My Friends

Love these two gals!!! Riitta, me, and Steph teach first grade together. They have been amazing friends to me through all my trials/hell this year, and I am forever grateful for their friendship!

First Day of School

Aquasox Game

Jake earned a free ticket to an Aquasox game by reading last schoolyear during Read Across America month. Unfortunately, it was for a game in June, and he was with Jon at the time so couldn't go. He was really disappointed, so luckily they were playing when I had them last week, so we went to a game to make up for the game he missed in June.

It was t-shirt give-away night, too, and the shirts were really nice I thought! The kids were excited! (I hadn't told them about the shirt give-away in case we were too late and missed them- only given to first 1000 kids).

It was really fun! Jake said "I just LOVE Aquasox games!" He loves sitting in the grass and the laid back atmosphere. He and Jayden barely watched the game and spent their time running and rolling up and down the hill. Jayden was doing her dreaded "Jaydie- Slam" to Jake- but they were both laughing and having fun. They each did the bouncy house twice, too. Dora was there and Jayden got to pose with Webley (the Aquasox mascot) too (she loves characters at her age!). They got a long red rope candy and a drink and we just had a great time! It wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought for a gorgeous Sat. summer night! It did get pretty cold by the end! The Aquasox lost by 8 to Salem. The kids got to run the bases after the game, too, and we stopped at Starbucks for hot chocolate on the way home. Yum!

Kangaroo Farm

I can't believe I've never taken the kids here and yet it is so close. I had heard lots about it, so Jake, Jayden, and I went last Saturday. The kids really enjoyed feeding all the animals- esp. the llamas. You put a pellet partially in your mouth and the llamas come up to you and eat from your mouth! Jayden was not so sure about this at first, but did it once by herself and then once with Jakey's help (see pic). And of course Jake thought we should really get a kangaroo and/ or a llama for our home!

Northwest Washington Fair

Our next day together was spent at the NW WA Fair up in Lynden. Luke came, and again the two boys were excited to check out the hot girls (ugh again!!) They did a few things with us, but were mostly out on the midway doing the grown up rides. Jonathan went on a roller coaster with Jayden (her first!) and took her on the bumper cars and huge slide- all of which she loved! Jake did rides too- though he continues to have a lot of fears and doesn't like to do many. He did like the houses that you walk in with moving floors, bridges that shake when you walk across them, and slides.

We had a low-cal lunch of corn dogs and fries, and also the kids got cotton candy and milkshakes. The big boys showed us a HUGE cow they found- the 5th largest in the world (?) I think. I think his name was Bob. HUGE! And do ya know how I told you that Jonathan and Luke were off on their own a bunch? Well, before they left, I gave Jonathan a $20 bill (Luke had money too) to use to pay for his lunch- and THEN whatever else he wanted. Evidently, I didn't emphasize the THEN whatever else you wanted part, cuz he called to tell me he had $4 left and wanted to play a basketball game to win a prize that cost $5- and that he was hungry. Well it turns out he hadn't eaten anything yet- just wasted it all on dumb games (with no wins) and a drink. But, since we were at the fair having fun, I just rolled my eyes and shook my head- and then gave him more- with STRICKTER orders (the little stinker!) We played a few rounds of Bingo, and the younger kids did a couple of games and bought a toy each. We stayed from about 2pm until 10pm and had a lot of fun!