summer round-up: july

More on our awesome summer. July was a busy, exciting month. These events are in no particular order, because I loaded all the photos and don't want to rearrange them :-)

Friends Camping!

I have an awesome group of mommy friends. We have so much in common and click so well. I love that last year we planned a family camping trip and it was survivable (the company was great, but camping itself wasn't as exciting), but we wanted to try again. I will say this year's adventure was a bazillion times more enjoyable than last year's cold-weather-Pacific-Ocean adventure. This time we went to Lincoln Rock State Park in East Wenatchee (Eastern Washington), and it was hot and wonderful.

We went the week after there was a HUGE fire in Eastern Washington, and in fact the road we took to get there was closed for a section. Luckily, we could still get there and it wasn't too much of a detour, and there was no smoke or ashes or anything. It was perfect weather, clear air, sunshine and warmth. Golly, I loved it.

Cute Laurel watching Dad Tim make a fire...

Some of the beach access. This was just a little sand pocket for play...

We did most of our swimming at this water inlet. My only complaint is that there was no SAND. It was a cement step amphitheater, and then rocks and water.

Shane is really good at building fires, too. My friend Vicki considers herself a fire snob and she was impressed.

I have no idea what this game is called. But the kids like throwing things at each other.

 

Here's our awesome group. Six families of 12 adults, 11 children, and countless laughs. Some great memories include:

• stopping in Leavenworth on the way for this HUGE wonderful German pretzels
• listening to my kids giggle as the jumped from air mattress to air mattres
• helping the kids play a thrilling game of Uno, with more than one deck (we came home with cards that weren't ours... we did return them eventually ;-)
• gathering by lantern-light to play games after the kids went to bed (I brought Boggle and had LOTS of fun)
• star gazing in the amphitheater
• playing several wonderful games of tennis (YAY!!)
• having a glo-stick explode on Wesley in our tent
• reading a magazine while the kids played in the water for hours.... it was hard to tear Wesley away
• enjoying not only s'mores but also the roasted Starbursts delicacy... I was the hero because I happened to have a bag of Starbursts in my diaper bag
• having endless wonderful conversations with these great people
• stuffing our car full afterwards and making it home in one piece!

I had a great time. I'm already excited for next year, although we haven't selected a place yet. Since the kids don't nap and we don't really sleep all that well, it's a debate if we should do it for more days or just let the weekend be the main event. Camping is a lot of prep work but lots of fun. 

Imagine Children's Museum

We've been to the museum before but since we're not members now we don't go very often. Wesley's favorite part was the TRAFFIC LIGHT in the entryway. He went back to it a dozen times while we were there.

Of course there were some other fun things, like the play airplane, the outdoor area, the black-lit room, the camping exhibit (really fun since we were headed out camping!), etc. It's always a good trip.

Cub Scouts Pack Meeting at Mukilteo Beach

Something I look forward to every summer is the Cub Scout pack's annual summer party at Mukilteo Beach, where we get a firepit and have dinner. You might be thinking, Cub Scouts? But yes, for my calling I am a commissioner for two packs in our stake, and they happen to be the packs for my ward and our neighboring ward :-) So my kids and I know most of the families and people, so it's just a fun summer party.

Since I'm at home with my kids, I can go to the beach early and stake out a firepit for the pack. I got there this year at 2:30! The pack meeting wasn't until 6! We had LOTS of time to play. My kids had a blast.

When the party finally started we already had hours of summer sun under our belt, complete with water wading and little crab catching. We had hot dogs and s'mores, plus a small Cub Scout meeting. There was just lots of running around and laughing and playing. We stayed out late and we were SUCH a mess.

If how messy you are is directly proportional to how much fun you are having... well, I'll just let you be the judge of how fun it was...

Actually, the fun doesn't stop there. This happened on July 1, and I mentioned in my June recap that we had camped the last weekend in June and our tent was all wet. We had set it up in the backyard to air out, and I thought it would be fun to blow up the air mattresses and sleep in the backyard. The kids got their baths, then we got on comfy pajamas and went outside with our air mattresses, sleeping bags, and pillows. Laurel and I slept on the queen air mattress and Wesley had his twin. Shane actually thought I was crazy; he said something like "good luck! I give you an hour!" on my way out the back door.

