Here’s what we were up to in July. We invited friends, the Estes & the Andersens to play with us at Andrew’s Bay.

Hudson, Kieron, Layla, Vivian, Silas & Landry

Us with Jody, Darcey, Wendy & Blake

We took the Estes back to Seward Park & headed back to the marina with the Andersens.

Pretty dragonfly at the marina

Look who won the Father’s Day Burger Recipe Contest at Saints & Scholars!

Our good friend, the Smiths, came to visit from Singapore!

With Jen, friends since seventh grade

Enjoying Jonathan’s burger at Saints & Scholars

Bjorn & Avery, friends since birth. Bjorn is headed to college in the Netherlands in the fall.

Layla & Elina

A lateover with Justin & Ethan. Here they are burning their used math books.         

Playing Trivial Pursuit while Silas & Kieron were away at Boy Scout Camp

Jonathan, at a work party

Layla’s good friend, Evengeline, moved to Colorado     

Layla and I went to her friend, Henry’s, party at the Reptile Zoo. She was the only 2nd grade girl invited and she loved getting up close with all the animals!                                 

Watching him feed this gator was a little scary! I know he’s a professional, but wow!
 

We had another fun and crazy season of summer swim team. All three of the kids came super close to qualifying for A Champs this year, and Layla was invited to swim there on a relay team (they took 5th out of more than 20 teams)! They all grew and learned a lot, and it was fun watching them improve all season.

At A Champs!

Layla was thrilled to get a special orange swim cap, reserved for A Champs qualifiers

Cheering our team on!

King County Aquatic Center is pretty impressive!

Cheering on the older girls with Kelsey

With coaches Lynette & Peyton

Layla and Aspen

At the end of the season banquet

With Coach Jay

Summer swim parents

At B Champs – this was the boy’s relay team!

Jonathan took part in the Parents Relay this year. It was fun to to cheer him and his team on. The coaches won (again)!
  

Landry, Silas & Campbell
 

Look who I ran into from Triangle Pool! My long time friend, Deanna!

In July we headed north to the San Juans for a good ole family vacation on Everlong. Jonathan had to work on this trip, so most days he and I woke up early and got going in time to watch the sunrise underway. When he started meetings I drove to the next harbor. We’d get a slip or buoy during one of his breaks and then I took the kids exploring while he finished up the work day and then we could all play in the evenings.

Day 1 we were bound for Port Townsend

Hanging out on the flybridge while Jonathan was in meetings below.

Watching a boat get lowered back into the water

Playing with kelp.

We took a long walk in Port Townsend

After our walk Avery mentioned to me that a bug bite he’d gotten on his thigh a couple days before was starting to look worse and was hurting. We took a look at it, and there was a big red area stretching the length of his upper leg and the bite did not look good either! We decided to go to Urgent Care, which was only a half mile walk from the marina. The doc said it looked like a staph infection, and that she suspected it could be MRSA, so she wanted us to treat it as if it were until we found out for sure! She took a culture and prescribed antibiotics, an ointment, and instructed us to all shower using medical soap. We spent the next 24 hours Googling, sanitizing and worrying. Fortunately, the call eventually came and yes, it was staph, but no, it was not MRSA. Whew! We could relax a little, and by that time, Avery’s bite was already improving.

The next day we ventured on to Roche Harbor and stayed there for two nights.

We toured a really neat old wooden yacht, Linmar

The boys learned to lasso a cleat like the dock hands at Roche Harbor. A couple of the guys even came over and gave them a proper lesson. They spent hours practicing!

The first evening Jonathan, Layla and I walked to the Mausoleum

Colors ceremony

The kids and I at lunch the next day

Afterward we walked around town and visited all the local spots

We walked to the Mausoleum     

A few years makes a big difference!
     

Ice cream!

Another walk to the mausoleum

  

We made a quick afternoon stop at Friday Harbor and got pizza for dinner. We passed a cool marimba band on the way there.

Next stop: Cypress Island

Skipping rocks

Kieron, Silas & Layla camped on the island while the rest of us stayed on the boat.

Layla and I did an early morning hike to Eagle Cliff
 

Auntie Ashleigh and Uncle Mark flew out at the beginning of July and came up to visit with Nana. We took them to Bainbridge Island one of the days and spent the rest visiting and relaxing. It was great to be together!

Waiting at the locks

With the Kiwi flag

In salt water!

“We want to jump in!”



                  

Taking selfies with my phone

Sunset pics

Coming home

Baking with Nana

Playing ring toss

We spent Fourth of July in Snoqualmie again and did all the traditional things!




     

Phoebe got hot during the parade

We took a break in the afternoon and went to the pool before going to our friend’s BBQ. My girlfriend and I unintentionally twinned in our bathing suits!

At the Hoiting’s 

With Colette, Lawson & their friend from out of town

Fireworks time!

Back at home