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!
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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.
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
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!
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
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Kieron got to go on the 8th Grade trip to DC and Philadelphia in June. They got to see all the things, and it sounds like he had a great time with his friends and teachers! Here’s a desscription of their adventures from one of their teachers, Mr. Burford:
We then made our way to the Amish Farm and to dinner in the town of Bird in Hand. We had our Ghost tour of Gettysburg. Some storytellers were better than others. The hotel was a welcome sight and we all went to sleep pretty quick. Tour of the Gettysburg battle field is always a little overwhelming due to the scope, size and terrain. Left Gettysburg for Antietam and walked Bloody Lane and Burnsides bridge.
DC—Rolled in to DC and picked up our program leader. Abe. We went straight to Air Force Memorial then on to Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. Dinner was followed by. Jefferson Memorial. Next day was Mt. Vernon. We got the last chance to walk through the house before shut down this fall for about 18 months of restoration. Roy Rodgers did not let us down with lunch. We then rolled into one of the most impressive museums in DC, The National Museum of African American History. Never ceases to impress anyone who enters.. We finished the day with the Korean War, Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorials. Oh wait can’t forget the sight of Lighting bugs did not fail to gather new fans.
A very hot, with little wind and high humidity day on Monday saw us visiting Arlington National Cemetery. We visited The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the final resting spots of Justices Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Medgar Evers, Audie Murphy, the Kennedy’s, Eric Ward (from CKMS/Mt. Si) and Burford took two students on a mission to find relatives. Both were successful. After lunch we headed to the Holocaust Museum, National Archives and American History Museum. After a BBQ dinner we went to MLK JR and FDR Memorials.
Departure day had us with a Supreme Court picture stop and Capital Tour. By the time We hit Ford’s Theatre where the kids and adults were starting to “hit the Wall”. We headed out to Dulles for the return flight, but not without stopping along the way at the best Air and Space Museum in the Country.
Independence Hall
With his roommates, Weston, Owen, and Will
Heading out
Before taking him to the school for his first cross-country trip without parents
Avery gave him a sappy/silly hug goodbye, “I’m gonna miss you so much! Be safe!”
Independence Hall
Liberty Bell
Antietam
Antietam Burnside Bridge
General Robert E. Lee Monument
Gettysburg
On the Gettysburg Ghost Tour
George Washington’s House
George and Martha Washington’s Grave
Air Force Memorial
Marines Memorial
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Jefferson Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
White House
Ford’s Theatre
Arlington National Cemetery
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Einstein Memorial
Smithsonian
With the best tour guide ever – Abe. He’s been doing our middle school tours for more than a decade!
Pentagon Memorial
National Archives
MLK Memorial
FDR Memorial
US Capital
Washington Monument
Supreme Court
Korean War Memorial
At the Air and Space Museum
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