Aquafest

Lucy's gymnastics had a little booth and show at the Aquafest event and so we went to check it out. The kids had a great time doing lots of little activities. Sota enjoyed seeing what a street festival was like in our area.

fishing for prizes

getting ready to perform

Eating some self decorated cupcakes

a bouncy house

We went on the spinning dinosaur ride (man remind me never to do the teacups again).

Then we did the ferris wheel with a terrific view of the lake.

Sota visits from Japan

We were really lucky to be able to host Sota from Japan for 2 weeks. He was so much fun to have around. During the week days he would attend school at a nearby location and then evenings and weekends he spent with us.  The kids loved playing with him and were super sad to see him go.

Sota brought origami paper with him and he made fun things for us (the kids also made stuff (like the snowflakes)

He brought most of this with him from Japan and made us a wonderful sushi dinner one night. We loved it (well the girls weren't so sure but the rest of us ate it all up!)

Jeremy and Sota went down to visit the museum of flight. They had a great time and I think Sota really enjoyed his trip.

They did the simulator thing (that even allows them to go fully upside down)  Jeremy was the pilot and Sota was the gunner, I think they brought down like 11 enemy planes.  Quite impressive.

Sota is a great violinist. We were lucky to have my great-grandpa's violin during the weeks he visited so he could play for us.

Street Scramble

We had a fun time as a big family doing the Everett Street Scramble. If you have never done a street scramble I recommend it. It is like a giant scavenger hunt around a city.

One of the tasks was to climb this wall to figure out what the word was. Jaydon did a great job getting himself up high enough to read the word.

We are hosting an exchange student from Japan. Sota joined in with us and I think had a good time.

The whole gang

Rodeo Day

Lucy had the time of her life (so far) at horse camp. She was so excited to get to ride her horse and show off all her new skills to us on rodeo day (the last day of the camp).  We were excited to be able to head up and see her. (Of course it was a fast turn around having to get Jaydon from his last day of camp and then jetting up to Lucy's farm.  Unfortunately Jaydon's camp was not very good so we don't have pics of that but he did still have some fun). 

Lucy introducing us all to Walter her horse.

We asked her horses name the first night she came home and she couldn't remember, that night as she was lying in bed trying to sleep she came running in to tell me she remembered his name was Peanut. Well we called her horse peanut for 2 days and then she came home and said she was wrong and his name was Walter.  She had been thinking of his color, he is a chestnut horse.

Riding up into the arena to show off her skills

She loved her pony and she did a really great job on her skills

Feeding Walter some apples after a good show

Giving Walter a good-bye hug

The 3 kiddos sitting on a cool bench outside of camp

Her certificate and memento to take home

One video she is displaying her turning skills, the next one she is participating in a race against another team where the first person to give a high five to the teacher and get back wins (she did great and won her heat).

I have a feeling we will be doing plenty of horse camps in the coming years!

The Girls' New Room

We had new neighbors move in and they had two extra twin beds that they were getting rid of. We were the lucky recipients of those beds. So the move is official. Lucy moved out of Jaydon's room and into her old room with Kate. They are both thrilled with their big girl beds and while I happened to be able to set it up with stuff we already had in the house I imagine at some time we might get more matching blankets or some such thing. Surprisingly they have been really easy together, they go right to sleep at night when they are supposed to - knock on wood.