August

August kept us pretty busy after our vacation in Washington.

Ky and me got to spend some time together. We hit the Bodies exhibit at the museum....I loved it. The brain stuff is always my fave and I got to show Ky how to use the computers to change the lighting and angles and stuff on the ct scans. We also went to Transformers (finally) and we really liked it. Kaite is anxious to see it (my edited version) when it comes out on DVD.
The girls got all registered for school and we did some school shopping. Ash is such a shopper!
We picked raspberries and made jam!
We have been working in the garden, but not as much as we should. We have gotten quite a few zucchini, spaghetti squash, and beans this year. Our pumpkins are out of control and turning orange already and we are hoping it stays warm enough to get some corn.
The girls have been riding their bikes and playing in the pool out back. They are able to spend more time outside now that the barn is winding down.
We have been reading tons of books. Ash finished the Magic Tree House books this summer and has started on the Goosebumps series. I read like 4 dozen books this summer, and Kaite has been making her way through the Fairy books.
We also had our teeth checked, everyone is cavity free! Ash had her orthodontist appointment last week and he wanted to start on her teeth that day! At least they aren't as bad as mine were. She gets to go in for spacers next week, then head gear, and finally her retainer all in a month, poor girl. I am so glad she doesn't need surgery, her jaw angle is surgery worthy but by starting early we should be able to avoid that. The orthodontist is very positive about things, Ash is so scared. We started the tradition of hitting Kiwi Loco after her appointments and she really likes that, I think it helps a bit.
Kami started gymnastics and loves it! Coach Mallory is so awesome!

We got Kaite's new dresser painted. She wanted to paint it red with sparkles, I was hesitant at first but it turned out really good.

We have been spending some time in the basement. We finally got the windows cut but not without some problems. We rented a saw one Friday night and started to cut. We quickly found out that it was going to be a bigger job than we anticipated, and the fire alarms went off for like 30 min because of the exhaust! The cuts took FOREVER because the foundation is so thick and we started going through the $600 blade very quickly. By the time we went to bed Ky only had two sides of one window cut and I was trying to come up with some way of getting out of it, we were also wishing we just would have called Acor and paid the $1800 to have them do it.
Here is Ky on the second side of the window, notice the water EVERYWHERE!

Saturday morning we got up preparing for an awesome day. Chris even came up to help, but 10 minutes into the cutting the saw seized up. Ky called the rental place and they told us to bring it back. Turns out one of their guys mixed the gas wrong and they refunded us in full and didn't charge us for the blade. What a blessing! Plus they gave us a number for a guy who said he would come out and cut them for $535, we scheduled him for the following Thursday. That saved us at least $300 and maybe more depending on how many blades we would have gone through.

Here is a pic of his monster saw blade that he cuts with from the OUTSIDE so there is no mess!

So now all the holes are cut and windows are in. All we had to do is knock out the concrete and then put in the windows. We were able to sit around until he had a hole ready, then we did our thing and then waited for the next hole, it was great. George came up and helped set the windows since I am a little vertically challenged and can't reach the top of them to help frame them in. Thanks George!
The new living room window.

Knocking the last of the concrete out.

This was the only pic I got because all the other concrete was out before I even realized what they were doing!

We are hoping to have sheetrock up in the next week, we just need to finish some wiring.
Kami wearing her ear plugs.

Ash spent some time with her new friend Kenadee. They spent Kenadee's birthday getting pampered. Their hair and nails were so cute I wish I would have gotten a pic of them together. Ash is so excited to have her in her class, especially since Lilly moved.

I think for most of August we were in the water. We had fun swimming and boating. I have tons of pics from our boating trips.
Ky on the tube.

Mar and Kami, she is touching the water.

This one is for Harriet.

Me and Ash

Me and Kami, she loves the tube!

George

Mar and KamiGeorge
George and Mar- look close.
Ky and Kami
George modeling Ash's sunglasses! I told you I was going to post this George!
Me on the wakeboard
George on the ski
Ky on the ski
Kami all ready to go!
Mar, check out her face!
Ky and Kaite
Kaite chillin
Ash
Mar and Kami
We swam in the lake quite a bit.
And some fun ones of the wipe outs.

