Time with Family

This was the moment we'd all been waiting for! Together again... We took two vehicles and picked up the Brown's and Wieweck's at SeaTac Airport on Saturday morning. The lucky ones got to ride with me and get a second tour of the airport since I missed the turn and had to drive the loop again (Ha! Bet they wish they'd chosen the other driver). There was a limo in front of them at the curb and as we drove up, it drove away. I told them that I'd hired it to pick them up, but he wanted more money and so wouldn't stick around.

The weather on Saturday couldn't have been nicer. The kids had a great time playing outdoors.

Whitni swingin'

Brynne & Maddie
Maddie & Whitni - they were great pals!
Grandpa Hansen had to get out the little train he made when our kids were smaller.

Torey seemed happy to be the little caboose.

All the kids loved it! Well, except Whitni - she wasn't sure about climbing on.

Just hanging out and catching up.

Whitni sharing her M&M's with Mommy...
and Grandpa Wieweck.
Kids working in Grandpa Hansen's shop.

Sunday morning -
And I thought taking pictures of 3 kids was difficult!
The Brown Family
We told Jordan he was one of the cousins/kids and therefore a part of the picture.

He was happy to oblige. Aren't they a ca-yute bunch?!? You too, Jordan!

A huge SHOUT out to Jerry & Sue for hosting us and letting us use the Hansen Hotel for a night as well as Mom & Dad Hansen.

Thank you!!

Aunt Marge making sure she has her paperwork, etc together for their cruise.

Getting some last-minute quality time together before departure.

Silly Morgan!

We made it to the Seattle waterfront all in one piece and with all the luggage (we hope).
The baggage handler (?) was great with the kids and let them help put tags on.

We sure wish we were going to Alaska with you!

Love this picture of Momma and her chicks!

Bye everyone!!! Wait a minute - Aunt Marge, Mark & Uncle Lee -- aren't you supposed to be going, too?? You mean you're gonna let Laurie take the kids all by herself? Don't worry, we made sure everybody went! We hope everyone has great fun! Send a postcard...or call (ulp! at $5 a minute - I don't think so). We were so glad to have them for a quick weekend. Can't wait till they get back so we can hear all about their trip to Alaska!

Memorial Day

Thank you to all the men & women who have served and are serving our country...


We're just doing yard work and planting more in the garden today. This picture is of our front picket fence facing the road. The planter Keith made for me a couple of Christmas' ago when we were living in AZ and he was in WA. We'll post pictures later of our weekend with family. Hugs!

Family's Coming!

We're looking forward to my aunt, uncle, cousin and her husband and 4 kiddos coming to town tomorrow morning from AZ! Will take LOTS of pics and catch up with you Sunday or Monday. And we don't envy them because they have to leave their house probably around 4 AM or so - imagine that with 4 kids. Yuck! But they'll have lots of time to rest before having to catch their cruise Sunday afternoon in Seattle. Can't wait to see them!!! Part of the excitement comes from this being the first time in about 7 years that we've had any of MY family here besides my parents. And the fact that all of our kids have a great time together. It's been over a year since we've last seen them. Too long, in our opinion! Wish we could talk them into moving here - wouldn't that be fun???

Birthday Weekend

Sorry it's taken so long to do another post. Hard to get in the mood sometimes.

My favoritist bro' and I celebrated our birthday last Saturday. And no, I wasn't in Alabama to take this picture (unfortunately), so thank you to Erika for taking pics and sending them!! Hope it was a great one, Donald! Oh, and happy birthday to our little cousin Janina over in PA! She was born on our 6th birthday. Oh yes, can't forget niece Molly Jo in AZ who also shares our birthday! Happy, happy one to her, too!! Wow - May 17th is a very special day, isn't it?

We had a great time camping at Millersylvania State Park. Wow was it HOT here last weekend! It has since cooled off. We don't make a habit of cooking our children on campfires - ha - couldn't resist taking this picture. (No children were harmed in the making of this photo, I promise.) Jaeden and Brooklyn as well as neighboring children had fun using this stump as part of their playground. King of the stump!
Jordan and Jenny - waiting for s'mores???
Saturday morning hike - had to work off those breakfast burritos.

Can you see the beaver dam?

Nothing like a hike in the beautiful woods. So much to see...
Wow, I thought trees like this were only in the Redwood Forest.


My in-laws, Fern and David, surprised us. They showed up at dinnertime bearing birthday cake. Or rather, birthday torte! It was absolutely deelish! Graham cracker crust, rhubarb, whipped cream and marshmallows, and vanilla pudding. It was the perfect combination of sweet and tart. What a great birthday surprise! Especially since we neglected to bring a birthday cake. Thank you.
Jordan spent a good amount of time driving his newly acquired remote control rock crawler. Lots of tree stumps and whatnot to drive over.
Team effort by Jordan and Jenny to disassemble the little tent.

Happy campers

The lake. We rented a couple of paddle boats. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that little adventure.

We're already looking forward to our next camping trip!

Newest Member

Meet the newest member of our family...

Miss Maddie

She's an 11 month old Beagle. She is a rescue dog. A friend of ours, Diane, got her a month ago after she had been found dumped in an alley inside a pet carrier. Maddie had been abused and had broken ribs. Diane worked with Maddie and doctored her till she could find a new home for her. Diane thought we were the perfect family for her. We weren't sure we were ready for a new family member, but when we saw Maddie, we couldn't say no! She's the sweetest little dog a person could hope for. VERY well behaved and even potty trained. She minds better than our other three kids! Maddie soaks up all the lovin' that we can give her. We're happy to have her!!

This-n-That

All you lurkers out there (you know who you are) make me want to post a little more frequently when I notice on the visitor map that you've actually been here. However, our lives are rather mundane right now. We won't mention that last week wasn't so with Keith wrecking his truck (for another post). And because of us leading rather ordinary lives, we'd prefer not to bore you with pictures of lawn mowing, dish washing, house cleaning, going to school/work, etc. The following pictures might make you wish we had though. ; )

Yesterday, it was a balmy 70+ degrees and today it's a chilly 50. Heard on the news this morning that we're to expect light rain, drizzle, and sprinkles today. Ummmm....yeah. Isn't that all pretty much the same? Nope, not according to the forecasters. Drizzle=mist and sprinkles=raindrops.

A more appropriate title to this post would probably be Summer Revisited. Some of these pics are not new to a few of you. Anyway, with having cold weather but knowing summer break is just around the corner, we've enjoyed warming up with some of the pictures from last summer.

Without further ado, here is what we're looking forward to:

4th of July & fireworks

visiting lighthouses and beaches summer fruits snow cones at the zoo
gardening
long hikes
county fairs
building sand castles
camping and picnics
flea markets
Keith is working again this Saturday. Mother's Day weekend is a busy time for the nursery and his boss welcomes Keith's extra help. I'm just glad he has Sunday off, unlike years past. So we're hoping to take off the following weekend and get in some camping. Yay for the coming of some warmer days!