Matching Smiles

Look Mom, no teeth!

Jetty Island Day - Part 2

 Once the tide started getting closer and closer, I had the idea of building to wall to hide behind.  Saben, Annika and a boy, from a group next to us, got very excited about the idea.

 Nap time for Kari.

 A lot of time was spent by various people building the wall, but Saben worked the most and the hardest on it.

 Meanwhile, the water crept closer and closer.

 Some of the logs and large pieces of wood started floating, so a break was taken to sit on some of them and float in the water.

 But Saben kept going back to reinforce the wall.

 However, as we all know, the tide is relentless, and it wasn't long...

 ...before the water started coming over the wall.

 This was our last view of the wall before we left for the day.  There's a pile on either side of Seth and the rest is gone.  We had a lot of fun making it though.

Jetty Island Day - Part 1

 On Tuesday, Kari, Saben, Annika, Betsy, Seth and I went to Jetty Island in Everett.  After eating a quick lunch, work was started on a volcano.  (Notice how far out the water is in this picture.)

 Making volcanoes in the sand was one of the main activities of the day.

 Some of us finished our lunches before playing in the sand.  (Saben remembered that we had some "Cheetos" to eat for lunch on our way home, and wondered why we hadn't eaten them.  We assured him that some of us, the ones that hadn't been in a rush to play in the sand, had eaten them.)

 The tide started coming in, so swimsuits were put on, and the kids headed into the water...

 ...or into the mud.  Maybe she's taking a mud bath.

 A volcano was built in the water also.

 Running through the water.

 Seth was fascinated by the seaweed that was coming in with the tide.

 3 Youngs in the water.

 Back to making volcanoes.

 Covered in sand!

 Trying an artistic shot with the driftwood.  The water has come in a lot!

Finally, someone made a sand castle.

Company Picnic

 Last night we went to the Agilent Company picnic.  It was the first one we'd attended in a long time, of course, they haven't had many company picnics the last few years.  At the last minute Ken discovered we could invite family members to attend the picnic.  It was to late to invite adults to attend, but we were allowed to bring Seth.  We thought there was going to be a bouncy house, but even though there wasn't a bouncy house, I think Seth still had a good time.

 There was a pond to go out on in paddle boats,...

 ...a nine hole miniature golf course,...

 ...and games for the kids.  First, they had a sack race.

 Then, a 3 legged race, Seth partnered up with the grandson of some friends.

 They had a girls versus boys tug of war, which the girls won, but there was probably twice as many girls as boys, and Seth wasn't real sure what was going on.  He mainly watched the older boys pull.

 There was also a water balloon toss and Seth and Papa were partners for it.  They didn't last very long.

 Lastly, one of the workers at Lord Hill Farms, tossed water balloons to a partner, whose hands were right above Seth's head when she caught a balloon that broke.  He was fine with getting pretty wet, although he started getting cold after getting wet, eating a popsicle and sitting quietly to get his face painted.

 After dinner, an ice cream wagon was brought out for dessert.

 There was also a face painter, who put a volcano on one of his cheeks and a dolphin on the other one.

Former Mentor Mom Outing

 Last Thursday the former mentor mom group went on an outing to Seattle.  We started out having lunch at Aqua Verde, a cute Mexican restaurant in the UW area.  We got there early enough to get a table easily, the hard part was finding a parking place in the area.  We had to park about 2 blocks away from the restaurant, then walk back.  For Seattle, I guess that wasn't to bad.  We enjoyed our lunch, and by the time we left the restaurant was very busy, with a line going out the door.  Then all of us, but one, headed...

...to the Theo Chocolate Factory for a tour.  We were given this attractive head gear to wear before the tour started, then on the tour, we learned a lot about how they make chocolate and got to try lots of samples of the different varieties they make.  The tour only costs $6 and we probably got at least half of that back in the samples we ate, however we spent more afterwards in the chocolate store, so giving out the samples really paid off for them.  We all really enjoyed the luncheon and the tour and look forward to our next luncheon.

Seth at Gymnastics

 Seth has been going to a gymnastics class and last Tuesday, I got to go watch him.

 He got to swing on both bars and rings.  There was also a trampoline to bounce on, but those pictures didn't turn out.

 One ring to swing on was over a pit of foam blocks that he would drop into after swinging.

Dropping into the foam blocks.

An Almost Lost Bible

This is a picture of Ken's Bible, with the snake skin cover that he got when he was on a mission trip to Mali.  A month or so ago, Ken put it, my Bible, and my notebook on the trunk of his car after we got home from church.  He did something in the yard, then came inside, forgetting that those items were on the trunk.  A little later, he drove his car out of the driveway and took off down the road.  I looked out the front window later and saw some things lying in the middle of the road by our driveway and went to see what it was.  It turned out to be my notebook and Bible, but Ken's wasn't there.  He had driven to our church, about 15 minutes away, when I called him on his cell phone to tell him what had happened.  His Bible was no longer on the trunk, so he drove back the way he had gone on his way to church to look for it.  Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find it.  He continued to drive the route several times that day and in the following week, searching for his Bible, and had given up on finding it, he almost ordered a new one the day before it's return..

At church the following Sunday, we were contacted by a person that attends our church, who asked Ken if this was his Bible.  The story told to us was that someone along Kackman Road had found it.  Ken's name wasn't in his Bible, but he had a paper with the name of a couple that goes to our church inside the cover.  The people that found it, contacted the couple and told them they had found a Bible and that they would bring it to our church on Sunday.  When the couple received it, they discovered that there was a picture of me in the back cover of the Bible, and proceeded to look for us to see if the Bible belonged to us.  We felt very thankful that Ken got his Bible back and both of us have our names in our Bibles now!

What Color Is It?

 This hydrangea can't decide what color it is!  I have one that is all blue and one that is very purple, but this one is combining all the colors and even adding pink.

Birthday Weekend

 Saturday, was the day that everyone in the family was able to get together to celebrate the Aug. birthdays in our family.  We met at Golden Garden Park in Seattle.  We grabbed our tub of sandbox toys on our way out, so we had things to play with at the beach.  Seth had Papa making a road to "North Dakota", shortly after we arrived.

 3 Voelker guys enjoying the sun and sand.

 After the Young's arrived, the action moved closer to the water, where we discovered a spring bubbling up on the beach.

 The rest of the time on the beach was spent directing the water from the spring, by building dams, bridges, canyons and river paths.

 Fun on the beach.

 Building a dam.

 Checking out the dam.

 Making rivers and...

 ...Seth lifting a part of the former dam.

 Lunch, of yummy, Caribbean sandwiches, is finished, so we're heading for the playground.

This is the only picture I got of the kids on the playground.  Just after I took it, my camera said empty battery and since I didn't bring my purse, I didn't have the extra set of batteries that I keep in it.  After the kids played awhile we went back to our spot on the beach and had some cake.  Since we didn't have any shade there, and it was getting pretty hot, we loaded up and went home.  We discovered after we got there, that the tables in the shade were all reserved and we heard that you have to reserve them a long time ahead, so we wouldn't have been able to get a table even if we'd know that you could reserve them.  Saturday evening, Ken and I were invited to some friends house to play a card game.  Ken had called and let the hostess know my birthday was the next day, so I got another birthday cake that day.

Sunday, the actual day of my birthday, we went to an Everett Aquasox baseball game, then out to dinner, with some other friends.  We were afraid that it was going to be unbearably hot sitting in the stands at the game, but there was a nice breeze blowing off and on, so it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.  All in all a fun, busy birthday weekend!