A Superhero Birthday

For Benjamin's 6th birthday we decided to have a kids only superhero party, with each kid getting a homemade personalized cape. Brian and I handled a total of 12 kids for 3 hours with thankfully no major issues/incidents. The day included lunch, a bounce house, bean bag toss, bikes, water guns, Simon Says, cake, hide-and-go-seek, and a pinata. But the highlight was a special appearance from Bug Man. Silly Brian dressed up as a villain and all the kids had to defeat him with water balloons and water guns. It was a tiring but fun time.

4th of July

We enjoyed celebrating America's birthday at my sister's house on Echo Lake with her family and my bother's family. It was a special 4th for a few reasons: the weather was beautiful for a change, we celebrated with family, and the kids actually enjoyed the fireworks this year! We were able to coax them into holding sparklers and they stayed nearby to watch Uncle Scott light of some of the smaller things. Later that night I caught Benjamin peaking out his window watching the fireworks being set off down the block. He said it was "better than watching tv"! I got him up and we walked around the neighborhood to watch the various shows...our neighborhood goes crazy so we were able to see a ton. At last, we don't have to spend the 4th hiding from the fun!

Lacey's Birthday

This year Lacey had a joint birthday party (in June) with her cousins Raven and Liam.  Their birthdays are all within 2 weeks of each other so it works to group them together. We hosted the paint themed party at our house. The activities included decorating their own party hat, painting on the wall, a dart game with paint filled balloons and decorating cupcakes. The party was a great success except for Lacey being super sick. She pretty much laid on the couch the whole day or cuddled in someones lap. I had to drag her out to open presents even. Poor girl. The only time she showed signs of life was to decorate her cake...go figure :)

Lacey and Luke's First Date

 A couple of weeks ago we had a BBQ and movie night at our friends' house.  They have 3 boys, Levi, Luke and Liam, who are all very close in age to our kiddos.  Lacey and Luke were so cute playing together I couldn't help but pretend it was like a little date.

Going for a little drive.

Stopping to swing and play

Dinner together - at one point Lacey fed Luke but I didn't get it in time

Topping the night off with 'Tangled'

Benjamin ended up staying over for his first non-family sleepover. Aside from the boys staying up til 11 or so, I heard it went very well. We all had lots of fun...thanks Renee and Lando!

Lake Chelan

Last week we had an awesome time spending a week in Lake Chelan.  We use our time share to stay at a place right on the lake.  It rained for the first part of the trip (a local who has lived there 7 years said it's the first time he's ever seen 3 days of rain in a row there - oy) but the weather was beautiful for the second half of the week when Brian's parents joined us.  Below are some photos highlighting our adventure.

We stopped in Leavenworth on the way to and from Chelan to have lunch .

There just happened to be a traveling carnival next to where we were staying when we arrived. The roller coaster obviously brought out my inner child. Benjamin and Lacey played a few games and won some prizes. 

Throwing rocks with Daddy

Since it was raining out, we took the kids bowling.  Both Benjamin and Lacey bowled strikes!

Being silly at the condo

That's about as far as anyone got in the lake...it was freezing!

As you can see, Heidi liked the sand...a little too much

Dinner at our favorite BBQ place the night Gma and Gpa arrived

Heidi enjoying some Gma time while the other kids are playing at the park

We took many trips to the pool, both indoor and outdoor. Benjamin was finally comfortable enough in the water this year to hang out on his floaty. Heidi and Lacey rotated in and out of the sit in one because Lacey was a little scared of her regular floaty.

Our last day in the pool we finally got her in her floaty but she had to hang on to either me or Gma. I'm not sure if she was just really tired or being silly but she was pretty much like this the whole time. Don't worry, Gma is right next to her, holding on to her waist :)

Enjoying ice cream, cider and fresh apples at Orondo Cider Works just outside of Lake Chelan

To see more of our pics, check out https://picasaweb.google.com/118180028946989103931/LakeChelan?authkey=Gv1sRgCI6GwL7zwuOvBw#