FOUR days until school starts!!

FOUR WHOLE DAYS!!

I can't believe it, in FOUR days both of the girls will be gone!! Can you tell I am excited!!!! Nah, I am just kidding, I will actually be sad when they go off, kinda!! Except for the occasional bickering and whining, they are pretty easy during the summer. They spend a good amount of time outside playing with eachother or the neighbor kids and they do alot of arts and crafts projects. They are growing us so fast. I can't even believe Lauren will be starting Kindergarten and Emma will be a third grader. Where does the time go?? It seems like just yesterday they were Annabella's size. Today, I took them out to lunch at Greenlake Bar & Grill since it was their last Friday at home before school starts. They love the food there.

These pictures were taken the last time we were down at Ryan's house in Oregon.

Emma loves her sports!

Emma started tennis at the beginning of the summer. She goes to lessons twice a week for 1-1/2 hours. She has really enjoyed learning the sport and just signed up for the fall session! Maybe she will be our next Anna Kournikova.

Getting some pointers from her coach, Craig.

She also finished up her third year of softball this past spring. She is excited for next year because it will no longer be machine pitch. It will be kid pitch. This will make the game interesting!! It will probably take a long time for third graders to throw strikes! However, it is amazing how well the kids play at such a young age!!

Is it Winter????

OMG!! It is the last week of August and it feels like December!! It is cold and windy and it has been raining all week. The girls went to their grandparent's house to make pickles with Carol Anne and I am actually laying on the couch, with a blanket, drinking Hot Chocolate. Where is the sun? Even though we live in Seattle, we still usually have a warm, sunny summer. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Well the one good thing about the rain is that we don't have to water our little, tiny garden or the lawn. Mom, I put a picture of our garden in here for you. It is kind of funny to see since it is so little. My mom always had a HUGE garden when we were growing up, but we also had a big backyard!

Goodbye Olympics 2008

Last night we said farewell to the Bejing 2008 Olympics. We went over to Rob and Kaleen's house to have dinner and watch the closing ceremonies. The plan was to watch it out on their deck, but since it was raining, wait, I mean POURING, we watched it inside!! My favorite parts of the Olympics were, of course, watching Micheal Phelps make history, I was excited that Shawn Johnson got her gold medal and sad when Lolo Jones hit her hurdle and missed out on a medal. Here is the final medal count for the top five countries:

United States: 36 (gold) 38 (silver) 36 (bronze) Total: 110

China: 51 (gold) 21 (silver) 28 (bronze) Total: 100

Russia: 23 (gold) 21 (silver) 28 (bronze) Total: 72

Great Britain: 19 (gold) 13 (silver) 15 (bronze) Total: 47

Australia: 14 (gold) 15 (silver) 17 (bronze) Total: 46

Busy day on Thursday!!

Well, my Thursday started out so low key!! The girls and I had layed around most of the day doing nothing because the weather was so crappy outside. It was drizzly and grey for most of the morning and then in the afternoon the sun started to slowly peek out! But then my friends Chris and Molly called and asked if we wanted to meet down at the Seattle Aquarium. So we all hopped off the couch and headed down to the waterfront!

We always have to take pictures of Nemo and Dori!! They are the favorites!

These little eels were fun to look at, they are poking their heads out of the sand looking for food. Aquarium picture with Aidan and Stella.

Then while at the aquarium, Chris and Molly asked if we wanted to go to Pyramid Brewing Company with them and have a beer. I zipped home to pick up Bart, so he could join us!! Once at Pyramid, we enjoyed our beers, which turned into dinner, which then turned into heading across the street and catching a Mariners game!!

The Gray Family visiting from Idaho! Molly and I were sorority sisters at OSU.

Getting a picture at Safeco Field.

Enjoying cotton candy, peanuts, kettle corn and the game!

Dennis, Anne and their kids were with us too (Molly's sister and brother in-law). Dennis cracks us up. When he went to the ticket booth he asked if their were any private suites left. The lady said she was sorry, but they were all sold out....so he just blurts out, "OK, give me the cheapest seats you have!" LOL! the lady looked at him like he was nuts!! So here is a picture from our nosebleed seats, pretty much in the rafters!!

A picture of the Space Needle from inside the stadium!!

So that was our Thursday!! We went from laying on the couch, to running around downtown, hitting the aquarium, eating, and going to a Mariner's game until 11Pm at night!! So guess what we did today??? Nothing, we were tired!! :)

Pictures of the girls...

....... just because they like to have them taken!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Annabella, for some reason it just cracks me up!!

Camping at Detroit Lake

Last week we headed down to Oregon to go camping at Detroit Lake. Adam and his kids headed over their on Wednesday to stake out the perfect spot!! He did a great job! Our site was secluded, had a beautiful view of the lake and the weather was HOT!! There was just one tiny problem.....it was not a managed campsite, so there were NO BATHROOMS!! Yikes. The girls both freaked out and said they no longer wanted to go camping. But once they got there, they decided they liked it and got used to squating in the bushes!! Here are a few pictures that Jill took, I didn't take any pictures because it was so dusty and dirty and I was afraid it would ruin my camera!

It was over 100 degrees while we were there so we spent almost our entire time IN the lake!! Even Annabella spent some time cooling off in the lake!

This is not the greatest picture of me, but remember, I was camping and had been in the lake all day!! Ryan said he thought this picture was a little too "Zoolanderish", LOL!!

Adam and the girls on his bed. Adam sleeps in his hammock whenever he camps!

Suzanne looking all "dolled up" because she is a wimp and only came up for the day!! Hee Hee!

Emma and Kylee enjoying their apples and caramel snack at the lake.

Zack and his girlfriend, Savannah

San Juan Islands

Goodbye Friday Harbor..... All good things must end. A view of Mt. Baker from the ferry.

A picture of the flag on the ferry!

Waiting in Friday Harbor for the ferry to take us back home to Seattle!!

Roche Harbor..Home of the Fluffy Duck!!

Roche harbor was such a beautiful little town. The hotel had the most spectacular flower garden in the courtyard, and there was a short street with vendors that sold ice cream, candy, art, jewelery and so on!!

This was the restaurant we had dinner in. It was called the Madrona Grill. We had the BEST dinner there. All of us ordered the Salmon with fresh tomatoes on the side. YUM!! There was a live singer who sang the Beatles, Billy Joel etc. in the background. We actually saw him again in the ferry line. He told us he lives over there 9 months of the year and then does gigs in Seattle too!

The view off the deck of the restaurant.

This is the backside of the vendors that were selling the ice cream, candy etc.

We also walked on a few yachts that were for sale. This one was a measly $500K. :) Next we went on the 2 million dollar one. WOW!! Flat screen T.V, three bedrooms with queen beds in them, each with their own full bathroom all in tile and marble. We didn't even go on the 3 million dollar one!! I am sure it was FABULOUS!!