Archive of posts from July 2010

To swim or not to swim

27 July 2010

We got into a great swimming lesson deal through some of Kayla’s school friends. The classes were great and Kayla loved it. She could open her eyes in the water, bob a few times under water and float both ways. Things she would not do a couple months ago. It was fun to see her progress so much. In the photo she is leading the “train” that they ended each class with.

Julia was in class with Kayla, but she embraced the class in her own way. She progressed from sitting outside the pool the first day to sitting on the steps with the water up to her neck on the last day. Maybe next year.

Kayla

11 July 2010

Kayla is continuing circus class for the summer. She really loves it. This photo was from the last class with all her school friends. Note that Kayla and Ella are wearing the same pants. Once they found out they had the same ones, they each wore them to class every week.

Seeming out of the blue for me, Kayla requested to take ballet lessons. Our nearby community center had some classes open, so we signed her up. This photo is from her first day. (Does the tutu look familiar Angela?). There have only been a couple of classes so far, but she says she likes it.

Kayla loves the Kiddie parade that we go to every July. There is lots of candy handed out, so I think that is why, but she does speak fondly of it. This year we found out that her new school was marching. I am so proud of Kayla. She chose to take part of that march even though she did not know anyone. I did not get to see the parade myself, but Tim marched with Kayla and took this picture. Kayla really is growing up in lots of ways socially and it’s been a pretty amazing transformation from being shy to jumping into the action. She is pretty amazing.

ahhh

10 July 2010

I was lucky enough to get away climbing again. This time my friend took me to her secret crag. It was a gorgeous day and there were only the three of us there. A view of Mt. Rainier, a lake, forest roads, trees and what a view for a climbing spot. Since there were three of us rotating on the rope it gave one time to stop and enjoy the scenery.

Look for me at the top of the photo. I had just finished leading the climb and was looking down for a photo before pulling the rope up to rappel down.

granny visits

9 July 2010

Vicky is in town for the summer and has spent some time with the girls. Kayla loves to sew with her and has been making finger puppets. I dragged us all out to Everett for a kids concert on one of our really hot days. We met some friends and melted in the sun, listened to music, played in the water and at the playground.

Vicky joined us for the Backcountry Betties and Babies hike that I had planned. No one else signed up but we went anyhow. The girls loved to pick and eat the huckleberries along the trail, and both girls did a great job on the walk. It was nice to be in the woods on another hot day.

We seem to take a photo of someone in this burned out tree every time we go on this walk. In the past it has been Kayla, but this time Vicky posed for us.

A new island to visit

5 July 2010

For the 4th of July weekend, we took a ferry over to Guemes Island, one of the San Juan Islands. It is just a 5 minute ferry ride from Anacortes.

After settling into our Yurt, we headed down to the beach for some fun there. Kayla loved finding the seaweed and crab shells and Julia seemed to enjoy the pretty rocks. I had some fun skipping some perfect skipping stones into the water. I tried to teach Kayla but fell a bit flat. Perhaps her Opa can show her his skills when he is here.

The resort had some boats we could take on the water, so we all got into a rowboat. The girls really like that.

Tim took his turn rowing very seriously as you can tell in the photo. It took a bit of practicing to work it out, but he managed just fine. He actually helped me out as the current was too strong for me to get the boat back all the way. I could get near the shore, but otherwise was just sort of treading water.

The trip also included a walk in the woods.

And, a walk off the trail into a beautiful field of wildflowers and tall grasses, into a wild blackberry patch. A bit of time was spent there picking over any ripe ones.

I think Kayla’s favorite part of the trip was a little dog named Rocket. A couple that was also staying in a yurt kindly allowed Kayla to hold, pet, walk and carry their little dog as much as she wanted. Kayla got a bit attached and shed some tears after they left. Poor kid, too bad her mom is not a dog lover.