Summer Events Part 2

I've been having issues uploading pics directly from my phone to the computer. I finally got around to asking Pete where I would find the sd card reader. And like that, all the summer pics I've taken are finally uploaded!! So here is what we have been up to this summer since my last Summer Events post.

Blueberry Picking: We visited our favorite blueberry farm out in Snohomish for our traditional summer blueberry picking. I LOVE doing this. I could stay all day. My boys, not so much. As typical, after about 20 minutes they were asking if we could leave. We did pretty good, though. We brought home about 10 cups worth of fresh blueberries. We'll be able to enjoy some homemade blueberry muffins come this winter. And Clifford found a cool snail on one of the blueberry bushes.

Dinner in the Park: One evening while Pete was helping our friends Mel and James move the last of their stuff out of their old place, the boys and I walked with our neighbor Sara and her kids (and a few extra kiddos) to Martha Lake, which is conveniently down the road from us. Sara and I thought it was hilarious seeing this caravan of kids on their bikes and scooters in a straight line. We took a side trip to Little Caesars and bought a couple of pizzas for dinner. Once at the lake, we ate our dinner while Sara gave the kids each a turn at fishing off the docks. Sadly, no one caught anything. Once done eating, we spent the rest of our time there letting kids play on the playground and swimming in the lake. Clifford had a blast jumping off the dock with his friends.

Float the Lake: One hot day in the middle of the week we decided to join our neighbor Sara 'n her kids for a float on Martha Lake. At one point Clifford was on a floaty by himself. I was impressed at his rowing skills. And both Pete and I were surprised when Kristjan, who is usually more timid about doing things, decided to jump off his floaty to swim in the lake. It was a good day.

Go-Carting: Clifford and Kristjan loved having a turn on the neighbor's new go-cart.

Hair Cuts: I took the boys in for their back-to-school hair cuts. Pete usually gives them their cuts, but I found out JCPenny offers free kids cuts the entire month of August. Good thing they were free because later that night after their shower I could see what a horrible job the woman did on their bangs. Oh well. It'll grow...

Scrapes and Bruises: The combination of summer vacation and having 2 active boys isn't complete for until they each receive numerous cuts, scrapes and bruises. Kristjan banged up his knee a few times after falling off his bike. The pic below is road rash....on Clifford's butt!! Pete and I can't figure out how it happened. All we know is he was standing on the back of a neighbor's bike when he somehow got this. He acted tough, no tears.

Movies with Friends: We only hit up the Regal Summer $1 Movies once this summer. I don't even remember what we saw. But we took along their friends Sam and Aliya.

More Swimming: Our weather here in Seattle has been awesome this summer! So of course we spent more time at the pool.

Kitchen and Bathroom Remodels

A month or so ago our kitchen and bathrooms got remodeled. We were super duper excited for this. The week leading up to the remodel, I just stopped caring and stopped cleaning. Kool Aid stains on the counter top? Who cares. Wipe down the bathroom sinks? Nah. The current style was U-G-L-Y and outdated. But the new remodel?? Gorgeous!! (At least when comparing it to the old style). Sometime in the next few months we're suppose to get new linoleum flooring and black appliances.

The day after the remodel, I was more than happy to spend all day in the kitchen putting everything back. With the old style, there was a lack of cupboard space. I had to store half our kitchen stuff in the spare bedroom. Now, I am able to store everything except our food dehydrator and big stock pan in our new kitchen. In our bathroom, we lost half our drawer space. Instead of 6 small drawers, now we only have 3. It just means I store all my hair products/dryer/straightener in a basket under the sink. As for the boys' bathroom, we gained more drawer space. I'm now able to store our bath and beach towels in there, freeing up a few shelves in the hallway closet.

Everything was going great......until one Sunday evening a few weeks after the remodel. We just came home from a weekend-long family backpacking trip. Pete was still outside, talking to our neighbor. Boys immediately ran outside to play with neighbor friends. With the kitchen light still off, I happen to just swing by to drop something on the counter. Hmm...my dish towel sitting on the counter is soaking wet. I switched on the light to see a puddle of water on the countertops, stove and floor. I then looked up to see a huge leak coming from the ceiling over the stove. Everything on that side of the kitchen, every brand new cupboard, was ruined from water damage. Turns out the leak came from the dishwasher upstairs. Ugh. For a few days, I dealt with rewashing every dish/utensil, sanitizing my canned goods with a clorox wipe, and converting the living room into a make-shift kitchen. The contractor and Clip Board Guy (I have no idea what his name is. All I know is he's some big-wig for the owners of the apartment complex and always walks around with a clipboard) were pleasant to work with on getting a new kitchen again. While we were gone for the family reunion, they came in and fixed everything. So we only had to deal with this inconvenience for one week.

