Quick (?) summer recap

Apparently our summer was quite full!  At least, it was so full that I didn't blog about it.  ;)

We did have some fun adventure days.  We had a lot in one week when our friend, Holly, came to visit from Texas.  We took her to check out the salmon coming back to spawn.  We toured a chocolate factory with her.  We found the Fremont troll with her - all in one day!  Another day we took her to Snoqualmie Falls.  Afterwards we tried a restaurant that would qualify for an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (and that makes its own root beer and serves a mean dish of chili cheese fries).  She and I explored downtown Seattle by bus and foot and took in a Rangers v. Mariners game.  It was a jam-packed week!

The boys spent two weeks in a full-day VBS at the Chinese Baptist Church in Seattle.  They started out with one friend from our church attending with them, but they ended with lots of new friends.  In the mornings they did Hero Training Camp VBS.  In the afternoon, they took classes.  The first week they both took inventions and creations, which also included Lego building.  The second week Joel took a science class.  He made bouncy balls, bubbles that didn't break, slime, and a lava lamp.  Evan spent the second week in a rocketry class where he built and launched a rocket.  They both had a great time and have been talking about what they will take next year.  Here are a few pics from their final day program.

We got to visit the bast of Mt. Si for Amazon's company picnic.  We had so much fun walking around, eating free food, playing games, eating food, etc.  It was beautiful and warm weather and a great setting.  If you want to see some pics, you can look here.

Evan also spent a week at a baseball camp where he learned some of the fundamentals from a former professional player.  And we got together with friends a few times, too.

The most exciting part is that we survived our first summer here!  It was a particularly dry summer, so the boys got to spend a lot of time outside playing.  It got up to 90 a few times, which was a nice break from the triple digits of previous years in Texas (and MS for me).  It got a little warm a few times with no A/C in the house, but Steve worked hard to keep the fans going in the optimum way to make the house as  cool as possible.

We had hoped to go camping, but since it was our first year here, we let the summer slip away from us.  Maybe during some cold, rainy days I can plan for some trips for next summer!