Special Week-end Visitors

Amy and I bought tickets for the Leavenworth play, The Sound of Music, for Mom for her birthday.  The Lindholm's and Mom drove to our house on Friday afternoon, we had a quick enchilada meal, and then we drove up to Leavenworth to watch the play.  Dave stayed home with Ry and Harper because children 6 and under were not allowed.

The play was really neat and it was a beautiful night.   There was parts of the play which were out in the hillsides and we had a great seats to see it all.  Thomas and I giggled our way through the second half.   Those kids in the front did plenty of giggling too.  We didn't get home until 11:30.

On Saturday we woke up (I think Harper woke everybody up), got ready, and went and had breakfast at The Wild Huckleberry.  

We had to make a stop at Hooked on Toys for more inflatable tubes because they were ready to float the river.  I stayed home with Ry and Harper.  We loaded our Suburban up with 7 inflated tubes and Thomas' Honda held one and all the passengers.

Our family of floaters

On their way...

They started in Cashmere and floated about 2 hours and I picked them up at Sleepy Hollow Bridge.

 It was a crowded day on the river, but they did great, expect for one little run in with a tree that scratched up mom's leg.  All of these pictures were taken from Amy right as they were floating.  Dave even Face-Timed me while floating along.  Sometimes I love technology.

I think it's so funny that Thomas and Dave shared the double tube. 

This was Presley's first time floating the river.  

Grandma, Logan, Alyson, and Mylee

We finally made it back to the house about 3:00 and I made turkey croissant sandwiches, chips, fruits, and veggies,  and Amy brought some cake brownies.  

 The kids played a little bit.  Ry liked being stretched...

and then we had to say good-bye.

Fun times!!

Swim Lessons and Soccer Camps

The past few weeks we've been keeping busy with swimming lessons at Cashmere City Pool and soccer camps at the Sportsplex.

Swim lessons are done in 2 week sessions so Ry took lessons the first two weeks of July and Harper and Presley took swim lessons the last 2 weeks of July.  Throw in Logan's goal keeping camp and Ry's youth soccer camp and we've managed to have some full days this month.

Ry at swim lessons:

Ry is a very strong swimmer.  We go swimming quite a bit in the afternoons.  Presley and Logan have each passed their swim tests, which means they can go anywhere in the deep end and off the slide and diving board.  Ry hasn't taken it yet, although I do think he could pass. That means he can only be in the deep end of the big pool if I'm with him.  So Harper jumps off the side a bazillion times and I catch her and Ry swims around me.  He can not touch where we swim and he still keeps up with Presley and Logan while treading water or swimming the entire time.  He has recently discovered diving for rings so I'll toss them in over and over and he'll dive down and grab them.  It's really remarkable.  

Ry didn't pass his class this time.  It's a tough class where he has to master the back, breast, and butterfly stroke.  He was the smallest kid in his class.  He wasn't upset about it, but I think this is the reason he won't take the swim test. 

He did have a fun time getting to go down the slide on the last day.

Presley and Harper were so happy in lessons.  This picture doesn't capture it, but they were skipping into the pool house.

Presley at swim lessons:

She mastered the dive. 

But her favorite part of all was getting to jump off the diving board. 

She did pass her Orca class which puts her in the Shark class.  

Harper at lessons:

She was the only child in her class to jump off the diving board on the last day. 

Harper passed her class too so went from a Tiny Tadpole to a Seahorse. 

Soccer Camps:

Logan opted to not do swim lessons this year.  He's a very good swimmer though so I didn't push him to do them.  I was thankful for a goal keeping soccer camp.  The leader of this camp told Dave that Logan's a very good goalie. 

Ry also did a soccer camp. 

And look who was selected to be the Camper of the Week!!!  So proud of Ry!!

Royally Joyous

The only bit of me that might be similar to the Brits is that I like tea, but that hasn't stopped me from following Will and Kate's pregnancy and, the past couple of days, the birth of the Royal Prince.

