The Start of Summer fun

We try to keep the 1st week of summer vacation open for laziness and friend filled days.  The weather was ultra yucky this week, so we found other ways to entertain around the house.  Cushion surfing is always a favorite.  We started out the week hitting the summer movie since it was raining.  Another day we went to this great show at the library, Eric Herman is a fairly well known children's musician who lives in the tri-cities.  He puts on an interactive show that we all really enjoyed, even Lincoln really got into it.  Conor won a DVD because he was such a good dancer.  Yea for the library!  We had friends come over and play one day and a park day that was brrrr cold.  Then the sun finally came out so we went to the water!  Kacey lives by Long Lake and invites us out every so often to enjoy the beach and water and the sun and some friend time, and of course a picnic.  Welcome Summer!  

Cushion Surfing

Josie posing for me while eating lunch

Josie and Lincoln playing in the sand

Conor was here, but he never sat still long enough to get a picture.  He spent most of his time with the bigger boys creating water tunnels from the sand to the water and water fights. 

Father's Day

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy in our home! In primary they each wrote a few fun things about their Dad and they both wrote that they love it when their Daddy plays with them. Josie even wrote that she loves it when her Daddy hugs her tight. After Daddy finally got home from meetings, we had him open his present, which was a belgian waffle maker then we put it to work and ate yummy strawberries and whipped cream and waffles for dinner. It was a pretty day so we headed up to Bear Lake to walk around and enjoy the evening together.

Finally the last day!

Where does the time go? I know I say that every year, but this year seemed especially quick. Conor is on to 4th grade! He received a beautiful report card, and we are so proud of the successes and progress he has made this year. Mrs. Cong commented on how far he had come on his reading since the 1st day and I couldn't agree more. He is a completely different reader then he was when he entered 3rd grade. We are hopeful the spelling and writing piece will catch up now. We are sad to leave Mrs. Cong and 3rd grade behind, but on to the next adventure.

Conor on his last day of 3rd grade

The celebratory leap of no school for 3 whole months!

Josie dance camp

We have had our first "dance" experience at our house. I have been dragging my feet when it comes to getting Josie into dance classes. I am anything but a dancer, so I am really hoping she will take the athletic route, but to be fair I am going to give it a shot. We found this 4 day dance camp that introduces pre-schoolers to ballet, tap and musical theater. What a great experience-not even one tear about the shoes!  That is truly a miracle. Josie really enjoyed it and here are the pictures of the fun.

Josie striking a pose on her way out the door to her 1st dance lesson

Ballet

Musical theater

Amy, Bree, Josie, Lyndsey & Ella

Bree, Josie and Lyndsey enjoying ice-cream after their last day!  Way to go girls.  These cuties are Josie's 2 best friends from preschool.  She adores both of them.

Last day at the farm

Lincoln was not a fan of the chickens

Gathering eggs had to be a highlight for the older 2 kids

The spoils...they did not like the chickens pecking their toes

Lincoln loved these little chicks in the cage.

A mini tractor ride put a smile on all their faces.  Thanks Farmer John.  You can see the pond in the back that holds some giant frogs-too quick for Conor

I included this picture because so much of Josie's time was spent doing this.  She is running between the barn and the horses to get them hay so she could feed it to them.  She was getting really brave by the end of our stay

More horse time

Josie helping Lincoln get grass to feed to the horse.  Lincoln would throw it about 10 feet away from the horse so they couldn't reach it.  Trying to be like the big kids....just not brave enough yet.  Fine by me, stay little my sweetie boy. 

Our great hosts!  Melanie was so great to feed us many delicious meals and take such good care of us.  Best of luck with the new baby coming soon. 

What a fun weekend.  It is always great to get away from our mundane life in Spokane, We hope to come back soon and we will make the blizzards next time.  Love you guys!

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium

On Saturday we left the men to take care of the barn and we headed to the zoo. It was pouring rain when we left so we had boots, umbrellas and raincoats to scare away the rain and it worked! I enjoyed the drive over to the zoo as much as the zoo itself. What a fun day. Thank you Melanie for sharing the day with us and showing us around the zoo.  For the record, we enjoyed this zoo just as much if not more then the famous Woodland Zoo.  Much more interactive and the animals were so visible.

Josie bird

My little flies caught in a spider web-there is a really great playground the kids enjoyed exploring

Taking a break for lunch after we watched the live animal show. 

Conor on his 2 minute camel ride

Josie and Tyler on their camel ride-pretty fun, I can't say I have ever ridden a camel

Lincoln petting the camel nose with a little encouragement, he was laughing as the camel wiggled his lips and showed his teeth.

The tiger and Conor having a stare down

Lincoln and Tate looking down on the tiger

Tyler, Josie, Melanie, Mckenna, Tate, Conor and Lincoln

The sharks were a big hit with all the kids.  I was really impressed with this aquarium, we saw a lot of great sea life. One animal I didn't get a picture of was this gigantic walrus that was pretty amazing.  We called it the swimming elephant.

The Clouded Leopard cubs-we originally saw these cute little guys behind glass then later we came across them out for play time, really neat.  We could have reached out and touched them. 

The promised carousel ride and cotton candy for good behavior

Lincoln was all smiles on the carousel

Narnia Farms (aka The Payne's)

This is where we were able to spend last weekend.  Would you believe that this beautiful piece of property is 40 minutes outside of Seattle?  John and Melanie recently purchased 8 acres, the horse boarding facility and all the fun that comes with it.  They can tell you whether it is fun or work, but we had nothing but fun. I am going to break this up into 3 posts since I have so many pictures.

Narnia Farms from the gate at the horse pasture.  The barn roof was ripped off a week before closing, so roof repair is priority right now. 

Kevin taking a break from some barn demolition...We didn't see a whole lot of the Dad's as they were busy in the barn

Conor adding his own destruction to the roof raising.  John looks pretty happy to hand over the power tools. 

The Horses!!!! They have 8 now and have room for 2 more.  The kids soon learned all their names and picked their favorites

I tried to get a picture of all the kids looking at me, but no luck.  This was the best I could do, the horses were much more entertaining, thank goodness.

Feeding the horses, so entertaining and very popular

Lincoln loved being outside with the kids and splashing in the puddles and walking in the mud.  Thank you Melanie for sharing shoes with us, as Lincoln's were quickly useless

Waiting for the horses to come in for the night!  This is a ritual with the Payne kids.  If they are all ready for bed, they can go out and help bring in the horses.  The Kellogg kids were happy to join in.

Conor bringing in Trigger

Josie bringing in Riot ( I think)  Night Night Horsies!