Familiy time

On Saturday we headed back up to Uncle Bert's house.  More family members were joining us and we were going to have some family photos also.  This is the first time all four brothers were together in eight years.

 

 

Michael is so into dogs right now and had to have his picture - but they are sure cute!!!

 

David and Uncle Bert decided Michael needed to cool off a little and were trying to put him in the ice chest.

 

Our family - we do look like a handsome lot!

 

Then both boys wanted pictures with the dog - but again so cute!

 

Then off for a little blongo time - I love this game!!!!

Good old family time and talking!

 

Dinner time - we had some wonderful meals while we were there, we had quite a few chefs in the house!

 

 

AJ is digging into his food!!!

 

After dinner David decided to chase his nephew around a little and boy there were giggles and lots of smiles!!!

 

Of course the boys couldn't let Josh have all the fun, so they had to join in and jump on Daddy's back!!!  It was a good time.

4th of July

So we all slept in a little and enjoyed our lazy morning.  Then we decided to take the boat out on the river.  It was the first time the boat has been out in two years Dad said.  We decided to put in on Lincoln Rock.  I have never, ever seen the boat ramp that busy before.  We had quite a wait to get the boat in the water.

 

But it was well worth it.  The boat started up right away and we were off.  For how many boat trailers there where and boats we had to wait behind I was surprised at how empty the river looked, which was good.

 

My sister and I back together again and we only had a weekend, but we had so much fun!!!

 

AJ was the first one out on the tube and loving almost every minute of it.  Uncle Al's driving made him a little nervous.  ;-)

 

Kaitlyn was up next.

 

Then Michael, who didn't want to go by himself, and me on the tube that was built for one.  Let me tell you, the glacier fed Columbia River was COLD!!!!  And it was really hard to stay on the tube with him, but we made it work.

 

Then we stopped so everybody could go swimming.  I thought they were all crazy but they had a great time!!!  Julie and I did too relaxing in the boat.  After we finished up on the river the boys and I headed up to Uncle Bert's house to see David's side of the family.  One thing we didn't think of was fireworks, so we stopped at the local Lion's club and bought a few.

 

All of David's family was going to be there this weekend and we were very excited!

 

David playing with the boys and his niece Miya.

 

Then the four cousins decided to have a go at it.  Poor AJ was at the bottom of the pile, but was a great sport!

 

Then it was fire works time (again for my boys)!  AJ was popping one of the fireworks that you pull the string on both sides.  They kids got a kick out of it.

 

Then of course it would not be the 4th without sparklers!

 

David was master of ceremonies tonight.

 

I told the kids they had to ooohhh and aaahhh and Michael and Miya were doing a great job!!!

 

Michael decided he wanted to dance with the fireworks.  It was a great show and we had a wonderful day.  It was great being reunited with family again.

Washington State here we come!!

So we left around 6 pm San Antonio time, lost two hours in time zone change and arrived at my parent's house at 1 am WA time.  Boy was I tired, and you guessed it, the boys did not let me sleep on the plane this time either.  :-)  We were very quiet and didn't wake up my parents.  The next day on July 2nd, my brother and his family came over from Idaho.  They arrived just as we finished putting up the pool  It was such a great reunion!!!  The kids started playing within seconds of seeing each other even after two years of being apart.

 

They jumped right into the pool!!  It was hot outside and the pool felt good even though it was really cold.

 

Michael decided he needed a little rest in Grandma's sky chair.  ;-)

 

The kids decided to build a fort because with the wind it was a little chilly.  The next day we enjoyed each other and laughed and played games.  David was flying in that evening so I took off to fetch him with Michael.

 

David arrived safely with not too much sleep in a 20 hour period, he was a trooper and trying to stay awake while Dad was cooking dinner.

 

The family back together again - it is so wonderful!!  That is one of the things I miss most about being in Germany is the time spent with family.

 

Since we were spending the 4th with David's family, we decided to do fireworks on the third.  The kids have a front row seat.

 

Al was our master of ceremony and lit all the fireworks.

 

I made sure the kids let out some ooohhhs and aaahhhs during the show.

 

David found Mom's chair and was trying to stay awake through the fireworks, he was up to almost 24 hours without sleep.  He did really good!!

 

Michael really wanted to help but we said it was for Uncle Al to do.

 

 

It was such a beautiful night, the sky was gorgeous all around us!!!  They just don't have sunsets like this in Germany.

 

After that we headed inside and Michael was going at full tilt - he and Grandpa always have a great time!

 

Then he thought it was so funny to give me a nuggy and I gave him my "mom" look and I think he laughed even more.  It was a fun night of games and laughter!!!!

Last full day - Sea World

So on our last day we decided to go for it all, we were going to spend the whole day at Sea World and check out the night shows.  So we arrived at 11 am and then didn't leave until 9 pm that night.  There were a few shows that we wanted to see so we made our plans around those.

 

We started off with the pet show.  All the animals in this show were rescue animals.  They were really well trained and it was such a cute and funny show.

 

They brought a few of the dogs down after the show for the kids to pet.

 

Next we headed to the seal show.  This seal was still learning but did a great job.

 

The fab five in front of Shamu stadium.  We didn't go to the show because we wanted to go to the night show.

 

But everybody else did so the kids were able to ride Rio Loco four times right in a row without waiting in line!  It was great!!!

 

Gracie is still just a little too short for the ride, so we had our own fun while waiting for the other!!

 

Next we headed to the ski show.  It was really impressive what they did.  Here they are doing some duo work.

 

There are four skiers that jumped off the ski jump and did a flip.  They all landed it as well.

 

Here "Coach" was up in some sort of water power.

 

The boys wanted their picture with Coach and some of the crew.

 

Next we headed to the water area and the kids were very excited!!!  We are getting ready for the Sting Ray Falls.

 

Michael, AJ, Andre and I decided to head to the single tube rides while the others were at the pool.  There goes Michael!

 

After that they just wanted to swim in the pool and we were ok with that.  We went to one where four out of the five kids could touch the ground.

 

Michael heading down the slide!

 

 

AJ's turn!!

 

I just love his smile - he makes others smile just looking at him.

 

Then I let the kids have the underwater camera and here are a few shots they took.  Andre and Michael underwater.

 

Self portrait - he cracks me up!

 

The fab five - just chilling in the pool!

 

Porchea's mom made these AWESOME towel shirts for all the kids.  They tie up in the back and when not in use, you can roll them up and tie them to their backpack.  They worked so well since the kids didn't have to try and keep them up.

 

Next we headed back to the seal show and saw the full one.  Here the seal is actually standing next to the person and is just as tall!

 

This big one was "working out" doing sit-ups!!!

 

Michael and AJ played one game and they one a small Shamu stuffed animal, they were ecstatic!!!

 

At the night show they had the audience dancing and the kids were up and moving!!!  They were having so much fun!!!  They really wanted to get on the big screen, but unfortunately they didn't make it, but had a good time anyway!

 

I really do love this show!

 

They are so impressive what they can do and the night show was cool with different colors.  I also learned a few interesting facts like: an octopus has three hearts, nine brains and blue blood and of all life in the sea, scientists estimate an astonishing 91% of ocean species have yet to be discovered and catalogued. 

 

The last parting shot as the sun goes down on a great, fantastic and exhausting day at Sea World.

 

The next day was our last day there.  I spent it making three apple pies and packing.  It was a very sad day in the household.  They all came to the airport to see us off and a few tears were shed as we don't know when we will see them again.  It was such a great two weeks and one none of us will forget.  My boys said we should have stayed five weeks instead of two.  If only we had more time.