field day and school barbeque

Not quite the last day of school, but almost. Starts with a BBQ that the principal runs. Flips every burger himself. Then off to the 6th grade vs. staff softball game, which the staff always wins. Then a fun-filled field day complete with a free snow cone from the PTA. And let me tell you, that is the longest line you'll ever see. Now, on to summer!

Guemes Island

When Gramma and Papa came to visit, we took the 5 minute ferry ride over to Guemes. Had a treat at Anderson's General Store and then played on the driftwood and skipped stones. Earlier that morning we had already feasted on huge cinnamon rolls at the Farmer's Market. Then later that evening, we got a babysitter and took Gramma and Papa to Anthony's for a lovely happy hour on the waterfront.

Momma's taking us to the zoo tomorrow

Actually, it was a first grade field trip to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. I was lucky enough to chaperone the 3 smartest and most well-behaved gentlemen on the trip... rather from any school there. We spent a wonderful day running from exhibit to exhibit, thankful for no rain.

Michael, Liam and Abel. My three musketeers!

Junior Ski to Sea

Here's Logan finishing his leg of this most fun race in Bellingham. A group of his classmates formed a team to race in one of Bellingham's finest traditions. The adult race starts at Mt. Baker and finishes in Fairhaven, involving, skiing, running, biking, and kayaking. The Junior edition features running, 3-legged race, biking, soccer, and obstacle course. Logan did his team proud and gave them a huge lead by coming in 6th out of 75.

The Anacortes Challengers(pun intended, as their class is called the "Challenge" class) before the raceAnd... after. A cold, rainy day on Lake Padden, but very fun. Michael was a trooper to stand for two and a half hours supporting his brother. Opa made a showing as well as David. Cynthia and Ava stayed warm in the car, but we got to play with them after the race.
These kids are the sweetest, smartest, and just great all around kids in Logan's class. Well done, Challengers!

anything better in the spring????

No real captions necessary.

practically perfect and almost first

Last October our church offered group ticket prices for the Broadway tour of Mary Poppins, and since the show was in May, we thought we'd add it to Michael's birthday gifts. Needless to say, Michael was thrilled and Logan's response was, well, also predictable: a heavy sigh. But they rallied once they found out their best friends Aidan and Liam were also going. And, as luck would have, we ended up sitting in the same row. While they were the only boys in the audience of the grand Paramount Theatre, they couldn't have been happier. And Michael is still skipping around the house singing, "just a spoonful of sugar..." and "chim chiminee, chim chiminee...". It's delightful.

Despite the following picture, Logan ended up in first place. He's with his good friend Dominic, and you can see Oma, Opa, Auntie Fay, and yours truly in the background cheering him on.
This is the finish of the mile run. Notice that Logan only has one shoe; he lost the other on lap 3. He ended up in second place, behind the 6th grader in the picture.

birthday bash

Well, there was a two hour window of no rain and that was exactly the time of Michael's 7th birthday party. Whew. A relief mostly because I had no rain contingency plan. An outdoor obstacle course, cake pops, build a hackey sack out of balloons, and go home. That was my only plan. And it worked like a charm. I've never, ever seen michael so happy. He literally laughed and smiled for two solid hours, plus the after hours smile that lingered all evening.