Morgan is a Green Belt!

Moving on up!

Go Kart Fun!

Michael is always surprising us with fun outings, and today was certainly one of our favorites!  He took us to a Go Kart track down by Bandimere Speedway.   The absolute best thing about this outing was that little Maddox could participate, too! 

He was cuter than cute in that little Go-Kart!  And because he was quite nervous about driving a REAL Go-Kart, he paid VERY CLOSE ATTENTION when he was given instructions!

They had Maddox and I go out on the track first.  Here we are getting the green flag.

Maddox stayed behind me for the first couple of laps, and then out of nowhere, when I wasn't looking, he streaked right on past me!!

I'd say he had a pretty good time!

When us "slow folks" were done, the big boys had their turn.  Here's Morgan:

And Mason:

And Michael:

They actually did a little bit of racing, and I managed to catch them all in the same frame.

It was a fantastic outing!  One that I'm sure we'll repeat in the future... but it will never be the same as the very first time.

Lazy Day

Just a sweet shot of a lazy day with an RC boat at Flying J...

Marching Band

Mason finished up his summer band camps, and on the last day they showcased what they learned.

After marching for the parents, they called us down for our own lesson!  Here is Mason teaching Morgan and Michael...

It's harder than it looks!

 There!  They're getting the hang of it now!

 ...and of course, Maddox and I had to get in on it, too.

Mason's been doing so well and we can't wait to see him at a real performance!

Father Son Trip 2012

This year for their annual Father Son trip, Michael took the boys to Seattle.  I love this first picture, because it wasn't staged - Morgan was trying to get a shot of Mason in front of a tall building.  I like Mason's shadow and Morgan's smile.

Anyway, they stayed with Tom & his family, one of Michael's co-workers - and good friend.  They were treated to fantastic food such as you see here:

Tom took them paddleboarding on Lake Washington - a first for all three.

 

They took a seaplane over to the San Juan Islands.

 Below, you can see Morgan getting ready to board.

Mason's new passion is flying, and he loves the opportunity to sit in the cockpit...

...but since he sat there on an earlier flight, he let Morgan have that seat.

 Once on the island, they did a lot of kayaking.  Here is Mason with Tom.

They took a ferry ride back from San Juan Islands to Seattle.

Tom's girls were watching a neighbor's chickens, and this photo is fun because that's a Barred Rock... we have a couple of those, but they're nowhere near this big yet!  Again, another great smile from Morgan as he tries to wrangle the big chicken!

Morgan found these glasses... how does he look?

They toured the Future of Flight Aviation Center. 

A highlight was when they got to tour the Boeing assembly plant, but no cameras were allowed.

A friend of the girls' has a pet hedgehog.  The boys got a kick out of that!

Here are the boys at the top of the Space Needle.

Morgan and Michael at the Experience Music project - right next to the Space Needle.

Another fun trip for the boys!

A Visit from the Obermarks!

As soon as the Thompson/Rostanzo clan left, we had another group of guests arrive!  The Obermarks!

To be more specific, we had Mike, Kim, Cheryl, Eric, Alex, Jason, Steve, Kris, Ashley, and Evan!  They basically took over the entire downstairs, as well as the treehouse... thank goodness we have the treehouse!  Everyone had a place to sleep.

One of their favorite outings while they were here was their visit to St. Mary's glacier... a perennial snow field not far from our house.  Michael and the boys went with them.

Here is Steve, enjoying a little rest on the snow field...

The boys got a wild hair and started sliding down the slope on their rear ends!

Aside from that outing, we had fun playing cards, sharing meals, and just about everyone had a turn on the zip line!  I don't have any photos of those things, but here's one from when Michael took Mike & Alex on a hike up Berrien Mountain (our mountain):

And lastly, here's one when we took a little walk around the lake.

Always good to see the Obermarks...!