sandpoint

last week we returned from visiting our friends' house in sandpoint, idaho. as usual it was a fantastic week. this year we had paddle boards. we tool full advantage of that situation.

the drive over to sandpoint. six hours with these lunatics. but worth it.

the first morning there we made breakfast and the boys played a little chess. :)

then out to the lake. those little kid kayaks were amazing. tagg and sully hopped right in and started paddling around like crazy. UW crew, here we come.

that afternoon we rode bikes into town. me and deb rode tandem. fun and scary all at the same time.

we had dinner out on the new deck that evening. the drop down screens were such a beautiful thing.

any remaining bugs that happened to get caught on the wrong side of the screen were quickly zapped with jon's electric tennis racket!

tess was such a good girl at the lake.

sully and his kayak!

craig took the boys wake surfing. it was so cool to see them get up out of the water together.

go sully!

tess' dinner with a view. rough life, girl.

after the kids went to bed we went out to watch the amazing lightning and wind storm.

the next morning, more fun in the sun.

craig, throwing the rope in.

and me! getting up! i have never done any water sport in my entire life. so this was pretty exciting. i was smiling so hard my face hurt.

lunch at joels. of course.

then back for more paddle boarding.

there was a restriction on campfires so that night we just lit up the stove and made smores inside.

the beans were able to join us this year (have i mentioned how generous and fun the rands are?!). tess loved having aidan there to race around in their opposite gender walkers (aidan's is a hand-me-down from his sisters and tess' is the only one i could find at target).

getting ready to jump. we couldnt ever get the countdown right.

boating with wilson is always a plus.

is there anything cuter than a little boy with a dog?

maybe a little boy with an at-home coke machine.

lazy afternoon playing cornhole.

cutest blondes ever.

except for maybe these two. (and yes, i am calling tess a 'blonde'. she will be blonde when she gets some hair, mmk)

dairy depot shakes!

she needed a little too.

the boys found a snake under the patio one afternoon. joey. joey the snake.

they really loved that guy.

my parents were so helpful with tess and the boys. grandparents: dont leave home (especially for a vacation with your kids) without them.

playing in jon's waterfall. cool tagg.

being served dinner while overlooking lake pend oreille. can i be them?

 craig loved zapping those bugs.

the next morning, jon and becky took megan and me out on the little speed boat. the water was unreal.

our last day in sandpoint was also sully's FIFTH birthday. we got him a cake and sang 'happy birthday' to him during the clean up. look at this face. we love him very much.

megan and i took a quick ride on the good old tandem bike.

and tess said goodbye to wilson.

before she got behind the wheel for the long drive home. :)

sandpoint. we love you. a lot.

plums for daaaaays

im sure anyone in my immediate circle is sick of hearing about our plums but here is one last ode to our pride and joy. so last year was our first summer in this house and after we got back from a week in san diego in late july we noticed thousands of little red plums on the ground. we had a japanese plum tree and didnt even know it! and we had missed the opportunity to pick them! so this year we were on top of it. craig would check on them every day to see when they were ready and last week they were ripe and delicious.

we started with an eight foot ladder, then a ten foot ladder and finally cut the crap and had my dad bring home a twelve footer. i was nervous when craig was up that high. but not nervous enough to make him come down.

once we had boooooooowls filled with juicy little plums we got to work at cutting the flesh off the pit. brooke was in town and she was the pitting queen!

jam time! megan graciously offered up her kitchen to the sticky process of making real (not just the freezer kind) jam.

divvying up the jars.

i cannot even begin to explain how good this jam tastes. we also bottled filling so we can have plum crisps throughout the year.

for the last week, tagg, sully and tess have had a waffle with plum jam on it for breakfast. we cant get enough.

and while im here, i thought i would post this picture of our big girl. talk about 'cant get enough'.

happy 4th of july!

we started out the weekend right by making flag cupcakes for craig's office.

aaaaaand tess and i decided we needed patriotic manicures.

on the morning of the fourth we drove over to bothell for the parade.

this year, rod got us seats near the top of the parade because they were in the shade. which was amazing except that every year, tagg and sully stop walking in the parade when they walk by me. so yeah. they lasted all of about 3 minutes.

grandpa rod and grandma cheri!

tess and her grandmas.

the smiths and wells fargo. ha

when we got home from the parade (and chick fil a) sully lined up our fireworks for later that night.

and craig let him set off a few. apparently those grenades are hard to get going.

that evening we met our friends at a local county club to watch their fantastic fireworks show. dang cute kids.

sully loooooooved the fireworks.

i dont blame him. its always such a wonderful show.

when those fireworks were over we went back home and got ready for our own show.

casey, craig and  tagg. the fireworks masters.

like always, it was a wonderful fourth. i love that holiday.