Its been a busy summer here in Olympia. We kicked the summer off with a camping trip to the Denton's house in Sequim (Sequimboree!). We've had kiddo birthdays, travels, and as Melina has just finished Kindegarten, lots of summer camps. We are lucky that there are a lot of fun options for summer activities here in Olympia.
All the kiddos getting a trampoline demo in Sequim. Amazingly, there were no injuries!
Like the pied piper Keith has the rapt attention of all the kids while he cuts cake.
A short drive from Sequim, we went on a hike in the Olympics to the Grey Wolf River.
Elliott lagged behind a bit......
.....and took some breaks
But, we caught up with the group at the snack break.
Baby-bel cheese as performance art.
Joe checks out the river
Henley naps.
Oh Elliott, falling behind already.
We brought cupcakes to school to celebrate Elliott's 3rd birthday.
And, we saved some to have at home with fire.
Melina is helping Elliott open a gift. He has been playing with that bag ever since.
At the end of the school year, Melina's school has a one day camp called camp Elderberry, where all the kids get together for the day out at the 4-H camp on Panhandle lake to have fun activities and enjoy a cookout. She was really excited to go for the first time.
One of her activities was to build a little house with things she found in the woods.
After lunch she built a boat. Watch where you're swingin' that thing!
The boat worked great and was quickly dubbed "Hot Dog"
Melina also participated in her first soccer club, the "Dragons"
Tish and Elliott made chocolate cupcakes (crazy cake) for his birthday party.
Elliott was so happy that Lydia came to his party.
Melina holding court with the big kids on the slide.
Elliott spent a bit of his party hiding under a picnic blanket in the backyard.
But, he came out for the cupcakes.
The kids use Misha's cat house more than she does.
Shortly after Elliott, Melina also had a birthday. Number 6!
She was pretty impressed with her gifts.
Legos!
Our vacuum is loud.
A few months ago Melina was insistent that her birthday party would be a "cheese party." It took us a while to figure out what that meant, but we settled on a tasting with five different cheeses and scorecards so each kid could taste and rate each cheese. Manchego was a favorite.
Cheesecake of course.
We also met up with our PEPS group for a 6th birthday meet-up. Sadly this will probably be the last time the full group meets for a while, as one family is moving. It's been amazing watching all these kids grow up from six weeks old to six years! Calvin still doesn't like the camera.
Elliott approved of more cupcakes. He loves to give people a thumbs up and yell "Justice!"
We visited the Seattle Center so Melina could go to see the Women's Pro Soccer team, the Seattle Reign FC. Elliott went to check out the Space Needle instead.
And was amazed at how tall the Space Needle is.
We also got to see our Seattle Friends Ivy and Alec.
They almost sat still for a photo
This worked surprisingly well.
One of Melina's favorite activities right now is "sketching," which she defines as drawing something as you see it (In this case flowers on the front patio), as opposed to "drawing," which is drawing something from your memory or imagination.
This year we took a summer trip to Yellow Springs, OH to see Tish's family. The kids were confused by the heat and tropical humidity we experienced there.
Tish's Yellow Springs friends had the great idea to rent a historical flour mill turned inn for an evening so everyone could get together. Elliott loved hanging out with Tika.
It was a big group. The kids span quite an age range, but had a great time together.
Somebody lost their toy in the waterwheel
Elliott and Simon had a great comedy/dance routine for the group.
Tish and Corrie
Grown ups watched some performances (drama comedy gymnastics) from the balcony
As it got late, our kids got to experience fireflies for the first time.
We also visited the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton (it's air conditioned!)
Hanging out in Papa's backyard with Bubbie.
Diane (Bubbie) had a fairy garden party at a fairy garden shop in town. Each kid got to install some plants and furnishings into a pot for their fairy.
Elliott found a frog. Or maybe a tiny toad.
We also went to Young's Jersey Dairy, a Yellow Springs institution of dairy goodness. And you can feed the goats.
And drive tractors.
We went for a short hike in the Glen
One of our favorite Ohio places to visit is Carillon Park where there is a re-creation of the Wright Brothers bike shop, and the actual 1905 Wright Flyer III restored by Orville shortly before he passed away.
We stopped by the Yellow Springs riding center and saw some horses near....
and far.
This is getting to be a pretty standard look for Melina....
and Elliott.
We also visited the raptor center in the Glen where injured birds of prey convalesce. Some cannot return to the wild and are on display for visitors.
On the fourth of July we went downtown in Yellow Springs to watch the parade.
Bubbie was on duty as a press photographer. We are so proud of her 12 year run as editor of the YS News!
