Lake Sammamish Summer Trip 2017

From Dallas we flew up to Washington for some time with the Lambert family. The first part of the trip was just with my siblings, and then for the last week several members of the Lambert extended family arrived including my grandparents, all my aunts and uncles, and several cousins. In total we had just over 30 people staying at the house - crazy, but fun!

Some happy campers waiting for our flight. After a hot couple weeks in Texas we were excited to be headed to the northwest where the current highs were still below the Dallas lows. 

The sun was going down over Dallas when we left, and since we were flying west, we chased the sunset for our entire flight. 

Still setting when we arrived in Seattle

One of our first, and favorite, Washington summer activities was picking raspberries. Aunt Faye was a good sport and let Davey put all his ground berries, smushed berries and yellow berries in her basket. Overall we picked 22 pounds and then made 40 containers of jam. Yum!!

We got to help celebrate Paco's birthday while we were there! We had donuts instead of a cake, and while we were at the shop the owner gave Sophie a free donut hole to enjoy. 

Even though it was a busy trip, we managed to fit in a short stay at the cabin. My mom left early one morning to pick up Sophie's cousin Anne since her family wasn't going to arrive for another week and Sophie was dying to play with her. While they were busy having fun, I was able to finish a 1500 piece puzzle, mostly by ignoring the Davey :)

I took some updated photos of Davey on our walk around Gold Creek pond. He sure is a fun kid and look how blonde his summer hair was!

On the way home we tried a couple short hikes. Davey ended up hating the back pack so he left early with Dave and just the girls went on the second hike. 

Of course the lake is one of the main reasons we visit in the summer and no matter how much time we spend down there, it never seems like quite enough. There are so many fun things to do and Sophie is able to participate more and more as she gets older. 

Davey loved dogs and was thrilled to have Jobe so close with no escape route during the kayak ride. He especially loved holding on to his tail like a handle. As soon as they got close to the dock, Jobe made the leap to get out of there!

Water ski/Wake board date for our 11th anniversary!

This turned out to be a wild tube ride. Both Sophie and Will were fearless and kept trying to let go of the handles for more thrills, but every time we hit a bump it would send their little bodies flying off the seat! I caught them both more than once and am still amazed we never had anyone go overboard. 

Quarter rides at Bellevue Square

Crack alert!

Splash pad fun

Quick trip out to Snoqualmie Falls where we met up with the arriving extended family and saw my brother's new house. 

Fun with Uncle Brent - she was very brave and when they got back from their ride she told everyone how she went 55 fast!

Paddle boat with my grandma 

The kids with their great grandparents. Sadly we didn't ever take a group photo with all the Lambert family, but I'm glad we at least got this one. 

Beach fun at Idylwood park

Trip out to the I-90 bridge to see the Blue Angels practice show. The sky was very hazy from wild fires in Canada, but the jets were still able to perform. 

Lambert family gatherings mean lots of card games! This was my crazy hand for Mormon bridge one night - 2 K/Q pairs and 3 high trumps. I had no idea what to bid. 

We took a big family picture for my parents Christmas card and then my sister took just a couple quick shots of our little family afterward. It actually turned out pretty good!

And these were just a sampling of the photos from the trip. It would have been a super long post if I had inluded them all, so instead I tried to choose my favorites and saved the rest for a Lake Sammamish 2017 video that's posted below.

Texas Summer Trip 2017

Dallas was the first stop on our 6 week summer tour! We had almost two weeks to spend with family in friends before moving on to our next destination and I'm always impressed by how much we manage to fit in while we're there.

We arrived on the Fourth of July and had a very small celebration with the kids before going to bed. Grandma did have a fun dessert and some glo bracelets for the kids, but no fireworks for us this year. Everyone was too worn out! 

Davey showing off the latest in swim fashion

These kids were exhausted! With all the swimming, eating, partying and play dates they slept well. This was on the way home from a pool party for a friend's 7th birthday. 

