First Day!

How did this happen?  I have a 7th and 3rd grader.  Can you still be young even if you have a 7th and 3rd grader?  I don't feel old....well, most of the time anyway. 
Yes, they picked out their own outfits.

They each got new backpacks this year.  Katie got a poop emoji keychain to put on hers at the fair. 

That dog is really going to miss these kids. 

I always take pictures of their shoes on the first day. 

They will never be this clean again.

These are our going-back-to-school faces.

I asked Sam if I could take a picture of him with his new teacher.  He said he'd rather I didn't.  I said I would respect that choice.  Katie said she'd rather I didn't take a picture of her and her new teacher either.  I said, "Fat chance sweetheart."

Finishing up summer break

School starts tomorrow.  I didn't think I was ready but yesterday when Sam and Katie were fighting over who holds the cat more, I realized maybe I am.  The backpacks are all stuffed, new first-day outfits have been purchased, I organized my pantry, spent $3,000 at Costco on lunch supplies, we are ready...I guess.
So, here's the rest of our summer break.  In no particular order because that is the way I roll. 
*Let me start with this ice cream cone.  Now, I have consumed a lot of Edaleen ice cream cones this summer but this one was the best.  First off, my mom had a gift card and must have been feeling extra generous because she got me a waffle cone.  I have never had an Edaleen waffle cone.  I am too thrifty to pay the extra $1 for a waffle cone.  Secondly, they had my mostest favorite flavor - peanut butter nut.  Thirdly, whatever Edaleen employee that made this particular batch of peanut butter nut didn't do a really great job of mixing the ice cream so there were HUGE chunks of peanut butter.  I loved it. 

*One evening mom and Holly attempted to learn to arm knit (or something like that) by watching you tube videos.  I'm not sure they ever figured it out but it was lots of fun to watch them. 

*We got to meet baby Harvey! 

 I think I already mentioned this but we had two great nephews and two great nieces born this summer. 

Sam is my baby guy.  He loves babies.  Harvey really does love him too but I think on this particular night, Harvey had enough loving.

*Our dog Carly is friendly.

A little too friendly.  John was somewhat opposed to any sort of pet containment system but my cell number is on Carly's collar and after the 2,000th phone call from a neighbor telling me they had our dog in their yard, I ordered a pet containment system.  Sometimes enough is just enough.  Here is John wearing the shock collar to set up the boundaries.

You will notice he didn't have it tight around his neck.  I ain't married to no fool.  The collar beeps a warning before it delivers a shock.

It took Carly about ten days to figure it out.   I am happy, the neighbors are happy, and Carly...well, not everyone can be happy.  I think she misses the pizza buffet on the neighbor's compost pile but she'll be okay. 
*John's dahlias are blooming.  So pretty.

*One of our neighbors recommended some product to put on Sasquatch to protect him from the elements.  My dad got him all cleaned off and then John sealed him up...apparently with liquid gold (I saw the receipt for the sealer).   

*We took advantage of Grampa and Gramma's babysitting services and took just Holly out to dinner one night.  She chose Thai food. 

*One Sunday after church I attempted to take some nice photos of the kids with their grandparents.  This is what happened.

Just when I get the kids settled down the dog photobombs.

 Finally.

Mom wanted a picture in front of the big debris pile.  My dad apparently was feeling frisky.

*On August 11, Mom and Dad left and took a little piece of my heart with them.

About an hour after they left when I was feeling a little weepy, my friend Lea brought me a coffee.  I got myself really good friends.

Holly sent me this pic from the road.

And these from Dordt.
First day of classes.

Her roomies.

Holly was a WOW (week of welcome) leader this year.  She and two other upperclassmen were assigned a group of freshman to help them settle into Dordt.  This is from "Freshman Olympics".  This year the different teams were assigned board games.  Holly's group had "Operation" so she got to wear her new scrubs!

*We went to the fair.  Actually Sam went with a bunch of his buddies so Katie and I hung out together.  All day long.  We got there at 9:00 in the morning and left at 11:15 at night.  We had lots of fun but I was exhausted.

Both kids entered their Lego creations this year.  They both won first place ribbons!

Katie titled her's "Party Night".  It had kind of a Mulan Rouge vibe going on.  I especially liked the magician sawing the lady in half.

Sam was not very happy when I made him pose by his creation.  This is his hurry-up-and-take-this-picture-because-you're-embarrassing-me smile.

He did a tribute to police officers. 

Look who else won a blue ribbon!

I entered my delicious (if I do say so myself) "Uncle Gene bars". 
Katie and I on a ride.  We rode a lot of rides. I'm pretty sure we went down the giant slide 20 times.   I tried to avoid the spinny ones as much as possible. 

 Getting ready to go the swings.

Checking out all the animals is my favorite part.  Katie was really into the dogs this year.  We watched dog obedience, dog tricks, dog costume contest, and dog agility.  The next morning she set up an obstacle course for Carly.

A very sleepy Katie.

 Okay, I lied.  The giant corn dog is my favorite part.

*This past weekend Sam went to an all-day clinic to learn to be a soccer referee.  He passed the test at the end so we had to celebrate.  He chose Mexican.

And with that I am all caught up.  Come back tomorrow for back-to-school pics!

The Tall Ships

Remember my little ticket mix-up?  I ordered tickets on-line for a battle cruise on the tall ships that were docked in Bellingham Bay.  Fortunately for me, it was not a big deal to go a couple days later. 
We had seen the tall ships in Birch Bay years ago and always wondered what their story was.  Turns out they are replicas of 18th century merchant sailing vessels that are usually docked in California.  They are used for educating students about life on the sea during the school year.  In the summer they sail up and down the Pacific coast.  They dock in different ports and the public are allowed to come check them out.  As a fundraiser, they also give sailing excursions.  I got tickets for the battle cruise because who doesn't love to get shot at by cannons?!
There were two ships, "Lady Washington" and "Hawaiian Chieftain".  It was very important that we got to sail on the Lady Washington because it is the ship that was used in several movies, including "Pirates of the Caribbean" (the first one which, in my opinion, was the only good one). 

I find it fascinating that they could keep all those ropes from getting tangled up.

 My fellow sailors.

I kind of wanted to climb up to the crow's nest with these guys but they wouldn't let you.  Living in America is great and all but sometimes it would be fun to live somewhere where they let you do dangerous things because nobody was afraid of getting sued. 

The kids got to help raise the sails...masts...whatever they are called.  To be honest, I really wasn't paying much attention when the gal was explaining things.  I was too busy wishing I could climb up to the crow's nest.

This is Katie's piratey face

Of couse, the best part was when we shot at the other ship.  Actual cannon balls were not shot of course (because we live in America) but they did use real cannons and real gunpowder. 

I'm pretty sure if we had been using real cannon balls we would have sunk the Hawaiian Chieftain. 

We had a nice view of Bellingham.

When we got off the ship, there was a gentleman flying a very big kite.  He let Katie hold it for awhile.

He had made it himself.  I forget bow how many kites it was - fifty something I think.

I asked if I could hold it too...since I was still a little bitter about not being able to climb into the crow's nest. 

I'm glad it didn't pull me or my baby up into the universe....I would have had to sue him.