1st day of School

We hate to say goodbye to the summer, but also very glad the first day of schol jitters are over. Everyone was nervous as I dropped them off for their first day of classes, but I am glad to report everone came home with a smile on their face. Josh and Megan decided walking was easier than finding a seat on the crowded bus. I enjoyed walking Erica to school in the morning and she rides the bus home in the afternoon. It is only a 5 minute ride this year!!

Victoria B.C. Aug. 15-17th, 2008

Since we were not able to go back home this summer for vacation, we decided to take the weekend and go to Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. It took less than 2 hours to drive to Port Angeles to catch the ferry, then 90 minutes to cross the Straight of San Juan de Fuca to Victoria.

The city was perfect for a weekend get-a-way. The city is on a beautiful little harbor and we could walk to our condo in 10 minutes from the ferry dock. We spent Friday evening walking around the harbor area and eating dinner at a sidewalk restaurant at the harbor. Then Tracy stayed with Josh and Erica to watch a magic show by a street performer while Megan and I hunted down someplace to get goodies for breakfast. We had fun walking along the quite neighborhood streets singing "Mama Mia" songs together in the dark.

Saturday morning we took the kids on their first kayaking adventure. We paddled around Victoria harbor, watched some the Dragon Boat races, and just had a beautiful morning in the

sunshine. The kids loved it!

That night Tracy took me to dinner at an old Victorian house called The Gatsby Mansion restaurant. I had Rack of lamb and Tracy had steak. We celebrated our 17th Wedding anniversary(Aug. 23rd) and had a wonderful evening dinning on the porch, looking out at the harbor, and watching the people go by.

Sunday we spent the morning walking around town to get our pictures taken with as many totem poles as we could find. We wandered through Beacon Hill Park and visited the petting zoo. Then we had to get back and catch the 3pm ferry back to Port Angeles.

We had a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to go back again.

Happy Birthday Tracy

Tracy had his 39th Birthday August 8th. We baked him a cake and Erica made Birthday party hats. We gave him sailing lessons for his present. And took him on a 2 hour sailing cruise in Gig Harbor.

Gig Harbor lighthouse. Josh steering the rudder.

Hanging out enjoying the scenery.

Our sad news.

We thought our cat Vicki was adjusting pretty well to the move, but it didn't go as smoothly as we thought. To make a long story short, she stopped eating after we moved. We thought since she was overweight she would be OK for a while and would start eating again soon. Little did we know, when overweight cats try to metabolize a lot of fat, their liver does not do a very good job at it. By the time I took her to the vet to see what might be wrong, she was already in liver failure. We had to have her euthanized July 30th. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life.
The kids were upset, but moved through the grieving process quickly. Erica just wants to know when she can get a dog now. Here are a few pictures of Erica and Vicki a few days before we had to tell her goodbye. Vicki was 9 years old and our only pet.

Gig Harbor Washington July 1, 2008

Well we finally made it to gig Harbor. Yesterday was a long moving day and I won't get into the chaos of the slow movers. Actually the 2 guys that came were very good, they just needed 2 more guys to help. Needless to say we are now in our new house. We slept on the living room floor the first night. We woke up at 5am with the sun shining through the giant windows welcoming us to a beautiful new day.

We have a new pet for Erica since she can not have a dog. The deer live in the back yard without a care in the world.

Leavenworth Vacaation June 2008

As soon as the kids got out of school on the last day (June 13th) we packed up the van and headed to Leavenworth, Washington for vacation with Trent and Troy's families. We had a great week relaxing together. The kids loved playing with their cousins and having sleepovers every night. The adults had fun playing "Settlers of Catan" and "Puerto Rico" every evening into the wee hours night.

All the cousins at the local museum.

Museum at Cashmire, WA

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Touring the candy factory!

Megan and Erica climbing "Barny's Rubble" with Dad on belay.

Erica and Megan golfing. Josh and Mom at the putting course

Megan after combing out her hair. What more can I say?

We think she is beautiful!!!!

Hansel and Gretal - May 31, 2008

The weekend of the ballet performance of Hansel and Gretal was both fun and exhausting! It started on Thursday evening with Megan's school music concert. They call it the POPS Cafe' and served deserts and had several performances with the school band, choir and Jazz band. When we got home, Fred and Brenda had arrived from the airport to spend the weekend with us and see the ballet. Friday morning Heather enlisted the help of Fred and Brenda to finish packing up the moving POD. Then after lunch they helped move the props for the ballet performance over to the theatre. I am sure they were not expecting to do so much physical labor on their little trip. Friday at 5pm we started final dress rehearsal for the ballet. Josh,Grandma, and Grandpa Yost spent the evening together eating pizza and playing arcade games while the rest of us spent the evening at the theatre trying to work out the kinks. It was quite a long, frustrating experience. To top it off, Tracy's costume did not fit in any way shape or form (we won't go into the fact that it was the first time he finally got to try it on). To tell the truth I had my doubts about this performance actually coming together on time.

Saturday we got up early for Erica's last soccer game (which started at 6:50 AM!). Then we were off to the theater to get ready for the matinee performance of the ballet. Tracy still did not have a costume and he didn't know what he might end up wearing. I jumped in to help the seamstress literally pin the costumes onto several of the men folk dancers while she madly worked on salvaging Tracy's pants. Amazingly Tracy finally got his costume on about 15 minutes before we had to be on stage. They were a little tight, but if he was careful he might not rip out the back seam during his dance.

Looking back I still can not figure out how it all came together. The ballet turned out wonderful! It was fun to finally watch Megan perform the whole show and see how all the characters interacted with each other. Erica was the cutest bunny and Gum drop. It was very fun!! Tracy and I survived the folk dance and enjoyed sharing in the experience with Erica and Megan.

Megan (Hansel) getting ready for the show.

Erica (the bunny) and the Woodland animals.

Tracy and Heather after surviving our first ballet performance.

Erica (Gumdrop) and her Papa!