a little bit of this and a little bit of that

Last weekend while John and his Dad were backpacking in the Olympics (they had a good time and returned safely by the way, AND saw tons of bears on their trip!), his mom and I headed down to Portland with the kids to enjoy the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade with my parents, and my Nanna (who had flown in from the Bay Area). We had a great weekend enjoying the parade (in the sunshine no less), a trip to Jameson Square in the Pearl district for fun in the fountain and a picnic, and an awesome breakfast out to a cute French place on Sunday morning. We had a great weekend. Pictures are on hold because my Dad was the one with the camera all weekend, so we shall see if I get copies to post here.

Other than that, we have been trying to start our Summer off on the right note (even though the weather isn't behaving itself). The teacher in me has lesson planned a little bit of structured learning time in everyday for the older kids this summer including math, Bible, lang. arts, science and arts and crafts. Our favorite so far has been the science time because we purchased caterpillars that have now changed into chrysalises and are resting in the butterfly house. The kids have been so intrigued by them, and have been taking down observations everyday in little booklets we've made. We can hardly wait for the Painted Lady butterflies to emerge.

We kicked off a Supper Club at our friend's house last night that we plan on doing every Thursday night this summer. Everyone brings meat to grill and a side to share, and we share food, chat and let ALL the kids play. It was a great night, and we are looking forward to it each week this summer when we are around.

This weekend we don't have much planned, but the following weekend we have some very good friends (John's best buddy from college and the best man in our wedding and his wife) coming to visit us. They are missionaries in Turkey and are home in the States for the summer. AND, they've never been to Seattle, so we are excited to show them a good time here in the NW. Should be fun.