The summer is always so busy and this one was no exception. June started off busy and stayed that way! The month was filled with graduation parties, camping, a birthday party, boating and so much more...
The month started off with a graduation party for Hunter. It was a small party at their house with dinner and dessert. It was a chilly evening, but dry. It was nice to fellowship with friends and celebrate Hunter's accomplishment of graduating high school.
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| The graduates in attendance that night. |
Spring and summer always bring pretty flowers in my garden. This is a beautiful iris that comes up.
The second weekend in June was party weekend. On Saturday we celebrated Raelyn's 12th birthday ( a few weeks early). It was a weekend that worked for all her friends and we had a great day celebrating Rae! Here are some fun pictures of her from before the party. I had a really great 12 in rose gold, but one of the numbers popped, so Hans went to Walmart to get another 1 and 2 for Raelyn.
We had a fun group of girls come. We had pizza for lunch and and then the girls had a water balloon fight, and played a game of ultimate frisbee. Then some girls sat in the hot tub, while others played on the trampoline with the sprinkler under it.
This is when the younger girls were chasing the older girls who didn't want to get wet down the road with water balloons.
Then it was time for gifts and cupcakes!
Birthday Pyramid!
The next day at church was a bake sale to help send the kids to camp. It was a really good turn out and lots of money was made to help support the kids with camp costs.
I mentioned it was party weekend! We continued the party theme and had a graduation party for Olivia on Sunday evening. I made up some picture boards and we decorated the outside with pics of Olivia growing up. It turned out really fun. We had just a few families over that Olivia decided on. She really didn't want to have a party at all, but she finally let me have this little party for her. I'm glad she did! It was fun to honor all she has accomplished. It felt pretty good for this homeschooling mom to graduate her first daughter. Really good, but also a little bittersweet. It is really true that their childhood goes by just so so fast!! And before you know it they are grown up!!
My strawberry plants did great this year! I got a lot of strawberries off of them.
One afternoon we met some friends at the park.
Last picture of my dining room with my old black table...
Our June tradition is to head to camping on the beach on Father's day. It is always chilly, but we always have fun and usually decent weather in the low 60's. This year our time there overlapped with Pastor Mark being there 2 of the nights. We were able to visit with them some as well and invite them out on the beach with us. We really love our time on the beach.
This year the guys had fun playing spikeball as well on the beach.
It was chilly!! But the sunset was worth it!
Day 2 was cool and cloudy again, but we hit the beach for some kite flying, ultimate frisbee, and more spikeball. Pastor Mark and Colleen came out for a bit too.
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| My sweet Stella dog watching us play! |
One of our favorite and traditional beach outings is to go into town for ice cream. We invited Mark and Colleen and it was a fun little outing.
After dinner we always have to go to the beach for sunset and a fire and games.
Our second full day on the beach had a little more sun, if I remember right and had lots of the same fun! When we arrived there were some pretty eagles hanging out.
The kids had to dig their traditional big hole in the ground. They are so cute!
For late lunch we headed into town for our new tradition of poutine! It is so yummy!! And we also bought our oysters for grilling that night.
In the afternoon it was back to the beach for more fun, sun, and more ultimate frisbee!!
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| I love this similar dad pose! LOL!! |
It was sunny but the wind was cold!!
Another fun ocean trip with our friends!!
More yummy strawberries from our garden! They were so sweet!
Right before Raelyn's 12th birthday she was cleared by her teachers to get her first pointe shoes! She was so excited because that was her goal to be en pointe before she turned 12 and she just made it!! It was a very long but fun day for her getting her first fitting and shoes. The traffic home was terrible, but that was partly my fault in following bad advice from my phone maps. I probably took too many pictures, but I just couldn't resist. We are so proud of Raelyn!
One night we caught one of Carter's last baseball games! He was pitching and did really well!
On the last Saturday of June we were able to head over to Seattle for Anna's graduation ceremony from graduate school. She received her masters in counselling. It was a very nice ceremony and so fun to see Anna honored for all her hard work.
Afterwards the Tolfs rented an electric boat to drive around Lake Washington and spend some time together. Anna made some yummy charcuterie boards to eat for lunch and we had a nice time sight seeing and enjoying the nice day together.
We had a going away party for the Binsfields at the Michaud's house one night. The Binsfields had been at our church for a very long time. Almost as long as us, but they moved to Spokane this summer so it was nice to have a time to say goodbye to them.
And this sweet little table that we had had since we got married headed back to Whitehall with Mary and Eric. It was a table that Mary and Eric bought when they were first married and we had it the whole time we were married till now. It was sad to see it go. But it was time!
We took Mary and Eric to Point No Point one afternoon while they were there. It was a lovely day to sit on the beach and catch a few sun rays. It really is a pretty beach and we had a lovely time.
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| Grandma trying to trick the camera! |
I got Olivia a little graduation gift of a bookmark and a necklace. Not sure what else we will get her. I am sure many things as she gets ready to head off to college.
Last picture with my 11 year old!! Time is just flying by too fast!! As a write this just about 5 months left of her being 12....
This year just 2 girls went to camp again. This time it was Olivia and Claire. Aubrey decided not to go because Ava was not going with our church. And Raelyn had no friends her age going and it was over her birthday. So, the two younger girls stayed home. It was a rainy day sending them off this time. And I think the weather was not great this year for their time at camp. I think they still had fun and learned some things.
Raelyn on her birthday morning!! And I actually got her some gifts on time!!
Our strawberries continued to produce well and we got some raspberries!
While the older 2 girls were off at camp we decided to take the boat out before our Banks lake trip. Raelyn wanted to invite some friends for her birthday and the Griesemer girls wanted to get out on our boat so they were the obvious choice to bring along on a boating day. Unfortunately, we did not have very many warm days in June and this one was not very warm either. I brought lots of extra towels and blankets and the girls still had fun, but it was on the cooler side. It was fun to take the Griesemers out with us and I hope we get to do it again sometime.
Meanwhile at camp the other 2 girls had a mostly great time! There was a bit of drama, but overall it was a great experience and I am glad that Claire got to attend her first year of camp.
And ending the month with pictures of my flower baskets on the porch. Summer and flowers make me happy!!
Another month in the books! Hopefully as it is winter now... I can get these posts up a bit quicker and get caught up! As always I am super far behind!
