Summer~ Week 7

Temple Trip

Mitch and I had the privilege of going to the temple with Jefferson, Cameron and Anna.  This was the very first time for both Cam and Anna.  Mitch was able to the baptizing and Grandpa Swany was able to the confirmations. It was a very sweet evening to be with them.

Taylor Swift

This was for me, one of my favorite things all summer!  Last November the plan was hatched to take these cute girls to the Taylor Swift concert.  We purchased the tickets literally the morning the pre-sale tickets were available.  The concert was awesome!! Listening to the new Taylor Swift CD non-stop really paid off because we knew all the songs she sang.  She sang all of the songs on her 1989 CD but one.

Cameron convinced Mitch that since the girls were going to the concert that the boys should go to a Mariner game that day.  We crossed paths right as we were going in and they were coming out.  We might have taken a picture of the moment but the Mariners were tied at the bottom of the 8th and lost by 9 runs.  Cameron was not in a picture taking mood by the time we saw them. On a side note:  THANK HEAVENS baseball is almost over for the year.  Cameron took each loss personally and it was a long summer of baseball. Lets pray that they might be a little better next year!

 This might look like a cute group of girls but what you are really looking at is a group of cute girls with really expensive t-shirts! 

Waiting for the show to start was the hardest part for some (NAT).  But well worth the wait.  Taylor Swift brought out Russell Wilson at one point and I thought my girls would faint.  They loved being in the Seahawk stadium.  I told them to enjoy it because the odds of them being there again are slim!

Natalie might have been the cutest thing I have ever seen while at the concert.  This is what she looked like pretty much the whole time. 

Summer~ Week 6

Scout Camp

Cameron spent the week at scout camp--Camp Parsons.  He had fun but was ready to come home after being around some of those boys for an entire week!  Cameron earned 6 merit badges while at camp.  He earned Swimming, Kayaking, Environmental Science, Basketry, Fingerprinting, and Art.  Add those to the two he has already earned, First Aid and Crime Prevention  and Cameron has earned EIGHT merit badges so far!  He is also in the middle of earning his Cycling merit badge. In a few weeks his troop will be having a Court of Honor where he will be receiving all of those merit badges along with his First Class rank.  I have to say....scouting is not for the weary of heart.  We have worked HARD this summer!

 Blackberry Pies

With our golf course shut down and deserted this summer, we spent quite a bit of time exploring it.  We enjoyed walks and bike rides through the trails.  We found some goats and of course we named them, Mr. White and Usain Goat.  We also enjoyed finding and picking up lots of old golf balls.  There were so many blackberries in the golf course that we made lots of yummy pies.  One of the downfalls of this hot summer was that the golf course's grass was completely dead.  We had the fire department out there a few times.  Thank heavens for the rain! 

 Mother Goose 

Lucy discovered if she put her glasses at the edge of her nose that she looks like Mother Goose. We aren't sure where or how Lucy learned  "Mother Goose" but she keeps us laughing.

 Crafts

Julia and Natalie are my craft girls.   They can create and make non-stop!  Usually they have grand visions of projects they wanted to create or make.  I love that they are so crafty, but we go through a LOT of tape, glue, paper, and staples and at times it is exhausting keeping up with all their ideas!  Here is just one of many crafts we did this summer- Julia's tye dyed shirts. 

Summer~ Week 5

Swany Reunion

 Blue Mountain Retreat~ Swany Reunion

 "Where kids entertain themselves"  

 

The Swany reunion kicked off in Chimacum, WA.  What might you do in Chimacum?  Nothing!  We enjoyed being together.  This house was awesome!  It was huge, tons of property and no one but ourselves for as far as the eye could see.  We could yell, scream, and laugh as loud as we wanted, bothering only ourselves.  Which we did, a lot.

The coolest part of the house was that it had hidden tunnels and slides through out the house.  The kids went crazy crawling through the mazes popping up in different parts of the house.  They literally were running around in  the walls of the house.

 

 

The Block Room

 The block room was one of the favorite rooms in the house.  It was connected to the house via the narrow hall passage and had a trap door that lead to the garage via slides.  Everyone enjoyed building and tearing down the blocks.

The kids wanted to sleep in the block room so every night beds were built out of the blocks and arranged to their liking.

 

Block wars

The garage was converted to a play room.  There were scooters, bikes, roller skates, balls, pickle ball, and of course the slides.  Pretty much mayhem at all times.

 

The grounds were huge and this field was were we played some competitive kickball!


The official photos of the group:

Grandpa and Grandma with the Grand kids (All 14!)

The only pic of Laura I got!

The Cousins

The boy cousins

They have to stick together there are so few of them!

 The original sibs

 Lots of swimming!

 

 Ferry ride

Port Townsend 

We spent one afternoon walking around Port Townsend.  Yesterday Julia came home with a little essay she wrote about it.  Sums it up quite nicely. :)