Relaxing Day - Day 10, Sunday

 The whole Voelker/Vaughan family that was in Texas for the wedding, gathered at Dale and Wendy's house for a day of relaxing and visiting on Sunday.  It was our first time to meet our new great nephew who is 8 months old and lives in Virginia.  This is Ken's sister, Carol, holding Max as he tries the temperature of the pool.

 Three of the Voelker siblings with their husbands and wife.  Left to right is Dale and Wendy Vaughan, then Ken and I, and Russ and Carol Pitts.

 The rest of the family.  Back row left to right is: Peter and Meagan Kendall, Terri (Dale's sister), Dale, Ken, Russ, Meagan and Mitch Vaughan  Front row, left to right is: Bobby Vaughan (Dale's Dad), Wendy, Me, and Carol.  (Max was taking a nap when we took these pictures.)

 Max looking serious as he pats Ken's face.

 Max and Mitch got in the pool, even though the water was on the cool side.

 Peter got in also, but no one else was brave or crazy enough to get in.

The cold water didn't bother Max, he really enjoyed being in the pool.

Sunday on Jetty Island

 We hadn't gotten together with Todd's family to celebrate the August birthdays, so we decided to go to Jetty Island (Jedi Island is what Seth called it), Sunday afternoon with them.  We were hoping to catch the 1:45 ferry over to the island, but the earliest tickets they had were for 3pm by the time we got there.  Papa and Seth played a mix of baseball and football while we waited.  Papa threw a small football to Seth, who tried to hit it with a stick!  (We got in the stand-by line and got on the 2:30 ferry, so it wasn't to bad of a wait!)

 The tide was in when we got out to the island and the water was quite warm. 

 Seth immediately started collecting the seaweed floating in the water, so he could make seaweed soup.

 Enjoying the sun and water.

 Trying an artistic shot of Seth through the tree roots of a log on the beach.  I like the seagulls and all the people in the background.

 Building something out of the sand is a must on Jetty Island.

 Adding some more mud to the structure.

 Papa challenged Seth to get the log to roll into the water without touching it.  Seth dug and removed sand under the log for awhile, but when it didn't move after all of his effort, he pushed the log using sand to cover his hands, so technically he wasn't touching it.

 Todd and Seth took a voyage on a log, which worked for Seth...

...but sunk, when Todd got on it also.

First Voelker Family Camp - Part 2

 The 2 boys having a serious "Star Wars" discussion on the way down to the beach.

 Railroad tracks just up from the beach.

 Ken and the grandkids put a penny on the train track, hoping a train would come by while we were there.

 At the beach

 Some rocks to climb up, with a little help.

 Seth is sitting in a hollowed out spot in the rocks, that looked like the perfect place for a 7 year old boy to sit in.

 Papa is showing Seth a very small pool of water in the rocks with a bunch of hermit crabs in it.

 Annika found a nice little home for her new "Beanie Boo"!

I think Maple is saying, " But, Mom, I don't want to get in the water!"

"OK, Mom, you were right, it was fine once I got in!"

 An interesting set of holes in this rock, I thought it looked like the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.  (A few to many islands though.)

 Fun on the beach.

A train did come by, just as we were getting ready to head home.

The penny on the left is the before picture and the one on the right is the after picture.  The penny had flown off the track and we had a hard time finding it, but Ken finally saw it next to a rock that had it almost completely hidden.

First Voelker Family Camp - Part 1

 We had the first, ever, Voelker family camp last weekend.  Due to different issues, we decided to just go to Kari and Kyle's house and have our "camp" at their house.  A lot of time was spent on the trampoline by the kids and the adult males.

 Todd and Ken wanted to try riding mountain bikes, so Saturday morning, everyone got ready and headed out to some mountain biking trails.

 Some of us were riders and some were walkers.

 Saben on his bike, getting warmed up.

 Annika, getting her gear on.

 Saben deciding whether to ride down a steep part of a trail.

 The walkers found several varieties of berries to snack on as we went along.  Betsy is getting some huckleberries and Kari is getting either blackberries or black raspberries.

 There were also lots of pretty flowers along the road and trails.

 This was a crooked bridge across a small creek. where the riders were riding.

 Parts of the trail were difficult for Seth and Todd, especially since it was their first time riding on trails, so they had to walk their bikes sometimes....

 ...other times, they were able to ride along the trail.

 Annika waiting on the trail for the slower riders and the walkers.

 Ken got a chance to try it also.

 3 riders by the flowers as we headed back to the cars.

 Kari had seen some chanterelle mushrooms on a hill the day before and she sent Kyle and Saben up to find them and bring some home.  We had a bunch of them for dinner that night and they were really yummy!

 We even had the traditional campfire, later in the day.  All in all, our first family camp was a success!

Stop at Long Beach

 On our way home from Oregon last week, we spent a night in Long Beach and met up with my brother, Tim, his wife Debbie, my Mom and the Smith family.  We met up with them at the go-cart place, where several tried out their driving skills!  This first picture is Gabe and Ken driving around a turn close to the fence where the spectators could stand.

 Tim and Gabe on the same corner...

 ...followed by Melia and Ken.  It was Melia's first time on the big track, since you have to be 12 years old to drive on it.

 After the adults were done driving, the younger kids had a turn on a smaller track.  Caleb was to young to drive by himself, so he rode with Denaye, while the others drove themselves.

 Denaye and Caleb chasing down Isaac!

 Kiera was by herself as they came around the track.

The next morning, Ken and I took Mom for a short walk before heading home to our house with her.  She stayed at our house overnight, then rode the train home to Wenatchee Sunday evening.