2012-07 JULY

Lake Crescent 239 images · 2 videos	Nana and PopPop visit 85 images · 8 videos	Mt biking 18 images · 2 videos
swimming 1 image · 3 videos	Tour de Coop 22 images

1 They are SO handsome with short haircuts for summer! I just can't stand it!	2 These balloons got partially blown up, then shot across the salon!	3 Ben in his gym class!	4 Doin gbalance beam - he is in the middle of the shot, at the right end of the balance beam.
5 AlphaRex is all built!	6 Dave and I love these slow-growing evergreen shrubs.	7 In Poulsbo on a random Saturday outing. We ended up looking at campers in Silverdale!	8 Now in Seattle for the aquarium. This scuba diver was really good.
9 I would LOVE pants with a design like this fish!	10	11 Silly mommy - this really cracked me up, putting a bag on Eagle's head so he's a great horned owl. I was LOLing :)	12 Ben is in swim class now, too!
13 He loves it!	14 These rascals were prancing through Daddy's Father's Day Garden!	15 We went on a hike which ended at the beach and found these neat treasures, including this part of an old (1930s?) Clorox bleach bottle. The Clorox bottles apparently have very unique markings which allow them to be dated pretty accurately. The CA FIRE dept forensics team uses them to help date buildings.	16 More mommy finds - these guys had critters in them so they stayed on the beach.
17 Sam found this sickly crab.	18 Big, huh?	19 And positioned him nicely by the water for his final moments. He caught a sunset. Sam is very sweet to all creatures.	20 At this moment they were saying to each other "Isn't this fun? Aren't we having a good time?"
21	22 And at this moment Sam is shouting "OOOOH HOOO HO! Look at THIS!" He'd found a huge family of crabs under a rock.	23 We did some interesting estimation on the hike - the circumference of a tree vs one Lewis and Clark found, and how high up this ridge is compared to the trail below. Sam nailed it right on the money - we checked with our GPS (50 feet). He really was on fire with the estimation on this hike! He also got the elevation of the parking area at the trailhead within 10 ft, which is about the margin of error of the GPS itself!	24 Can you see Sam's reflection in this? The elevation is 197 ft here - just what he'd estimated it would be.
25 Daddy made great Fourth of July pancakes and berries. Thanks, Daddy!	26 Now at the float they'll ride in the parade!	27 Blue hair! Not entirely pleased with mommy.	28 Cute marchers!
29	30	31 The after-party at our house. Matt is conducting Fear Camp here - the kids all wanted to try doing monkey bars down the rope from 10 ft up in the tree. Thanks for holding the rope, Matt!	32 S'mores and pizza, and fun catching up with this great couple.
33	34 Yeah! Big s'more bites!	35 Hair is still blue, and he is still not too pleased with me! My men were going rogue all day on the Fourth, for some reason. None of them were very pleased with me all day! I was on the outs, for real!	36 Reading some patriotic quotes and guessing to whom they should be attributed. This was fun. Matt and Dave were good.
37 Buffy came out for a visit.	38 I loved seeing these two tenderly care for her, feeding her choice nibbles of grass blades. Their little heads formed a heart shape over her.	39	40 There they go!
41	42 This parade is a huge deal!	43	44
45	46 Kicking off the after-party at our house. This Sam playing the guitar - he did a wonderful job!	47 One of Ben's favorite activities is racing down the driveway then screeching to a stop. He has me measure how long the skid marks are. Then he asked me "Mom, are these parallel?"	48 A little risky being perched here for the shot, but he has VERY precise timing! He nails the screech every time.
49 Yup, I'd say some are parallel! He likes the 6 foot long skid marks.	50 Now you can see what he's doing.	51 Can you see the fishtail?	52 Setting up camp to monitor flock integration. We're on day 6 here and we have 3 of 6 integrated into the flock. No blood yet. I hear clucking now as I type furiously so I better get out and see what's up.
