Here’s what we were up to in June. But first, in case you ever wondered what our family would look like as cartoon characters, here we are:

Avery got vaxed

The three of us took a little day trip to B’ham

Of course we went to Mallard’s Ice Cream

Outside Rumor’s Cabaret

Jonathan’s with his rowing buddies, Gabe & James. Gabe’s mom passed away and they went down for her funeral.

Fun fact: I fell in love with Gabe’s parent’s house and the way his mom decorated it when we spent one 4th of July there. Much of it has been redone in the 20 years since, but here’s part of the kitchen.

Jono, James & Joe, together again. I’m sure they didn’t get into any trouble.

Layla & Clare – besties!

Literally climbing the walls

Just a little chipmunk taunting our pets

Uno with Maggie & Layla

Playing with the new Barbie camper

Silas was thrilled to sit in James’ Tesla when he came to visit

Free dress day at ballet

Notice the three Belles

Returning library books

These two play so well together!

Hot dog!

Kitty love

Avery is always tinkering with the lighting in his room. Here’s his under-the-bed lights.

Chalk art by Layla

The kids all joined  swim team at The Club again this summer. Here are pictures from June, lots of practice and a few meets at the end of the month. July will be full of meets. We’ve seen so much growth already in all our kids, especially Layla, who started the season barely swimming and can now make it safely all over the pool. Go Tiger sharks!

Relaxing at a meet

Matthew & Avery

Kieron, Avery, Layla & Hayden

Playing at the pool one evening

Found Layla and Miles having a quiet conversation during one of the meets!

My favorite things are family and the water, so we went to Bellingham to celebrate my birthday on Lake Whatcom this year. Although we love our community in Snoqualmie it always feels like going home when we’re up there. We had a ton of fun playing outside, got to visit with some of our old neighbors and had a date night at Aslan. All in all, a good day!

Lunch at Fiamma Burger

Visiting with Nicole

Party at our old beach

We headed to Reville Island for a while

Time to head back for the evening

The kids were dying to eat at their favorite restaurant, The Olive Garden, so we ordered in for them and went on a date at Aslan. It’s nice now that the kids are old enough to do this type of thing!

Day 2

With Ann & Mary

At the rope swing with Byron & Joe

Joe was quite the rope swing guy!

Our kids all took turns jumping from the tree limb

Opening cards from my sweet family

I think it’s safe to say the 2020-2021 school year was one we were all happy to see come to a close. The year started off remote and ended with a crazy hybrid schedule where none of our kids were on the same rotation. We were thankful to celebrate graduations for 3/4 of our children – from pre-k, elementary, and middle school. Lots of change on the way! We all made it and are looking forward to a fun summer and hopefully a more normal school year next fall. So proud of our kids for their resilience, hard work and positive attitudes through it all.

Grads! Hayden, Avery, Eddie, Hamza & Abdullah

8th Grade Grad!

Pre-K Graduation

Pre-K Grad!

Last day!

That’s a wrap on 5th grade and elementary school!

Done with 3rd Grade! (And that bruise on his thumbnail is from a Phoebe bite!)

Class of 2034?!

Ms. Claire & Layla

End of school year parade at the elementary. We basically all drove through and waved to our teachers.

When we went out on boating early in the season we couldn’t help but notice all the lily pads boaters had with them this year. They looked like an awful lot of fun, not to mention a great way to add some square footage to our little boat. We kept a look out for one and it paid off. We got the last one in stock at the Issaquah Costco (which also happened to be a much better deal than buying elsewhere). When I called and found out they had one left I raced to the store. I felt like I’d won big when I rolled it out of the warehouse. That afternoon we packed up the kids and took them to Lake Sammamish to try it out. We all agree it was a great find, and just as fun as it looked!

Frankie’s pizza for dinner

“Let’s roll this sucker out!”