Day at the beach

Is this not the prettiest girl ever? :)









Here is Ben relaxing in the sand after he was buried!





Shelby the cool teen catching some rays..



On Monday, I took the kids to Point no Point beach. It is right on a point (hence the name!) and there is a lighthouse there. More importantly, there is a wonderful HUGE sandy beach that stretches for miles. Paige took her kite and got it up the very first time! Ben had a blast burying himself and everyone else in the sand, and then he discovered it was way cool to get all the sand off by plunging himself, clothes and all, into the ocean! We had a wonderful day, and came home tired (the kids) and sunburned (me). When Mark comes home from sea we want to head back there, as it is like being on a vacation in the tropics when you are there!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Crazy busy Summer

What a week it has been! Yikes! I think I need the kids to go back to school so I can get back on schedule and feel more rested! :)
Mark is on mission for awhile, so I am home with four kids! Double Yikes! My plan was to keep so busy that I'd wear the kids out every day, but it seems that I am the one who is first in bed and asleep! Go figure! The house is all in one piece each morning when I wake up so it all works out in the end!
On Tuesday and Friday nights Paige has cheer practice. The base is showing matinées Tuesday-Thursday at 1pm for free, so we've been catching up on movies we missed when they first came out and wanted to see. In the evenings before dinner we seem to meander our way to wildcat lake to cool off and enjoy the waning heat of the day. Our evenings consist of some movie or other from blockbuster.com (if you are not a member you seriously have to check it out..you can get up to 3 movies at a time and the turnaround is amazing. I can send a movie back Monday and have another one by Wednesday and best of all? NO LATE FEES!!!!!) and a bowl of popcorn.
Life gets into a very rhythmical pattern when Mark is gone and the days seem to go by at a fairly steady pace. Which is nice...he is terribly missed when he is gone. Although I have to admit, it IS nice to have the bed entirely to myself! WHEEEEEEEEEE.....

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Our Zoo trip

On Wednesday of this week we took all the kids to Point Defiance Zoo. I bought a family pass for the year and so we can go anytime we want as often as we want...which is nice as we now don't have to go for a 'full day' to get our monies worth..we can go for a half day if we want...however, on Wednesday we did go all day! The weather was perfect, nice and sunny but with a breeze so it wasn't hot.




Here is Ben in the "Kids Zone" in a nest! He wasn't too thrilled I made him do this..can you tell? hahaha....







Here is Paige in "Kids Zone" feeding a goat. Isn't she getting tall? (of course still as skinny as a pole!)





We go all the way to the zoo to see a mama duck and her babies! This was an unused pen that they were going to put something into but this duck laid eggs in there this spring so they left her alone and let her raise her babies! How cute is that!





Ben posing on a rock, again, doesn't look too thrilled does he? lolol





This family of otters was so cute! The father has 'arthritis' and was on medication for it! The family went everywhere together. When one got out they ALL got out, very cute!





Marks favorite animal- the Tiger! This guy was actually laying on his back asleep, then got up and posed for a few minutes, just enough time for me to get a few good shots and then he was back on his back asleep!





Paige and Shelby on the merry go round. I bought a punch card for it which gives us three free rides when all is said and done!





Paiges favorite animal in the WORLD! She is nuts about owls! If you want to get her a gift that will thrill her, make it something to do with owls (stuffed animal, book etc). She is keeping a journal of all the owl facts she knows!





We found this lady giving an informal talk about owls on one of the zoo paths. Of course we had to stay for the whole thing and were actually the LAST people standing there when she was done!




Hugs to all,
Jaye

Award Winning Photo!!!

Is this not the BEST photo ever? I took it last night at our 4th of July celebrations on the beach!



Hugs
Jaye

T ball picnic

Last Sunday we hosted Bens T ball team the 'Red Racers' for their end of season picnic! I ordered a cake with their team photo on the top and each of the team members received a trophy...Bens coaches were the same ones from last year and they were AWESOME...Ben will be moving on to coach pitch next year so he will have new coaches....we will miss the ones we've had for the past two years! The weather was actually blistering hot that day...one of the hottest days we'd had all summer, a mighty 94 degrees! I took the cake out of the fridge, brought it down to the lower property (where we had the bbq) and in the short amount of time it took to cut each kid and adult a piece, the darn thing had started to melt! A fun time was had by all in spite of feeling like we were all about to melt just like the cake!

Enjoy the pictures!
Jaye




We bought this new T-shirt for Ben to wear especially for the Tball picnic!




Here are the five kids who showed up (out of 11)..it was a VERY hot day and alot of the team members and their families took the chance to hit the beach!








Here is the cake. I took the team photo in to Albertsons and they turned it into an edible decoration! Kewl hey?





Here is Ben with his trophy!







This is Coach Robert, he is a GREAT coach (doesn't hurt that he is a prison guard in his alternate life! lolol)







Coach Matt, who showed up despite having had eye surgery two days before!!! Now THAT is dedication to the team!






Here are all the boys showing off their trophies!!

Happy Fourth of July!!

"O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!"

Whenever I hear this song, it always seems to sum up what is 'America' to me...more so than even the National Anthem! We are headed to a friends house for the fourth today...they live on the beach and we will be able to see the city fireworks from their deck! Should be great fun, although Mark is going through withdrawal. This is the first year since we moved to this house on land that he hasn't spent a few hundred (one year it was 1200!!) dollars on fireworks....we spent a grand total this year of sixteen dollars on sparklers and poppers for the kids! I have chicken marinating in Huli Huli sauce (a GREAT Hawaiian marinade) and we will take that with us for the bbq.

So, Happy Fourth of July everyone! Have a safe day! Don't go blowing yourselves up...don't drink and drive...and mostly...just remember that America is a GREAT place to live...

Hugs
Jaye

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day everyone! This is Canada's version of 'Fourth of July' I suppose! lol...Mark and I took the kids to the dentist and then out to lunch at Red Robin with the tribe. Mark is now replacing the breaks on my mini van, fun hey? I am taking Paige to Cheer practice this evening, so our day isn't being spent really celebrating Canada Day....but hey..that is life right? :)

Hugs
Jaye