We had a marvelous eleven days in the sunshine, sand, and water with our family in July. There are so many photos to go through! Some of these are my favorites, and some are just chosen to show a variety of what we did this trip.

Highlights:

• JT and Haley spent most of the time on the beach sans life jackets. They are little fish!
• JT deep water started on his ski, and fell tubing! He came up laughing, “that was awesome.” Phew!
• JT and Haley both hiked the rock with no help, and jumped off the other rock as well.
• JT turned seven while we were there. The Mexican restaurant sang to him!
• Spending uninterrupted time with our family.

Little biker

Lunchtime smiles

This boy loves to tube.

Competent Observer.

This girl loves to tube… faster.

Ski mornings

Ski afternoons

First ever deep water start!

Cousins

Boat jump – cannon ball!

Stunt tubing

Evening bike rides

S’mores!

Love beach time with Dad

These two

Family hike to the top of Steamboat Rock

Grandpa Cole hiked the Rock too – just months after having both knees replaced!

Family photo at the top, of course

Rope swing!

All dressed up for “dinner in town”

Birthday boy at La Presa

Surprise sombrero!

Presents back at the campsite

Cousins

Ali and Aunt Becky, badminton teammates

Morning exercise with Uncle Jeff

This guy

Milkshakes!

These three haven’t missed a trip since 2009.

Rock jumping kids

Rock jumping ladies

First year I’ve ever been nervous from this one. I must be getting old!

Family Photo

Laughing in the boat

Criss cross applesauce

Last day tradition photo

Haley’s ballet recital was a long anticipated event. Earlier in the day, she received a bouquet delivery from Grandpa and Grandma Keene, who were still on a big trip. She actually gasped when she saw it, “It’s beautiful…” she said softly. Very sweet.

Then we had family over for a taco bar dinner before heading upstairs for hair and makeup, and then Haley and I drove over to the theater. Here she is with a friend, in her gosling costume (her friend is on JT’s baseball team, and is a bluebird).

I volunteered to be backstage mom for Haley’s class. This means I spent three hours in a hallway with six four-year-olds. It wasn’t necessarily fun, but I absolutely wouldn’t give up the chance to be there with my daughter. (These situations always makes me so thankful for all the support my parents put in!)

Haley’s three-minute performance went very well, and the goslings were adorable. I was able to watch from the wings with my backstage pass. 🙂

After the performance, we still had another hour and a half to wait until the call back at the end. I brought a movie and snacks, and that helped pass the time.

Afterward, Haley was the most flowered girl I saw. Four bouquets later, her arms were full!

She said her favorite bouquet was the two dozen from her daddy. Sweet!

We started Father’s Day weekend with our last swim lesson for the kids. They had so much fun in the deep end of the pool testing out these awesome pool-issued life jackets.

Then we set up our own pool because it’s been unusually warm. Fun stuff. The kids played while Jim finished his CFI license renewal and I caught up on house work after working four days last week.

Sunday, Jim completed the Lake Meridian triathalon! The kids wanted to get up early and be there to cheer him on, so I woke them up at 6:30. We were out the door by 6:48 and at the race by 7:10. We were thrilled to watch for Jim coming out the water and were able to cheer him on at every transition!

Breakfast at the park during Jim’s bike ride

 

At the end of the race, this guy behind Jim started sprinting. Jim said (out loud), “Oh no, you didn’t!” and the race was on. Jim won. 🙂

Post race photo opp by the lake!

 Then we had a nice lunch on our deck and Jim got his gifts. Check out that tie!

From there we went to kickball. Jim got hurt during the first play of the game – sad – and had to sit out while our team won the semi finals, and lost in the championship game. I was busy keeping an eye on seven children. Good thing they are all perfectly well behaved! 🙂

Afterward, we headed to Port Orchard for a Father’s Day barbecue with my parents and brother’s family. Monday morning, we left the kids in Port Orchard doing crossword puzzles so Jim could go to work and I could fly to Great Falls, Montana.

I was asked to be the keynote at the annual MIET conference. That’s a first for me!

On Wednesday, I picked up the children and headed to get groceries. On the way out of Fred Meyer, Haley asked if we could please go get some new books at the library (I had told her a MONTH ago that we wouldn’t check out any more at the time because of all our traveling, not wanting to miss a due date). YES.

JT is wrapping up all sorts of things in these past few days. Baseball is over, and we had a great end of the year game and celebration. Here’s a nice photo of him with Coach AJ.

Then we had his field trip to the Seattle Children’s Museum, which was so much fun. I was so grateful that I was able to chaperone the trip!

