JUNE - Mr. Therrell and Pete and Jennie's Visit

My favorite teacher, Mike Therrell – my U.S. History teacher – dropped by to visit this month. He brought about 20 boxes of newspapers with him that he wanted to pass into good hands. The newspapers range in age from the 1880s to 2010. I had help from students and TAs to organize them into bins by each decade and to whittle them down to 14 boxes. The goal is to have US History students be able to read and access them while studying and researching each decade. It was a quite a project! But the best part of it was to reconnect with Mr. Therrell and tell him that he had been a huge influence in my life and the inspiration for my own teaching career.

Pete and Jennie came out to visit the cabin a couple weekends ago. This was their first time out since Evie was born and it was fun to share the weekend with them and watch the kids play so well together. Pete even brought a tent and slept outside with Alton, which was Alton’s first camp out.

The next morning, we went hiking up Dirtyface Mountain to the waterfall. The wildflowers were in full bloom and the hike was just right for the kids. Reed did almost all of the 2 mile round-trip on his own!

After Pete and Jennie left, Eben and I took our kids floating down the Upper Wenatchee River in the new raft. The water was high and fast – at least as compared to last summer when you could float the lazy river in an innertube. There were just a few waves, but the kids enjoyed punching through them and getting a big splash and a little bit of a ride. 

 

Charlotte's Seventh Birthday!

Charlotte turned 7 this year! She is getting so capable, witty, and friendly. She enjoys trying to make puns and word riddles, learning the play the piano, swimming, running around with her friends, and reading Harry Potter. She chose to have a Harry Potter themed birthday. The cake has golden quidditch rings and a snitch on top.

 Her classmate Lizzy is also a big Harry Potter fan and came in her Hufflepuff dress.

 The sorting hat determined which houses the kids would join for the party (no Slytherin though).

 We also had each child choose a wand and then played a "Spell Duel" game. Kind of like rock, paper, scissors, but way cooler.

 Then the kids split into "houses" for a Spell Challenge. They had to use spells off of the spell list to solve real-world problems and couldn't repeat any spells. This was the Gryffindor Team: Jenable, Margaret, and Charlotte.

  

This was the cooky team Ravenclaw who came up with fiesty ways to use the spells.

 And this was team Hufflepuff who had the most creative answers - such as using the "Avis" spell to fly on birds when a ride from mom or dad wasn't available to get to a friend's house.

 The line up pre-pinata.

 Charlotte with our Golden Snitch pinata. We spray painted it and gave it wings to make it into the snitch.

 Birthday cake time!

 The gaggle of kids surrounding her for presents.

 The next morning was her REAL birthday (May 30). She was excited to bring a treat to share at school and to wear her new Harry Potter dress that Lizzy's mom made for her.

 A few more presents and cards the evening of her birthday. This fun one was from Marlene.

Memorial Day Weekend on The Adams Family Sailboat

We spent Memorial Day Weekend with the Adams Family on their sailboat. We headed from Everett to anchor off of Blake Island on Friday. The weather was 80 and absolutely perfect for the voyage! It felt so wonderful to be back on the water.

  

 

As this was Charlotte's birthday weekend, she got to open her birthday present.... a brand new paddle board! What fun!

  

We passed by the Seattle harbor (Elliott Bay) with Mount Rainier in the distance on our way south.

 The next morning we went ashore in the dinghy. The grown ups took turns running the island paths while the kids played on the beach. The sun came out and the tide was very low so it was the perfect day for beach combing.

  

The kids found this enormous moon snail! It was very bizarre.

 

They played on the paddle board.

 

 Later in the afternoon the breeze picked up and we were able to sail. We did a lap around Blake Island and then anchored on the east side of the island. When you're sailing, you do learn to hang on - note the horizon line is horizontal but the boat is at quite an angle.

 Heading into Blake Island after dinner for a sunset ramble.

 All tucked in for a cozy night's sleep.

 This is what lunch looks like - a Costco-sized loaf of bread turned into 11 sandwiches feeds the kids. We make additional sandwiches for the grown ups.

 We sailed to Poulsbo, a Norwegian town on the Olympic Peninsula, on Sunday morning. They had this cool Excalibur statue.

 Unfortunately the aquarium was not open yet, but the kids had fun climbing the octopus. We spent the rest of Sunday on the beach at Bainbridge Island before heading back early Monday to be home in time for Charlotte's birthday party.