Juniper Beach

A few weekends ago we went to the west side for our niece Emma's graduation. Congrats Emma! While we were there, we spent an afternoon at Grandma Bernie's house on Camano Island. It was a beautiful day to be on the beach. Papa Mark, Cousin Olie, and Auntie Gretchen were wonderful playmates in the sand. We ate a few pancakes too!

Vacation WWW

I have just coined our vacation "Whirlwind Week in Washington". I will forever now refer to it as 'WWW'. I feel incredibly lucky to live in such a beautiful and diverse area of the country. This past week we started off in the desert, then camped at the base of a mountain and literally lived on a lake for 4 days. The clothes we packed alone are telling of the different climates we experienced. These are all things that Anth and I have been doing for years together. But now we get to share them with our son. Its a beautiful thing to watch your son hold a fishing pole for the first time, roast marshmallows by the campfire and go for long hikes in the woods. He is already a true outdoorsman. Next up: peeing outside.

Oliver and Sophia boating on Ross Lake.

Trying to net some fish.

Papa Fred, Karen and Oliver heading into Ross Lake

Our son is a tree hugger.

The White River gets another rock from Oliver.

Can a two year old look more relaxed than this without being asleep?

Roasted marshmallows on a campfire - finger lickin' good

Poolside with Leslie

Summer days

We feel it is never too early to put the little people to work around the house.

A display of recent finds at a random garage sale. This was the easiest way I could think of to clean them. Oliver digs the binoculars!

Farm animals

Oliver, like most kids I think, LOVES animals and especially farm animals. This past weekend we fulfilled some desires of his by visiting a goat farm, that happens to make cheese as well from the milk and playing at our friends' house who have chickens and dogs. To get to the goat farm near Dayton, WA, we drove through some very pretty parts of SE Washington that I hadn't seen in a long while. There were ten shades of green organic matter (alfalfa? wheat? corn?) growing in the fields and blue skies as far as we could see. It was a nice reprieve from our recent showers and cold spring.

http://www.monteilletcheese.com/

The happy face he gets when eating hot dogs after playing with animals most of the day.