Our Day at the Evergreen State Fair

 We have a tradition of celebrating the last day of summer by going to the Evergreen State Fair.  The weather was awesome and we had such a fun day!

That sheep has dreadlocks too!

Naomi rode the swing all by herself and loved it!

Picture Darrick took for the ferris wheel

There was free admission all day to the drag races.  Any one could enter their own car and race.  It was so fun to watch especially when a VW bug beat a mustang!

The kids favorite at the lumberjack show

Darrick told the kids they couldn't put this sticker on our bumper so they found another one!

Bremerton

Today we all took a trip to Bremerton to attend Darrick's Command picnic with him.  It is a 2 hour drive south and then west.  We got up bright and early so that we could leave the house at 8 am.  We arrived in Bremerton early so Darrick took us on the base and showed us where he works.

Then we had to drive about 10 more minutes north to get to Naval Station Kitsap which is where the picnic was being held.  It was a nice location.  They had bouncy houses and had the lunch catered by Famous Dave's, delicious. 

Jake and I are getting used to potlucks and such not being too good for us.  There is usually not much variety of what we can eat.  Today we were able to have either the BBQ chicken or ribs and a snack size bag of Doritos.  We had to pass on the beans, potato salad, corn muffin and cake, boo.

After the picnic Darrick took us on a small tour of that base, which is where most of the housing is.  We saw the houses that we would be living in if we had sold our house and moved to Bremerton.  They were very nice, new and huge but I would take our little house any day!

We decided to ride one of the Ferries on the way back.  We rode the Ferry that goes to Seattle.  We had an hour before the Ferry left so we got out of the car and walked around by the docks.  They had an awesome fountain which kept the kids occupied for a long time.  That was a good thing because a seagull pooped on Darrick's shirt and arm and he had to take some time getting it all cleaned up.  We also had time to treat ourselves to some ice cream at Cold Stone.

We had never been on this Ferry ride before.  It was a great ride and we all enjoyed it so much.  We got out of our car and went to the upper deck to look at the water.  The boys had fun counting how many jellyfish they could see on the voyage and they saw 111!  Amazing!

It was pretty windy, which you can tell by Micah's hair and Jacob's shirt!  We had a great view of Seattle as we cruised in and the whole voyage took 45 minutes.

Lord Hill Park Hike

Since Darrick and I have been making steps toward healthier living we decided to set up some "rewards" for ourselves to keep us motivated and build our relationships as a family.

This week our reward was a family hike.  We went to Snohomish to a place called Lord Hill Park.  We hiked for about 2 hours.  The weather was great and we had fun together.  Jacob was helping me take some pictures by pointing out things I should take pictures of!

Ready to Start!

Start of the Trail

Micah and Darrick trying to figure out which way to go

Kindergarten Trip to the Zoo

Last week I was able to go on Naomi's class field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo.  They assigned two parents with a group of 4 children.  Here are a few pictures from the day!

Riding the Bus!

Our Group

Watching the Penguins

Check out the size of that Boa Constrictor!

Who's watching who?

Such a fun day!

Bike Trade

We have a great Shop and Organization here in Everett called Sharing Wheels.  You can read all about it if you click on the link.

Last Sunday they held their event called the Bike Trade.  The basic idea is that you bring your child's used bike that they have grown too big for to the shop.  They asses it and give it a value.  Then you look around the shop and bike out a "new to you" bike.  If the value of the new bike is equal to your old bike-it is a clean swap.  In the end we ended up paying only $10!  The kids really liked it and it was fun to see one of our friends pick Jacob's old bike!

Sorticulture

Last weekend, Everett had Sorticulture.  This is our 3rd year attending and if you enjoy gardening then Sorticulture is the place to be.  It is held at Legion Memorial Park and starts on a Friday and goes through Sunday.

We chose this year to go on Friday after the kids got out of school.  The main attraction are all the vendor booths filled to the brim with all things outdoor and garden.  You can find just about anything you would like.  Every year we have found one unique thing for our garden or our house and this year was no different.

We have a big plate glass window in our living room that I thought would look great with some type of glass art in it.  I didn't know exactly which type I wanted but have been hoping that when I see one I would know it.  Well at Sorticulture I found it!

It is a beautiful glass flower and looks so great in the window!

We always stop at the Lopez Island Creamery Booth and get a delicious scoop of ice cream.  We also like hearing the music and listening to the speakers.  We spent a few hours and had a great time!  When Sorticulture comes around we know that summer is not far behind!

Potholes State Park

This weekend Darrick and I were given the beautiful gift of a weekend away for just the two of us (well Oliver went with us too).  We decided to get away from it all, take out our new tent trailer for the first time, and find some nice warm sunshine.

We decided to go to Potholes State Park in Othello, WA.  We have never been to the Eastern side of WA and were excited to check it out.  The Cascade Mountains run almost right down the center of WA state.  The western side, which is where we live, is very wet and rainy.  But the eastern side is a desert climate and hot and dry.  It was a 3 hour drive for us.

Once we got inside the park, and were driving to our site, Oliver was ready to hang his head out the window and let his ears flap in the wind.

We set up camp and Darrick did great setting up the tent trailer for the first time!

We took a nice long walk around the park to check it out, had chili for dinner and then relaxed by the fire.  The next day we took a couple of big long walks.  The views were beautiful and so different from our side of the mountains!

There was also a really huge lake called Potholes Reservoir.  It was fun to walk down to it and watch all the boats.  Darrick even went out and kayaked one day in a kayak a friend let him borrow.

A highlight of the trip was that we saw 3 snakes but I only had my camera when we saw one of them and he was a big one!