The royal easel:

The Towne Crier:

All has just seemed right in the world:  Everyone around the globe is overjoyed and it seems like a genuinely happy time.  I know that Kate is the future Queen and all but she's also a part of the Mom Club now and it kind of tickled me to think she's probably wearing those hospital mesh panties in the pictures like all moms do.  Nah, she's a royal and she's probably got fancy grandma panties on, but she's still a first time mom, and I guarantee she's scared thinking of taking her first poop post birth.

At any rate, she looked beautiful today when she came out of the hospital with her newborn.  

Then I started thinking how thankful I am that hundreds of photographers were not waiting to take pictures of me the day after giving birth.  And how thankful the world is too...

Logan, Presley and Rylan

I don't have a picture with Harper like this. 

Celebrating Princess Nihill and Britian's heir...

Heir, Shmeir...more on that later.  We had a super important princess to celebrate on Saturday.  

Mom woke up WAY earlier than us on Saturday morning and got started on her grocery shopping.  I had absolutely nothing to do with the food.  By the time the kids and I were up and ready for the morning she was already back and ready to make her egg salad.  We ate breakfast and went to Samee and Nate's house to deliver the tuna that Samee would make for the shower.  We got to see her house and the baby's room and all the neat presents she received from her work shower. We then went to Fred Meyer and Frost me Sweet to pick up the cute petit-fours. We then went back to her house to load things up and off to Amy's house for the final decorating and laying out the foods and drinks.  We got there about 12:40.

My darling 14 year old niece taught me how to put pictures in a grid formation.  It's just an app I needed on my phone.  I swear I'd still be using a flip phone and not knowing how to text if it wasn't for Dave.  

Decoration Pictures: 

The main table.  My mom had the Dad and Mom picture made for them. 

  

The pink and chocolate mints were in shapes of pacifiers and baby carriages. 

These round tins were take home gifts and filled with pink, white, and gray M&M's. 

Papa Berries came and picked up Logan and Rylan to take them swimming.  But only after I got a couple of great pictures.

 Papa definitely did not want to be at this "hen" party.  

Cristy was our first guest to arrive and she helped with the last minute preparations and then Grandma Kreider came.  Samee's friends Mary and Myrna came and more of the Legard family:  Connie, Holly, Tricia, Tona,  and Karisa.  Samee arrived 20 minutes late!!  But she looked radiant and happy to see everyone and was a good sport with the games.  

Samee figuring out the picture was one taken just the night before...

 

Amy was a good hostess

With her girls Alyson and Mylee

Samee received lots of neat gifts but none were more special than a baby blanket from our Great Grandma Pauline (Pom Pom).  She crocheted these blankets years before her death and gave them to our Papa Berries to hand out when her great grandchildren had babies.  The pink and white was perfect for Samee's baby. 

Harper and Thomas spent the majority of the shower in his movie room watching Tangled.  Harper would come out and get some candies or fruit shish-ka-bobs and then return back to Thomas.  I came around the corner to take this picture and before she could see me, I heard her say, "I think we need some more candy."  Thomas didn't disagree with her. She didn't behave very well at all.  I was kind of embarassed. 

This baby's half dozen cousins doing the cupcake pose. 

I bet she's going to fit right in...

And in other international news,  it's a boy for the Prince and Duchess...

I woke up and did my phone check and found out that Duchess Catherine had been admitted into St. Mary's hospital and was in labor.  We had swim lessons and Ry's soccer camp so I was checking my phone off and on throughout the morning.  I texted with Tricia and Amy and Samee about Kate being in labor.  I knew that the birth would be officially announced via a signed Royal paper being framed and placed on an easel behind the gates of Buckingham Palace... I love old traditions, and isn't that exactly how birth announcements should happen..with all this anticipation and grandeur.

We got home, had lunch and I checked on our home computer one more time before Logan and I sat down for a Monday afternoon ritual of watching, "Whodunnit", a murder mystery reality show.  At 12:41, Dave texted me "It's a boy" and that is how I got the official word.

My peeps know me so well...

A snippet of the texts I received today...

Samee and Amy (group message), Tricia, Dave, and Tona

One thing the new prince and Samee and Nate's baby seem to have in common:  

Neither have a name (and I'd like to have something monogrammed for OUR royal baby!)

Edited to Add:  The prince's name is Prince George Alexander Louis