Dave helped arrange a big get together with all our friends and their parents too! We met for a BBQ lunch and then the grandparents took the kids so the couples could all enjoy a night out together. First we hit up an escape room, and after a rough start, figured things out and were able to breakout with 7 minutes to spare! We then enjoyed a delicious dinner at Babes before going back to the Palmers for some treats and games. 

Some fun at grandma's house.... pretending to "roast" marshmallows

Pizza & pool night with cousins

Our little explorer got stuck

Dave and I went to a movie (our first since Christmas!) and had a nice night away from the kids. We saw the new Guardians of the Galaxy and thought it was pretty good.

7-11 day slurpees!

It was really hot during our visit so one morning we went to a mall playground for some fun. The mall was pretty much deserted (at least half the storefronts were empty) so it felt pretty weird, but the kids had a great time in playland and then as a special treat we rented an animal scooter for 10 minutes before leaving and Sophie had a blast! I let her drive me and Davey around and, with just a few corrections from me, we managed to not crash into anything. 

Laser tag with family! It was super fun and intense! We played through several different scenarios and I was so sweaty by the end! All the running, crouching and nervous energy really got to me and I was chugging water by the end. 

One last get together with friends before we had to leave. There are 12 kids between us now (2 not pictured) and Sophie always has a great time with her "cousin-friends". 

The group once we added the babies to the picture :)

Video clips of some of our time in Texas

In and Out of Amarillo

A day after arriving in Amarillo we said goodbye to Soph, Davey, Grandma, and Liz. They were nice enough to take the kids with them back to Plano, and while they were off having fun, my mom, Dave and I started unpacking and setting up house.

In those few days we got almost all our stuff put away, cleaned up the debris, bought a fridge, stocked the pantry, and hit up a half dozen different furniture stores before finally purchasing a living room set from Ashley HomeStore. We also had a chance to find our church building and attend our ward, which had just undergone major boundary changes. It was great to introduce ourselves and then leave town for 6 weeks, giving them plenty of time to fill all the major callings before getting around to us :)

On the Fourth of July, we dropped my mom at the airport on our way out of town. It was so nice to have her help for the week and I can't imagine how much harder the move would have been without her! Dave and I then made the 5.5 hour drive to Dallas to his parents house. It's amazing how much faster a road trip goes by with just adults in the car. We had an audio book and stopped once for gas, but could have made it on one tank if our car had been full leaving Amarillo. It will be nice to have family just a half a days drive away!

Video: On our last night before heading out, we saw our first Texas lightning storm. There were constant flashes for almost three hours, but never any thunder. So cool to watch! 

June Roundup

Some more of June that happened in between all the other crazy of the month:

Bubble bath fun

Sophie really wanted to cut something with her scissors so I unleashed her on the long grass growing along the fence in our yard :) 

Daddy left without him to get a pizza

A good Sunday nap

This girl loves a good book

All the moving chaos opened up new opportunities for Davey. He enjoyed the unmonitored time and access to things previously locked away in cupboards. 

Davey met Woody and was a little starstuck

One of my very few successful "carseat to crib" transfers 

Before leaving we tried out the new Waffle Love location by our house. We enjoyed watching their food truck compete on the Great Food Truck Race show, and enjoyed their waffles even more! 

I had been wanting a new vacuum for awhile, but was trying to hold off until our new home. A few weeks before the move I finally broke down and ordered one off Amazon while there was a good sale. It was amazing how much better it worked! This is how much it picked up right after I had already vacuumed with the old one. Amazing and disgusting at the same time. 

The weekend before we left Dave stumbled on a community part at a Mountain American Credit Union branch. They had a BBQ (great for us since we had little food left) and face painting! I also squeezed in a 15-month check up for Davey boy while we still had insurance. 

Sophie with Mimi's flowers

First breakfast in Texas! We joined grandma at her hotel for some waffles since our cupboards were still bare.