Makayla's 12th Birthday Bunko Party

Come on, roll a 12! So she officially turned 12 in April. But, as life is for a lot of us, we didn't have an open date for her party till mid-May. She mused about a few things she wanted to do, she had to think because she didn't want any repeats of past birthdays...

did that, been there

pajama party/toilet paper party, (that was fun, the girls almost peed their pants when they about got caught), Strawberry Shortcake (I saved all my miniatures one day for my little girl and by golly she was going to have a Strawberry Shortcake and Hopsalot party), spring fling (with a birthday around Easter this is inevitable), Mickey Dee's (McDonald's, a 3 year olds paradise), scavenger hunt at the mall (way to test early shopping skills), Hello Kitty party, and more....

so a little bunko, food, crafts, and time to be crazy

my cute niece made some flip-flops like this for a dance performance once and we thought they were funky and cute.

Totally easy, pick strips of fabric, cut out and tie in double knots over shoe.

The girls really got off on this and even planned certain days to all wear their pair to school...twinners, how cute!

a little BUNKO!

Who isn't a Twilight fan? This is a great flour game that makes you look "vampirish", the winner got the collector series box of Twilight candy.

I first played with friends in middle school and we all loved it.

You take a cup, pack it tight with flour, tip it over on a flat surface, then place part of a Hershey's on top, then each person takes a turn cutting away part of the mound so as not to let the chocolate fall (a bit like Jenko and Tumbling Tower), if it does fall on your turn, then you have to hold your hands behind your back and nestle your nose into the flour to pick up the chocolate with your teeth (after this bobbing for apples isn't so bad, at least the water doesn't make white boogies).

the game definitely has that "oh, please not me factor!"

Flour is good in cookies and cakes not noses and eyes.

Prompted by Makenzy and Cayleb who kept digging into the big plastic bucket of flour and throwing it on themselves, the older girls eventually erupted into a flour fight too, Cayleb thought it was so cool they were so crazy.

Later they played Rock Band and ALL jumped on the tramp. What a fun group of girls. Happy, Happy Birthday Makayla!

C6-U4-T3-E2 - Scrabble tile necklaces, seriously who are the creative minds that come up with this stuff?

Check out http://www.makeandtakes.com/ for instructions on how to make them. Makayla and friends made some of these at her birthday party and they turned out cute. However, for the sake of time, I used hot glue for the bales instead of super glue, but don't we had to re-glue some.

Windemere Cup

C is for Crew team - we went and watched several crew teams from around the country and a visiting team up from Brazil participate in the crew races. Someone told me this is an "Ivory League" event, I think they meant Ivy League, either way an awesome sport. During the event, I kept telling the kids, "O.k. do you think you want to do this, I'll do it with you!"

C is for Cup - The Windemere Cup Competition is akin to a homecoming football game. U-Dub dominated the competition. However, we struck up a conversation with some alumuni crew rowers who said that the school use to have a light weight division crew boats but the program was cut after the teams didn't perform too well. There is definitely something to be said about winning and cutting your losses, literally.

C is for Cut - The CUT is the name given to the narrow channel of water that cuts between the Sound and Lake Washington. So you can go take a walk down by the Cut, boat on the Cut, or go paint the Cut; sayings like A CUT above the rest '09 are painted along the sides.

C is for Cold - it was an o.k. overcast day, until the rain started just before the final races, then it was cold!

C is for Cool - it was way cool to watch the races and even better because we actually knew Sam who is on the crew team; we cheered loud, "Go Sam, Go Sam" - it was the absolute lynchpin to her success, her team won!

C is for Cheerleaders - I expected the school band, but not the cheerleaders so much! But they were GOOD, they got the crowd on both sides of the cut shouting out cheers.

Following the races, there is a boat parade. The tailgaiting starts a day before the race when all sorts of boats and yachts line up and tie up to each other on the lake and then parade around after. This is NOT the boat parade, just the crew teams rowing back out to the start line.

