Grammy and Grandpa Visit!

Grammy and Grandpa arrived!  

 Geoff broke out the boxing gloves.  Check out the very innocent-looking but really channeling her inner "Rocky" self here.

She looks so sweet.  But she will take you out.

 ...she has fists flying even while smiling...

...uppercut!

Favorite strategy #1:   sneak up from behind

...and then she goes in for the KO.

  Favorite strategy #2:  Grab you from behind at waist-level and pull you down with all her weight...

The next morning we left early for Grants Pass to ride the Hellgate Jet boats.  

And I can't find any pictures.  I know I took some.

It was fun but we all were pretty tired from being in the sun and being in the car!

The boys had an art class that night and they painted flags.  They turned out really nice.

   We started off our day-before-4th of July with the fireworks Geoff bought for the boys.

On the 4th of July, we went to our friend's Kelly and Michael's cabin at Lake of the Woods.  The kids had so much fun playing on the dock and riding rafts on the water.

Wyatt was happily paddling around the dock shouting "Happy 4th of July!  Happy 4th of July!"

The kids are so giddy happy on the water that it makes me want to get a boat.  Almost.
The community at the lake has a boat parade/water fight every year.  Some boats were decorated (see the very patriotic boat below) and pretty much every boats had ammunition for a water fight.  One boat even had a fire hose built in that had us all running from the deck.

Here is our brave crew...

and their fearless leaders...

They are stocked up on water balloons...

and I am sure no one else had Captain America.

And the fireworks at the lake - were AMAZING.  It got really quiet and the fireworks echoed around the mountains.  I have never heard that before.

Baby girl had nothing left when we got home.

We played tennis one afternoon since Jan teaches tennis lessons-we have to take advantage of her expertise!

   Geoff set up the tent on the last night Mark and Jan were here.  Avery's first time sleeping in a tent.

 Jack wanted to look like he was reading in the picture.

A was trying to give us her pouty lip but she was also trying not to smile at the same time.

K to the T.  (one of our nicknames for Katy)

Thank you for visiting Grammy and Grandpa!  We had so much fun having you here.

Our new nephew!

I am playing catch up on my blog posts!  A big congratulations to my brother PJ and his wife Ivone!  They welcomed their first child (and our new nephew) - a baby boy on the 28th of May.
Welcome to the world PJ Flynn IV!
Stats:  6 lbs, 18.5 inches

We are excited to meet him in person soon...does he have great hair or what?

Hot July

We had a lot of fun in July.  It was a month full of water activities for us.  We took a couple of trips to Lake of the Woods, we rode jet boats, Geoff and the kids rafted in CA, we went to our friend's dad's pool (it's awesome), and the kids swam at a hotel pool in CA. 

 Wyatt pulling his friend Owen...

Different day at Lake of the Woods...same raft. :)

More water....water balloons!

One work weekend the kids and I went with our friend Jamie her boys to the Lavender Fields near Mt Shasta - it was gorgeous but I guess we missed the bright purple lavender by a week.  We had a lot of fun...it felt like we were at a vineyard in Italy.  I am glad we went because they will be closed to the public next year.  We will have to plan our timing right and try again in a couple of years.  They have baskets and scissors and you can pick all the lavender you want.  

 Avery with a tiny bundle of lavender.

 The boys going through the lavender maze.

 We are picking new tomatoes every few days!

But I have had enough tomatoes to make my favorite pasta recipe twice.  And it requires 5 cups of cherry tomatoes.  Below:  Early girl, super sweet 100, sun sugar, chocolate cherry, and sun gold.

 I am trying to post most of our day-to-day pics in this post.  Avery and I went through the car wash...she wasn't a big fan.

 We wrapped up July with golf camp.  The boys loved it.  The golf pro is really good with kids and is really generous with "prizes" (smart man).  And good prizes like golf hats, double dozen golf balls, sleeves of balls, and their friend Hartley even won a golf bag with clubs!

Ok, the next few pictures were taken in June on a morning golf outing with Daddy.  I know, it has been so hot this summer I was surprised to upload these pics and see the winter hats.

And another from June (despite the Halloween skeleton jammies).  This pic makes me laugh.  I think Geoff was night flying and the boys had each come up multiple times saying "I am bored" "I can't sleep" and "I don't know how to go to sleep."  Wyatt asked if he could get in our bed and I told him he could.  Then Jack said something about just going in for a second.  Just a couple of moments later I went to see what Jack was doing and he had hopped into our bed too and they were both completely out.

"I'm Ok!"

Two nights ago I was getting Avery ready for bed.  We were in her bathroom and she stopped and looked at me and said, "you have chubby cheeks." 

Every time she has had a spill or fall I must say "are you Ok?"  Because twice now in the last week I have heard a crash, waited and then heard her say "I'm Ok!"

The other night I told her we were having chicken nuggets and she said "chicken nuts-wahoo!"

Last weekend I was already outside watering when she woke up.  She walked right out onto the deck and said "Mama I woke up!"  Like it was the best thing ever and an amazing thing that it even happened.  I couldn't agree more.  Every day.

 

 

 What a gift of a life we live.