Camping at Birch Bay

The girls and I stayed over night after Danielle's party because we went camping with all the girls. This was in the morning before we left. Auntie Krissy had to work a short shift and then we went up to Birch Bay state park.

The girls having a blast jumping on the bed.
The girls are coloring, drawing and stamping with our Cousin Amanda. She was here for a visit.
Natale woke up and I wrapped her up to try to put her back to sleep. I think she looks just like me here.
Natale jumping on Auntie Krissy's lap

Auntie Krissy and the girls
The campfire
Avery in front of our camp site blowing bubbles
Amanda letting Danielle have a chip. It was funny because Danielle had to reach almost her whole body into the bag for a chip
Amanda and Avery at the beach on Birch Bay. Throwing rocks of course. They saw a few small crabs too.

When Krissy and I talked about what to do with Amanda while she was visiting I suggested that we go camping. So we planned to go somewhere close to Bellingham and for only one night. It was a great park and we will definitely go back there again....with spouses. We had lunch at the beach and enjoyed the sunny breeze. We headed to the park station to get our site. We asked for a larger one and close to the bathrooms. We set up camp and got things organized. We played with the bubbles and the girls dug in the dirt. We took a wagon ride and started the fire. We had an easy dinner, but we forgot the can opener. The girls were exhausted. Danielle went down the quickest and mine took longer. I got Natale asleep and then when Avery came in to go to bed she woke the baby up. Oh well got the girls asleep and enjoyed visiting by the campfire with Krissy and Amanda. We made s'mores and laughed alot. We turned in at about 11pm and we woken up by Avery with a night terror at around midnight. That was a little scary, but we all settled back down until about 530am when it started to sprinkle. Once the girls started moving and talking to each other we were all up except Natale. We made coffee and had breakfast. We started cleaning up and getting things loaded into the cars because the rain started really coming down. We left the campsite at about 9am. We drove straight home to clean up and have a nap. We had a great time and are definitely going to do it again!!

Natale is 7 months old!

Natale was 7 months on Monday the 28th on Danielle's Birthday. Here are a few pictures of her.
Taken in 7/31
Taken camping
Taken on 7/30
Taken 7/27

On Wednesday 7/30 we discovered her first tooth. She is rolls all over the place. She is working on sitting up by herself and is pulling her legs up when she is on her tummy. She is trying more baby foods and loves crackers. She makes a mess with the crackers, but they seem to have helped with the tooth. She is getting more hair slowly and I think it grows more when I wash it. She is a sweet little thing and she loves her sister. Avery can't get enough of her! I can't believe its been 7 months already!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Danielle!

On Sunday the 27th of July, we drove up to Bellingham for Danielle's 2nd Birthday party. We came a little bit early to visit and help Auntie Krissy get things organized. The party was at Fairhaven Park. Auntie Krissy rented the party room and the sprinklers and play toy was very popular with the kids. There were sandwiches, salads, chips and fruit to enjoy and we all enjoyed an Elmo cupcake for dessert. We had lots of fun even though the weather wasn't as warm as we all hoped for. Hope you had a great birthday Danielle! We had lots of FUN!

The Birthday Girl!! Danielle was all wet when I took this picture. She was really cold too, but didn't want to get off the swing for anything....except cupcakes

Avery and Danielle having fun before the party with Uncle Bubba

Bubba would build the boxes up and then the girls would demolish the castle

Singing to Danielle

Opening presents with a tired Danielle
Danielle getting all wet at the sprinkler park
All the kids getting ready to go outside to play in the water
Avery got too cold and didn't even touch the water
She played in the play ground instead
And hung around

We had such a great time and we loved seeing and visiting with everyone who hangs out with Auntie Krissy and Danielle. Happy Birthday Danielle!!

Knee Surgery

On the Tuesday after the campout, my Mom (GG) had her right knee replaced. We went to visit her that afternoon and she had been up and walking to the bathroom already. On Wednesday she was released to go home. For the next 8 days, the girls and I were at Mom's to help her with ice packs, making lunch and dinner and taking her to her first post-op doctors appt. She is doing very well and this last week she started physical therapy. She is a bit nervous about all the workouts that are needed to get her knee to strength, but she will be happy in the end.

Campout 2008

This was the 5th annual camp out with the Cone/Hanson Families. We had a few more families with us this year and we had a great time. We had a base camp where everyone ate, sat at the campfire, played dominoes and socialized. We lucked out with the weather and it was sunny and beautiful. There were thirteen kids from the ages of 6 months to 10 years old. They all got along well and loved playing in the sand, river, and at the swing set/big toy together. The food was always delicious and it was nice to have everyone help with the cooking and cleaning up this year. Our family slept in our tent and it was really chilly at night. Here are some pictures that we wanted to share.


Krissy, Mama, Bubba and Avery getting ready for the drip in the river.


The girls playing in the sand

Danielle and Avery testing the water

Avery and Cayenne getting the tubes ready for the river
(sorry so small) GG took a tube ride down the river with my sister

Bubba right after he lost his beer because he flipped over tubing down the river

Mama and Avery in the river. Avery was the youngest in the river this deep. She had so much fun just sitting in the boat floating the river with Mama

Mama just finished body surfing the rapids and Avery loving it

Avery in her floatation boat

GG and Mama in the water taking a drip

Relaxing in the river with a drink with Mama Sue and GG

Papa blowing up the boat

Claire playing in the river and sand. Andrew and Jessica Bishop came up for the day on Saturday and hopefully will join us for the weekend next year!
Natale is pooped

She fell asleep after breakfast on her Papa

Having her dinner and helping with the spoon

Avery and Danielle throwing their rocks in the river. Throwing rocks in the river was their favorite thing to do
Auntie Krissy with Danielle
I took this picture of the girls one morning and we were having lots of laughs and getting ready for the day.
Avery taking a ride with Mama Sue on her cart

We had a great time and we didn't want to leave. We are so looking forward to next year and seeing everyone again. Thanks everyone for the great conversations, food, laughs and FUN this year! See you soon!

Happy 4th of July

We headed over to Port Orchard for the 4th. We had a great time visiting with family and friends. Avery loved playing with the other kids. Unfortunately she wasn't thrilled with loud fireworks. She enjoyed pop-its, snakes and smoke bombs. She did like the loud and big ones from a distance. We had a delicious dinner and yummy strawberry pie for dessert. We sat by the fire pit and watched fireworks that were displayed throughout the bay. We had a great time!!

The girls in their first matching outfits



All the kids playing croquet

All the girls except Natale......Avery, Peyton, Kylie, Makenna, and Marina
Avery in the hammock

Makenna, Natale and Peyton
Natale was very popular with the girls. She got lots of attention.

Fireworks
a fountain
GG with a sleepy Natale
Papa and Avery enjoying the fireworks and a s'more.
Avery cuddling with GG


Thanks Ralph and Susan for a great time and delicious food. We had a great time!! See you next year!