After heading to the beach the day school got out and going to Richland for swimming lessons and straight onto Trek, I threw a birthday party/welcome back party for the Haddocks. We had about 25 people over.
Happy Birthday!Whoever said the Washington Coast is not as beautiful as the Oregon Coast??? We took our first trip to Long Beach, WA with the Wellers the day school got out.
It was beautiful and sunny with lots of things to do and see.
Go Karts....a kid favorite. As well as pony rides.
We stayed in the home of Monte L. Bean of the Life Sciences Museam at BYU. Wow, Dave, cool relatives.
Launching water balloons over the vast sandy beach. Dave also took us 4X4ing on the beach. 
Our gracious hosts...Dave and Lori.
We even got to go on a little date...a couple beachside bike ride. Dave's mom stayed home to hold the fort down.
We hiked to a lighthouse. And went to a Columbia River Museam and a cranberry museam.
We ran up and down the longest boardwalk in the US. But of all the fun things we did...the kids' favorite was probably walking to the market across the street for treats!The elemenary school carnival is always a main event of June.
Bradley, never afraid to be bold and walk on the wild side.
Paige and her very favorite babysitter, Rachael.
Happy as a clam with TWO painted cheeks.
Cuties. And then, the pinacle of 6th grade comes with.....THE DUNK TANK. Apparently the new PTSA did not realize this until after the announcement about the carnival went out over the loud speaker that morning. Tyson, not hearing a dunk tank mentioned quickly let her know how important it was. The poor woman said she spent half the day trying to arrange one and pulled of the biggest and best one they had ever had. The drama didn't end there. No one could fill it up because there was a leak in the hose, so they called the fire department across the street and a fire engine finally came and filled it. Tyson was of course first to volunteer. He said it was actually a little scary he were so high up there and now knowing when he was about it fall.
But of course loving every minute of it. With all the waiting to get it started there was a huge crowd by the time he got up there. It was great watching the excitement of all the kids. He had so much fun he did it again an hour later and Rick got the throw the ball and knock him in.
All on a cool June evening!Tyson wasn't having a big celebration for his birthday this year since he went back East with Rick. We'd had a busy week, but he decided he wanted to spend the afternoon with a few guys from the neighborhood. So word spread quickly and soon we had lots of boys to hang out. We had snacks and cake and they hot tubbed, jumped on the trampoline, and played wall ball and basketball. It was a great impromtu party and the guys even came up with a few gifts we weren't expecting. They went to a neighborhood garage sale and got him some gag gifts and then pooled some cash and candy for him.
We had Andy, Christian, Logan, Eric, Trey, Zac. Plus Bradley, Kate and Paige.
He got a frisbee, yo-yo, Phillies shirts, hat, and shorts. New tennis shoes, shorts, a mess kit...etc
We ended the night by taking the boys out to Applebee's for half price appetizers.
Happy Birthday Tyson. Current interests...sports, baseball, Phillies, friends, wii, scouting activities, and Young Men's activites like ultimate frisbee.This year's annual mini marathon fell on Tyson's birthday. We ran, we placed, everyone sang to Tyson and we lost Grandpa and Paige.
Tyson got first for his age group, Bradley got second, and Kate, yes Kate got 4th for the Kindergarten and under.
The plan was to have Grandpa watch Kate and Paige so I could finally run myself, without pushing the jogger this year. That was until Kate INSISTED on running. I tried and tried to talk her out of it. 2.6 miles seemed a little far for a preschooler, but she won and we ran...and she cried and I made her keep running, and she learned a few lessons about not listening to her mothers advice! And at one poin,t as I was trying not to get totally frustrated, I was encouraging her on she said "Mom, you sound like a coach and you're embarrassing me!" (No one was around and I have no idea how she know what coaches saw, but it did make me laugh and help me to endure the last mile of torture).
But we made it, and I was proud of her. But where was Grandpa, Paige and the camera? About 15 minutes later we found out when they came jogging in!
Rick beat his time of last year and made it into the top 4 adult finishers (one of the adults that beat him finished in the state high school track tournament this year).Apparently I didn't take very many pictures, but it was a big week for us. Brian and Jessica came into town. Rick was ordained a High Priest and was put into the bishopric and then the following week, Tyson was ordained a deacon. You sure are growing up.
And Paige fell in love with baby Josh, her newest cousin. Even two months later she is still carring blankets around the house and pretending she is holding and taking care of him.The kids did a great job of pitching in and helping cook an amazing Fathers Day meal for their Dad on one of his first long Sundays of being in the Bishopric. Banana Cream Pie...one of the whole familes' favorites.
Now we just need to work on our Sunday attire!
Rick and Tyson treated themselves to seeing a second Phillies game of the season since they happened to come into town to play the Mariners. They had fun watching batting practice and seeing all the players close up.
The girls get mighty used to the baseball fields since they spend up to four nights a week at them all Spring long. This night was not such a great one for Paige...
She never cried, and it didn't bleed much, but it was a full thickness cut. I was worried it needed stitches so I dropped into a friend's house, who happens to be an ER nurse. She kindly helped us steri-strip it and all was well. The only bribing Paige needed to sit still was to pet their dog when she was done, worked like a charm.
Another tragic moment for Paige was when she fell down and embankment and was stranded, hanging on for dear life for an unknown period of time (sounds more tragic than it looks in real life. You would laugh if you saw it, but to her, scary. It really wasn't far or steep, she just didn't know that) poor girl.
On a happier note, the girls found a pet snail during one game that became quite popular with all the girls.
Paige even reluctantly held it.
Baseball friends.Bradley had another fun season of 3rd/4th grade Kent Parks baseball. He started off the season by pitching the opening of the first game, to our surprise! 
He had some great hits and plays (mostly in the outfield since he was one of the younger kids).
I still think his favorite part is the snack at the end of the game...I taught nutrition again, Minute to Win It style, at the elementary school for their Relay for Life event. It went over really well again this year. It was a lot of fun having the kids compete in games, being cheered on by the audience of about 125 kids, and then teach them nutrition concepts between each game. Each of the four 30 minute segments flew by.
The previous coordinator for the event has since had all of her children leave the school and I have agreed to help organize the event next year....guess we'll see what that entails later.Kate's last preschool fieldtrip was to the Point Defiance Zoo. I took Paige and went along. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun with all of Kate's friends.
Paige is the perfect age to take to the zoo, she just loves it.
Kate's two good school friends, Allison and Leah.
I loved watching Rick coach the boys. And Tyson, knowing the game really well, was always coach junior.
