Our birthday season ends with….hail!

Addianna turned 7 this year and celebrated with an Indiana Jones birthday.  What a blast we had in our backyard woods.  Myles and my brother Robert spent time planning an adventure course for two teams in the woods.  There were five stations where the kids had to do things from swinging across a river to smashing balloon spider eggs to find the next clue.  They even got silly stringed by Skylar while whipping down snakes from a low tree branch.  I do think that it was the best boy party ever!  Even cousin Ashley had fun in the mix.  She got to be the map reader and tell everyone on her team where the next station was!  With about 10 minutes left, the lightning and hail started.  We all made a run for the house, but Addison’s team was determined to dig up their treasure box before heading for shelter.  Those poor boys were soaked, but their smiles were from ear to ear!  We ended the party with a BBQ and lots of cake.  Despite the oddity of a hailstorm in April, the party was a huge success.  We are making some wonderful new friends in our neighborhood, and Addison is having a blast with some of the kids in his classroom.  Anyway, we definitely did not have a leave-no-trace adventure party and there was lots to do the next weekend to remove the stations, but is was worth it.   A big thanks to Rob, Rob T., Chris, and Myles for a birthday that will go down in the record books.  (It actually did, too, as Nico wrote a story about Addison’s birthday party for his class journal.)

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Look what we found!

This little guy was hanging out in our backyard.  The kids were over the moon, and they were very gentle with it despite their excitement.  These lizards are native to Western Washington, and he/she seems to like our ivy.  I hate our ivy, so at least now I can’t say it’s all bad.  The kids have seen it four times, so it seems to have taken residence in the area, much to our delight!

Fun in Vancouver and Seattle with the Dodsons

We had a blast with the Dodsons for this past week 1/2.  We were sorry to see them go, knowing that we won’t see family again until Christmas, but we all had such fun!  I put pics up on my facebook page for now, and I’ll post later…

Happy Birthday, Alivia!

   She is now quite the cook with her new mixer from Grandma Parrish; just last night, she and Addison made a recipe for hot chocolate using her mixer and the microwave. Addison was so cute to read her all the cards.  She loved the attention from him and therefore let him help open presents.  The first one played with: Grandad’s Playdough Ice Cream Shoppe.

Then it was on to games and fun at the party.  What a crazy house we had: older brothers running around, kids playing games, playdough experiments and, of course, cake!

 

Winter Boyscout Fun

 

And they’re off!  Addison and Myles worked hard for a week on Addison’s first derby car.  I had no idea how many tricks of the trade there were, and I entered into a whole new world of gadgets.  He did well and won in the top 10 as well as Most Patriotic Car.  I think Myles had just as much fun as Addison did, and even Alivia got to join in as well.  She wants to make on next year.  I sense that this is just the beginning…