Summer 2025 Highlights

 I always enjoy doing the summer look back posts--always nice to think back to one of my most favorite times of the year with all the fun and special memories.  This summer wasn't as busy as last summer with as many trips, but there was still a lot going on and it was a good summer.  

The part I liked the best was this was the first summer the boys were mostly home, had the least amount of camps or pre-planned activities, and were old enough to have a lot more independence. And it was so fun watching them be true summer kids--riding everywhere on their bikes or e-scooters, exploring the Ridge and old Snoqualmie with friends to get Starbucks, go to the park, ride around or meet up with other friends, play at friends' houses, play soccer or football, set up lemonade stands, go to friends' pools, have sleepovers, etc. It reminded me of my summers with less screen time and tons of time outside wandering with my parents barely knowing where I was. 

New Roof

The first major event of the summer was we got a new roof for our house! I sadly didn't get any photos because it mostly looks similar to how our house looked before. But the roof is much more quality. That was a project hanging over our heads for awhile so we were VERY happy to get it accomplished.

Hiking

Right after school ended the boys and I kicked off summer with a fun hike to Rattlesnake Ledge. It was the first major hike the boys had done and they loved it!

Camping with Spauldings and Antis'

Our first major trip of the summer was the annual camping trip with Spauldings and Antis' to Lake Kachess.  It was a pretty warm weekend considering it was early July--summer showed up right away in July this year. We had a fun weekend of playing in the lake (although sadly it was a pretty low level this year), playing with Ollie and Ivy, making food, sitting around the campfire, playing cornhole, going for walks, paddleboarding, playing games, and enjoying the forest.

Young Life Camp

As I mentioned in the prior post, Nate went to his first overnight camp this summer!  He went with the Snoqualmie Young Life group to Washington Family Camp Creekside in Antelope, OR. And had the TIME OF HIS LIFE!  He went with some buddies from school and they had tons of fun playing in the incredible pool, playing games, having good cabin discussions, participating in worship time, wandering the camp, meeting friends from other schools, etc. I grew up going to Young Life Camp so I was soo happy Nate finally got to experience it!

Soccer Tournaments

I didn't realize but looking back we were at a soccer tournament pretty much every weekend in July! They were fun, but whew! Definitely made for busy weekends!

Kayaking

One of my favorite days in the summer was when James and I took the day off work and took the boys kayaking in Lake Union. We rented kayaks from Agua Verde and rode on Lake Union towards Downtown Seattle.  It was a gorgeous day. And since it was Seafair weekend we also got to watch the Blue Angels do their show above us. Then we stayed and had a yummy Mexican food dinner at Agua Verde. James and I did that activity a few times when we were dating and when we lived in Seattle so it was really fun to experience and enjoy it with our boys finally.  Sadly no photos--I was too busy being present.  :)

Idaho with Friends

Our cherished summer trip to Idaho with friends didn't disappoint!  We joined the Faders and Ridges at the Stevenson's property again in Priest River. This year we had more storms and rain than before, but we didn't let that stop us--we just made the best of it. We played in the water, us girls had a nice long walk day and also a day in Sandpoint this year which was fun.  One night we all went into town for dinner to celebrate all the friends birthdays (James, Leslie, Brie, Brandon and Carter all have birthdays around the same time in August--Brandon, Brie and James are all on the same day!).  This year we added on an extra night which was a special treat and helped make the trip not feel so short.  Such a magical place for us!

Lumineers Concert

We took the boys to their first major concert!  Technically SYML was their first concert back in Fall 2024, but this concert was their first large concert.  We saw the fun band Lumineers play at T-Mobile Park. And we found a new favorite band--The Head and the Heart who opened for them. It was fun to be in an outside venue on a beautiful August evening and we had great time as a family seeing one of our favorite bands.  

Whew!  Such a fun summer and it totally flew by as it always does. Time is so fleeting with these amazing kiddos so we're just soaking it up as much as we can!  Looking forward to seeing what Summer 2026 has in store for us!

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. :)