Charlie

The second week of school we added a new family member. A kitten had been seen running across 15th Avenue and then found refuge in one of the classrooms at Mark Morris. The school had called the Humane Society to come pick the kitten up when Dan overheard the secretary talking about the cat. He called me and asked how I felt about another cat and we decided sure, we can save one more cat. So I picked up the kitten after work and headed home to introduce the kitten to our family.

Charlie the day we brought her home, about 7 weeks old.

She immediately fit in and has become a great addition to our family. On a whim, we named her Charlie and have been enjoying her company. She is a polydactyl, which means she has an extra toe on each front paw and looks like she has mittens. She is very loving and purrs upon contact or just from looking at her. She snuggles with everyone and is soooo patient when the girls pick her up constantly. Dan joked she will have osteoporosis from lack of walking as much as the girls carry her everywhere. We feel so blessed to have her come into our lives and so thankful she is a part of our family.

Using her "thumb" for string attacking.

Very comfortable napping on mom's lap.

We often find her playing in Maggie's soccer bag.

She was definitely a stray as she was treated for many things and we feel good about giving her a loving home. On a sad note, our 4 year old cat Scout was hit by a car and killed just 5 days after Charlie joined our family. Charlie has definitely filled a void in our life, and we are thankful to have her with us.

Labor Day

We headed to Astoria for a day of visiting with the Belmont-Smith family and Nanny and Grandpa. We had breakfast, did some caching, and rode the trolley.

The conductors were really great and let each of the kids sit up front and wear the conductor's hat.

Before heading out of town we stopped at the Goonie's house for a quick photo op.

For those that have read the BS post, you know that gps units do bounce but do not float, and out relatively new Garmin is now sacrificed to the river Gods. It was a day will not soon forget.

School 2010

Another year of school has started and we now have a middle schooler. I can't believe Maggie is in middle school and Lanna is in the 4th grade.

Final day on the water

Tuesday August 24th was the last day of playing on the water for our family. Dan headed out early on a friend's boat and try his hand at the fall salmon run. It was slow going at first, but finally the action picked up, and Dan was rewarded with a great catch! It took him about 35 minutes to haul this one in and weighed in at 32 lbs! We enjoyed grilled salmon the next night for dinner, and oh, how wonderful it was.

32 lbs! Yeah, baby!

The girls and I headed out with some friends to do some tubing and knee boarding. The weather was warm, the lake calm and refreshing, and the time on the boat relaxing. We were treated to great views if both Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helen's on this day. It was a great way to spend the last hot day of summer.

Maggie tubing on Silver Lake, with Mt. Rainier in the upper left corner.

Lanna on the tube on Silver Lake in the shadow of the mountains.

Knee boarding during sunset!

As we docked to load up the boat, we were greeted with this moon rise over Mt. St. Helen's. The picture does not do justice to the view we saw that night. Great ending to a great day.

Summer Soccer

The month of July and the first weekend of August had us busy with soccer tournaments. We traveled to the bigs cities of Tumwater and Federal Way for two, and stayed in our own home town of Longview for one. In our first tournament, we won one of three games, but we had fun in our first tournament of the summer, and were eager for our next tournament. In our second tournament, the toughest part of the weekend was just getting to the field Friday night. A 12 car pile up on I-5 closed the freeway and left many families stranded. However, we all made it and once again the girls won one out of three games. They showed great improvement from the previous tournament, and had a great time.

The final tournament was in Longview, and the girls won every game and took first place in their age group. It was a fitting end to a fun summer and the girls are looking forward to the fall season beginning soon.

We had fun in between our first two games at a team picnic. The girls enjoyed climbing he playground equipment and parents had fun relaxing and visiting.

Maddie off, Maggie on.

Eyes focused on the ball (somewhere).

Lanna was our official photographer, as seen in this self portrait.

Mom and Maggie into watching the game.

Lanna's 9th Birthday

Lanna turned 9 this month and we had a fun gathering with just a few friends and family. They had a great time bowling, playing Wii, eating junk food and watching movies.

Something was funny to Lanna, but the others are
wondering exactly what.

"Cake was great, Mom & Dad!"

Lanna and Brooke with her new Timbers Shirt
(will that fit mom?)

Lanna with Eastyn and a new brownie pan & brownie mix
"Because I know you want to be a chef."

Veggin' out watching movies.

Happy Birthday Lanna!!!

Carol's 40th Birthday

We spent the day in Seattle for Carol's 40th birthday. Here are the highlights.

Head to Pike Place for obligatory picture in front of fish throwing stand.

Take picture of kids on Pike pig!
Get picture with husband in front of Pike Place Market.
Contemplate midlife crisis tattoo.

Do a little urban caching.
Visit Ivar.
Enjoy a beer at the Mariner's ball game.

It has been a fun ride so far. Hope the next 40 are just as fun.