Livin' in the Apple Capital

This is what my kitchen floor looked like after 2 days of canning apples.

 My parents and sister Chelsea came over for a weekend and we worked our butts off! Friday we started with apple pie filling. I love the way fruit looks in the jar!

 Thank goodness for the peeler, corer, slicer, my investment this canning season. Definitely would not do pie filling without it! And the kids love to eat the peel when it comes off in one long piece.

 Turning the crank is lots of fun and everyone wanted to get into the game!

 Don't know who took this picture, but it turned out well.

 Friday evening was cider time, love having friends with a neat old press. There is nothing better than fresh pressed cider.

 Saturday morning was time to start saucing. Early on enthusiasm was high and all the kids wanted to help. Their enthusiasm wore as the day went on, but they were good helpers to the end.

 This was obviously later in the day when the fresh dirt outside beckoned and all the kids answered. Smash those apples Chels!

 Mom had the cooking station, we had 3 pots of apples going and 2 grinders as well.

 Julie had the cutting station in between taking care of baby. Don't mess with the woman wielding the knife.

 And this is what we have to show for it.....140 quarts of applesauce, 51 quarts of apple pie filling and 22 gallons of cider,(the cider is in the freezer and not pictured)

I don't know if my family will come back to visit, we just work when they come...good thing we have fun working and the kids love playing with their cousins.

Bad picture I know...but we also celebrated my Dad's birthday....I'm pretty sure we burned off the  calories in that cake during the day.

Playing Catch Up

Oh this poor neglected blog of mine...so far down on the to-do list but not completely forgotten. Yes school started about 6 weeks ago and I'm just now getting pictures up, but it's my blog not yours, if anyone is still reading.

 Here they are on the morning of the first day...Marin headed to 3rd grade and Greyson to 1st grade, in their new clothes long pants and sleeves even though it was 80 when they came home...but really can you blame them for not being able to resist new clothes?

 Here she is my sweet little Addy all ready to go on her first day of preschool. She was and is so excited to get to go to school like the big kids!

 Right after school started we celebrated a milestone....Addy turned 5! She was so excited to have her birthday and have a candle in her pancake that morning. Birthdays are so fun when the kids are old enough to know what's going on and look forward to it!

The weekend of her birthday we had my sister Chelsea and her family over from Vancouver. We also made 60 pints of salsa the day of her birthday.

Addy at 5: 

right at the 50th percentile for her height and weight, she looks like a peanut though

looks up to her older sister and wants to be like her

loves to write and draw and will entertain herself for a long time this way

loves to play Littlest Pet Shop

we call her the chicken whisperer, she loves to take care of our chickens and can round them up and catch them faster than anyone else. She will pick them up and carry them around and loves them like pets.

Is our narrator, nothing happens that she doesn't tell me about, replay word for word

Loves to be read to and snuggle

Right now most of her friends are little boys, there aren't very many little girls her age but she just goes with the flow and play rough and tumble with them

She is my ragamuffin, no matter what we do in the morning she is disheveled and messy by the end of the day

She lives life to the fullest

We love you Addy!

Summer Adventure part 2 - Lake Cushman

The last part of the week of our summer adventure was spent with my side of the family, my parents, sisters, spouses and kids all converged at Lake Cushman for a weekend of camping together.

Addy snuggling with Grandpa

Some guys were crazy enough to jump off this rock into the water.

Yum! Ice cream in a bag!

Cute baby smiles from the youngest of the bunch.

This year we bought headlamps for the kids, they sure are handy and the kids loved wearing them!

The kids got to know Uncle Will better

Here's the whole crew!

Summer Vacation...a week on the Olympic Peninsula

The third week of August we headed out for our grand adventure of the summer.(Warning: lots and lots of pictures to follow) We headed north to the Olympic Peninsula.  We thought the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston would be fun for the kids. However summer is especially busy and we ended up waiting in line for 2 hours before boarding. Bennett shows his mad face at having to wait so long.

The kids wanted to see the front of the ferry, but once they experienced how windy it was they liked the view from the side better.

Our first stop was Sequim/Port Angeles to visit Zach's mom, Oma as the kids call her. On Sunday we drove up from Port Angeles to Hurricane Ridge, part of the Olympic National Park system. Bonus for us it was a fee free weekend...we love free!  The weather cooperated fantastically and the views were gorgeous. Here are the kids with the Olympic Range in the background.

 Marin found her car in the parking lot....it has her name on it and everything!

 We took a little trail around the other side of the ridge and saw where there used to be a ski hill.

Our goofy kids hamming it up.

Our next day trip was to Port Townsend and Fort Worden State Park on the NW edge of the peninsula. The weather once again cooperated and we enjoyed a gorgeous day playing in the sand. The kids dared go in the water, but only quick trips, as the Pacific Ocean is frigid this far north.

Marin lost her head on this trip, or maybe she's just helping Greyson out.

One of the kids favorite parts of this day was the marine science center on the pier. Inside were several "touch tanks" filled with sea stars, anenomes, and other touchable sea creatures. They were squeamish at first, but soon overcame that and loved watching the creatures.

The next day we headed to Salt Creek County Park to see some tide pools in nature, the weather was beautiful but the tide was coming in. We still had great fun climbing on the rocks and poking the little creatures.

After a bit of a drive around the top of the peninsula the kids were anxious to get out of the car. Our next stop was the tip of Lake Crescent to a short little hike to Marymere Falls. At 1.5 miles round trip it was perfect for 4 sets of little legs. Looks like we are raising some cute tree huggers here!

Weekend at the Grandparents

The last weekend in July we headed down to the 'couve to visit the grandparents and build a fence. All work and no play makes for a dull weekend, so we took the first day and headed for the beautiful Oregon Coast.

Some playing in the sand ensued and Greyson trying to pull his head out.

The wind was out in full force, thus allowing for some great kite flying.

 

It was also great weather for toddler flying.

 

Ahh the Oregon Coast with 3 of my favorite guys.

After the beach we headed for the Tillamook Cheese Factory, it doesn't get much better than eating ice cream while watching cheese be made.

The next day while the guys got to work building the fence the kids and I headed out to a local blueberry field. Ahhh heaven surrounded by yummy blueberries as much as we could pick and eat!

What a haul! This crew picked 33 pounds in an hour.