A buggy day

 Jillian spent the night with Rielee last night.  I went over about 8:30 to see if they were up and ready for breakfast, they were and hopped in the Jeep to come over with me. 

Suddenly they both screamed and bailed out--there was a HUGE spider on the door by Jillian.  I got it out of the Jeep but it wouldn't let go, we bravely threw sticks at it but finally Rielee had to get the rake to knock it down.  Yikes.
The girls played with legos and dominoes and then Rielee asked if we could go to the Bike Park in town so we loaded up all the bikes, scooters, helmets, snacks and water and headed out.  We weren't there for 10 minutes when Rielee got stung by a bee, it really hurt, she was crying, Ava was crying because Rielee was crying, so we hurried and loaded up everything and everybody and headed for home.  It was kind of cute, on the way, the little girls started telling stories in the back seat about bees and being stung, having a good old time, then Rielee says through her tears "girls, could you please not talk about bees anymore, I'm in pain up here!"  Papa saved the day when we got home with a baking soda paste and an Arthur video.
This afternoon we watched a live stream of the Gonzaga volleyball team playing their season opener vs. Boise State.  Macee got to start as libero,  played the entire match and they won it in 4.  So fun!

Playing at Aunt Cathy's/Meet the teacher night

 What a busy day.  It started at Aunt Cathy's playing on the ride-ons, then the girls were playing dogcatcher, Rielee would catch them with a hula hoop and put them in the kennel.  Then they went to the the tree fort and tried out the zip lines.  Harper did it first but was afraid of the short drop onto the platform, Ava did it once and was fine.  They played on the hammock, in the sandbox, ending up inside to play downstairs in the "apartment". 

 Bridget had a tea party with her new tea set.  Later, she and Jillian came up to swim in the pool but it was too cold so they all  moved to the play fort and sandbox.

 Ava and Harper got to meet their teachers tonight.  First they met Mrs. Davis, who teaches in the morning, then Mrs. Macindoe (I didn't get a picture of her) who teaches the afternoon session.  Mrs. Davis has a daughter at Union who played volleyball with Lexi so she recognized Ava and Harper. 

 Harper sitting in the reading corner, they checked that area out thoroughly and also the play kitchen.

Ava sitting in her spot in Team 5, Harper sits close by in Team 4.  They will only go to school on Wednesday next week, have Thursday and Friday off, then start on their regular schedule the following Monday.

Pool party

 Tuesday Aunt Cathy brought up Jillian, Bridget and Tor for a little pool party.  The look on Ava's face tells how cold the water was. 

 Auna came over, too, and somehow thought she could relax and read a book with all the chaos and noise the kids were making. 

 Tor sat happily on Grannie's lap for a long time, munching on snacks and watching the girls but finally decided he wanted a part of the action...

 we put some water in the middle of the tube and that kept him happy.

This was the best picture I could get of the girls swimming, they sure had fun.

Playground/pool

 After Rielee left for a church function this morning, we took the girls down to the school playground and to the bakery.  They are so, so ready for school and kids to interact with-we had to get up on the playground equipment with them since there wasn't anyone else to play with. 

Same with the pool, so I went in with them.  It was cold so I was trying not to get too wet.  That didn't last long, they kept trying to dump me off my mattress and when they couldn't succeed, Ava just turned around and kicked as hard as she could to get me wet, then she got out and started following me around the pool and splashing me.  Papa got her a squirter and Harper was getting wet, too, so she climbed on with me and we got another mattress to use as a shield.  Once they got me completely wet, the fun was over and Ava decided she was hungry for lunch.

Friday-This is what Harper looked like when we got home from taking the 3 girls to 7 garage sales. They had a ball.  Ava and Harper loved paying for their items.  It was funny, we walked into one sale and the lady told us she didn't have any kid stuff, we told her it didn't matter, they'd find something.  Harper bought some green votives and Ava bought a brass candlestick and called it her "trophy".  Rielee steered them towards the free box whenever there was one.  And then we hit the mother lode at a sale with $1 Barbie dolls.   Ava found  Rielee an old prom dress at one sale,  it's huge but it was only a quarter so she got it and we'll make it fit for dress-up.


Saturday-We went to Sammamish for Jineen and Colin's reception. 

They were married Wednesday in Poulsbo but celebrated today at Colin's parent's home.

A hug for the beautiful bride, his first grandchild.

Jineen made all of the decorations, here she is putting out little jars filled with cheesecake, the old sign belongs to Colin's family.  Everything was old-fashioned and beautifully done.

Loved how the tables were decorated, each one was different.

Ashli drew the picture and the guests stamped the "balloons" with their fingerprints and wrote their names by them.

There were little vignettes everywhere in the backyard, I liked this one with their wedding photos.

Photos of Jineen, Colin and Hayden through their 5 years together, and also some baby pictures of them, were pinned all along the back fence.  We had a wonderful time.