Poor Kaite her tube went underwater and she was not happy! After this she would only ride with one of us.

Mar has some good spills

George on the ski

Mar on the wakeboard

I usually have plenty of more wipe outs. George always takes the cake with his bloody noses usually from the tube!
We had a good month. I think we really packed a ton into this summer vacation.
Now that August is caught up I need to post about Labor day weekend and the first day of school.... it never ends.

Washington

Okay so I finally got all of my pictures sorted and posted from the trip. The girls, me, and my dad spent a week in Washington at the beginning of the month. We had a ton of fun, but the drive was so long!! Here is what we did.

We stopped in tri-cities along the way and visited James at his new digs, nice James. He lives in an AWESOME neighborhood with a great view.

We went to church with Aunt Sandy and they talked about sheep! I can't get away from farm life even in Seattle! Kami didn't want to go to nursery without me, my calling may not be the best for her.
We spent some time at the Puget sound. Ash said "real sand!" but then asked when do we get to see the "real ocean". The girls had fun playing in the sand.

Ash played with the seaweed, yuk.

Pretty though

Monday we went to Ft. Lewis-Mc Cord with Aunt Sandy. We hit the kids water park while we were there. That is Mt. Rainier in the background. We were lucky enough to have great weather with no rain the entire time we were there.

Later that night Ash and Kaite went to my cousin Holly's to stay the night. They had so much fun with her girls. The rest of us went to Red Lobster and a movie. Then on Tuesday we went to Seattle and ate at Ivars. This is Kami in her divers mask, she was scaring the seagulls out the window!

This is the fire chief boat, right out our window.

Space Needle

I think that Ash and Kaite may have had more fun though. They spent two days playing with their cousins and going to the point defiance zoo. Holly was brave and took 6 girls to the zoo all by herself! The girls loved it and enjoyed seeing all the animals, especially the walruses. They got to touch crabs and starfish. They saw a lot of sharks, Ash said some of them were banging on the glass at them. Ash said there was a scorpion as big as her arm there, they enjoyed every minute of it.

Wednesday we hung around and went to a park, the girls played in the sand again.

They also played with Aunt Sandy's bamboo in her backyard.

Pretending to be birds after watching Rio.

James showed up on Thursday and a whole gang of us (I think 25) headed to ocean shores. This is what the girls looked forward to the most..... the ocean, the REAL ocean!!
I missed it but James said that Kami didn't realize we were on the beach and as she got out of her car seat she said "what is that stinky smell" and then her eyes got wide when she saw the ocean.

First dip in. Of course the only time it was cloudy was at the beach. The girls really thought they were going to swim, but it was cold!
What a good uncle, James showing Ash how to make a sand castle.

Ash's sand castle, she was trying to finish before the tide came in.

Kaite throwing sand on uncle James.

I have no idea what Kami was up to but she kept doing this.

A boat

Then we drove up to the rain forest. I really enjoyed this, it was so pretty the pictures don't do it justice. We took a little hike around Quinault lake.

Check out this monster tree!

We came out right at nice spot in the lake. Most of the kids went for a swim. The view was gorgeous!

Kami was told not to go out any farther than this rock.

After the rain forest we all took over McDonalds and had most of the place to ourselves, we were quite a sight!
Friday 32 of us got together for a great BBQ.
This is James "king of the insect people"-Ky's observation.

We spent the night visiting and hanging out. I really enjoyed holding Jeremiah, Jennifer's new baby he is 3 months but looks 6, he is such a cutie! We had so much fun on our trip Kami said "I DON"T WANT TO GO HOME!" she was not happy about leaving. I really needed a vacation. I enjoyed spending time with all my cousins and next time I hope we can take Kyle with us. I did not take as many pictures as I wanted and I didn't get any decent ones of our whole group.
The ride home was long, but pretty. We went through Montana coming home and managed to see some of the boat show going on in Coeur d'alene, by accident of course. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed though. Ky was happy to see us. He said it was quiet and lonely without us!
I can't wait to go again!
I am even considering getting a facebook account just to keep in touch with everyone.