looks like rye is applying his newfound dog approaching skills to garter snakes these days.

sometimes a watched pot does boil. but only sometimes.

ahoy there, mateys!

once we arrive at mimi & bop bop's, the kids waste no time getting into the pond.

and this is the part where mama leans her head over so it stops brushing the ceiling of the plane.

this is the part of our transcontinental journey where we board the literal smallest plane of ever.

ah jet blue and your individual seat back tv's we've missed you so.

riley and mo take their lawn sports very seriously.

everybody in.

it's important to have a little ice cream before entering the frigid waters of lake washington.

turns out the size of your yard is no indication of how much fun can be had therein.

despite jay and morgan's excellent human limbo stick abilities, kale is still not totally clear on the concept.

summertime hair trim.

dean and morgan wait patiently for a display of kale's 'archery' skills.

celebratory last-day-of-school trip to menches. hurray for summer.

a good ole' tug-of-war.

everybody loves...

perhaps more of a standing long jump competitor.

um, you think he should do hurdles too, right?

kale especially enjoyed the basketball portion of field day, and he'd like me to point out that it looks like he's 'floating' the ball with his hands in this picture.

field day extravaganza.

the kids really enjoy 'helping' a person open their birthday presents.

deciding which of uncle dean's puffy glitter stickers you want is serious business.

riley does a little focus-group style taste testing of logan and sarah's new gourmet snack treats (with flavors like mustard-taragon, and blueberry-black pepper). does anyone else remember when he wouldn't eat anything?

and then, to cap it all off, we got to come home to these two beauties and give them their souvenir tee shirts.

and even learning to surf, while uncles dean and calvin held it down at home. it was pretty amazing.

and eating delicious things like this...

and this...

maybe you noticed that there was no blog last week... well that's because katrina and i were in mexico doing things like this...

yup the water's pretty cold.

psyching themselves up for the frigid water of lake washington.

what about when your art teacher is also a family friend and she comes to potluck and you make a stickbomb.

sunday afternoon jogging time.

sunday morning reading time.

really feeling the handstands these days.

supersoaker free-for-all.

i think the real question here is who doesn't like a grey hoodie?

sometimes we go out for pizza and there is a video game table and then we can have all the grown-up conversation time we want.

this is the part of the move-a-thon where riley and owen (who had already finished their laps) ran with kale to encourage him.

here's the kindergarten doing the same thing. thank goodness for staggered start times.

the 3rd grade starting off on their 20 minutes of move-a-thon laps.