Ah, tradition

Michael reads to the kids each night.  He gets tired, because it’s right after a long day and right after dinner, and he often nods off while reading. 

Naomi:  Don’t close your eyes!  If you do, I will become angry and may even WAKE YOU UP!

As I recall, my sisters and I were not nearly so kind.  Our routine was like this:

Dad:  Once upon a…

Me:  [sticking Dad in the side with a sharp little elbow]  READ!

I’m pretty sure that Dad often got elbowed from both sides.  Our kids haven’t figured out the elbowing yet.  Or maybe they tried it and Michael put a stop to it. 

In any case, it’s good to know that the traditions continue.

6th Annual Dads and Kids Camping

We just got back from our 6th annual Dads and Kids Camping Trip.  It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing the trip that long, but it’s true.  We did a similar routine this year to what we’ve done before: a three day trip, going up on Friday to Rasar State Park near Sedro-Woolley, WA, and returning on Sunday.  But every year brings new twists and turns, and lots of pictures.

We started at the Shadow of Sentinels hike:

The hike features a 680-year old Douglas Fir, which is pretty amazing in both age and size:

Our brother-in-law Mark joined us this year.  We had to twist his arm a little, as you can see:

But I think he had a nice time anyway.  How could he not?  We were camping along the Skagit River, and the scenery was just gorgeous:

After a nice hike and setting up tents, we had time for a quick trip to the Skagit River.  There’s a bit of a beach, which the kids put to good use:

A sand angel, by Simeon:

We had pasta for dinner, made a campfire, and cooked s’mores.  Simeon was all about the s’mores.  We had five families there, including our friend Andy and his sons and our friend Jeff and his sons, so there were plenty of singers for folk songs around the campfire. 

On Saturday, we did our big hike.  We drove across the top of Upper Baker Dam, which is very cool and hard to capture properly in pictures.  For example, don’t you wish you could see what these guys are seeing?

When we started with Dads and Kids Camping, we just had two children campers:

But this year, we had twelve!

The hike was great – we went about a mile in and a mile back.  There were creeks, waterfalls, and beautiful sights.  But for whatever reason, this year’s hike became a hiking-stick gathering expedition.  The kids seemed to hike much better once they had a dangerous implement in hand:

Me, too:

Saturday afternoon featured another trip to the river, complete with swimming.  Those swimming lessons sure paid off: Hannah and Naomi were part fish from what I could tell, despite the river being snow runoff!  Simeon contented himself with getting really, extremely sandy.  We had a big hot-dog cookout Saturday night, and more s’mores and campfire songs. I was introduced to the Shark Attack song, (video not performed by us), which was very funny.  On Sunday morning, we had toaster pastries (a.k.a. Pop Tarts) – a big treat for the kids! – and then went to Mass in Sedro Woolley at a beautiful 1910 church:

After Mass, we broke camp, had a picnic lunch and a trip to the background, and then headed home.  Now, all three kids have given up their naps, although Sim naps from time to time when he’s really tired.  But this time, we scored a hat trick:

Clearly, a good time was had by all.

- Michael

Simeon

has grown carrots.  This is more than his mother can do.  I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to get carrot seeds to germinate, and if they do, they turn out to be spindly, tiny little things that are about the size of a toothpick – width and all.  Not good.  But Sim did it.  It reminds me a bit of this fun book, which I recommend. 

I love that he’s winking in this one!

Hannah was most excited, too, and helped with the harvest.

I put the carrots into our soup last Sunday, at Simeon’s request.  We also had some for lunch throughout the week.  The bunnies helpfully ate the tops, which Sim also thought was awesome. 

And today, Simeon got a big boy haircut.  By Mama, because he doesn’t want to have a haircutter at Dad’s haircuttery do it – I don’t know why, but every time I’ve suggested it, he’s resisted.  So I decided to do it, because he needed a cut and because I wanted to see his eyes and get him to be a bit cooler for the summer.  And because he’s going on four (!).

The carrot pictures are helpfully positioned to be the “before” shots.  Here’s “after”:

I bribe him to sit still for haircuts by playing youtube videos of Silly Songs from Veggie Tales on the computer.

He doesn’t actually see what’s happening while it’s happening, which might be for the best.  You should have seen Michael’s face when he saw my first pass with the clippers…

Sim wanted to see the picture after I took this.  He was taken aback – it’s quite a change.  But after his sisters assured him that he looked like Dada and like his boy cousin in town, he decided he loved it.

He was a bit sad getting out of the tub.

Then I asked him if he was sad because his hair had shrunk in the bath.  He thought that was funny.  I offered to try to stick it back on with tape, and he thought that was funny, too.

I can’t believe what a big boy he’s becoming!

Cherries

We went on a road trip to pick cherries over last weekend, celebrating our 10th anniversary (!) and my something-somethingth birthday on the road.  It was really fun! 

We also stopped at a couple of wineries, which didn’t hurt.  We hadn’t actually planned it this way, but we went to two of the wineries where we’d done tasting 10 years ago to get wine for our wedding.  Michael’s best man had bought us a case of Merlot from one of the wineries, and the other was the place where we got the red wine for the wedding.  It was great to revisit them and taste the wine, and they were very kid-friendly, which isn’t necessarily the case with every winery. 

On my birthday, I came out of our hotel room to go to breakfast in the hotel breakfast room, and my family (who had been up for about 30 minutes) started singing “Happy Birthday.”  I have to admit to some embarrassment.  But I’m glad they care! 

We brought home 72 pounds that we’re now consuming or pitting and freezing for smoothies or canning recipes.  Oh – and five of those pounds were pie cherries!  So those will be made into pies by Michael.  Mmmm. 

Now I have to go pit some cherries.

Tess, the inspector

Basketball

I talked a friend of mine (who played basketball in school) into doing summer basketball skills practices for girls around Hannah’s age. 

{Those of you who live nearby, you now have fair warning:  I will remember and then may ask you to use any skills you may choose to divulge to me that you have.  And you will find yourself playing basketball with 6 eager girls who don’t really know what the heck they’re doing.  Except that it won’t be basketball, of course, because I’ve already talked someone into doing that.  Snowshoeing.  Ice sculpting.  Sword swallowing.  Basket weaving.  Making sushi.  You name it, I’ll ask you to do a summer skills class.  You’ve been warned.  And now I will start to wonder why none of my friends do anything as a hobby…} 

Hannah had an absolutely fabulous time.  She loved it.  The other girls’ parents reported that they loved it, too.  It was really, really cute watching them play – they’re a bit all over the place, and several of them are somewhat shy of actually playing defense.  Not to mention that they don’t really understand the rules about double dribbling yet.  Or travelling.  Fouls aren’t a problem.  Yet. 

It was great watching my friend coaching them, too.  She said she enjoyed it.  Next time, though, we’re going to need some t-shirts for the scrimmages, because she couldn’t always tell who was on whose team.  Plus there’s a set of identical twins, which doesn’t make telling teams apart any easier. 

So we’ll be playing basketball two days a week for the month of July, and I have a feeling that the scrimmages will be a little more organized by the end of that time.