Oregon Zoo

 I don't remember what they were looking for here but they weren't that impressed with the crocodile.  We got to the Zoo right when it opened so it wasn't too crowded.  They spent maybe 20 seconds looking at each animal, then it was the big decision of where we were going next, and that meant to look at the map.

They each had their own map and they studied them constantly, taking turns being the leader from one exhibit to the next.  We had to have a group meeting when we left an exhibit to plot our route to the next one, Harper insisted on it..

 They liked petting the goats.

 More map studying while we waited for Papa to get us an elephant ear.

 They enjoyed the Lorakeets, Rielee got a couple of them to drink out of her cup.

 Ava did, too, but when I held Harper up, a bird took the cup right out of her hand and then dropped it and it spilled all down the front of Harper's shirt, that surprised her, not in a good way.

 They had to play on every animal statue in the entire zoo, Ava couldn't even put her map down to pose.

 Double-checking how to get to the farm...

found it and they got to pet a tortoise and a hedgehog.  It was a fun trip, lots of the animals were up and roaming around this time.

When we got home, I talked to the girls about doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with me, Rielee understood a little of what it meant, Harper wanted to, but Ava changed her mind and opted out.  I almost did, too, I had been challenged but was just going to donate, I don't like to put myself on social media,  until Papa told me that it has been 73 years since Lou Gehrig died of this hideous disease, 73 years...our Grandma died of it in the 80's, a good friend 2 years ago.  That convinced me to do it, challenge a few people and maybe raise awareness and a few more dollars, they need to find a cure.  I was so proud of the girls for doing it with me and Ava for cheering us on. 

More pool fun

Since we got the old school desk, the kids have been taking turns drawing pictures of each other.  Today was Ava's turn to pose for Harper.

Harper was very happy with her picture.

I left the girls with Papa for awhile this morning and went to Kalama to help Emmy in her room. Rick stopped in with the kids before going to work in his room. 

When I got home, Rielee asked if she could make tie-dye pancakes for lunch.  They picked green, blue and pink.  Ava and Harper thought the pink pancakes tasted funny and wouldn't eat them.  Then we went to the pool where Rielee put on a show for the girls, doing silly jumps,

Harper had to get in on the fun and jumped in, too.  She tried it a second time but did a belly flop and got water up her nose so she was done.

Rielee on the Orca she bought at Kah-Nee-Ta, she doesn't play with it much because it's kind of big and hard to stay on.

Pool and water slide

 It was a perfect day for the pool and the girls spent lots of time there.  Rielee had her friend Emme over and the four of them had a great time. 

 We had to convince Ava that it was okay to wear Rielee's too big swimsuit when she forgot hers this morning, she finally gave in and even laughed about her baggy crotch!  Cracked me up, she always looks so cute.

Rielee, Harper and Emme made a water slide and used dish soap so they could go even faster, Ava had already changed so she just watched.

Ava the cuddle bug

The girls all spent the night after Gabe's party.  It took them a long time to unwind.  First they tried all sleeping together in the twin's beds but that got out of control so I let them camp out on the living room floor, turned off the TV and they were asleep in just a few.  I got Harper moved back in her bed but Ava wasn't sound enough asleep to move so she and Rielee slept there until 1 when Rielee woke up homesick. She came in bed with me, but then I couldn't sleep so I put Ava in with Rielee and I slept in the living room.  Ava was her cuddly self with Rielee this morning.

Walk in the woods

 Posing for a picture on a walk in Alan and Vera's woods, Harper was the leader, she's doing one of her special poses.

 They would say "stay with me, stay in line" and then take off running-until they ran into a web or a swarm of gnats, those would bring them to a halt.

 Rielee had her cousins Isaac and Emily up to play today.  Emily is also 5 and Ava and Harper had fun playing with her.

Rielee gave them all rides on the hammock, at a price of 4 bark chips per ride.  They also played in the sandbox and rode the Jeep, scooter and bikes around.

 

Visiting Daddy's school

 We met Charb at Covington this morning after the girl's dentist appointment.  He took us in to see his office, it's a very nice school, rebuilt in 2009.  The girls made themselves right at home, drawing on the board,

 Ava left Dad a message,

and Harper drew a picture of Ava.  Before we left, they pointed out that they knew where the bathrooms are, very important information.  They had a ton of loot from the dentist, including the visors, and they got flossers, of which they were really proud.  Their visit went well for Harper, Ava said she cried "a little bit". 

Emmy's classroom

Uncle in the corner,  where he deserved to be.  He wasn't very supportive when we went to help

Emmy organize her classroom.  He couldn't understand her desk arrangement, or anything else for that matter, and wasn't afraid to voice his goofy opinions.   Actually,  she got little encouragement from her Dad or boyfriend either, mostly harassment, none of them could understand why it takes a few tries to get a room set up right...pretty comical really, maybe it was the heat that took away their sense of humor! 

But Em was happy with the progress she made.  Instead of a jumble of desks and furniture against the wall, she has her reading corner situated, complete with all the books she has collected over the summer, the kid's desks and her desk in place and she can refine the rest from there-hopefully on a cooler day, it was about 85 in there tonight.