Thursday, June 21

Today at school we did the annual "fun run" (although I didn't actually see anyone running!) which is a 1.6 mile loop around the neighborhood next to the school. E and I went along for the exercise...















A and I made this wall hanging gift for her teacher. We decoupaged letters on this plaque with the class motto: "We can do it, we can do it, we can do it if we try" and spruced it up a little with some funky beads, wire and a school bus :)

Wednesday, June 20

A has been having fun playing with her hamster, Scooter, lately. I'm still too scared of that thing to actually touch it!

Tuesday, June 19

Summer vacation is so close we can taste it!! Popsicles on a sunny afternoon after school...

Monday, June 18

Now that's some serious recycling!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, AT!! Gramma was in town visiting for the weekend, we all went out for a lovely lunch to celebrate the special day.

Saturday, June 16

Today our 3 Day Walk team went on a great training walk. But first my neighbor showed us some serious Tai-Chi type stretches. I don't think he was very impressed with us, though... He made them look so easy! None of us were quite coordinated enough, but it was fun trying!














Our reward at the end of the walk was going for sushi at the revolving sushi place near us. Yum!

Friday, June 15

A's first grade class did a project where they collected letters and postcards from around the world. Her teacher couldn't believe how many postcards came in from our friends and family from all over the world! South Africa, The Gambia, Kenya, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Japan, The Netherlands, Ireland... and several from Canada and different states in the US (We love projects like this :).















A was one of the kids who got a special award at the all-school assembly today.















Cousins! In the evening my brother and his family came to spend the night. A and Stephan were fast friends on the cruise and had a wonderful visit again at our house.















The big boy cousins were total buddies too. They had fun playing Star Wars, Spiderman and a combo of the two...

Thursday, June 14

This was taken with my cell phone b/c silly me--I remembered my camera but had left the little disk thingie at home after downloading pics off of it. DUH. Anyway, here are A and her buddy at the High School Musical performance I took them to this evening. They loved it!

Another lost tooth

She lost another tooth! Now her mouth is really hole-y, so goofy looking (and cute, of course :)...

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 :)