chris.reese.girls1.2.3.4

July brought a few fun adventures on the water.  *** First up was a family paddle boarding session on Lake Sammamish.  *** Next was a fun weekend boating with my brother's family. The weather was unusually cool, but we pressed on. We love hanging out with the Dalleys and we love taking advantage of their boat, too! Brynn's first time wakeboarding and she popped right up! And for the record, below is documentation of me behind the boat wakeboarding. I still got it. I was up and down and didn't even get my hair wet. This also means I attempted zero tricks nor did I attack the wake very much. My old age is making me very reserved. My nephews are not the most tough boys when it comes to cool temperatures. I asked them to uncover their heads from under the blankets for this picture. My girls had to fight them to use some of those blankets. Haha. Day two on the water had some better sunshine and we docked and enjoyed a nice lunch a...

Part 2 of the fun we had in July... So much of our summer includes pick-up games of soccer/baseball/dodgeball right out our front door. In the picture below I believe it's a big neighborhood game of soccer going on. The girls spend the entire day out there pulling everything out of the garage and moving from one activity to the next. They play with all ages and genders of kids and it's really an experience that I'm so so grateful they get to have.  And when the front yard gets too chaotic, they escape to the serenity of the back yard. This afternoon it was an art studio.  *** I was determined to work on our 72-hour kits over the summer. This is such an ordeal, but I'm trying to work on my emergency prep in small ways and I hadn't done this in about nine years so it was time. We made seven kits (one for Chris to keep at work or in his car).  Every family member has their own backpack! The kids think it's super neat. *** Park days. This is o...

I am officially the farthest behind on my blog that I have ever been (about 4 months), but I'm determined to get it back up and running to document our crazy life, since it's really the only form of journaling I'm doing right now! Some of this is a bit out of order, but my only care is to simply document for memory's sake. Looking back on the summer (it's November as I type this) makes me miss it so much! It was truly one of the best summers we've had. The TV rarely came on, the kids were busy making their own play and I just wasn't ready to go back to school when the time came, like I usually am. Here are a few highlights from July... In early July after a few gloomy days we decided to hop over the mountain and visit Grandma Apken where the sun shines a bit better. My SIL, Kaelin was also there with her kiddos.  *** We got out to the Museum of Flight. My kids are now Connections members, which is just a fancy way of saying we get in free!  ...