Weekend with our cousin!

On Thursday, Auntie Krissy and Danielle can down to spend a few days with us. Auntie was heading to a conference in Texas, so Danielle stayed with us and GG.
Krissy and I took a picnic lunch to the castle park in Kirkland on Thursday. We met up with an old college roommate of Krissy's. Megan has 2 little ones and the kiddos had a blast playing together. Avery and Danielle spent the night with GG and I headed to Kirkland early on Friday to take the girls to the ZOO. (see other post)

taking a turn on the tire swing.....they all loved this! Natale even took a solo turn when the bigger girls were finished.

my baby

Danielle stayed overnight with us on Friday and Saturday. The girls played pretty well together and I took them to the park in Snohomish. On Sunday we took a trip to Kenmore to check out my brothers new home. Danielle went home with GG and waited for her Mommy to get home.

being a cutie

weeeee.....she loves to swing

Hang on!

Going the wrong way, up the slide.....

...but too cute to resist

The girls having breakfast...we had such a great weekend with Danielle!

Piggy tails.....

We got them or I should say my friend Corrie did.....so so cute!!

And then Mama got this one on the way home....

House Floor plans.....

fyi...if you double click on the floor plan it will enlarge for you....

Here is our floor plan. We are keeping the loft instead of a 4th bedroom. We can always put a wall in if we need the room. Its really nice coming upstairs to it all being open. As for the start date we are still waiting to hear, but we did drive by the lot last weekend and they were beginning to level and prep our site for the foundation pour. Pictures will follow soon after the pour.....

Update from this afternoon: Permits are here!! Next Wednesday/Thursday scheduled set-up for foundation pour and then foundation pour should be early the following week (no official date, but Joe wants to take field samples to save...he is such a geek...I heart him!!). We wait about 14 days for concrete to cure then the building begins....And so does the 54 day countdown to move-in....YEAH!!

Kirkland fountain

We made a brief trip to Kirkland Parkplace and captured some cute photos of the girls. They loved the fountain!!

Swimming Lessons

We started a 7 week swimming session at the YMCA in Monroe. Natale and I are in the skippers class at 5:20 and Avery patiently waits for her class to start at 5:55. She is in the Super Pike class and is such a fish in the water. And as of last Monday night's class, Nat is really starting to have fun too!
This is Natale at the first class. She has changed her attitude. We will have pictures of her change next week. I need someone to take them.

Avery loves her time in the pool.

waiting her turn with Sherry

This was too funny and cute to miss a photo opportunity....

the kiddos had so much fun zooming around the pool....

More swimming photos to come....

Campout 2009

So, the Camp out for me couldn't have come fast enough, it is something I look forward to every year. So we make it up to the park at any chance we get, even if its just days before the big weekend. My Mom had suggested that we take my Dad up for a day trip and for me to stake our campsite for the weekend event. On Tuesday morning, Mom and Dad came through Snohomish and I took them through the model home at the Quadrant site and had lunch. We headed to the Masonic park for an afternoon of pure enjoyment. The Cone's had arrived the Thursday before and had enjoyed the 4th on the river. So jealous!! We sat around the campfire and visited and eventually took a short walk down to the river. As you can see the girls were VERY ready to play in the river. My Dad enjoyed the day too. We headed home around 5pm and I couldn't wait for the weekend....2 more days!!

a bite of sand...sorry folks....yucky!!!

wading in the river and playing with the sand

collecting sand...collecting water...the project sabotaging has already start.....

GG and Avery with Natale making a funny face...so silly!

The "elders" in our group....WE HEART YOU!!!

