ChelanTime 2012

School has started up around here and we're enjoying our new routine: school some, go outside some, repeat. The weather has been summery still yet somehow pleasant now that the humidity has gone down a little in our neck o' the lack of woods. 

So while I'm still kind of in a summer frame of mind, I thought I'd finish up some sunny weather posts with this one from our time in Chelan. 

We love the extended family hang out time with cousins and second cousins. These chairs see a lot of use during the week we are there.

And we try to eat as much ice cream on the grass as possible. With sprinkles.

 And we share.

I learned this year that Holey Board has been renamed Clank. I like the little group of watchers in this picture.

I love that Bob builds sandcastles like this every time we go to the beach. Maybe the kids think he is building sandcastles for them. I don't think he is.

Kellys!!
Wow, we're a big group. I'm still getting use to the fact that we kind of overwhelm, wherever we go.

Girls at Kellys, post ice cream.

Enjoying the AC.

Really enjoying the AC.

 

 Reuben in his pool get-up.  

Chelan, we'll be back!

And there goes August

Happy Reuben likes the rocks at the Beach House.

Josiah and Grandma

Throwing rocks

Uncle Tommy always looks this awesome.

Tiz swings!

Weee!

Ow.

Cap'n Daddy

Cousins

This guy is almost ten...

Michael hearts fishing poles.

Josiah hearts sunglasses?

What saltwater sandals are for

Sticky

Paddles

Peaceful

What we do in the sun...

... when I'm not hiding from it, that is. If you don't know this already, I'll tell you now: I'm not a big hot weather fan. But, sunny season has arrived. This is what we've been up to.

There's nothing breezy, shady or refreshing about our yard in the summertime, especially after we massacred our dying cherry tree. Our yard has become a veritable shade wasteland. But Dash Point Beach has trees, sand, refreshing breezes plus it's typically 5-10 degrees cooler on a hot summer evening.  So we like to take our dinner there.

We were somewhat desperate on this particular evening for a cooler dinner venue, a situation somewhat compounded by the fact that our blue 15 passenger van was still on blocks in the driveway. No blue van meant a hot drive in two different vehicles to get our whole family to the park. It I'm not mistaken, this day also included a drive to and from church in two separate vehicles, a trip home involving one flat tire and a lot of time trying to keep the two year old from succombing to carsickness. It might have been a different day that all those things happen... Maybe. I'm thankful that we could go but squishing into to non AC vehicles with broken windows that can't roll down made us especially ready to do this:

And then this:

And a little of this:

When the weather is not rainy, we've enjoyed some after church picnics at the park near our church. Typically, lunch is served picnic style in the car on the way home for our kids as we head home on Sundays but lately we've enjoyed taking our crew to the park. I had my camera out on one of these afternoons, after most of the stickiness of lunch had been wiped away.

Reuben

James and I

Mercy helps 

Girls

What letter do you see?

And the goats. Had to include a picture of our new neighbors. The kids call them Chocolate and Diamond but I learned last night that they are really called Cinnamon and Gunsmoke. 

Update!

Here is my attempt to catch my blog up with the current pace of our life. It's not too hurried of a pace nor has it been a harried time for us these past 6 months. But half a year's gone by! 

So here we go:

Our Christmas celebrations came at the very tail end of our unfortunate water damage repair season. Maybe it goes without saying, but moving one day before Christmas can kind of skew your view of what is important. And by skew I don't mean that all the extras and details just faded out of the picture and we were able to worship and rejoice peacefully. It was chaotic. We were sick. Some of us were hung up on one thing, some of us on something entirely different. The answer may have been polkadot jammies for all. 

 

Thankfully, our home was fixed and we were able to set up housekeeping here once again.

And then, in January, Mercy turned six! (And had a surprise birthday visit from Grandad.) What a little treasure this girl is to me.

And it got really icy- ice storm icy. We lost power and had no heat. Brrr.

So we wrapped ourselves up in blankets and read Tintin graphic novels to each other.

 

With my teaching unit on the horizon, I buckled down to prepare for it during February but my camera will tell us that we took some breaks to celebrate birthdays with family. Happy Birthday Grandma!

And we made up our own celebrations just because...

One mishap that I preserved on camera was The Night That Josiah Fell Out of his Bed. In his sleep, he somehow dropped his eye directly onto the sharp corner of the stairstep IKEA shelving we keep in his room. He had quite the black eye/black nose from this sleepstunt.

And then, Josiah turned four!

With my parents preparing to sell their house, my kids took some time to soak up some of the things they love to do while visiting there.

Since I posted last, Reuben has grown almost 6 teeth, become a crawler and now a walker, signs just a tiny bit and continues be made of the sweetest rolls you've ever squeezed.

In April, we joined our homeschool co-op in a field trip to the End of the Oregon Trail Museum. In reality, it was the End of Car Trips Without Dramamine for James.

In May, Reuben completed his first year. We celebrated quietly with lots of sugar. (See. Look at those rolls!)

 

The Montgomerys joined the Memorial Day masses in Chelan. We have the blue security bracelets to prove it. The beach and the pool entertained and the weather was pleasant. Here is James in his beloved "orange shoes".  They are very comfortable for someone who has a plantar's wart covering 1/3 of the sole of his foot.

"Is it time to go swimming yet?" "Will Logan be at the pool when we go?" "I saw Gracie at the pool when we walked by- we HAVE to go down there or we won't get to swim with her!" "When are we going to swim today?" "Can we go yet?"  This pool has become the absolutely main event for the kids. It's fun.

 

 And now it's June. We're done with our homeschool co-op school year. The garden has been planted. House and car projects continue. Here's to posting again before summer is over!