Perfect Match

Mike and I met the kids in their bedroom, then we all went up to breakfast. I messed up. I was planning on having Stockton wear his pants from yesterday again. I just neglected to tell Mike or Stockton that. Stockton took a shower in our room and Mike packed his pants after Stockton got in jammies. So, Stockton spent today with polar bear pants. I had a nice shirt picked out for him, so it looks kind of strange. Haha! He is such a good sport! Sad that this trip is at an end. It has been so much fun. Cheri picked us up at the cruise terminal. She had a perfect pickup. We walked outside as she was about to turn the corner. We had to wait a total of two minutes before we were in her car. Now that is timing! Especially with Seattle traffic! Cheri brought us back to her house. We had stored our van and a few suitcases here. Mike got everything ready to go. My friend Cindy came over to say hi. They were camping when we were here last week. It was so much fun to see her! It's been years! I love these girls!

Stephanie, Cheri, Cindy

Cheri and I have almost the exact same family. It is so funny. Our kids are the same age. We were always pregnant at the same time. I didn't know her when I had Maysen though. The hardest thing about moving from Washington was leaving her family. I kept telling the kids that if we still lived there, these would be their very best friends. I forgot to take a picture with their match before I left, but as I was heading out the door for the cruise I asked Cheri if we could do one when we got back. Carter got his wisdom teeth out while we were gone. They said he was swollen, but I can't see it!

Lily & Preston ~ 6 months apart

 Aidan & Jorja ~ 10 days apart

 I think Aidan was born on Jorja's due date. She just came a few days early.

 Jorja told me to take multiple angles, I had no idea what she meant. They are laughing at me.

 Carter & Stockton ~ two weeks apart

 Carter with his "swollen" cheeks and Stockton's polar bear jammies.

 These guys weren't supposed to be born so close together, but Stockton missed his due date by over a month.

 Emily & Maysen ~ two months apart

 Emily is serving a mission in Taiwan right now.

 Carter, Stockton, Aidan, Jorja

Maysen & Emily, Lily, Preston

 Stephanie & Cheri ~ I love her!

 Lily & Jorja ~ these girls got along great!

 Gardenias ~ this was the flower at our wedding

We left Cheri's house and drove to a Bank of America. Mike has been wanting to cancel our account for years, but you have to do it in person. While we were up here he wanted to do it. He came back with over a thousand dollars cash. I can't remember how much. At least that is finally done. He found a branch in Kirkland. It was weird driving down streets that we used to frequent often so many years ago. I remember being with Mike's parents when Maysen was a baby and using the paddleboat in Lake Washington. We drove right past the spot. It was fun to come back here. I wish I could have taken the kids to the Space Needle and the fountain. Mostly the fountain, but we ran out of time. We drove to Coeur d'Alene today to see Brooke! Yay! Yay! Yay! We met them at Lake Coeur d'Alene. The boys got into their swimsuits. We couldn't find where Stockton's was stashed, so he wore Mike's. Brooke was on the lake with her family, so we waited on the dock for them. We were only there for five minutes, but the kids loved it because they got to play with dogs. Well, three of the kids loved that.

Preston, Maysen, Jorja

 Brooke, Len, Miranda, Shylee, Timberlyn

Len took the little girls out while Brooke let us have a ride. Stockton and Preston both rode the tube. We didn't stay long because the sun was almost down. It was beautiful. Brooke is a fantastic tube boat driver.

Preston, Stockton

Stockton

Preston

The kids watched the RavenTale movie. They are so weird. I stayed up until two in the morning talking to Brooke. When I finally went down to sleep I laughed when I saw Jorja. Jorja HATES feet. I mean she HATES them. They gross her out so much. Just look how she is sleeping! Hahahahahahaha!

Jorja & Preston's foot

What a long, fun day. Lots of driving, but I got to see many people who I love so much that I rarely see anymore. I'm so glad we can just pick up where we left off like no time has past. So lucky!

BROOKE IS HERE!!!!

Today was crazy, but super fun!  Preston had swimming and diving in the morning.  I also talked Stockton into going to diving.  He isn't diving with the neighborhood this year, but the pool he dives at has been closed for awhile.  It was fun to watch Stockton and Preston together.  Maysen and I went to the high school to see if we could get a signature on her paper.  We were so lucky!  There is one specific person who needs to sign the paper, and she was there!  Thank our lucky stars! I then took the paper down to Mike's work and we tried to fax the paper.  Hopefully this works and she can take the class!  When I talked to the college about other options they said she could do duel enrollment and pay full price.  Almost $500.  I said she is only taking the class so she can meet the requirements for the Regents scholarship. If I pay $500 it makes the scholarship less valuable.  Especially since Maysen's GPA and ACT scores are high enough she can go to SLCC for free, why would we want to pay for the class?  She would have to pay full price if she took the class now because she hasn't graduated high school.  Yikes!  It takes forever to figure out all of this stuff!

Anyway, the BEST part of the day is Brooke came!  I'm so happy!  It has been way too long since I have seen her.  Well, I saw her last year at Lagoon but I barely had a chance to talk with her.  She asked if she could stay with us the day before Lagoon so we could have a chance to visit.  I have been SO EXCITED to have her come!  I drew a giant heart on the date with Brooke's name inside.  I had the best time once they got here.  It was so fun to have her kids here and be able to spend so much time with them.