OK, So we are too the weekend, the girls and I arrived around 10:30am on Thursday morning. We got camp set up and headed to the river. Most of our friends arrived throughout the day. Joe didn't arrive until Friday, which made Thursday night very hard. We had some arts and crafts that Mama Sue had purchased, which was a big hit and a huge help to keep the kiddos busy during down times. They had paper dolls to color and decorate, play dough, games, coloring books and hats to decorate.

the girls working on a project

Nighttime in the tent.....these were taken after they were asleep on Thursday night, which was the most difficult and the coldest night.

looks so sweet....too bad she didn't stay this way for very long, up and crying most of the night

Shannon (Cone) Bonnell showing off the dog's (Dagger) life vest.

Wanted to share some more pictures with you. These were taken by the Cone family camera. And they shared their link with us. Lots of good times with great friends and family!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/conescottage/sets/72157621415845608/

Sweetness captured on Saturday morning....the girls loved playing together....

the cousins in the am

too cute!

The kids played on the swingset and big toy and there were a few tents and lawn toys out in the grass for the kids to play with. We caught Natale playing in the tent...she had so much FUN and had a smile on her face most of the time!!

RIVER FUN......

This is the best part of the day. Everyone heads down usually after lunch and/or naps. Mostly everyone took a dip in the river this year except for Joe. Several of our friends tubed the river with many complaints of 'butt rocks' or of shallow waters. A few water fights occurred with soaking success and a few balls were lost to the rapids.

Auntie Krissy and Danielle floating the river

sandy little girl...

"Mama, I'm ready for the river"
Avery was the most brave out of all the kiddos. She wants to be out in the middle of the river with us.

Mama wasn't quite ready for the river on Thursday.

Enjoying the view and sipping on drinks....

Jonny and his buddies decided to play some Beer-be. You put 6 empty beer bottles on a 2x4 and toss a Frisbee to knock the opponents bottles off.....Jonny kicked some ass and everyone who played got drunk!! Great drinking game and it was also played in honor of our dear friend Ralphie!! We love and miss you!!

Uncle Bubba....a new homeowner and a UPS driver....handsome guy!!

the girls watching beer-be and I think planning out a strategy. And Avery is showing off her hat that we made.

All the kids going wild, wanting to play their own version of beer-be....

Last year I got a great picture of the girls in the tent and this year they wanted to play instead....

We had such a great weekend with our friends old and new and we are so looking forward to next year!!

4th of July

We spent the 4th of July with some new friends at Lavender Hills Farm. It was a great time!! The kids played in the water and jumped on the trampoline. And the adults had great time playing 'adult' games and visiting. I didn't take many pictures so I borrowed some from my friend Corrie. Here we go...
The Prince family, totally ignoring the picture being taken...sorry

found a drink umbrella to play with

Enjoying the night time festivities, but didn't sleep well.

Joe coming out from the basement. He is in Lego heaven in the Murphy's basement. Making sure He got his Mai Thai and a plate of food.....yum-o!

OK, so one of our new favorite treats at Corrie's is to grill fresh pineapple slices on the BBQ. She has this great pineapple corer (found near the pineapples in the Safeway produce dept.). When we would core a pineapple, we would save and freeze the leftovers for a special event. That event would be the 4th of July.....so we pulled out 15 pineapples and Jen began her magic!!

Our master bartender Jen B.

Everyone with a Mai Thai...yummy...thanks Jen

getting REALLY drunk!!

scraping the sides of the pineapple for the juicy goodness!!

My baby!!

OK this was from last week, but she is in the same outfit and at the place....what a cutie!

These are from my camera , the only 4 pictures i took was of the water balloon fight.....
I spent about 45 minutes blowing up water balloons and they were gone in minutes...but the kiddos had so much fun and it was really funny watching them. Here are a few photos of the brief event.

Getting ready to throw. The funny thing about watching the kids throwing the balloons was the balloons would bounce off their bodies and pop when they landed on the grass. A few of the kids really got nailed with balloons, and with no complaints or crying. They all had fun...look lots of SMILES!!

We had such a great time and we got to see some beautiful fireworks. A BIG Thank you to the Murphy's for hosting such a great bash!! Looking forward to the next big BBQ!