Jonathan has had his heart set on moving back to Bellingham for a while. I was very happy in Snoqualmie, but he finally found a house that piqued my interest – it had enough bedrooms for our family and lake access. I decided to take a leap of faith. One thing led to another, and by the end of June the moving truck arrived and we headed north.

The truck at our old house

I got pretty sentimental taking my last tour through the boys’ tree fort in the back yard

Look at all their cute little primitive tools and work stations

Ethan stopped by to say “see you later”.

So did Charlotte.

Meanwhile the big boys were at their last day of Camp Invention. They said goodbye to Timber Ridge Elementary.

Then they came home and we had pizza in the house on the empty floor
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Hayden, Brooklyn, & Jacqui stopped by with a gift for Avery

Matching photo collages of their memories together. These two!

We dropped by to see Louis, up the street

And his mom, Emily

Here’s Silas & Bode (who also moved about a month later)

And Caroline and I had an evening out together. Not gonna lie, the boys and I had a tough time saying goodbye to our friends. I see many visits in our future!

Here’s Kieron on his first night at the new house

And here’s Jonathan mowing the grass that had grown very tall before we became owners. More pics of the new house to come in future posts!

At the beginning of June the boys had their annual Cub Scout Packnick, or weekend campout at Valley Camp in North Bend. This is the first time Kieron & Avery were both in Scouts together, and they even brought their little brother along for the fun!

Those eyes!

With his buddy, Logan

My 4 boys

Salmonberries!

At the end of our trip we went out for dinner on Uncle Brad’s boat, Galatea. We had a great time visiting and telling stories while the boys explored the trawler and played hide-and-seek.

Thanks to Avery, here are a couple pictures of all the adults.

Heading out there on another boat

This girl knows her music! She loved dancing to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young!

Pre-dinner cocktail

Meanwhile, in the galley…

The stern of the boat made a perfect playpen for little Layla.

Grillin’

So much fun in the little cabins when you’re a kid!

“I’m the captain!”

“No, I’m the captain!”

These boys melt my heart. Here they are deep in a chess game. (Kieron won this one!)

Silas taking his snack upstairs

The boys were sure they wanted a picture together, Layla, not so much.

These are from an earlier trip on Galatea

One afternoon we met Uncle Brad, Aunt Julie, and Uncle Brian at the college and sailed to Balboa Island. We took the boys to the Fun Zone for some good old fashioned arcade fun and ate delicious ice cream. We had such a fun day!

The boys loved sailing and looking at all the sites on the water. Layla seemed to enjoy it too. She liked playing with the lines and reaching out for the water.

The trip back was a memorable one. It was a bit cooler by then, and Layla was t-i-r-e-d. She was wailing and we were going into the wind, tacking back and forth. Uncle Brad would say “tack the baby”, I’d leap across with her screaming on my lap, and then everyone else would switch sides and we would tack. In between I tried to calm her with some songs, but she was just over it. Eventually we made it back though and got her to sleep!

We startled a couple of pesky seals

At the Fun Zone

This girl LOVED her ice cream!

Wow, looking at all the smiles in these pictures reminds me how much fun we had at California Adventure. Cars town was pretty awesome, and Kieron was excited to do the bakery tour. Silas loved meeting all the characters. We stayed all day and had a great time!

“Oh my God!” It’s Woody & Jessie!”

Is that a happy face or what?!

“Do I have something on my face?”