53 The three we've integrated. They are about 6 weeks old. Hiding out behind the stump. It was so nice to share this time with the boys, watching the chickens, listening to Merlin talk to himself about the nesting boxes (he was in there chuckling to himself!). Sam was journaling, too.	54 This is where he wrote his July 2 entry. I think I'll paste it here for you: Week of 7-2 This week I built alpharex! Evin my cimputer wasn’t strong inof! Evin for an 85 pg instruchin book! The peeps have moved into the run! I was in the 4th of July parade in the aquatic center float! And Ben was too! And I’m in Manta Ray. My rooster, Merlin, is obsessed when he is (in) a nesting box. He’s chucling right now! Dear Sam, I really enjoyed sitting by the coop in our little tent and watching all the hens to be sure the little ones (Gordon, Alex, and Jersey peep) were ok! Butterflies danced in the garden while we chatted and laughed at Merlin! I love you forever! Mom 7-6-12, 3:07pm	55 Working on putting sheets on bed and clothes away. These two are so funny!	56 Our flowers are starting to bloom now that the sun is out!
57 We love dragonflies thanks to Eddie Kamae.	58 These flowers match the dragonfly.	59	60 Mom and I found this old keg on a curb in Coronado and designed deck decorations around it. I still love it. We had glass cut for the top. And here I've put our Kailua sand and shells that Dave and I collected on beach walk dates. It looks like a dune. Love it. So many memories tucked away in those grains of sand.
61 Hi big biker boy! I love you!	62 While Daddy was at work on the beeeeg inspection, I decided to take the boys to the Monday night all-comers track meet. Little did I know how fired up they were to run races. ALL the races. We were there until dusk, which in the Pac NW is around 9pm.	63 Chariots of Fire! Sam running back from his 50m race.	64 Getting ready for the 100m.
65 Doing hurdles (behind the guy in the foreground - his buddy Ryan from school).	66 Ben waiting to run the 200m which he went on to get third in - little Camheawait!	67 There's Sam running the 200m!	68
69 Go Ben! He's doing the 400m!	70 And after all the races, including an 800m and relay, Sam and AJ still had energy to race each other! I had to drag them off the field. Unreal!	71 On a hike the next day with buddies - 11 kids, one of whom is a girl :)	72 We went to Manzanita Park which has a lot of horse jumps.
73	74 Chatting afterwards with the other moms. This is what boys do when moms chat. Look at Ben on top of the truck!	75 A tug-o-war broke out!	76 Of course we had to bring this stick home. Jenni remembers bringing LONG bamboo poles home from Hawaii. She rolled with that so well. We had to tie it down then find vines to serve as warning flags...
77 Buffy taking a snooze in Sam's lap.	78 And Gordon Junior!	79 He looks like a dinosaur!	80 So cute!
81 Sam has solved this thing every which way now - he has mastered it and wants one with more squares - 7x7 or something? I don't know!	82 Explaining one of the algorithms he used.	83 On a field trip with the gang to the Puget Sound Navy Museum. This is the sail of the USS Parche - a top-secret submarine that you can see is highly decorated.	84
85 Here's what those things mean.	86 This building was on the shipyard and had been moved 7 times before coming to its final spot here.	87 I found a typo in this screen about the reactor! # 8 - the deaerating feed tank was missing the second e!	88 Contraptions for pilots are pretty impressive!
89	90	91	92
93 Outside the museum.	94 Waiting here to meet up with Dave for lunch after his big inspection was over.	95 We are at a retirement ceremony for a gentleman in Dave's office. Good occasion to dress up and see dear friends - this is John and Christine - friends from Submarine NR-1 in CT - 10 years ago!	96 They are so much fun. It was so great to see Christine again!
97 Great idea, Christine...I wonder if Dave would play along and do this, too?	98 That's their daughter Mallory!	99 I love you, my Rooster :)	100 He's saying - "No crazy looks."
101 I love you!	102 Mom took this picture of the evening light falling on the coop. The chickens have a prime spot on the property.	103 An impromptu kanikapila (musical jam) with Sam's guitar teacher, Randy. We had so much fun!