The family- Makenzy just woke up! Way fun event,

These ladies have arms! I am jealous. Visit http://www.huskycrew.org/ to learn more about the sport and upcoming competitions around the country. GO HUSKIES!!!

Fishing Derby

We've been going to our little local fishing derby each year and each year the experience has been a little different. The first year the kids were excited to catch a fish with the help of their personal "fishing guide" in the stocked area. The following year, Randy and the boys took advantage of the one and only day to camp at the park, they pitched Cayden's tent and spent the night - kind of - it is a party atmosphere all night - it is crazy noisy all night, the fire siren goes off at midnight to signal the official opening of fishing on the lake, a fisherman's breakfast begins at 4 a.m., and everyone is trying to catch the tagged fish for the prize money. This year a 16 year old boy caught "Sir" and won $300 - I know, the prize money alone bespeaks of some serious fishing going on, (wink, wink).

Electric engines are required on the lake. This was Randy's birthday present this year so he was able to take out our little fishing boat - in fact, one of the main premises behind getting the engine was just for this event.

No more just standing on the sidelines, I mean shorelines, we are vroomin!

Our friend Brent, who has been in the top 10 for the largest fish several years in a row, made some sinkers and weights and gave the boys (meaning Randy and Cayden) some tips on how to catch the BIG ONE.

The big secret is MARSHMALLOWS - these are 21st century fish and worms just don't cut it anymore. I am totally in favor of putting marshmallows on the hook versus worms, however, our ony problem was Makenzy also wanted the marshmallows, which now were prize fish bait so she had to lay off.

While the others were out on the boat, Cayden was helping Lauren, his cousin, to catch a fish - she ended up catching 2, and so did Marlie, her sister - their first fish EVER, way to go!!!

Kara, Randy, Cayden and Mark were the die hard fishers - they opted not to sleep out in the cold, it was really cold this year - but headed out at 4 a.m. in the morning to start fishing.

All in all, our little group caught 18 FISH!!!

One of Cayden's fish won a top 100 spot for being large and he walked away with a camp chair and a box of candy as his prize. He is now officially the camp fish champ!

Thanks for Sandi and Mark for cleaning and cooking them all, we had a fish fry later that night that was yumma good!

Deception Pass

This is such a beautiful spot - it connects to the Pacific Ocean and is very scenic. It was windy up on the bridge, but perfect down below on the beaches where the kids played for quite awhile.

A LITTLE HISTORY - In the spring of 1792, Joseph Whidbey, master of the HMS Discovery and Captain Vancouver's chief navigator, sailed through the narrow passage that is now called Deception Pass and proved that it was not really a small bay as charted by the Spaniards (hence the name "Deception"), but a deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Saratoga Passage.
In the early years of the 20th Century, travelers of the horse-and-buggy era used an unscheduled ferry to cross from Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. To call the ferry, they banged a saw with a mallet and then sat back to wait.
The bridge, one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest, is actually two spans, one over Canoe Pass to the north, and another over Deception Pass to the south.

Rocks + water + kid = hours of fun! Cayleb loves this no matter where we go.

Old growth tree - Madalyn was pretending she was a part of the tree. This is one of the trees on the trail to the beach areas.

TWO-lip Festival in 2 Parts - Part 1

So we went to the annual Tulip Festival, but no tulips, just daffodils, so we returned awhile later after a little more sun and whalah, the tulips popped out.

Tulip Festival - Part 2

I think I like tulips because they come back every year, it is a plant I can grow, and of course, because my dad is from the Netherlands - famous for their tulips. Randy and I went to the Tulip Festival last year and I wanted to bring the kids to it. So this year, we went twice. I took the kids earlier in the month but only the daffodils were out so we went back when Randy's sisters and their families came to visit - it is beautiful, just imagine acres and acres of tulips. When driving, you can easily pick out the tulips fields because the swaths of colors pop out of the green plains.

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!

Of course you can't pick the tulips, but Makenzy kept picking out a lot she wanted to smell.

Madalyn and her cousins, Marlie and Lauren.