Padden Tri 2016

I was chugging up Old Fairhaven Parkway on my bike when the whole family drove by, practically hanging out the window yelling at me.

Evan yelled "Kelli!" 

haha it cracked me up. 

Then as I was climbing this dumb totally steep mean hill right at the end, mile 21, they drove by again. Avery had a sign she drew that said,

"MOM IS THE BEST"

I loved it, but I also couldn't breath. 

There is her sweet sign.

Look how pretty I am with 2.5 miles to go.

Say hello to my new favorite T. It's so cute and comfy. 

I thought I trained pretty good this year, but turns out I was 4 minutes slower overall than last year. Darn.

The swim was longer, I swear. It was all the way to the other side of the lake and back. 

Note to self: yes train in the water next year.

Here is my official time.

Summer So Far

Man, it's gonna be July before you can shake a stick at it. 

This was a "dads mountain bike while the rest of us hike" night. School wasn't quite out yet, but it felt like it should be.

Nothing to see here. 

One day, out at Semiahmoo, some friends brought some kayaks. Evan jumped on and started floating out to sea. 

"Use your oars, man!"

But no, I think he pretty much threw the oars overboard and started screaming.

See him floating under the docks?

Our friend Josie went and retrieved him. 

Traumatized? Yes.

Will he ever go on a boat again? No. It's too "janjerous".

The boys are into turning on the hose and playing with gutter water.

Wood working.

First berries of the season! Strawberries...I just can't even. 

They smell so so good and taste so so good.

We berry pick at least once a week usually. This week I'm gonna get some more raspberries. 

There was so much sea life this day. 

Purple sea stars, gooey ducks spitting water at the kids, giant crabs...

Jumping off the docks. My kids need to learn to swim. Come teach them. 

On the second day of soccer camp, Avery got camper of the day for having a positive attitude and trying hard and always smiling. 

I don't feel like writing more, so I will just go ahead and publish this boring post now before it's no longer June. 

Last Day of School

First day...

Last day.

You can tell he picks out his own clothes now.

Surprised his same shoes still fit.

First day...

Last day. Same outfit. 

She was so annoyed at me for taking pics of her.

nope

Next year they will begin and end on the same day.

Silver Star Mountain Resort

For Father's Day weekend, we went up to Canada with some friends. Mostly it was so the dads could go mountain biking, but the tour de BC and playing with our friends was so fun.

First stop was to Bridal Veil Falls. 

I feel like every state has a bridal veil falls. 

Second stop was to the Othello Tunnels. 

The trail was an old railroad track that followed the river. 

Rivers are the best. 

Third stop was to this amazing park in Kelowna.

I didn't do a very good job of documenting this park, but it was so great.

I love my friend Lisa. She is witty and smart as a whip and makes me want to be better at understanding what makes people tick, and embracing that. 

Fourth stop was to the mountain resort town and to our home for the next two nights. 

All the houses in the town are brightly colored like this. It was adorable.

You can imagine the kids completely losing their minds while exploring all the rooms. 

And then their room had two bunk beds and a TV. The TV was more than they ever dreamed could be a possibility. 

The next day the dads went mountain biking and they lost their minds at how amazing the trails were. The chair lifts take their bikes up the mountain, so it was all downhill, all day. 

Us women and children did a Gnome Roam where you hike around a pond and try to find a bunch of hidden gnomes. It was fun for them, but way too short. It only entertained them for an hour. 

(hint: look up in the tree)

Then it got cold, so we took the kids home to our doll house and fed them lunch. 

The dads came in and ate and I got super jealous of how much fun they were having. haha. 

"you wanna take some kids with you for the second half of the day?"

Then it started raining, so we couldn't really go out and hike. 

When cabin fever set in, we went outside and played in the rain.

Strangely, this is one of my favorite memories of the trip. 

The kids played in a little rain-creek and were just happy and exploratory. 

Then we realized the dads were going to be coming down the mountain any minute, so we anticipated them riding past us. 

I yelled so loud at them when they finally rode by. 

They didn't know we were up here yelling at them. 

This picture cracks me up. Of course Evan is high energy at all times, so Jim tried to get him to  just relax. 

Look at how much pain this is causing him. 

So...there is a high risk of friends not wanting to be friends anymore when they stay in the same house together, but we had so much fun and they are the easiest family to be around. We stayed up until the AM hours deep in conversation, and best of all is how much they like my kids.

Seriously, they LOVE Evan. And that means so much to me because sometimes I get exhausted apologizing for him - his volume and energy level - all the time. 

But Joe has some ADD of his own, so I think he "gets" that about Evan.

One night Joe asked Evan if he could meditate because he(Joe) can't.

I sat behind Evan, had him sit criss cross with palms up, and guided him through breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth...and he did it calmly for a minute! We were all kinda stunned at how serious he took it. 

Then we drove home and it was the prettiest drive ever. 

Probably my top 5 prettiest drives. 

Happy Father's Day Jim!