in a yucky motel--not our most fun tournament). Both boys had the Cascade Cup tournament which luckily was at our home field.  Cam had a tournament in Snohomish and then Nate had a tournament in Portland the next weekend that I took him to. Both boys are loving soccer so far so we're looking forward to a fun (and busy) year.

James Turns 50!!!!

And probably the biggest deal of our summer was James turned the big 5-0! We had a very special dinner for him at Daniels Broiler with his family. Jacky put together a wonderful slideshow with pictures from his whole life. And of course we enjoyed a fabulous meal. Special night for a very special guy.  I also worked sneakily on the side to reach out to many friends and family to have the submit a video message to James for his birthday that was then put together in one large video for him as a tribute. 

Monterey Car Week

The cherry on the top was I surprised James for his birthday with a very special trip for the 2 of us to go down to Monterey/Carmel for their annual Car Week. Since this is also our 15th wedding anniversary year and we got engaged in Carmel, I also thought it was a perfect location. Monterey Car Week happens every August and it's a full week of car shows, events, auctions, etc. culminating in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. We didn't make it to the culminating event this year because it's $500 per ticket, but we did a couple of car shows and saw A LOT of incredible cars. James was in heaven! It was like we stepped into another world--we've never seen so many amazing cars all in one place!  It was also so meaningful to watch the sunset by the beach near where we got engaged over 16 years ago!

Whew! Wow what an incredible summer. I'm not sure how we fit it all in. It was pretty epic and full of so many amazing memories and fun celebrations. Unfortunately 3 days after our Monterey trip, James and I came down with COVID.  Probably from the airplane ride, but also probably from coming down off a very busy summer. Not a great finale, but that's ok.  I'll take it as thankfully it didn't come earlier and ruin any of our trips or activities. Thank you Summer 2024! We're remember and be grateful for you for a very long time. 

P.S. One other thing I thought of the other day about our summer. This year we decided not to do any summer day camps for the boys. They don't love them and whined about them a lot last year. So I relented and said they didn't have to do any this summer, but that there would still be some structure and some expectations to the days. We definitely had some days where they asked too much for screentime or complained they were bored. But once we settled into summer, this amazing thing happened where they rekindled some of the activities they loved when they were a little younger--Legos, art, other toys, making up games, playing make believe and sports outside, etc. They found their skills again of entertaining themselves and not only relying on screens. I haven't heard "I'm bored" in a really long time. So looking back I'm really glad we didn't end up doing day camps so they could find their creativity and their kid spirts again. :)