Friends

 Got to visit one of my oldest and dearest friends today. Her boys and my girls get along great. The scenery and the company were perfect.

Can you see the family of turtles behind us? We also saw a bald eagle flying and a blue heron. Pretty cool!

Redondo

 It's still my favorite place on the entire planet.

The Cabin, Day 4

 Today was load up and head back home day. Oh, and "find a stray dog" day.

This dog came and wanted to be with our family. Ilea called animal control, and they knew who the owner was and she came over and got the dog. But for a brief time, the kids were in dog Heaven.

Camille showing me the "bat move" in the hammock:

Zak and Claire playing piano:

Audra holding Alicia's hat hostage because Alicia left it at the cabin (this is Audra's sinister look):

The Cabin, Day 3

 For the fourth, we went to Lake Easton and kayaked a little bit which was a lot of fun. The DeCremer's came up, making the house even more full of chaos, but the kids so excited. We had a BBQ, and all fireworks were banned. It's been terribly dry here, so while it was a bummer, it was expected. As night came, Camille came outside and said, "mom, I've been looking forward to s'mores and fireworks. When are they happening?" and I was like, "well, I have two points of bad news for you. Both are canceled because of the fire ban." She was bummed, but she had already had homemade ice-cream so I didn't feel bad about her missing out on the s'mores.

Tabatha went with Camille, and Matt had Rebekah:

Uncle Matt:

Grandpa and Tabatha:

After the lake, Mom, Melissa, Alicia, Ilea and I went into town for their little 4th of July festival. It wasn't great, but I'm glad we went and checked it out:

Enjoying a BBQ with cousins:

Performing a play:

Playing Twister:

Enjoying the hot tub:

The we watched the Disneyworld fireworks on TV while playing patriotic music in the background.

The Cabin, Day 2

Today the High's and Hale's came to join us at the cabin. It was a FULL cabin with only 1 bedroom and 2 bathrooms, but we made it worked and the kids didn't mind at all. They loved making plays, doing art projects, playing games, wandering in the woods, swinging in the hammocks, and eating lots and lots and lots of food. It was great! Even if none of us slept very well.

We went to the Cle Elum 4th of July Parade (which happened on the 3rd).

Played games, like Telestrations:

Worked on a puzzle (we didn't get very far)

And drove in my favorite toy of my mom and dad's- a 1927 Model T Ford! How awesome is this?!?!?!

It's pretty crazy how it drives- I didn't even try. Matt just drove groups up and down the street. It maxes out in speed at about 30 MPH and eventually he said, "You know, this isn't that much fun to drive!" and we had to stop, but it really was fun. I so wanted to take it into town! But we weren't sure if it would go the 1.5 miles into town or not.

A little bit of Wii:

And, at night, we went to a drive in movie! This was a lot of fun! My girls had never been to one, and Ben and I have talked about it but I never thought they would be able to go. But, the town was showing Grease, so we went! And we had so much fun- the kids loved it. Mostly because they had A LOT of candy.

Camille and Rebekah became best friends. And I love that.

Here you can see the screen- it's an inflatable screen which is pretty cool.

My kids thoughts on the movie:

Audra: I don't like that she had to change her personality for him.

Claire: The whole story is pretty much him being mean to her, her being angry at him, but then saying, "But I love him SOOOOOOOOO much" over and over again.

Camille: I don't think there was enough of a plot for an entire movie.

The Cabin, Day 1

 We went up to my parent's cabin for the weekend. It was a lot of fun- it is so beautiful up there.

We got there and Camille says, out of the blue, "I want Grandpa to take us fishing!" So, grandpa went and bought some worms and we went down to the lake at the end of the road and grandpa helped the girls fish. They had no luck, which was fine because all of them said they wouldn't eat a fish if they caught it anyway. 

Then grandpa took the girls for a ride in his '49. This truck was my grandpa High's truck and my dad redid it. It sure is beautiful!

As Claire says to her friends, "My Grandpa High collects old cars, and my Grandpa Marriott collects new cars."

S'mores

 Having fun with the Hale's!