Birch Bay

We took a rather impromptu trip to Birch Bay and Bellingham this weekend.  We invited one of Kayden's friends to go with us, and thankfully he was able to go.

We left Saturday morning and returned today.  Our first stop was at a Family Fun Center which had a small arcade, put put golf and go karts.

Then we grabbed lunch and then hit the beach at Birch Bay.  The boys found a lot of dead sea creatures and had a good time playing in the water.  It is one of the few beaches around here where the shallow water is somewhat warm.

The air was so grey and smoky from the Canadian wildfires, and occasionally you could catch a whiff of smoke, but overall it didn't hinder our trip too much.

We played until the tide was nearly at our feet and we couldn't scoot much more.  Then we headed to the hotel in Bellingham and ended up at the pool to finish the day off.

Got up this morning and headed to Everett and visited the "Flying Heritage and Combat Museum". The boys had a great time looking at all the war planes and tanks, as did Kyle and I.

It was a great weekend, it was some much needed family time.

Green Belt Leader in the House!

I feel safer at night...what can I say, we have a green belt leader in the house!  Whoop whoop.

Kayden had his belt ceremony for martial arts this week and he rocked it.  He was able to bring the Professor down to the ground and did it all while having a smile on his face.

We were in danger of him not getting past a green belt when he was promoted to the Advanced Junior class at his last ceremony, and he was refusing to go.  But we worked through it, did a bit of a rewards chart with the school, and are now mostly happy to go twice a week.  I do have to admit, its a bit of a struggle just because of the time of day it is, right in the middle of dinner time, so it can make for a long night, but we power through and Kayden really does enjoy it.  He is smiling through the whole 45 minute class and has learned so much over the almost three years he has been doing martial arts.  I really hope he can power through and earn his black belt, imagine how safe I would feel then!

I'm so proud of this little guy.

See that black stripe on his belt?  That is the identifying factor telling "leaders" from "non leaders".  This is his second leader belt, I believe his first one was a Blue Belt Leader.

Summer Fun

We have had some nice weather lately, so Kayden was able to enjoy a fun afternoon with the water hose and the trampoline.  And last night we went to Juanita Beach after eating dinner at Spuds to celebrate Kyle's birthday!

 Not too happy about me taking his picture.

Orcas Island 2017

This is our fourth year spending some time on Orcas Island, and every year we enjoy our time immensely.  Each year we rent the same amazing house and enjoy time on the property fishing, watching the deer feast on grass, and drink from the pond, we relax on the comfortable patio furniture  and overall enjoy the surroundings.

Jim and Cindy joined us again this year and it was fun to spend some time with them.  Cindy and I went to "town" one day and did some shopping and ate lunch at a cute little cafe.  It was really nice to shop with someone who enjoys looking at the trinkets and goodies each store offers.  She never once, complained of  being bored or whined about wanting to leave!  We enjoyed coffee and ice cream too, at a cute coffee shop.

Each night the boys rode their bikes down to West Beach Resort and I drive down to meet them, so we can consume our nightly quota of ice cream...Toffee Coffee Crunch for the win!  It's the only flavor I get.  Kayden switched it up some and got salted caramel on our last night there, which he said was good.  I agree, but Toffee Coffee still has my heart.

The boys fished a ton, and even had to fish their unsupervised fishing pole out of the pond after a fish took off with it...tsk tsk.

We did another whale watching tour this year, with a different company.  We saw lots of whales, but the boat was a bit too small for my liking.  It was fine, I survived, but next time I'd prefer a bigger boat.

The boys caught toads and had a frog race, we hiked Turtle Back Mountain and drove up to Mount Constitution again this year, where the view was more visible than last year, and amazing.

I think we all had a really great time.  We made it home in plenty of time for the boys to go riding Friday night in Kent, where Kayden won first place in one race and two second places.

 We fed a deer an apple.

 Cindy gifted the boys this awesome sweatshirt.

 Top of Mount Constitution.

 Our nightly ice cream place...West Beach Resort

 The water was COLD!

See you next year, Orcas Island!

Dirt Bike Riding

I've gotten so behind on updating the blog... so sad.  I was creating this blog to chronicle our family adventures and showcase Kayden as he grows and learns knew skills, and I was great in the beginning, updating somewhat often and definitely keeping things in order, but over the last year or two I've fallen so far behind.  I can blame it on many things...being busy (but who isn't?), going back to work this year, so many extra activities Kayden is involved in, and of course the normal work load of house work and errands, but I have decided to do my best at updating the blog more often.  I have looked at the blog many times over the years and it has reminded me of activities and/or adventures we have done that I had since forgotten about, so I want to make sure I put in more efforts doing updates from this point forward.

Now, I'll resume with the normal content.

Kayden is HEAVY into dirt bike riding.  I always tell people, "he likes soccer, he likes baseball, but he LOVES dirt bike riding."  He is my adventure seeking, adrenaline junky boy and I love that he has a passion and has found something he loves so much.  His skills on the dirt bike have grown so much over the last couple months, and even more dramatically over the couple years.

He recently has earned a couple first place trophies and several others in different placements.  He is never too tired to ride and no matter how hard he falls, he gets back up to ride the next ride.  He is amazing and I love watching him gain confidence in his abilities and skills.

Take a look for yourself.

Pictures speak for themselves, wouldn't ya say?