First (& Second) Day of School

Here's Livia on the first day of school, which was this Wednesday! (One picture is never enough!)

And here is Sydney... she got sick the night before, and she was upset because I wouldn't let her go to school anyway.

She was much happier the next day, on her 1st 2nd day of school!

I don't know if you noticed, but Livia had me curl her straight hair and Sydney had me straighten her curly hair! Why is it that girls are never satisfied with the hair they are given!?

Priest Lake Camping

We went to Priest Lake to have our annual camping trip with Mike's family. We usually go in July, but since Brooklyn was so young still, everyone decided to wait a month and go later! Aren't they so nice! Here's a HUGE photo section from our fun week!

The water was pretty cold! But I discovered after you do 60 breast strokes, your body numbed up to it!

We were surrounded by beautiful CLEAR water, and yet the girls spent most their time in the woods making forts! They LOVE playing with their cousins!

I was SO glad that Beth (Mike's sister) brought a floaty toy for her daughter, because it worked perfect for a little bouncer/bed for Brooklyn! :)

The picture on the right is the view right outside our tent! It's nice having beach front access - a perk to camping on a small island!

You can tell how much Brooklyn loved the wind storm that we had one day! She didn't like being confined to our tent for most of it.

1... 2... 3... JUMP! Well... they were ALMOST in sync with one another.

Of course we had lots of cocoa and smores, since the weather barely broke the 70's for 2 days.

The left picture is proof of how beautiful and clear the water is at Priest Lake! a rare sight for us Moscowans... Moscowians... Moscowites... (us people from Moscow..)

There were lots of baby bouncers available whenever Brookie cried.

This is Emmalee, our niece. She is the funniest kid I've ever met. She is constantly making us laugh!

You can see why I braided the girls hair into snake braids. It was always in Syd's eyes the first day! After the braids though, not a problem! It worked out well.

You gotta LOVE the sunglasses that Brooklyn was sporting!

One big happy family of 5!!!!

Pirates Treasure Hunt:

Every year, pirates bury their treasure on the island for the kids! They leave very authentic and elaborate clues for the kids to follow all over the island. The kids had fun finding the loot this year! The "pirates" were especially fruitful with their treasure!

Brooklyn's Blessing

My dad has been in Kentucky all summer, so he talked me into waiting to have Brooklyn blessed after he got back. She was already 2 months old, but at least we were able to have him stand in on her blessing. It's good to have him and my mom home again. Mike's family was able to come down for the blessing as well. Mike didn't waist time putting his parents to work in our back yard! They actually got a lot done too. We had a great weekend together and the weather was nice. Here's some pics of the blessing day.

I LOVE this picture! :)

Lentil Festival

We went to the Lentil Festival in Pullman today. I ran my first race in the morning. It was a 5K, so 3.1 miles through the WSU campus. I finished in 38 minutes. Not the best time, but I am not used to running outside yet, and the hills killed my time. But it was fun. Mike and the girls came to cheer me on! I am going to do anther one with Mike in September.

You can tell I am not as fit as I used to be and how hot I was. My face was bright red! :)

After the race, they had a parade. The girls got a tiny bit of candy and lots of high fives. Yeah..... NOT! :-)