Just in case my sister is reading our blog, we wanted to wish her a very Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday sis!  We love you! Here's some pictures of them from their recent trip to Yellowstone!  Very impressive!  Tina, her husband Kurt and our niece Kendra posed for all these great pictures!

After Jeff ran his Ragnar relay race they were given some tattoos.  It's basically 2 capital R's that are back to back or mirror image.  He put one on Kylie's arm that weekend. Well, it certainly has lasted a long time!  We finally wiped it off this past weekend and lo and behold...........she has a tan line around it!  How funny is that?

Our great friend Barbi very graciously took Zach with Jordan to Sky High in Bellevue.  It is a huge warehouse with trampolines all over.  The kids mostly enjoy the dodgeball games and you can tell by the pictures...they get tired out but they LOVE IT!  Thanks Barbi - Zach had a blast!

Once again we had a nice hot day this past Saturday and we took Kylie, Zach, Jordan and another friend Matt to Lake Meridian to swim and jump around.  They had a blast!  This time they even jumped off the lifeguard's chair!  Wow - it is high up there! Jordan waded around the shallow end for a while then he played football with the boys.  He wanted to show off his guns rather than get his faux hawk wet.  When I took his picture he asked me if he looks like Anthony when he does that!  Pretty funny stuff.  All the kids had fun!

Our cul-de-sac hosts the National Night Out which is designed for neighbors to gather and socialize and form some bonds.  That way, when we are out of town, our neighbors can watch over our house and things for us.  It's a lot of fun with a bbq and snacks and goodies.  They even rented bouncy houses which the kids just love!  They bounced for nearly 3 hours.  A Covington police officer comes and lets the kids climb in his car and push some buttons.   Even a city official makes an appearance.  What a fun way to get together and renew neighborhood friendships and to make new ones.

After many years of colored walls, we've decided that since we were getting new carpet next week, that we'd update our paint as well in the family room so we picked a color and the next night - we were priming and painting!  It was a late night but we love the room!  Next week we'll show more pictures when the carpet goes in too.

Kylie was able to go to day camp this week with the great weather and she had tons of fun.  She did knife safety ( carved a bar soap), knot tying, archery and lots of other fun crafts and things.  There was a different theme each day so here's some pictures from crazy day and nerd day.  Kylie was the most convincing nerd I think!  Too funny!  Other than some nasty bug bites, she had a fun time and Zach had a nice break from watching her.

7.30.11 and 7.31.11  We went to Whidbey Island for a weekend and Tina, Kurt and Kendra were able to join us as well.  The weather was perfect!  It was fun for all of us to catch up with each other and just enjoy the sunny day. The kids got out the relaxation station (Zach's birthday present) and floated a bit and played hot potato.  Whoever dropped the ball out of the station, had to jump in the water, retrieve it and get back in.  They swam out to Uncle Bobby's boat with Maggie and Matt as well and they stayed in the water for about 3 hours!  They are all fishies!  After a warm shower, they bundled up and ripsticked and scootered around.  They played a rousing game of Dogopoly and the ultimate winner was Zach!  Kendra was able to spend the night with us (spontaneity at its best) and we took Tina and Kurt to the ferry since Kurt had to work.  We brought Kendra home Sunday night after a day of crabbing and fun!

7.29.11  It was finally a hot day and after we got home from work we took the kids and Zach's friend Jordan and met Sloane and Tim at the local lake for some swimming.  Tim and Sloane brought their little raft and Zach and Jordan played football.  Tim joined in and all of a sudden he jumped in the water - we think he forgot about his wallet in his back pocket though!  Haha!  The kids had fun jumping in and Kylie was practicing her diving technique since she's in swimming lessons this month.  Was a nice break from our HOT house!

Jeff participated in a 190 mile relay race that started in Blaine, WA and ended in Langley, WA.  They started on a Friday morning with 12 runners, 2 vans, 6 runners per van. Their team name was Start Slow and Taper From There.  They all had a blast!  They were able to rest some while the other van was running and shower at friends' houses in the area so that was nice.  Overall, the team ran the race in 31 hours and 40 min or so.  (Barbi - is that the right time?)  They ran through the night as well on some of the legs and the race required them to wear reflective vests, headlamps and blinking red lights on their backs.  Jeff said the night run was amazing! Aimee and Christi decorated the vans for the team and they were so creative! The team finished strong and all were tired by the end!  Congratulations to the entire team for a job well done! Click on The Whidbey Examiner logo below to read additional details about the race.