We spent a little time skiing, and had fun getting our nieces out on the water with us!

This week I also had a chance to do some Windows 10 tutorial videos for Microsoft in Education. Fun times in the studio. 🙂

Finally, JT’s last day of school was today. He had a great time at move-up day! He knows a few kids in his class next year, and he was assigned to a looping class for 1st/2nd grade. We’re very excited for him. Here he is with his best K friend and walking home buddy, William.

We’ve been waiting a whole year for our trip to North Carolina to see our niece, Madi, graduate from high school. This year was an extra special trip because we got to be there for our niece Ali’s baptism. Before we left, we had Jim’s birthday dinner at home: waffles, sausage, and fruit. We had his favorite ice cream Oreo mud pie for dessert!

Early Wednesday morning, we headed for the airplane. The kids know how to tow their own loads. 🙂

We traveled with Grandma and Grandpa Cole, and Preston too – but the North Carolina family didn’t know he was coming! Here we are on the tunnel boarding our five hour plane ride.

Upon landing in Atlanta, we had another three hour drive to Robbinsville, North Carolina, so we powered up a favorite southern restaurant. No crazy lines like there are in Washington right now!

Thursday morning we had a few hours to relax by the pool before starting to pack the moving truck. My brother, sister-in-law, and nieces are moving to Washington. We are so excited!

In the Penske!

Starting to load

 

Swim break!

 

We all slept on mattresses on the floor because the beds were packed. JT and Haley did a great job sharing this twin, toe to head every night.

Couches are packed, so we’re sitting on dining room chairs to catch up on tennis.

We got so much done on Thursday that my brother said there was time to go out on Lake Santeetlah on Friday afternoon. Hooray! 🙂

Making breakfast with the few remaining dishes!

View of the lake

Having fun!

Preston worked for a construction company that built or remodeled many houses on the lake, so he gave us a tour.

Back at the house, we got ready for Madi’s graduation Friday night… first by spending a little time in the pool and sunshine. Jim got reallllly pink!

Madi is the 1A high school women’s state champion in pole vaulting this year. She’ll be pole vaulting for The Master’s College in California next year! Here we are excited to see her photo in the champions cabinet at her school.

On Saturday, we went out to a family friends’ farm and saw Ali get baptized in the river. It was a really emotional moment since they are moving and her two older siblings were baptized here as well.

We finished up the majority of the packing and woke up Sunday morning to do the last chores… including a McDonald’s breakfast on the deck followed by three hours of “last minute.” It’s amazing how much there is to do! I’ve forgotten how many little things there are to do with a move. I’m happy to be settled for years to come.

Packed up and ready to ride

We drove back to Atlanta and stopped to play at a park on the way. It ended up being a ball field. We had fun watching a ladies’ fastpitch team practice, and getting some wiggles out.

It was a long plane ride home, especially since we were all so tired. I have to say that my two children are amazing travelers. They put up with long car rides, plane rides, and lots of waiting without complaint or grumpy attitudes. It makes going on trips together that much better!

JT had no problem staying awake, and even lost his first tooth (although it had been very wiggly for two weeks) on the plane!

We had such a wonderful trip full of great memories and family time. Now we’re waiting to unpack the big truck when they arrive in the next few days!

It may seem a little silly for Haley to “graduate preschool,” especially since she’ll be attending there again next year for junior kindergarten. But all of the fours classes have an ending celebration, so we’re stuck with it. 🙂

We started with Haley’s end of the year picnic. Well really, we started with Haley reading Bob Books. And then we went to the picnic.

Holding a bunny… oh so soft!

Haley got the “bookworm” award for being so interested in books at school. Hooray!

The next day was graduation. Haley did a great job singing with her class!

Last week, JT and I met our friends to see the Seattle Children’s Theater production of Robin Hood. It was amazing, as usual for SCT, and I wasn’t prepared for how funny it would be! I already purchased our tickets for next season’s shows: Elephant & Piggie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Where the Wild Things Are.

Saturday was JT’s big jamboree. It is the mid-season Saturday full of games, a parade, and fun. Last year the weather was gorgeous and warm, but Jim had to work… this year he was home but the weather was cold and windy.

Today at school, JT got to celebrate his summer birthday. I was volunteering in his class today, so I got to take photos and watch the kids sing/sign Happy Birthday to him. It was fun to be a part of it!

We are officially done with Awana for the year! JT got his first book award and his frequent flyer pin, since he completed the book review and his bonus handbook. Haley got her Appleseed award.