BEFORE

AFTER

Snoqualmie Lake

Last weekend Pete and I went on an eight-mile hike to Snoqualmie Lake. This was the first time for us in 8 YEARS to go backpacking without kids!! The hike was loooonnnggg and my legs felt like rubber by the end, but it was awesome! It felt good to get outside and put all our every-day life troubles to the back burner. Friday night we finally made it to the lake after 8pm. We found a nice camp spot to set up our tent. There was an issue with not being able to get fire started. Pete didn't bring a lighter, and the matches he had would only lite on the scratch-thingy on the box they came in, which he had discarded. Since it was so late and we were exhausted, we decided to just eat cookies for dinner and go to bed. The next morning Pete was lucky enough to finally get a match lit by scratching it on the metal fire pit that was already in place at our campsite. I was so happy. I don't think I would've been able to hike out that day with my legs being so sore and exhausted. So starting a fire was a good sign for us, as well as the sun popping out later that morning and staying out. We attempted to fish on the lake, but didn't catch anything. I took a much needed nap in the tent while Pete swam in the lake. The hike out the next day seemed to take forever to me. When I saw the parking lot at the end, I was ecstatic!! With that long hike and me working long hours at work doing painting tasks, my legs are STILL very sore. I think a visit to the hot tub this weekend is in order :)

OUR CAMPSITE




OUR VIEW








FIRE!!!!






MOUNTAIN MAN!! (pete tying some rope and climbing a tree barefoot to hang our food bag)






LOOK AT ALL THAT GRAY HAIR!!!!


PAYBACK!! (years and years ago pete took a pic of me having to do my business while on a snowshoeing trip. felt this was appropriate payback)




NEW STOVE


GOOD MORNING!!!




LOOKING LIKE A DORK!!! (i don't care how dorky i look in this pic. it kept the mosquitos off of me!!)

R.I.P. Squeakers

In a post a while back I shared about the little fiasco dealing with the boys' mice (one ate the other). Later that day, we ended up having a burial service. Pete came home early that day after receiving a call from Clifford asking him to come home. Clifford has never asked this of his dad, and Pete felt so bad for him. He tidied things up at work and took the rest of the day off. The neighbor kids Sam and Aliya were over playing, so Pete took Clifford into the house to talk privately. Not sure what was said, but it made Clifford feel a bit better (he was really upset over his mouse being dead). All morning long Clifford wouldn't go into his bedroom without someone being with him (that's where we kept the mice cage). To help him feel better, Pete lit some incense in Clifford's room and told him it would cleanse the room. That seemed to do the trick for him. Then they came back outside and proceeded with the burial. Pete dug a hole and placed Squeakers in. He was about to cover the hole when Clifford stopped him. He wanted to do this himself. Sam, Aliya and Kristjan picked leaves off a tree and placed them over Squeakers grave. Clifford had me write on a leaf to use as a tombstone. THEN we had to deal with Fuzz Ball....the canibal mouse. We had him out in the open outside. Sam looks at the white mouse and said "He's going to Hell...that's the devil world". I CRACKED UP laughing at this, just the way he said it so seriously. Gotta love the things kids say so innocently. I really didn't want to keep the mouse so we decided to set it free in the swamp field behind out old apartment building. We then walked away thinking that was the end of it......BUT THEN....

This last Tuesday night as Pete and I are sitting on the couch, a neighbor gal from the apartments across from us (right next to the swamp field) knocks on our door. She had seen the mouse cage sitting out on our back patio while walking her dog, and wanted to know if she could buy it from us. Her son had found a white little mouse, one you would see in a pet store, on their back patio a few days back, and has been keeping it as a pet. ARE YOU SERIOUS????!!! Pete and I just looked at each other and laughed. Fuzz Ball ended up finding a new home. The canibal mouse lives on!!!! We gave her all the supplies we had. We weren't going to take any money from her, but she insisted. I told her to just pay each boy $5 (though I'm feeling a bit guilty now about this. we forgot that the boys actually bought the cage themselves with their own bday money. oh well...)