July/August Projects, Google picnic, various outings, redecorating the kids room, camping | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| We did a cool project from Family Fun magazine - cut the bottom off a water bottle, rubber-band some terry-cloth fabric to it, wet it, and dip in dishwashing liquid. Then you can blow into it, and make these long soap snakes... | The Google picnic - tons of activities, lots of fun for the kids, out in North Bend. It never did get very crowded. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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      Making a green apple frog, with grape toes. |   Playing with the water tray on the deck | We went to a Shakespeare play at Luther Burbank park on Mercer Island. The kids were pretty good (we took lots of snacks - I think that was the key!) |   Preparing to paint in the kids room - unfortunately it covered up the beautiful murals that Ann painted for the kids. | This is the modified bicycle that Google Maps is using to get pictures of areas such as parks, where you can't take a car. |   Ballons were a big hit in our household - Kenny can blow them up by himself | Kenny and I did a hike from our front stoop, down the roads and paths through our neighborhod, down to Coal Creek Parkway, and up another trail from there, where Eric and Peter met us. We got the idea from the Weist family. Now whenever we drive by a certain dip on Coal Creek Parkway, we remember crossing it on our hike. |   Kenny spotted this deer | The Tan's house |   Interestingly trimmed shrubs | The beginning of the trail |   A tunnel under Forest Drive | We found a great huckleberry bush |   The creek that we followed | After crossing Coal Creek Parkway, there were lots of old-looking bridges |   Snacktime |   Sleeping on the deck | The big bag of Duplo legos that I got from a garage sale have proven to be a big hit |   Bike trip along the Lake Sammamish Trail | Somebody brought an umbrella Cockatoo to the park where we had lunch |   At the Volunteer Park water tower | We rented an electric boat on Lake Union. |   Puttering past the Google office | Lots of houseboats. Someday I'd like to live on one of these... |     Maybe not this one... | Paddle-boarding |   One weekend, we wanted to check out the light rail. So we went to the southern terminus - the Tukwila Park and Ride. It turns out that there's 2 Tukwila Park and Rides, and we went to the wrong one. However, it was an interesting spot, with bike trails and lots of blackberries, too. There must have been some old structure there. |   We did finally get to the right station, and got on the light rail train |   Ilana and I spent a gorgeous morning hiking Snow Lake |       I redecorated the kids room - fresh paint, whiteboard, magnet board and shelves on the wall, a rain gutter bookshelf, and new linens. |   These are the rain gutter bookshelves. I found the idea online - it really works well, and is super cheap | I hung a bunch of pictures up on the wall (cut out from a book) on clothespins |   An overnight camping trip to Lake Wenatchee State Park, with out Mothers and More group. Peter got pretty dirty! |   The lake was beautiful, with very clear water that actually glittered - maybe from fools gold or something sparkling in the water? Cold, but not too cold. There was a nice beach, too. |   There were lots of kiteboarders there |   Peter really enjoyed climbing around on all the rocks |     Eric is well protected against mosquitos | Camping plus kids = lots of dirt! |   Sunday was very windy - but some people were still in the water! | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||