Saying Goodbye to Grandma and Then we Get Sick

It's tradition to help Grandma with her luggage.  Then big hugs and kisses and waving until she drives out of sight.  It was fun to have you here!  Thanks for a fun visit!

After saying goodbye to Namma,  I drove the littles to a friend's house so I could volunteer at the boys' school.  Afterwards I noticed some goop in Evelyn's eye.  In less than 2 hours after that her eye was swollen and really goopy.  Blech.  Then I wasn't feeling great that night.  I went visiting teaching which was great but then I was just feeling super crummy.  Well that feeling turned into the flu. I was a little panicky because Tony was supposed to leave that afternoon to go camping with boy scouts.  Luckily, one of the other leaders took his place.    I don't know what I would have done. Tony took Ev to the doctor and got medicine for her eye.  And 36 hours later I'm kinda feeling better and keeping things down.  Thank you ginger-ale.  

It's kind of sad being sick on a beautiful spring weekend, missing a friend's play, a baseball game and a baptism.  But, at least I know it will end and I can kind of enjoy the beautiful spring days from inside the house.

The Day a Chicken Followed Us Home From School

Happy Birthday Namma!

We celebrated early by making a campfire dinner with Grandma.  The kids know how much Grandma loves to camp so we pretended to be camping.  Tinfoil dinners, biscuits on a stick and dumpcake.  Happy Birthday!

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival with Namma

Since we had an early, warm spring, the tulip festival ended earlier than normal but we still enjoyed beautiful tulips.

Ryan is posing next to my favorite kind.  I need to order bulbs to plant this fall.

Planting Flowers

How cute is Jase helping Namma plant some flowers?

Working at the Snack Shack

We have fun working at the snack shack to support Max's baseball league.  

Fun with Explosions

One of the fun "Camp Grandma" adventures was making mentos volcanoes.

Swimming for Scouts

One of the many reasons I love cub scouts is because it gives the kids the chance to try a wide variety of things and improve their skills.  Max, Ryan and I went to the pool so Max could fulfill the requirements for his Spirit of Water Adventure.

Lots of "Help"!

I've done lots of planting in the last few weeks and I've had lots of "help".

First, it's fun to see Jet, who is now an indoor/outdoor kitty climbing trees and being adventurous.

And then there's my helpers.  They are pretty cute though.

I learned that Tony is more than willing to help when it comes to ripping out bushes with his car.  A tall, woody, Rhododendron in front of a window had to go as well as a pine-y bush(?) near the drive way.  I planted a beautiful hydrangea in place of the Rhody and a lilac is going to where the pine bush was. 

Sometimes we Have to Stop and Play!

When we walk to and from school we pass two parks so chances are...we're going to stop and play.

Weekend Getaway--Part 3 Hiking in Olympic National Park

Tony and I went to the Olympic National Forest to hike to the ruins of a B-17.  There was about a 45 minute drive on very mountainy roads once we turned into the park.  There were so many deer!

This hike was amazing!  We crossed so many little streams or river run-offs.

So along the way, I was a little nervous about time because we needed to get back in time to make sure Grandma made her plane.  It's a bit of a drive.  We knew going back, we'd make up time since it was an uphill hike, but...we didn't have the coordinates with us of exactly which way to go by the mine shaft to get to the B-17.  Yes, I need to remember the Boy Scout motto and be prepared and think ahead to not having the internet to check the page.  Oops.  But, luckily for us, the first people we met on the trail were coming back down right as we got to the mine shaft.  We asked them if they'd come from the B-17 wreckage and they had.  Here is the story of why there is wreckage here.  This was seriously perfect timing because we knew we were on the right path.  It was a tough hike and if we didn't even know we were going in the right direction or not, we might have turned back a bit early trying to make sure Grandma didn't miss her plane.  But we made it and it was worth it. :)

The abandoned mine shaft!

On the way back we crossed the Hood Canal

And the Narrows Bridge

Love Mt. Rainier

We had texted our ETA to Kate so she would know we weren't going to be late.  Then there were some cute little chefs waiting out in the yard when we pulled up.  Max had a scout requirement to cook a healthy dinner and grandma helped him with that.

How cute is this?

What a perfect weekend!