Sunday, July 31, 2011

Mason Lake Cabin---2011

Even with Washington's summer weather being a little crazy, we were able to enjoy a wonderful weekend with friends on Mason Lake. Our friend Tallie and her boys and me and the boys rode a ferry over together. Tony joined us on Saturday morning. It's funny how having dad around really helped Max to be brave. He swam like a fish with no fear (after awhile). There's a floating dock and he would swim out there and back by himself. It was pretty obvious that he was thrilled to have dad around and stuck to him like glue. The lake was beautiful and fairly warm even in the morning when it was overcast. We loved being able to relax and enjoy lots of friend time.
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Ryan loved throwing rocks.
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Merrily, merrily...
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Ryan on his own boat
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Canoe ride!
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A future sailor!
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Our awesome hostess and her little princess!
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The girls! Me, Teri, Kara and Tallie
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Swimming boy Max and dad!
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The cabin was decked out with games, pool table, etc. Here's Ryan as the pinball wizard.
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Teri made the kids balloon animals!
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Teri moved to Tracy, CA and she is following in her mom's clown footsteps. Here is her mom's clown website. She's Glitterbug
Now Teri is Cupcake the Clown. I'm hoping to go see her this Tuesday in Bonney Lake, here.
Here's Dallin and his cool Alien:
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Here's Faith and Trissa with a lady bug flower:
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My boys got airplanes and I'm totally bummed I didn't get pics. Teri also made a fairy which was amazing. I'm obviously very impressed, lol!
The fun was interrupted a bit when Teri's kids got sick, but they were troopers. Also, Tony woke up with hives and his throat was constricting so we went to urgent care. He's doing fine and we don't know what he was reacting too. We had so much fun we were totally tuckered out. We all took naps this afternoon. Max was so tired he almost relieved himself in our kitchen drawer. He seriously opened the drawer and started pulling down his pants. We laughed so hard (after he had made it successfully to the toilet). What a weekend! Here's our blast from the past: Our 2009 trip.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I Love Hydrangeas!

Aren't they beautiful? Along with lilacs, they are one of my favorite bush/tree flowers.
From July 2011

Monday, July 25, 2011

Time With Grandpa J

Grandpa J is working in Seattle for 4-6 months and so the boys are loving every second of it. I think it's amazing when kids get the chance to have such a close bond to their grandparents. Max said, "When Grandpa J lives with us, I won't have to miss him and he won't have to miss me".
Here's Ryan and Grandpa manning the submarine.
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And, Saydi dog is staying with us too! The boys love having a pet (and I love having a pet that's well trained! We'll get a puppy when Max is a little older, but for now, we love that Saydi is staying with us for a little bit)
Here's Saydi after a long day of doing who knows what ; )
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Another Project With Daddy!

Tony and Max pulled out the Construx and spent a lot of time Sunday afternoon making these awesome creations:
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Don't ask about the chef hat
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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Running Off to the Circus!

The Wenatchee Youth Circus came to town as a part of Renton River Days. It was amazing to think of the talents of these youth. They could do some pretty incredible things.
There was the low wire which this guy was able to walk on later even when it was completely slack.
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Then the high wire act.
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The Roman ladders
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Lots of clowns
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Here are the boys watching the trapeze act. They were fans of all the kids who could do "dangerous stuff".
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Friday, July 22, 2011

A Schow Sleepover

What do you do when after you both have moved, you and a good friend live an hour and twenty minutes apart? Have a sleepover! Day trips are fun but they don't happen enough, so we found a way to make the drive even more worth it--pack a lot of fun into a short amount of time!
There was lots of outside play.
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A trip to Gene Coulon Memorial Park
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Tony painted his welding helmet to look like this before we had kids in case you were wondering ; )
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We went to the drive-in to see Cars 2! We knew the excitement of being together would make bedtime hard anyway so why not do something way fun?
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If these two (Savannah not even a month old and Ryan who is 2 years old) ever get married, won't these be the BEST pics at their reception?
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These poses were initiated by Ryan
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Too funny!
And then we went to Renton River Days and jumped on bouncy houses, did arts and crafts, saw a clown...
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Lucky Kelsey got to be the clown's assistant
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We decided that motherhood is always tiring so why not have it be tiring, fun and with good company as well?

A Good News Monday!

I volunteer as a CASA so I can continue "working" in child welfare. Monday was a court review for one of the moms on my case. Her kids have been in out-of-home care for 1 and a half years and she really stepped up and completed all court requirements and learned from the hands-on parenting help she was receiving. So once a parent has completed the court requirements, the state and CASA can recommend that parent-child visits be increased and then eventually ask the court to return the children to the parent's home for a trial period (in-home dependency). The parent still receives parenting training and has to follow through with all requirements and the home is visited on a regular basis. The kids were placed back in their mother's care for 9 months this time because of when the court review was scheduled. I'm so glad that the family is doing so well!

We All Live in a Gray Submarine!

I kept a childcraft book series that we had when I was a child. Max found this in the arts and crafts book:
From July 2011

So we waited until we had boxes and then dad went to town
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He even made flags from the nautical alphabet. The flags spell M-R-E S-U-B (Max and Ryan Epperson's sub)
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I think Max wanted to play instead of take pictures!
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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Heroes of the Homefront Hangar Dance

Last night Tony and I went to a 1940's era Hangar Dance at the Museum of Flight to commemorate the B-17. There was big band music, people dressed up (even a darling older lady dressed as Rosie the Riveter) and all of it set at the airplane museum. We had fun dancing and just being a part of such a fun event. We weren't dressed up 40's style (not everyone was) but it was fun to get dressed up anyways! :)
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I even got to waltz to "Edelweiss". It was so fun to be with my love. This song isn't from that era, but we heard it on the way there. If there really were a soundtrack to life, which sometimes I feel like there is, this would be the perfect song to capture my feelings of the night.