I had such fun joining Haley in her class for her Mother’s Day tea on Friday. Saturday was a long working day for me, and then we had Russell’s first birthday party! It was very nice to be able to rest and enjoy being home with my family on Sunday. Jim got up early and made his signature french toast. Yum.

JT and Haley gave me gifts from school and that they made with Grandma Cole.

JT also read to me from his read-at-home book, which I love.

We went to late service at church because we’d gotten home late the night before, and so we had leisurely time and could stop to take a nice photo on the way out the door.

Then we went straight to kickball and watched our team demolish the opponent. Always nice. 🙂

Haley saw her friend from school at the game!

 Afterward, we hung out around the house, caught up on chores, and I even got a short nap.

Jim made an amazing dinner of ribs, corn on the cob, salad, and cherries that we all loved. I forget that he can cook. 😉

After dinner, we enjoyed the beautiful outdoors by heading to a local trail on a bike ride with friends. It was really fun, although short, but both kids did great and Haley really impressed us with her good attitude and effort getting up some tough hills.

This past week was the busiest week of the year for me, bar none. I participated as Microsoft Fellow in the Global Educator Exchange (E2) in Redmond all week. I also presented for the National School Boards Association technology site visitation to Kent School District. Then I coordinated all of the 149 teachers and 760 students participating in the annual Kent Technology Expo, which I do every year. Somehow all of these events were happening at the same time, and I knew it was going to be crazy.

Tuesday, I took two exams at a testing center (and passed): Microsoft Office Specialist: OneNote and Microsoft Certified Educator. Then I checked in at my hotel and went over to the welcome reception, where I got to spend some time with Angela Maiers! She is an inspiration and a fabulous educator, speaker, and encourager. 

Wednesday, I spent all day at E2 on the Microsoft campus. I got to meet with product teams for Office Mix, Sway, and OneNote, which was really fun. At the end of the day, I caught a Microsoft shuttle over to a dinner hosted by the Surface team for the NSBA visitors to Kent.

After the dinner, I got a really handsome shuttle driver to pick me up and take me to another event I had going on. 😉 Jim got off work and swung by to drop me off for the US Microsoft Innovative Educator regional dinner, since I was double booked that night.

On Thursday, I drove back to Kent School District and presented four sessions for the NSBA visitors on professional development and our One-to-One. Our rooms were packed to the brim!

That afternoon, I headed down the hill to the ShoWare Center for the Tech Expo. This is the first year since 2008 I haven’t been doing set up all day, and that felt strange. I got there just in time to see the Microsoft Student Ambassadors arrive, train the KSD leadership students on delivering the exit survey, and then circulating around that evening as 8,737 community members and guests listening to the amazing work our students are doing every day. Phew!

On Friday, I spent the morning judging presentations for the E2 learning challenge.

Then all of the E2 attendees were honored to have a guest speaker: Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO.

Afterward, I was part of a small group of attendees, who are part of the Surface Experts group, who got to go tour the Surface R&D facility on campus. It was fascinating and we were told not to take pictures… top secret. 😉

Friday evening, the gala dinner and awards banquet was at EMP in Seattle. I was so proud of the Kent School District student ambassadors who were award winners!

At EMP, a group of us “performed” a song in a “recording studio.” We called ourselves the OneNote Wonders. It’s soooo nerdy that it’s awesome.

I headed home Friday night about 11 PM. I stopped at McDonald’s for my annual post-Expo treat, one day late.

On Saturday, I came home from grocery shopping and swim lessons and slept for an hour and a half on the couch while Jim put away groceries and kept the kids outside. I just couldn’t function. That little nap helped me make it through the rest of the day, even to a date night to see Avengers in 3D!

We had such a nice time playing in the sunshine and eating lunch with friends at the park last week. Haley finally conquered getting all the way across the monkey bars, and stepping off! She was very excited.

She also showed off her incredible upper arm strength as she dangled one-handed from the fireman pole, and then slid down that way.

We made a trip to North Bend on Saturday to get some spring clothes for the kids, and so we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls on the way home for lunch and enjoying God’s creation. It was packed, but we got blessed with an amazing parking spot and had a nice time walking around. I’m also enjoying the picture quality of my new phone!

After that, we stopped at the library for the book sale. The kids didn’t have much to look at because the children’s section was really picked over, so I noticed they started organizing what was left by book type. Way to stay busy!

JT has a read-at-home program from school, in which he brings home little books to read to us. I’ve been meaning to record him reading simply for posterity. It’s so sweet to hear and watch a child reading. I finally remembered one day, and here you go.The literacy degree in me wants to come out, but I’ll bury that commentary and just let you enjoy it. 🙂