VBS Cathletics

 Another year of Vacation Bible School!

Bunny was once again on the music squad, and she loved it.  She is a natural at both music and leadership, so it is a really good fit for her.  And, she is with her friends!

Gemma did Kindergarten again (technically, last year she wasn't old enough, but we put her in Kindergarten anyway and nobody noticed…shhh!).

James and Mariposa were in regular multi-age groups.  This is James' last year and then he'll probably advance to music like Bunny.

music crew

Gemma was a blur the whole week.

Mariposa (in pink jacket) and her group.

morning assembly

learning the dance moves

First day of VBS is also…tie dye day!

Foodie Friday--pie and pesto

For our anniversary on July 11th (17 years!) we decided that we would not go out to dinner as a couple, but instead celebrate with the kids.  I noticed it had been over a month since our last Reconciliation trip, so we made it a P&P (Penance and P____ ) night.  Blueberry PIE for the second P:

 I had to trim my basil so Bunny and I made some Pesto as well:

We added the pesto to some alfredo pasta--yum!

ready for the freezer

the pie--out of the oven

After our trip to church for Penance we stopped by Burgerville for dinner.  They have their seasonal Walla Walla onion rings!!!

 Then back at home for our pie:

It was a wonderful anniversary!!

my crazy family

(17 years of marriage)

And baby makes 8!
(She'll have to wait until next year to get a
pic by a Hole sign….)

Father's Day dinner

After coming home from Bullwinkles…and some naps for kids…we had a nice dinner for Marcus to celebrate Father's Day:

I got a kick out of this picture by Gemma (look at my
expression at having my husband taken away from me).

James' card was very elaborate.

Happy Father's Day to the best dad my kids could have!!!!

Father's Day Activities

Father's Day is always a fun time for ALL of us!  This year we went to Saturday evening Mass so that we could have all day Sunday for festivities.

Early in the morning we left for Hillsboro for a visit to Elmer's for breakfast.  This is a special treat for the WHOLE family to go, since sit-down restaurants are a ~little~ hard for us right now.  And Elmer's is very crowded on Sunday mornings, so we were really taking a gamble.  It paid off!  We got seated almost immediately, at an awesome corner-booth, and we ordered right away.  The food came SO fast and we all devoured everything before any antics could begin.  It worked out really well!

First Stop: Elmer's

 Next we hit the road for Wilsonville--Bullwinkle's Family Fun Center.

Bullwinkle's has putt-putt (or "pot pot" as Gemma says…we don't want to correct her because it's so cute!), arcade games, bumper boats, zip lines, race cars, etc.  This visit was pretty simple: just golf and boats.

beautiful sunny day

This year Sedric did NOT run off (too much)
and he really enjoyed the game. 

Pretty much every hole looked like this (chaos).

Next was bumper-boat time!

We had to take turns since Gemma and Sedric had to go with
Marcus…and he couldn't take both at the same time.

Celeste had a BLAST trying to squirt
the boaters!!

Sedric was SOOOO excited when his turn finally came up.  He had the TIME of his LIFE on the bumper-boat with his dad!!!!  He could hardly contain himself!!!  It brought so much joy to my heart to watch:

 Before going home we got our annual family photo.  I really should've done this BEFORE they got totally soaked:

High-Fives all around

Can you see where James was sitting??  ;o)