Stephanie, Stockton, Jorja, Preston

Shylee, Brooke, Timberlyn, Miranda

Kanyon, Kaydra

 Stephanie & Preston

 (Kanyon) Miranda (Preston, Shylee, Brooke, Stephanie)

 Timberlyn

 Kaydra

 Shylee & Brooke

 Stockton

 Miranda

 Stockton

 Miranda, Brooke, Timberlyn, Shylee

 Kanyon & Jorja had a great time playing together

 Miranda

So much fun!  The kids swam for a long time.  Night swimming is a lot of fun.  Brooke and I both got our kids to sleep.  Brooke, Timberlyn & Shylee are sleeping in Maysen & Jorja's room.  Kaydra, Kanyon & Miranda are sleeping in Stockton & Preston's room.  My family is sleeping in the motorhome.  Brooke and I sat in the front room and talked until 2:30 in the morning.  I can't believe how fast the time went!  Mike and Christen and their family arrived about 2:30.  I was so happy to have them stay with me!  Mike, Christen & Parker are in our room.  Skye, Larkin and Blake are in the guest room.  I was so happy to have room for everyone and so happy they wanted to stay with us! Mike was thrilled to be able to use the motorhome and pointed out several times that it was a good thing we had it!  Mike and Christen are probably going to be really tired tomorrow.  They left New Mexico after Mike finished working and drove straight here.  I'm so glad they came!

Lagoon in June

I made breakfast with Lisa today.  Really I just cut the fruit while she did everything else.  She made this yummy breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls.  We had a devotional in the morning that Maysen was asked to do.  She did such a good job.  Everyone was a little sleepy when Maysen was introduced.  She yelled, "Ashley, Paige, get up here and do 10 pushups now!"  She did a drill sergeant routine for a bit before she let them go back.  It was super funny.  She talked about how it made them feel.  She was asked to talk about Individual Worth. Anyway, it turned out really good and was such a good way to start off the day.  Maysen, Jorja and I left right after the devotional in order to go to 'Lagoon in June'.  I love 'Lagoon in June'.  It is a family reunion we have every year with my mom's family.  I think we've done this for at least 30 years, but I'm not sure.  My grandma made it down this year and I was so happy!

Maysen & Grandma

Love this picture.  My grandma's the BEST!

My Grandpa's pretty cool too.  The below two pictures are little blurbs about what he did to get awarded the bronze star.  He told me to read the bit about Pat Kennedy above.  That is the guy my grandpa saved.  It says, "he was wounded in the head and suffered immediate blindness.......he gave instructions on how to treat each man as the type of wound was described to him."  In my grandpa's paragraph it said, "Although the concentration of fire never slackened, Sergeant Parry cooly bandaged the wounded men...."  Wow.  I knew Grandpa had saved the medic, but I didn't know he was given instructions on how to help the wounded men during the attack.  Crazy!  My Grandpa said, "I just mostly tried to wrap people's heads that had been mostly blown off."  So sad.  I can not imagine what my Grandpa had to live through. Those poor brave boys.

I think this was my favorite Lagoon ever.  The weather was perfect. The lines weren't long.  Brooke came!  It's been about five years since that happened.  Heather came.  She lives closer, but just had surgery. She still has her drainage tubes in for crying out loud.  It was so great to see her!  I can't believe how well her body has handled the surgery.  I remember being in a lot more pain than her.

Stephanie & Heather ~ Look at how I tower over her!

I didn't get many pictures.  Too bad.  We got a big group to ride the go-karts.  Everyone got in except me.  What?  I asked them if I could just ride with someone instead.  I ran down the line and thought, "Who would be the most fun to ride with?"  I planned on looking at my options, but the first person I came to was Jackson.  I knew a ride with him would be awesome.  I was right.  It was so much fun!  I loved it more than if I was driving myself.  He is crazy!

Mike, Stockton and Preston went on Rattlesnake Rapids right as we got there.  I didn't have a desire to get wet at the moment.  They went four times in a row.  They were soaked when they got back!  That was the last of the rides for Stockton.  He was done.  In his defense, this is his third time at Lagoon in two weeks.  He spent the rest of the day writing, "Innie belly buttons rule!" all over the tables.  Over 100 times.  I meant to take a picture, but I did not.  He went to the motorhome in the afternoon.  It worked out really well.

Stockton ~ I can't believe how grown up he looks

 Preston

Yesterday Mike sent me some pictures.  He took Preston to Lagoon. Nice thing about season passes.  Preston rode this ride that Maysen loves by himself.  It is the Centennial Screamer.  It goes in circles and upside down.  He is getting so brave.

Preston - by himself!  No way Mike would ride that thing.

 Preston on the white roller coaster

Mike took some quick pictures of the paint last night.  I do not know what I think.  Mike says it looks better in person.  I really hope so!

Now back to Lagoon.  It was really fun.  I was sad to see Brooke go.  I wish I got a picture with her.  Mike and I rode the Spider with Maysen and Preston.  Mike and I got the back.  Boy did that make me feel sick! I felt so sorry for Miranda who sat in the back her first time.  Brooke and I realized it when it was too late to change.  She would have liked it so much better if she was in the front!  After the ride, Mike and Preston went to Wicked and Maysen and I rode the Spider three more times. One time we sat in the back and no one sat in the front.  Holy camolie that was crazy!  We spun around faster than I have ever been spun before.  It was fun and making me sick at the same time.  I was so dizzy when we finished.

After we got the kids tucked in bed, Mike and I went in search of Steve and Sharon.  We knew they were camping too.  We found Steve. Sharon was already asleep.  We went on a short walk and called it a day.  So much fun!