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.

Friday with Grandkids

 Friday morning after breakfast, we headed out for a bike ride.  We rode up the Centennial Trail to...

 ...a barn at the end of the trail.  It was my first time to ride all the way to the barn, which is 4 miles from Bryant, where we started.  (This barn was owned at one time by the parents of a good friend of Kari's.)  So Annika and I rode a total of 8 miles, but Ken and Saben rode from our house to Bryant, because we couldn't fit all four bikes on our bike rack, so they rode 12 and 1/2 miles.

Later in the day, we met Betsy and Seth at the Snohomish Aqua Center and spent some time there doing different activities.

 Saben, Annika and Ken went down the water slide.  This is Annika coming out of the slide.  The second time she went down, she went down with Ken, and she said she went a lot faster when she went with him!

 Most of the time we stayed in the area that was like a river because it had a pretty strong current to keep moving you around it.  Saben liked floating on his back in it.

 In a part of the river, there was a section that was like a whirl pool, Seth and Betsy are in it.

 Toward the end of our time there, a game of tag was started, it looks like Ken and Annika are hiding from whoever was "It" at the time.

This is a view of part of the Aqua Center, with the "lazy river" in the front.

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!

Making Cookies

 The first weekend in February, Seth stayed with us overnight, so we made cookies.

 I had several spring type cookie cutters that I rarely use, so I got them out, I had a rabbit, a chick, a flower and a heart.  Since Valentines Day was coming up, Seth mainly wanted to do hearts, but we did a few of the other ones also.

 Seth also tried to make a Pikachu cookie. (That's a character from Pokemon for those that don't know.)

The finished cookies.  (The Pikachu cookie is at the top left on the first tray.)