Small Grandparents Visit

G&G Small came up to visit this summer. We decided to go up to Leavenworth for the night. We had some good German food, visited the Stevens Pass ski area, and did a couple of quick hikes in the area.

Cama Beach Trip

A large group rented a bunch of cabins at Cama Beach State Park on Camano Island. Camano Island is on Saratoga Passage between Whidbey Island and the mainland. We brought our kayak and did some paddling, and otherwise hung out on the beach. There were lots of crafts and other activities to keep the kids busy.

Steve took Tug out in the kayak (not going too far from shore) and Tug decided that he apparently wasn't comfortable with Steve's driving. He jumped out of the boat and swam to shore. It was his first attempt at swimming but he did it like a pro. Tug is definitely a Newfie.

Tug's Favorite Spot on a Hot Summer Day

Fishing Trip

A friend invited me and Aaron to go out on his fishing boat which he had at Westport on the Washington coast. We caught our limit of eight healthy salmon in a couple of hours. The highlight was a 19 pound king salmon caught by Aaron. He reeled in the fish by himself, with just a little help from Dad hanging on to him to make sure he didn't get pulled off the boat. We ended up with enough salmon in the freezer to last a while.

The Boys turn 5 & 8!

We had a low-key birthday for the boys this year--we don't really have room in the house for that many more birthday presents. The Cozza grandparents came up for the weekend, and we did the usual trip to a local park for a photo op.

Lemonade Stand

Aaron and a couple of neighborhood kids set up a lemonade stand on the corner of our block. The weather was hot and they got a fair amount of traffic. They made a nice little profit, getting a good early lesson in free enterprise. Planned for next summer: a drive-through window.

Noah Graduates From Preschool

The New Puppy

Cub Scout Campout

We did a Cub Scout campout at a state park on the sound on Chuckanut Drive just south of Bellingham. We were fortunate enough to be there during an exceptionally low tide, and the boys were able to find lots of cool creatures. Everybody was pretty tired out by the end of the trip.

He's Out!

An Addition to the Family

Well, we did it. After much thought, we came home with a black and white Newfoundland puppy (that coloring is typically called the Landseer color variation). We decided to name him Tug, since it's likely that he's going to like the water, being a newfie, and, he may share certain characteristics with a tugboat when he gets a little bigger.

Trip to California

Sheryl & Doug were going to be in CA with the family so we managed to get in a trip for a quick family reunion. We hung out at the grandparents place for a bit and explored some of the sights around the Sacramento area.

Visit from a Long Lost Cousin

My cousin Jeanne, husband Jay, and kids were in Seattle for a quick trip, and were able to drop by for a morning. A&N got to meet J&K, their 1st cousins once removed. Hopefully it won't be quite as long until the next time.

Cub Scout Meeting

Aaron has been doing Cub Scouts for a while now. Here he's helping start the meeting; and, Dad is doing a guest session on bike safety.

RainMan Triathlon

Steve did the 1st annual (indoor) RainMan Triathlon in March. It was run of waves of eight people with start times going for several hours and consisted of a timed 500 yard swim, a timed 8 mile bike ride on a bike trainer, and a run around Greenlake. Steve had the fastest bike split of the day but with a mediocre run ended up 6th overall out of about 150 and 1st of 6 in age group.

Don't Mess With Aaron Today

Noah on a Cold February Day

Mid-Winter Break Trip to Silver Mountain

We went with a bunch of school families to Silver Mountain in Idaho after finding pretty good deals on lodging and lift tickets. It wasn't quite Jackson Hold or Sun Valley, but it wasn't Snoqualmie Pass either. We weren't sure about the way the mountain is set up--the village is in Kellog, and there's a three mile gondola ride (claimed to be the world's longest) to get up to the actual ski area base. It all seems to work pretty well however--just don't forget a critical piece of gear in your room! There's also a big indoor water park connected with the resort which the kids loved. The hill didn't have much new snow, but what they had was drier than anything we'd been on that year in the Cascades. Overall we had a great few days of skiing and will probably go back. Of course, they got feet of powder there the week after we left.

Golden Gardens in February

We went down to Golden Gardens which is on the Puget Sound. The boys have been watching Survivorman so they decided to build a quick emergency shelter. Looks like it should be OK as long it doesn't rain.

A Yellow Belt for Aaron

Aaron and Dad have been taking karate one day a week with a great program that's run through the Western Washington Shotokan Karate Club at the Boy's Club that is fairly close to our neighborhood. Aaron finally gets his yellow belt!