Summer of Jackson

I'm a bit behind. Last weekend, Snohomish had their Kla Ha Ya days, which apparently means "Welcome" and is just a big community festival. We had to go to a memorial, so were only about to attend a few of the events, but Jack had a good time. Friday, we went to a kids fair, and Jack got to check out some ambulances and fire trucks, play games, and eat too much candy!

Saturday, they had a fun parade. Jackson really enjoyed this experience, but again there was too much candy :) He especially liked the fire trucks, horses, and Clifford the Big Red Dog on the school bus.

 On Saturday, we also attended a memorial service for Mike's great Uncle Raymond and met lots of cousins and a couple of great aunts.

During the week, we did lots of fun things.  Jackson got to do some painting to help make Grandpa Don's birthday present...

 And, he helped in the kitchen (making scrambled eggs)...

 And he has swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursdays with Miss Grace and Miss Shae...

 We also visited 3 different preschool/daycares trying to make sure Jack is set for fall. I think we've found the one (finally!). And, I should have my new job ironed out in a day or two.  I'm going to a meeting with them on Tuesday.

Finally, I decided that I have too many recipes on my Pinterest boards that I've not actually tried, so I decided to try one yesterday. I read them to Mike and he chose the Raspberry Almond cake, so I made that yesterday. It's pretty good and I was able to use fresh raspberries. The season's pretty much ending, which is too bad; I've enjoyed the fresh berries of all kinds.

Today, we spent the day running errands and tomorrow we're going to spend time doing chores around the house. And I have to do some training. 

Summer Staycation #1

We weren't very good at taking pictures last week, but here are a few from the week that we took. There were lots more activities that I didn't document. We had a really good time.

Rolayne and Steve were able to come up for an afternoon while they were on their vacation through Seattle. Their kids are getting so big! Austin starts kindergarten in a few short weeks. MacKenzie is just a couple months younger than Jack. 

 We also had Marty and Susan and Ari come up for the day, and they sat inside chatting with grandma, Jeff and Fran, and Mom and Dad.

 Jack had lots of fun having all the cousins around.

 Another day, we went to the beach at Deception Pass state park. Poor Tommy had to have a plastic bread bag over his cast so he could get down in the sand. Grandma enjoyed sitting by the water watching the boys play while Mike manned the BBQ and we had a good picnic lunch. Grandma got roped into helping the boys over lots of drift logs.

 While there, we also checked out Fort Casey with its old gun station and lighthouse, and then we took a very short ferry ride home.

That's about all I remembered to use the camera on, but I did find a few more things on my cellphone. 

Jack playing with grandpa Jeff.

 At Redhook brewery, the taster flight had very generous pours.

 Grandpa brought airplanes for Jack and Sam to make:

 Tommy liked playing with great Grandma's cane, but crossed the line when he decided to taste it.

 One day, we stopped by Snoqualmie falls to take in the view.

We did lots of other fun things, including the Great Wheel of Seattle, the aquarium, the boys went on a Boeing tour, we toured a little in Snohomish, went to the outlets and Cabelas in Marysville, bought lots of fresh berries, and went on a fishing trip (sort of).