Labor Day 2007

Like past Labor Days we did a lot of work around the house. Amidst picking blackberries and stacking wood, we had the kids doing a host of tasks; after all that’s why it’s called ‘labor day!’ In fact we re-introduced the chore chart, pictured below, so everyone was on board for their weekly tasks. We finished out the day by watching Newsies, which is a great musical, and a good introduction to the real meaning behind Labor Day.

2007 Evergreen State Fair

We try to make a yearly excursion to the Evergreen State Fair - especially since it is only a few miles from the house. This year we again had a great time. Here is some art work from the kids: Emma (8); Colin (7); Rilla (4)

Trip to Portland

We made a quick overnight trip to Portland to pick up Papa Ray. Here are some of the stops on the way back using GoogleMaps. Here is Emma's picture of the Zoo Train. More Pictures on Photobucket.

Norwil and Brenchley Get Together

The Norwils (Jack’s sister Becca’s family) were on a whirlwind trip to the NW and stayed with us for a few nights. It was great to have all this side of the family’s cousins all together. On Sunday we had a get together at our house which included Grandma Dot and Jack and Shirl. See all the images at our Photobucket site.

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Norwil/Brenchley Cousins 8.5.07

Colin on the Bow

Here is a great shot of Colin on the bow of our boat the Freewinds. Caleb took this picture one evening when Dad was working on the boat. See the Seagull too?

Sounders Match

Last night we were invited to go to a Seattle Sounders soccer match at Qwest field by our friends the Soules whose daughter had been on Emma’s gymnastics team this past season. A friend of theirs, Mo Yousef had offered them his corporate suite – his company, US Home Mortgage is the premier broker of the Sounders and the suite was practically right on the field! Here is a phone/camera shot of Caleb asking for his autograph. Overall the kids had a great time! They even got to go out on the field with Mr. Soule. And the Sounders won 1 to 0 against the Miami FC! Here is the play by play. After the game, the kids got autographs from a bunch of the players on a mini soccer ball.

Here is Colin's drawing of the game.

Memorial Day Weekend

Typically Memorial Day is to honor those in the armed forces that have given their lives for the freedoms we enjoy. It is also the unofficial start of Summer. Here is a taste of what we did this weekend.

On Saturday, the whole family went to put flowers on Grandpa Chuck’s grave at the Floral Hills cemetery. While Chuck wasn’t killed in action…he still served in the Navy from 1948 to 1952, during the Korean War. As a medical corpsman assigned to the 13th Naval District in Seattle for the majority of his service time, he once told Jack that he would often process paperwork from buddies who had died in the war. See an earlier blog about Chuck. Anyway here is a shot of Jack and the kids at his grave.

Jack had called ahead to Floral Hills and had asked where his grandparents were buried since he really couldn’t remember. With the map they provided we found the marker as well. Here is a shot of Gail and the kids (with Colin hiding) at the grave site. Also at Floral Hills there was a live military display which had a lot of artifacts – including a couple of running WWII Jeeps! We also bought cookies at the Vietnam Veterans cookie sale which has become a tradition as well. Pictures have been saved up to our Photobucket site including a funny vblog (a.k.a. video blog) sequence of Cian who had had enough of Memorial Day.

Other pictures of the weekend include: Caleb on the tractor; Emma doing chores; Rilla on her trike; and Cian sandwiched in the screen door. Colin is noticeably absent and was probably playing Age of Empires on the computer. Gail blames his Uncle Ridge for this! We finished up the weekend having the cousins down for BBQ'd Buffalo burgers (Jack's idea and they were pretty good) and smores, and in the end we all stayed up late to watch A Night At the Museum. Here’s to the official start of Summer!

Jack and kids 5.26.07