Yes, the kids were wound up; yes, we stayed up until 11:30. Laurel and I had a blast; we got into a tickle fight and Wesley had to tell us to be quiet. When we settled down, she was being sweet and cuddly, and I got my smartphone out and we were watching famous movie proposal scenes and she was stroking my forehead as we both fell asleep. It was absolutely perfect.

As I lay there, listening to my kids breathe, seeing their happy faces, and feeling the marvelous summer weather, and I was just overwhelmed with emotion. I thought to myself, "this is one of the best days of my life." I just loved our perfect summer day.

Independence Day

We have a good time on July 4 around here.

It started with us doing our United States puzzle... which we LOVE... the kids do all the time ;-)

Then of course we had a BBQ, with pasta salad, hot dogs, chips... etc....

S'mores over the "fire"...

THEN in Gottula tradition (two years running), we booked a hotel somewhere close but not at home to escape the onslaught of fireworks. My kids don't like fireworks. Wesley cries, then Laurel cries. Our house shakes on July 4. It kinda sucks when you just want everyone to get some sleep.

So. This year's hotel was near the Alderwood Mall. It was a SUITE, which was super cool.... A front room with a sitting area, big TV, and kitchen...

And the back room with the two queen beds.

Of course there was also an indoor pool, which we swam in on July 4th and again on the 5th before we checked out. It had a WATERSLIDE which was cool. Shane and I went down a couple times; it was much too fast and big for the kids. But they loved swimming around. Laurel has a puddle jumper life preserver and she can book it in that thing, and Wesley has an inflatable ring and he can be pretty independent, too.

For dinner we went to Red Robin, which was AWESOME since NO ONE was there. Who would have guessed you'd have no wait and stellar service on a Friday night? Not busy at all. Haha.

When we tried to go to bed we could hear the fireworks. They were much closer than last year when we stayed in Mukilteo near Paine Field. The kids wouldn't settle down, so we ended up watching them from out of our window. It was pretty perfect since we were three stories up! We saw quite the show. I tried to drive home to the kids that fireworks weren't "scary," they're just loud. We'll see if it worked. They were pretty wound up, and Shane wasn't as thrilled at their level of excitement. He has roundabout said we won't be doing this next year... hmm.

Happy 4th :-)

Forest Park Play Area

Swim lessons was at Forest Park, so here are just some great pictures of them playing after lessons one day. They're cute little people.

Instrument Petting Zoo

The Mukilteo Community Center hosted an "instrument petting zoo" this year which was really cool. Wesley was into it more than Laurel was; she was afraid to do everything and acted pretty shy, but Wesley jumped right in. They cleaned all the instruments in between the kids trying them out, and the volunteers were so good with the kids.

Wesley loved the trumpet.

And the violin! Look at his concentration!

The recorder...

The piano. That was just a mess but whatever :-)

It was a cool little free activity. I was super impressed. I'm grateful our community does cool things like this. It's just important to put them on the calendar so you go!

Picnic at the Temple

Another summer tradition I really love is our annual picnic at the temple, followed by a nice walk around the grounds. This year we went with two friends and their brood of kids... they had 11 between the two of them so it was a busy group :-)

These pictures are all just so fantastic. I love them all.

Here's a lot of the group... 7 pictured! There were 6 more!

I love doing this with my kids. I hope we can keep it up.

Jetty Island

Of course the last summer staple is Jetty Island. It's a man-made island that you take a little foot ferry over to. We LOVE it. The water is warm and shallow. You can almost always see your kids. You bring food and sand toys and stay all day. This year I went with a different group of friends, celebrating one of their son's birthdays, and it was just a blast to catch up with these girls I knew when I lived in Seattle. It was a perfect day! We had a terrific time, as always.

Afterwards I was feeling happy and took the kids out to frozen yogurt. Wesley got ahold of my phone and took his first selfie!! (There's a shadow on his face, not sure how that happened. My dad was worried, haha.)

As you can see, July did not disappoint!!! On to August...