Tuesday, June 12

Our friend Darcy from Japan days was in town for work again so we got to spend another fun evening with him. He was such a sport playing Buzz Vader with E and his Star Wars and Buzz Lightyear action figures.

Monday, June 11

Uncle K and Auntie T spent the weekend after the cruise down in Portland. They came back to spend one night with us. They had a major tickle, goofy, love-fest with the kids :)

Sunday, June 10... 12 years!!

Out to dinner to celebrate our 12th anniversary!

Saturday, June 9

Me and my 3 Day Walk team went to an expo and learned a lot about what/how to pack, the route we'll be walking, etc.
This is my lanyard, I've completed almost all of the sticker-worthy tasks! Now I just need to actually check in to do the walk and we have to do a back-to-back 18 mile/15 mile walk. Then my lanyard will be all stickered-up and I'll officially be ready to walk. Well, of course it is going to take more than a sticker-filled lanyard to accomplish this walk!!

The Cruise! June 1-8

Our whole family (on my side) went on an Alaska Cruise to celebrate Mom and Dad's 45th wedding anniversary! It was such an incredible holiday... Enjoy the photos.















Started out with a surprise (from me) limousine ride to the port. We all felt like such superstars!















Our boat: Royal Caribbean, The Vision of the Seas (this photo was actually taken at the port in Prince Rupert, BC. That was one of the only grey days we had)















Our room. Tiny but cozy. Seriously, I am claustrophobic but did just fine in this little room. Of course we didn't spend *that* much time in here b/c there was sooo much to do all over the boat.















The first evening A wanted to do karaoke so Uncle K, Auntie T and I joined her in a rousing rendition of--can you guess? Yup, YMCA. After this she wanted to sing again, but by herself this time. The crowd loved her, it was so cute.















For those of you (like me before the cruise) who wonder if you would want to go swimming--in the outdoor pool--when cruising in Alaska, the answer is YES. Auntie T and A were pretending to be seals in this picture.















Us with Captain Stein at the first port of call--Juneau, Alaska.




















A is very proud of this picture :)















The cousins got along so well, they all really enjoyed each other.















Me and my brothers. My "little" bro on the left, my "boss" bro (I work part time as his personal assistant) on the right















One of the kids' highlights was eating ice-cream every day. More than once every day in fact...















Beautiful scenery in Tracey Arms Fjord. Surrounded by snow capped mountains, water falls and ice-bergs floating in the water.















A chocolate feast! There were two lobby floors with tables and tables full of chocolate wonders. This was 11:15 p.m. No such thing as normal life schedules on a cruise :)















We didn't see very many sunsets since it stays light for most of the time in Alaska. This was as we were nearing Vancouver Island.















Happy Anniversary, Opa and Oma!!















We LOVED that dining room! Ahh, the food and the service. So wonderful.




















My handsome boys on one of the two formal nights.




















That's me up there! I'd seen the rock climbing wall on the commercials for Royal Caribbean so I just had to do it...




















There's A giving it a try too.




















That karaoke practice from the first night paid off! The three of us sang again later in the week and without intending to, we made it into the Karaoke Superstar Finale on the last night! A kept saying "I can't believe it.", she was so excited. We sang a very impressive (if I may say so myself ;) version of I'll Fly Away. In the end all 9 groups in the finale got a "Star of the Show" trophy.

And then we were back home...

Thursday, May 31

Tonight was Multi Cultural Night at A's school, each class did a little dance or some sort of performance. Here she is with two friends from her class. This little trio sums up the point of the evening, don't ya think?? I LOVE the diversity at our school.

Last Day of Swimming

A has decided that she's done with swimming lessons for now. She's gotten really quite good! Next activity on her list: piano lessons. Stay tuned. (sorry, that was a bad pun but I couldn't resist! :)

Last Day of T-Ball

E got to be the catcher for the last inning of the last t-ball game of his season with the Raptors. The mask was rather large!

May 23-28

The Star Wars Convention... in a galaxy far, far away! What an experience.

Pre-K Graduation

E and his wonderful teachers, Ms. Brenda and Ms. Lisa.
He was very excited about the big graduation ceremony! The stinker mostly picked his nose and pretended to sing, but hey, it was all cute (well, except for the nose picking!).















Some of his good buddies. They'll all be at different kindergartens in the fall, but we'll keep in touch.

May 21

I got a new part time job today! I sent this picture to be used as my intro picture for the women I'll be working with. I'm a happy mama :)

Sunday, May 20

We had a very fun and successful fundraiser for our 3 Day Walk team (that's us in the photo).










There was pink everything everywhere! Pink tulips, pink decorative rocks, pink champagne glasses, pink balloons...

Darcy!

Darcy, one of our good friends from Japan days, came to hang out with us for the day. He lives near Edmonton and was in this area for business during the week. Always so great to catch up with old friends! As far as we're concerned, Darcy is the one who invented the term "Good times" :)

Friday, May 18

Swingin' playdate!

A day at the office

E came along to my part time temp gig with GenCon today. He worked really hard... (notice the DVD player, the twizzlers, the apple juice... :)

May 16

The spinners are finally ready (see May 14)! E and I made a quick stop at the park so that we'd be the very first ones to get to play on them :) This one is so newly finished, the guys were still working on the second one behind it! They are a really simple but fun toy addition to the park, the kids are thrilled!















We went to A's classmate buddy's birthday party at a super fun glorified Chuck-E-Cheese type of place. Yummy sundae bar (you can't see it in this picture, but A's bowl has more sprinkles than ice-cream!).















Cool first graders (and their little brothers)

May 15

83 degrees (according to my van thermometer)! Ahh, such a lovely spring day--a taste of summer coming up.

May 14

Remember the crates delivered on April 23rd (see that date further down)?? Most of that stuff is still on our porch... These spinners are going to be so cool once they're finally fully installed. Can't wait. I know, it doesn't look like much of anything, but just you wait!

May 13

Happy Mothers Day AND Happy Birthday to AT!!




















The kids all dressed up for church... I mean seriously dressed up, this is E's second time ever to wear a tie. It was so darn cute!! Thumbs up :)















After church we walked through Pike Place Market to get to our lunch destination. Buckets and buckets of beautiful fresh flowers...















...and lots and lots of fish!




















The birthday boy ready to order some most excellent beer(s).















We had a lovely lunch at the brewery with family and friends (who are really family too, actually... in-laws and in-laws in-laws and mothers-in-laws. Something like that :)



















Cousins--the oldest and the youngest.




















Uncle AT acted like such a pro eating his salmon sandwich with one hand and holding a sleeping baby nephew in the other! I guess it's like riding a bike, you never forget how to have The Touch...